Page 14 of Cruel Daddy Dragon

Lena surveys my eyes for a moment and then smiles gently.

“Yeah,” she replies, “I bet you will.”

I don’t know what she saw when she looked at me like that, but she sounds reassured. She turns to join Cyrus. Then, she pauses and calls over her shoulder: “Oh, congrats on your sudden marriage, by the way!”

I laugh gently, and then Kaius appears by my side.

“Yes,your marriage!” he cackles, “You’remarriednow?! You just went and got married without any of us?! Even Cyrus had us there when he married Lena!”

“I told you,” I grumble, “there was no time.”

Kaius starts cackling, throwing his head back as he laughs.

“Oh, I’msure!” he replies sarcastically, “I’m sure there’s nothing else going on as to why you wouldn’t tell any of us about this!”

“What does that mean?” I snap.

“Oh, come on!” Kaius cackles, “We recognize that look by now!”

“Turns outyouwere the next one to mate-bond,” Milo says, appearing next to me, “And here I was thinking it’d be Orion since he was deflecting earlier.”

“Yeah! That means I won the bet!” Kaius cheers, “Evander owes me $100!”

“Youbeton me being the next one to mate-bond?” I demand.

“It had to be someone,” Kaius says, shrugging, “And I was getting less sure about Evander and his mysterious admirer, so the second best bet to make some money was you!”

You bastard—!

Cyrus and Evander walk back, and we all stand to attention when they come over. Cyrus looks over at Orion, who’s distracted by a notebook he has.

“Come over, Orion. We have an announcement.”

He nods and joins the rest of us. Lena stands near us.

“We have decided,” Cyrus declares, “that we should report this activity to the Council. This is against the fundamental rules of dragon shifters, and therefore, we couldfind the Council as our allies against Eclipse if they agree with the audacity of attacking humans in broad daylight.”

Everyone nods solemnly.

“Evander and I will go alone to the council,” Cyrus continues, “That means the remainder of you need to protect Lena, Julie, and the map they’re making together as top priority over patrols and other tasks.”

“What about Sarah?” I ask.

The words slip past me before I can stop them. Kaius smirks and nudges Milo, who gives him a knowing smile. Cyrus nods slowly.

“Yes, Sarah will be added to our list of top priority targets to protect—at least until we can figure out why they might be targeting her,” he replies to me, “Do what you can to keep Sarah close to Lena and Julie, just so you aren’t too divided.”

“I can try and help with that,” Lena adds.

“Thanks, Lena,” Cyrus says, looking over to her with a soft smile before his face drops back into stoicism as he addresses the rest of us: “Is that understood? The girls and mapmustbe protected at all costs. Understand?”

“Understood,” the Candara team chants back.

He doesn’t have to tell me twice. I’m actually looking forward to getting back to Sarah and protecting her. Iwantto protect her.

Oh no… they’re right, aren’t they? I’ve mate-bonded, haven’t I?

Goddamn it!

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