Destiny of Dragons (13 page)

Screaming he fell to the ground. He could feel the illusion slip from his grasp.

“There you are. I’m so glad you decided to join me. I finished off all the humans and I was starting to get a bit hungry.”

Proteus closed his eyes and focused on his mate. Liang waited just outside the tunnel.
“Dragon!”
he screamed through their link.

“No one’s going to save you tiny creature, but do please call your friends, you’re too tiny to be a proper meal.”

Before he could comment, a loud boom ricocheted through the tunnel. Aden, Gallen and Liang appeared beside him.

“I’ve got you.” Liang picked Proteus up in his arms and headed behind Gallen and Aden.

“You!” The black dragon sniffed at Aden. “You are mine.”

Aden moved to stand in front of the other three. “What do you mean?”

The dragon moved closer at Aden. “You’re not like the others, they were less. Your mother was wise to hide you from me.”

“Please don’t tell me you’re my father. I really need to have some good news today.” Aden motioned the three of them to leave the cavern.

None of them did. Proteus knew they wouldn’t abandon their leader. Aden had been nothing but good to them. To leave him to fight the evil dragon went against everything he’d ever known.

“Set me down in case Aden needs help,” Proteus whispered. His skin throbbed, but he had to think of the others. The dragons would fall without Aden.

Liang nodded and set Proteus to the side where he would undoubtedly be ignored by the dragon.

“I’ll let the others leave if you stay behind, my son,” The dragon said.

* * * *

Aden stared at the dragon. With his advanced senses he could see the core of evil squatting in the creature before him. “You are the reason my mother had the mansion reinforced against everything.”

“She was always a petty slut. So what if I dallied a little here and there, I always went back to her. The vindictive witch even hid my treasure from me. What kind of woman does that?”

Aden smiled. “The same kind who didn’t want her psycho ex to know she had a baby.”

The dragon snarled. “You will join me against the others and we will take over the dragon world. I am the supreme dragon and the others will obey me.”

“You’re supreme dipstick and the others will want to cut off your head and put it on a pike.” Aden paused as if to think about it. “None of them want to deal with a deranged dragon either. How long have you been down here?”

The dragon snarled. “Centuries. The emperor bound me underground along with his men after I refused to live under his rule. I obey no one. Others should quake in fear of my mighty claws.”

A clump of dirt shook free with the dragon’s roar.

“Yeah, you’re the king of dirt,” Aden said.

“You mock, mere half-dragon, but you have only a shadow of my power.”

“Yeah, I got that. Too bad you’re such an ass. The dragons need leadership,” Aden said. The shifter stunk of deceit. “What is your name?”

“I am Arad, king of all dragons and commander of the night.”

His voice boomed in the dark space and had Aden trembling on the inside. He had too much training to let it show. Seawater, dirt and pure evil floated through the air.

“He’s lying.”
Gallen’s voice floated through Aden’s head. He strove to not change expressions.

“About what?”
There were many things the dark dragon could be lying about.

“The emperor didn’t leave him down here. The marks on the tunnel were made by white mages, a sect that died out a few hundred years ago. They protected the city from the dark dwellers.”

“Thank you.”

“You say the emperor locked you down here?”

Arad nodded. “He thought to keep all the power for himself.”

“Hmm, well we’ll leave you be. No sense in bothering you.” Aden backed up.

Low laughter didn’t bode well for a clean exit. “You think you can escape? You are going to get me out of here and I will show the emperor who is really in charge.”

“I don’t think we need more insane monarchs. You should stay right here,” Aden countered.

The dragon transformed. Within seconds a tall man with Aden’s features and black hair stood before him. He could’ve been a clone for Carey if he dyed his hair.

“You wouldn’t leave your father here, would you?”

“Yes.” Aden didn’t see any point in denying it. This wasn’t a fairy tale where good always conquered evil. If he let this guy go it would be like releasing Smaug onto the innocent villagers who didn’t even know dragons existed.

A soft whimper from behind distracted him a bit. “Go take Proteus to safety.”

“If you won’t free me then no one is leaving,” Arad growled.

“I wasn’t asking you.” Aden stood a little shorter than his father, but he refused to appear intimidated. This asshole had done something so horrible it took a team of monks to trap him down here.

“I could incinerate you where you stand!” Arad shouted.

“Get them out of here.”
He projected to Gallen.

“Not without you!”

“Now. Proteus won’t be able to take another blast.”
The sea dragon wasn’t strong enough to put up with a dragon’s fire.

The loud pop behind him told Aden his mate had gone.

“Smart. Bonding with a sorcerer. I never thought my son would be a lover of men, but at least you were clever in your choices. Keeping a sorcerer on your side shows initiative.”

“He’s not my pet, he’s my mate.” Aden scowled at the dragon shifter claiming to be his father. “I was told I came into my power because you were dead.”

“Aww, probably wishful thinking on someone’s part. You came into your power because you were ready. Dragons not of our bloodline have no idea how it works. You were ready to take up the mantle of leadership so The Fates gave you the magic.”

Great, he didn’t need any more entities trying to muscle in on running his life. Everyone had a pretty heavy hand in it right now. Gallen popped in beside Aden and took his hand.

“What is your name sorcerer?”

“Gallen.”

Aden’s chest swelled with pride. He’d never doubted Gallen’s courage and right now he couldn’t have loved him more.

“You truly are mates,” Arad said. “This will make it all the more delicious when I kill one of you and leave the other behind.”

Aden squeezed Gallen’s hand.
“Now!”

A loud pop echoed in his ears, making Aden wince. Blinking he cleared his vision from the sudden shift from dark to light. “That’s one scary bastard.”

“Yeah, your dad isn’t the type to welcome me with open arms,” Gallen agreed.

“He’s not the type to welcome anyone. Now we have more than just the emperor to worry about.”

A solemn group met in the dining room and began to plan.

Proteus lay beside his lover and sighed. Their lovemaking had relaxed his body, but his mind still whirled about like a pinwheel.

“Do you think we’ll find them?”

After two months there still wasn’t any sign of the two missing dragons. There had been no one else at the facility and the emperor had covered his tracks.

“Yeah, we’ll find them and the emperor.”

“What about Aden’s father?” Memories of the evil dragon’s eyes still haunted him at night.

Liang shuddered. “Let’s just hope he never gets out of there.”

“Definitely. Aden seems to be taking it all right.”

“Aden takes everything in stride.” Liang’s admiring tone made Proteus smile.

“The twins tried to change into babies today.”

“They’ve been babies.”

“No, human babies,” Proteus said.

“What did you do?”

“I told them I wasn’t doing diapers so if they want to poop they had to change back to sea dragons.”

Liang laughed. “Tough love, I like it.”

“Hey, I can be tough.”

Liang kissed him. “You are the toughest person I know, but with the kids you’re a squishy marshmallow.”

“Well this marshmallow isn’t changing diapers,” Proteus vowed.

“Fair enough.” Liang kissed him. “If they decide to remain human I’ll change the diapers.”

“Sucker. I’m going to remember you said that.” He would, too. Might even mark it on his calendar in red.

“I love you.”

Liang’s kiss made Proteus’s cock consider hardening again.

“I love you, too.” Snuggling in with his lover Proteus sighed, completely and utterly happy for the first time in his life.

Amber Kell lives in Seattle, WA with her husband, two sons, three cats and one extremely stupid dog. She loves to hear from her fans at [email protected]