Page 1 of Cruel Daddy Dragon

Chapter 1 - Rufus

The crisp, brisk wind glances over the top of my scales, carrying with it the scent I’m hunting.Eclipse…My muscles tense as I prowl, keeping low to the ground as I wind around the snow-covered trees. Then, he comes into view. A black dragon coils around the trees, also smelling the air. But I’m downwind of him; he won’t smell me. I stalk behind him, treading lightly so the snow doesn’t reveal me. Soon, I’m close enough for his tail to almost hit me. Then I strike.

The dragon snarls and claws at me as I hit his back—but it’s already too late. I sink my teeth into his neck and tear. Blood fills my mouth, and he falls limp in a moment.

“That’s for destroying Soleilus’s base,” I growl to the corpse as he falls.

We, the Candara team, weren’t there to protect our own home when it was attacked and destroyed, sending our members fleeing to Greyson Ridge. This is the next best thing. I suppose there’s a possibility itcouldn’thave been Eclipse, but considering all they’ve put us through, there’s no doubt inmymind.

As I spit the blood from my mouth, a voice rips through the air behind me:“Rufus!”

It's the Alpha tone. A chill moves through my body before I turn to face him. Cyrus lands by my side, glaring at me.

“What are you doing?!” he snarls,“We’ve talked about this!”

His tone sends another chill down my spine, and a touch of adrenaline scatters through me.

“Sorry, Alpha,” I answer automatically, “But I was sure that he was moving threateningly toward Greyson Ridge.”

“That doesn’t matter! That—” Cyrus breaks off with an annoyed sigh that turns into a growl, “Never mind. I’ll burn this corpse, and we’ll get back to the Miller Mansion before you can jeopardize the plan anymore.”

He does just that, and all evidence that there was a dragon in this forest sizzles away into nothing. With that, Cyrus turns another harsh glare on me.

“Let’s go,” he grunts.

I bow my head, and Cyrus takes flight. I follow after him. As we glide through the air, Cyrus sweeps closer to me in the air and asks, shouting over the howling wind:

“Rufus, do you understand what we’re doing here?”

“Yeah, I do,” I answer.

“Then why are you attacking Eclipse members when we’re supposed to be keeping a lower profile than ever?” Cyrus snaps, “We need to be giving them the impression that Soleilus is weakened after our base was attacked. We need them to think that we’re hiding in Greyson Ridge for no other reason than to lick our wounds—we need them to think we’re not a threat right now!”

A growl slips past my teeth, and the Alpha cocks his head at me inquisitively.

“I’m sorry, it’s just killing me that those bastards are slithering around here like they own this territory!” I grumble.

“I know,” Cyrus admits, “I can barely stand it either. But we’re losing the battle to win the war. If Julie and Lena can finish that map to all the keys they’ve been making, then we’ll have access to powerful enough relics to get our strength back andthen some. Then, and only then, Eclipse will get what’s coming to them.”

Another growl of frustration escapes my throat, but I know he’s right. The amount of power dragon shifters, and, by extension, our dragon clans, have depends on the number of relics made of charged metals we have in our possession, and there’s powerful magic in Greyson Ridge. Since we’ve come down, so many magical things have been happening—humans like Lena and Julie have discovered latent powers and started having visions, dragons have suddenly mate-bonded with humans,and even Naga seems to have come back… All signs of powerful magic.

He’s also right that our best move is not to tip off just what we’ve found to Eclipse. They clearly knowsomethingis here, but I think if they knew exactlyhow muchis here, they wouldn’t be satisfied to prowl outside the borders, leaving us alone in the human portion of the town. No, they’d descend like a force of nature and take us out, the Council and risk of being spotted by humans be damned. I know Cyrus is right in his orders to hunker down, allow his and Kaius’s psychic mates to find the keys to the more powerful relics, and do everything in our power not to let Eclipse know that we’ve found something.

I know he’s right.But smelling them everywhere is driving me insane…

“Rufus,” Cyrus says, distracting me from my thoughts, “I need to know that you’re going to stick to the plan. No attacking Eclipse members unless they attack you or if they’re threatening someone in the middle of the town. If you can’t do that, then you can’t go on patrols anymore.”

“I can stick to the plans, Alpha,” I promise begrudgingly.

“Good. I need my team on the same page,” he replies, “Once we have those keys in hand, we’ll be able to put everything right.”

I nod at him, and we continue onward to the Miller Mansion—that place we thought we’d stay in temporarily before going home, but after the attack on our base, has now become the only home we know.

As we swoop down toward the mansion, the talking and laughter reaches us before I can see who’s laughing. When we get closer, I can see the clusters of different people, all spread out in the warm afternoon sunlight. Battle with the Eclipse member aside, it’s a lazy, pleasant day. When we get lower, I can distinguish the perfect split between the people, with groups among the different halves. Amelie and the other dragons from Soleilus are still much more comfortable with each other than any of the Greyson residents. On the other half, closer to the back porch of the mansion, is the book club: Julie and Lena alongside Georgia, Peyton, and… Sarah…

My eye is drawn to her immediately, taking in every curve of her smooth face as she talks and smiles with her friends. She tosses her glossy blonde ponytail as she throws her head back and laughs a pretty, surprisingly delicate giggle for her strong demeanor. As she leans forward to answer, my eyes drift down to her lips… her rose-pink lips…

I shake myself off and keep looking around. The other members of the Candara team seem to have set up ax-throwing again. Kaius and Orion throw the axes, and Milo and Evander lounge on the porch in easy conversation.

---