Page 66 of Surge of Ice

“Then don’t do that!”

“We wouldn’t be able to help ourselves.” He lifts a hand when she looks like she’s about to go off. “Just think about it, notthrough the lens of your pride, but logically, and we’ll come back to this. No one is telling you no, we’re just asking you to think about it.”

It’s awkwardly quiet when I say, “So, potentially, it could be us three against three dragons who are better at being dragons. How do we tip the scales in our favor?”

“What about if we used fighter jets to help?” Granger asks, then clarifies for Zane. “They’re like giant metal birds that can shoot hot balls of metal at anyone we want.”

Zane seems to consider this for a moment, then nods. “With the help of hot balls, and some practice, it might work.”

Granger snickers under his breath.

My hands close into fists, and I take a deep breath. “Alright then, they’ll focus on the brainy side of things, and we’ll learn to fight as dragons, with jets helping us out.”

Zane nods. “I just hope you are quick learners.”

Me too.

TWENTY-FOUR

Samantha

I walk through my bedroom,wearing my comfy pajamas and drying my hair from the shower with my towel. It had been another long day of learning to be dragons with Zane. The more we flew with him, the more I realized how right he was. Zane is all dragon, and we’re… we’re all human.

My thoughts go back to watching Zane fight with Aydan a few days ago. Zane had opened his mouth and let loose so much ice that Aydan’s wings had frozen, and he’d hit the ocean,hard. He didn’t stay down long. Zane wasn’t trying to hurt him, but I could hear Aydan’s words in my mind. He was shocked. He didn’t even see it coming.

Zane had simply asked why he hadn’t thought to fight ice with fire. Aydan had explained that he just hadn’t thought about using his fire. The truth was, I don’t know if any of us would have thought about it in that situation. It just didn’t come naturally to us.

They’d tried again today. This time, things went better. Aydan used his fire, and Zane used his ice, and they battled for far longer before taking a break, without anyone ending up hurt.

Evander was no better. At one point, Evander had been chasing Zane. Zane dove down into the water, and Evander, not having enough time to pull up, had gone in after him. But then, Zane had ended up on Evander’s back in the water.

Zane had warned him that ice dragons were at home in the water. No fire dragon should ever enter the water with an enemy ice dragon, even a beta one like the enemy dragons. I think the ease with which Zane had taken control of Evander in the water had frightened Evander, proving to all of us that Zane knew what he was talking about.

And me? It’d been another brutal day. Every day of training had been. It was as if Zane had made it his mission to gently get me to realize that a female dragon has no place in a battle.

Something he’s been successful at teaching me.

I had learned that compared to the males I was smaller, weaker, and more fragile. Being faster, maybe even smarter, helped me toavoidfights with the male dragons, which was a skill in itself. But if I was forced into a battle with them? My best bet was to run. And I hate that my skill is that I can run away faster.

Even Dahlia, who had initially been all gung-ho about woman power and me helping to take down the asshole dragons, had gotten quieter. At dinner last night, she’d started talking about what we’d do together when the guys went to fight.

So she’s even lost faith that I can do this.

None of them had said it today, or any other day, but when they talked about plans on how to take Balor, Than, and Kek down, they always discussed it like the three of them would be going.

I didn’t correct them.

It burns my pride, but they’re right that I’m probably a liability when our entire goal is to attack a group of male dragons. I don’t want anyone to get hurt because they’re trying to protect me against bigger, stronger opponents.

Maybe I’m growing up. Possibly maturing.I don’t like it.

The buzzer on my door sounds. I sigh and toss the towel on the back of a chair, then go and open the door. It’s Aydan, looking freshly showered. His wet, blond hair falls over one eye.

“Can I come in?”

My eyes rake his gray pajama pants and white t-shirt with more than a little interest. “Sure, what’s up?

He comes in and instantly pulls me into his arms. I breathe him in and feel him do the same. I don’t know why, but this eases some of the worry inside of me. Aydan is strong, tough, and incredible. He can handle fighting the other dragons.

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