Page 72 of Cruel Daddy Dragon

“Well, at least we know that if someone calls the police on the “creepy cult”, we have the sheriff on our side!”

There was more laughter, but now they’re looking at me, and I force a smile and a laugh. They go back to their conversation—Lena, Julie and Kaius. Luckily, Milo and Orion seem to be talking about other things, and I don’t have to fake a smile for long. Rufus’s beaming jade eyes haven’t left me since I warned him in the cave, but I don’t mind him. I know that Ican trust him to just wait until I’m ready to tell him. Soon, we’re inside the house, and the chattering three start to walk away from us.

“Kaius!” I call quietly, but he keeps walking, not hearing me.

Rufus’s arm snaps forward and grabs him. Kaius whips around, and Rufus says:

“Actually, we need to talk to you, Kai,” he says intensely, “You can join Julie and Lena later.”

He says the last part pointedly, and Kaius nods.

“Okay,” he says, and then looks over to Julie and Lena, “I’m sure it’s gonna be boring stuff. You girls go ahead, and I’ll come back when we finish our meeting.”

“Okay,” Julie says gently.

Lena just nods at him and keeps walking away. Julie joins her, and they keep walking, talking excitedly.

For a long second, my gut twists in a rare jolt of jealousy;it really feels like Lena’s become so much better friends with Julie than with me nowadays…

“So, what’s this about?” Kaius asks, drawing my attention back.

“It’s Sarah,” Rufus says, then looks over to the other two: “Milo! O! Can you guys come over here for a moment?”

“What’s going on?” Orion asks, his voice serious.

“Yeah, what is this?” Milo chimes in.

“It’s Sarah,” Rufus says again.

Then, he steps back to look at me fully. The others gather around me, all these burly dragon men staring down at me. It’sdefinitely intimidating, but I suck in a breath through my nose and put on the police officer tone:

“Back in the cave, I had a vision,” I say, “I didn’t want to say it right then and there because I don’t want to stress Lena out more than necessary, but I saw a vision about Cyrus and Evander. A huge number of Eclipse dragons attacked them while they flew, and they were both torn apart. I watched them get killed.”

Every dragon reacts the same: they all lean back, their eyes widened for a moment. Then, their postures and faces darken. Their eyes turn sharp, their jaws tense up, and their muscles flex for the fight already.

“Where was this?!” Orion demands.

“I don’t know,” I answer, “It was up in the sky somewhere, so there weren’t any markings I could use as reference.”

“How long have we got?” Rufus asks

“Not entirely sure, but the sun looked like it was hanging low in the sky, so I’m going to guess it was evening time.” I cringe at my own vagueness as I add, “But with that being said, I don’t exactly have the most control over my own visions yet, so I couldn’t tell you what time or day exactly. Every vision I’ve had has been the same day so far, but the first one was only a few minutes away, and the next one was nearly half an hour away, so I can’t really tell.”

Milo looks grimly between all of them.

“Cyrus and Evander are meant to come back today,” he says stonily.

He lets the statement drop into the center of us all like a bomb. There’s a moment of bristling, tense silence before someone speaks again.

“We need to figure out who’s going,” Orion says, “If they’re getting attacked at the time they’re supposed to be coming back, then we don’t have the time to get Amelie or anyone else. It’s going to have to be us. How many can we afford to leave behind to guard Lena, Julie, and Sarah?”

“Well, we can split in two,” Kaius suggests, “Cyrus said he wanted two around the girls at all times. That leaves two of us to go.”

“We could keep it the same split we did before,” Milo suggests, “I’d be most comfortable ifIwere here with Lena, considering how far along in her pregnancy she is.”

“You and Rufus should go,” Kaius says, “You’re probably the better fighters anyway.”

“You’re just saying that because you want to protect Julie, but you’re not the only one with a mate to protect!” Rufus snaps suddenly.

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