Page 87 of Cast By Flames (Dragon's Breath)
Rayna was working to re-braid her hair. “Well, now you have. Better late than never.”
The pendragon grunted.
“Anyway, of course, you can come,” I told the female slayer.
Galadon and Lorcan joined us, with the latter cocking his head. “What’s going on?”
“The coalition and Straegud are almost here,” I explained. “We’re about to head out and meet them.”
The Faegud pendragon’s son had a twinkle in his eyes. “We’ll come as well. I’m sure Galadon will be happy to carry Rayna if she requires assistance.”
“Why don’t you carry her?” the lone shifter asked.
Lorcan lifted a brow. “She’s almost as frightening as you. I have a child and another on the way, so I cannot risk her wrath if I say the wrong thing. Not to mention, she likes you better.”
Rayna shot a tiny spark of lightning toward his feet, and he jumped. “If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”
“That was not funny,” Lorcan grumbled, moving to the other side of Galadon. “But it proves my point—she’s merciless.”
The lone shifter gave a martyred sigh. “Very well, I will take her, but…” He shot Rayna a warning look. “If you start babbling in my mind, I swear I will create a rain cloud to follow over your head the rest of the day.”
“You can do that?” she asked, eyes rounding in surprise.
He gave her a dark look. “I’ve done it once or twice before.”
“Oh, good. I really need to wash my hair, especially after getting this gash on my head that bled all over.” She pointed at the dried blood at the base of her skull. “If you could get the rain started, then at least I won’t look so horrible when we meet the Straegud. It’s been ages since I’ve seen them, and I’d like to look nice.”
Galadon let out a string of curses in the dragon language and turned to the Craegud pendragon. “I think I prefer the murderous slayers.”
Wren chuckled.
***
We stood near a Tinker Air Force Base hanger as Humvees, armored personnel carriers, tankers, towed artillery pieces, and flatbed trucks with heavier military vehicles and equipment moved across the runway toward us. I couldn’t see the end of the convoy because it was so long. They parked in neat rows, and soldiers began piling out.
Nadine Richards, who we’d picked up before coming, greeted them. She was the highest civilian leader in the area, which was why we’d brought her and the one who took the lead on Tinker’s preparations. Justin and Miles stood with her to provide guidance since they had the most experience with the military.
Falcon and Sabryn also helped by directing troops to the dorms with bathrooms since we had anticipated many would be looking for a place to relieve themselves after their long drive. Thankfully, the town council had found a way to connect water and electricity to the base. I didn’t ask how they made it happen with less than two months’ notice, but many miracles had been performed lately. Necessity tends to make people work harder to overcome obstacles.
Colonel Melvin strode up to Aidan and me after speaking with Nadine. “I’m glad to see you’re alive and well, Bailey.” His gaze ran over my ragged appearance since I’d had no time to clean up. “Or rather, in one piece?”
“We just finished joint training when we got word of your arrival,” I explained.
“Ah, of course.” He nodded. “I’ll look forward to seeing that.”
Aidan cleared his throat.
I glanced at him. “Oh, right. Colonel Melvin, this is my mate, Aidan. He is the pendragon for the Taugud shifter clan.”
They exchanged nods since the commander couldn’t touch him without risking getting burned. Javier would be here in the morning to show the coalition sorcerers how to make the anti-burn potions, and they could use their own slayers’ blood to concoct them. He’d chosen to wait since we didn’t want to throw too much at them until they had a night to settle.
“I’ve looked forward to meeting you,” Aidan said, putting an arm around my shoulders. “Bailey has told me a lot about her time with your people.”
Colonel Melvin’s lips twitched. “As one of our top slayers, we were sorry to lose her, but we understood it was for a good reason.” He turned his gaze to me and lifted a brow. “Is this the father of your son?”
Oh, right, I never told anyone in the coalition the truth about Orion’s father.
“Yes, he is.”
