Reawakening the Dragon: Part Four (5 page)

Me, too, dragon.
 

Good. Then make this quick. The longer we’re away, the more our female will worry.

Kai signaled with his wing and put his team on high alert.

It was showtime.

Kai barreled to the side and the dragons behind him alternated in dropping to the left and right before beating their wings and heading straight toward the ground. The objective was for each dragon to pick up a log or boulder, simulating a rescue mission. With any luck, the knights would be waiting in the nearby forest.

Of course, what the knights didn’t know was that Aaron and his team were also in the forest in their human forms, waiting to pounce.

Since Kai always joined in his team’s drills, he dove toward a fallen log near the edge of the forest. The knights might try to attack him, but if it gave away their position, the pain would be worth it.

He swooped down, snagged the hunk of wood with his talons and flew back up. As he hovered in place about five hundred feet in the air, he watched as one by one the rest of his team seized their intended targets and returned to their respective places in formation.

When all ten beasts were back in position, Kai scrutinized the tree line. Yet nothing emerged from the forest or shot into the air.

His dragon spoke up again.
If they’re clever, they’ll wait until the dragons are tired and then attack.

You have a point.

Our female must be wearing off on you because you never used to mention when I was right.

Shut it, dragon. I need to concentrate.

With a huff, his beast fell silent and Kai roared out the code for his team to do an attack drill.

Each of the ten dragons dove down and released their logs and boulders against an exposed rock face. Wood splintered and rocks broke into pieces, but there still wasn’t any sign of the knights.

Since Kai believed in Jane, he spent the next twenty minutes putting his team through one drill after another. When their reactions times slowed and their wings started missing beats, Kai knew they needed to rest.

Guiding them to a nearby lake, it hit him—the best place to attacks a team of dragons would be when they were tired and playing in the water.

For once Kai wished he could communicate beyond wing and leg signals. But since that was all he had, he fisted his back talon and then touched it to his other back talon, which meant everyone should follow his lead.

As they made their way toward the lake, Kai only hoped Aaron understood his message.

~~~

Nikki watched as Kai took his team of dragons through a basic set of training maneuvers. Her job was to radio the Department of Dragon Affairs when Kai signaled it was time for them to capture the Dragon Knights.

Despite the cool October air, Nikki’s hand gripping the two-way radio was sweaty. If the Dragon Knights had somehow gotten word of their plan, Jane would be devastated. Kai’s female took things nearly as seriously as her male.
 

And Nikki wanted Jane to stay on Stonefire. Not just for Kai, but for the clan as well. The female had grand ideas of how to help the dragon-shifters. If Jane paired up with Melanie and Evie, the trio of humans would become unstoppable.

Her dragon chimed in.
Stop fretting. Kai is ready for any situation, not just the easy ones.

I know that, but it’s been nearly twenty minutes. Something should’ve happened by now, unless Jane’s contact is unreliable.

Then Kai and his team turned away from the open field surrounded by trees and changed directions. From experience, Nikki knew there was a lake nearby. But would Kai really take them away from the leaked location?

Her dragon growled.
Look.

Sure enough, Kai touched his back talons together, which meant to follow. Even if the knights had cracked the dragon signals, they wouldn’t think anything of the order.

Yet Nikki’s gut told her the order was for her, Aaron, and the others too.

Looking around, she spotted Aaron about ten feet away. Careful to move without making a sound, Nikki approached Stonefire’s second-in-command. Aaron frowned, but she motioned for him to lean down. When his ear was in front of her mouth, she whispered, “We should follow him.”

Nikki moved her head and Aaron whispered back, “The plan is to stay here. Unless you received a different order from Bram or the DDA, we should stay in position.”

Nikki replied, “I mean no disrespect, Aaron, but I’ve been working with Kai for nearly two years. He wants us to follow. There’s a lake nearby. The dragons are tired and need a rest. If the knights are aware of dragon training patterns, they’ll know to wait until the dragons rest at the lake before they attack.”

Aaron moved to study her, his brown eyes scrutinizing her own. Finally he moved back to her ear and whispered, “Take two others with you and follow him. I have a spare two-way radio in my pack and can call the DDA if need be.”

With a nod, Nikki moved through the forest, tapping Seb and another Protector, Brenna, to follow her. Since Nikki had seniority, they obeyed without question.

They moved as quickly as they could without making much noise. A car engine turned over in the distance. Meeting Seb and then Brenna’s eyes, she mouthed, “Dragon Knights.”

They had no hope of catching them on foot, but Nikki wasn’t about to give up. She’d trained in this forest for years and knew every shortcut they could take to reach the lake.

As she blazed a path, Nikki only hoped they could make it in time. Kai might be skilled, but without DDA support, Kai and his team could be taken if the knights had any sort of weaponry.

Picking up her pace, Nikki pushed away her doubts. If there was an attack, Kai would hold off until help arrived. She would radio the DDA now, but a false alert might damage the tentative trust Stonefire had earned with the agency.

No, Nikki needed to be 100 percent certain the knights were near the lake, so she pushed herself harder. The dragon hunters had bested her once and Nikki wasn’t about to allow the Dragon Knights to win.

~~~

Kai stood on a rock at the edge of the lake and kept one eye on his team and his other eye on the trees. Even though the ten dragons on his team were all well-trained and seasoned fighters, he still didn’t like putting them in danger. If the knights had a gun that could shoot electrical blasts, they could all be taken out in a matter of seconds.

His beast grunted.
Stop worrying. You’re not acting like yourself.

Kai was tempted to brush off his dragon’s words, but decided to tell the truth.
Our possible future with Jane is riding on the success of this mission.
 

She will stay.

He paused and added,
She’d better. After having her fire and sass in our life, I don’t want to go back to the way it was.

At least you’re admitting it now. That’s progress.

Bloody dragon. Do you have to throw everything back in my face?

Of course. Otherwise you’ll get too cocky.

Before Kai could reply, an engine in the distance caught his attention. Motioning for his team leader to take charge, Kai jumped into the air and beat his wings until he had a clear view of the surroundings.

One road wound through the forest to the lake. Yet the road was empty.

The engine noise drew nearer.

Scanning the lake, Kai didn’t see any boats, either. That only left one possibility—the knights could be riding dirt bikes along the edge of the forest, out of sight.

Just as he began to descend, a shot fired from the trees at his team below. While dragonhide was tough, armor piercing bullets could cause a lot of damage.

He glanced down and saw his team leader, Quinn, giving orders. Trusting Quinn, Kai swooped toward the road and landed.

With no bikes, cars, or men nearby, he imagined his legs and forearms shifting back into limbs, his snout shrinking into his nose, and his wings merging with his back. The second he was in human form, Kai dashed toward the trees and headed in the direction of the sounds of gunfire.

Due to years of training, Kai didn’t so much as flinch at the rocks and sticks under his bare feet. The hard part was not running full tilt so that he could retain the element of surprise.

Even if they saw him land in the distance, they had no idea he’d shifted and was in the forest.

The sound of guns drew nearer until Kai could make out some light-colored t-shirts. For all their planning, the Dragon Knights weren’t soldiers and had overlooked camouflage.

A dragon’s cry roared out, but Kai pushed aside his worry. If he didn’t take down or distract the shooters, more dragons would be injured.

Kai jumped and took hold of the branch above before swinging his body up. Crouched on the branch, he took in the position of the three shooters. They were close enough together that he could easily take them, provided they didn’t shoot him down first.

His dragon snorted.
They don’t stand a chance against us.

Swiftly yet silently, Kai flung himself toward the nearest shooter and tackled him to the ground. Taking the strangely shaped gun out of the human’s hand, he flung it behind him. With a punch to the back of the head, the male went still.

Another tried to tackle him, but Kai smacked the back of his head into the man’s nose. The human cried out and Kai took the split-second advantage to use the momentum of his body to toss the man in front of him. The human crashed into the tree with an audible crack. He didn’t get up.

The last shooter fired and Kai dove to the side, undeterred by the scratches from the debris on the forest floor. With a growl, he jumped to a crouch. From behind a tree, he peeked around the corner. The human shot at him, and Kai moved back to safety.

Even though he was naked and hiding behind a tree, he would think of something.

Just as he calculated if he had enough space to shift into a dragon or not, a purple dragon crashed through the trees from above and grabbed the human with her talons. The dragon tossed the human against a tree and he fell silent.

Kai nodded at Nikki in dragon form and then motioned up for her to fly back to the others.

Crouching low, Nikki jumped high into the air and just managed to clear the treetops so she could flap her wings enough to rise into the sky.

He brushed off the dirt from his chest and thighs as he confiscated all the weapons he could find. Two of the humans were dead, so he ripped a strip off one’s t-shirt and secured the remaining knight’s hands behind his back.

The sound of helicopters drew near. It was most likely the DDA, come to smoke out the knights from the forest.

Kai retrieved the three strange-looking guns and ran back toward the road. He had no idea what the DDA would use to contain the knights and he sure as hell wasn’t going to stick around to find out.

Running as fast as he could, Kai weaved through the trees and under forest. The second he hit the road, he lay down the guns and imagined his wings extending from his back, his fingers growing into talons, and his face turning into a snout and ears.

The helicopters were nearly overhead when he plucked the guns up with his back talons and jumped into the air. By the time he was three hundred feet above the road, the DDA helicopters began dropping canisters that left behind a trail of smoke as they fell.

Not wanting to inhale the chemicals, Kai flapped his wings and headed back to his team. The knights might be the DDA’s problem now, but at least one of his dragons were hurt. Kai needed to take care of them.

Only once he ensured everyone’s safety could he return to Stonefire, and to Jane.

~~~

Inside the Protectors’ central command building, Jane paced back and forth, clenching and releasing her fingers. The wait was killing her.

She trusted the source who had leaked the information to the Dragon Knights, but there were a million reasons why the knights might dismiss it. For all she knew, Kai and his team would find nothing. Not only that, her actions might’ve destroyed the tentative trust between Stonefire and the Department of Dragon Affairs.

She paced harder.

Bram’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “If you wear a hole in the rug, then you’re going to have to replace it, lass.”

Jane stopped in her tracks and frowned. “How can you be so calm?”

Bram shrugged. “I have bigger things to worry about. Besides, I trust Kai with not only my life, but my son and Evie’s as well. If the Dragon Knights show up, he’ll take care of them. He’s one of the best Protectors in the world.”

Jane clenched her fingers again. “You have to say that, but it’s not helping.”

Bram opened his mouth to reply, but Evie hung up her phone call and interrupted him. “Arabella wants a video conference.”

Jane asked, “Care to share a little bit more information about why?”

Evie raised an eyebrow. “Someone’s a tad bit testy.” Evie looked to Bram. “There is no doubt, Bram. I now have naming rights to our baby.”

There was a twinkle in Bram’s eyes. “We’ll see, love, we’ll see.”

Jane let out a sigh. “What are you talking about? Is everything all right? What does Arabella know?”

Evie looked back to Jane. “We’ll find out together.”

Jane growled, but nodded. “Fine.”

Bram chuckled. “You’re starting to sound like Kai.” Jane glared and Bram put up his hands. “All right, all right.” He looked toward the Protectors’ IT specialist, Nathan. “Patch Arabella through.”

The young dragonman nodded and Arabella MacLeod’s scarred face appeared on the big screen TV on the wall. Her dark brown eyes darted around the room before going back to Bram’s. “You sure you want the reporter to hear this?”

Jane opened her mouth, but Bram beat her to it. “Jane is one of us now. I trust her not to leak confidential information.”

Under normal circumstances, Jane would feel grateful and tell Bram thanks. However, her man was out fighting against who knew what kind of weaponry, so Jane barked out, “Just tell us what you know, Arabella.”

Arabella raised her brows, but looked away from Jane to Bram who shrugged. “She’s worried about Kai.”