The Water Dragons Box Set: Books 1 - 4 (Complete)

by Charlene Hartnady

  “You are right about the talking part.” John nodded. “We’re sure as shit going to have long conversations. I look forward to it.” He pushed the gun deeper into Sydney’s side and she whimpered, her face a mask of terror. Her breaths were shallow, like she was too scared to move, and Paige couldn’t blame her. “Unfortunately though, the women stay. I suspect a dragon such as yourself will be hard to break.”

  Kelly’s sobs grew louder, her shoulders shook. Paige rubbed a hand against her back, trying to keep her calm. At the same time, she geared up to push Kelly on the ground if all hell broke loose.

  “There are more of my kind right behind me.” The shifter spoke in a calm, easy fashion. “You won’t get away. I suggest you surrender now.”

  Was he bluffing? There were definitely more shifters but were they close enough to be of any help? Again, his dark eyes gave nothing away. It was like a game of poker with their lives at stake.

  “I will give you the same two choices as I gave the women. Come willingly…Mike, if you will…” His colleague fumbled to undo a clip on his belt, producing a pair of handcuffs from a small pouch. “Put those on. Do it now and none of you need to get hurt.”

  The shifter’s lips pressed together in a hard line and he folded his arms. “Why would I do that when the others are close? I plan to do everything in my power to delay you so that they can catch up to us. They will kill you when they do.”

  “Is that so?” John said, unfazed. “I will kill her if you don’t put those on.”

  “No, please!” Sydney begged. “Please don’t. Just do what he says. Do it!” she yelled the last.

  Flood shook his head. “I’m sorry, female.”

  “Put the cuffs on!” Tim shouted.

  “No!” Flood shook his head. “You need to know that if you hurt any of these females, it will be worse for you in the long run.”

  “It’s on you if that happens.”

  The shifter shook his head, his eyes hardening. “Bullshit!”

  “Just do as we say.”

  “No!” Evenly delivered. There was no give there at all.

  John sighed. “You asked for it.” He nodded once in Tim’s direction. The man raised his firearm and aimed it at the shifter.

  There was a clicking noise. Tim cursed and fidgeted with his gun. John cursed even louder.

  “Don’t!” the shifter growled, lifting his hands. “You’ll regre—”

  It all happened so quickly. There was a deafening bang. The shifter grabbed his chest. Blood flowed freely between his fingers. He muttered something Paige couldn’t make out because Kelly was screaming so loud. Then he fell to his knees, his eyes were still narrowed. He looked angry. More blood flowed. The shifter coughed and a red spray erupted from his mouth.

  Paige screamed too, she couldn’t believe what she was seeing. Haley was muttering something that sounded like ‘Oh god! Oh god!’ but it was hard to hear. Sydney’s eyes widened to about the size of dinner plates.

  Paige pressed her lips together to stifle her own screams while Kelly’s just got louder.

  The wounded man’s eyes rolled back as he fell forward, face-planting into the ground.

  “Shut her up!” John yelled, his gun was still pointed at where the shifter had been standing moments ago.

  Mike gripped Kelly’s arm and shook her. “Quiet!” he yelled, but it only made Kelly scream louder still. He slapped her. “Shut the fuck up or join him.”

  Kelly clamped a hand over her mouth, trying to stifle the screams and doing an okay job of it. Her eyes were locked on the body on the ground.

  “Look at me,” Paige instructed. As soon as Kelly turned her way, she was able to get some control back. Her whole body shook. Her eyes were wide, her skin impossibly pale.

  “You idiot!” Mike yelled.

  “What the fuck was that?” John shoved Sydney away. “Your safety was on. Your fucking safety.” He was shouting at Tim, who looked stricken.

  “I’m sorry,” he stammered. “I…I…it…”

  “Save it!” John barked. “You had better fucking pray he survives a silver bullet to the chest. You were the one with the regular bullets. You were the one who was supposed to shoot him.”

  “Yeah, to slow him down, not kill him.” Mike shook his head.

  “I almost had the safety off,” Tim mumbled. “You should have waited.”

  “Do you know how quick these bastards are?” John yelled. “We’ll discuss this later. We need to get out of here before we’re ambushed.” John looked around them. For the first time, she saw fear in his eyes. It gave her hope. Maybe the others were close enough to save them. The big guy was a goner. He had to be. No one could survive a bullet to the chest without serious medical intervention and even then… She felt bad for him. Surely he must have known the odds were against him. Why did he approach them in the first place?

  “Realistically, I only need two of you,” John said. “That means I can shoot two and still be A-okay.”

  Kelly began sobbing all over again. Sydney buried her face in her hands, whimpering. Haley was behind her but it sounded like she might be crying too. Paige felt too shell-shocked to cry herself.

  “Now you come willingly. No more bullshit, or you die. Do we understand each other?” Mike spoke this time.

  Paige nodded.

  “What’s that?” John asked.

  They all mumbled or croaked the word ‘yes’.

  “Much better. You,” he pointed at her, using his gun, “and you,” he pointed at Sydney. “Grab his legs. Mike and Tim, you take one arm each. Let’s hustle.”

  The shifter was heavy. Halfway to the chopper, the other two women were enlisted to help as well, each taking a side. It took what felt like forever but was in reality no more than a couple of minutes to get him in the chopper.

  The shifter lay sprawled on the floor of it now. His chest wasn’t moving but he still felt warm to the touch. Was he dead? He looked dead. No more blood flowed from the wound.

  “Cuff him!” John yelled as he donned a headset.

  “I doubt it’s necessary.” Tim grinned. “Fucker looks dead.” He chuckled.

  “Do it!” John’s eyes narrowed. “No more fuck-ups.”

  Tim’s jaw tightened but he nodded, putting the cuffs on the shifter.

  Mike turned in his seat. “You ladies ready for some action and a whole lot of adventure?”

  “Please leave us here,” Hayley pleaded.

  “You said that you only need two of us,” Paige tried. “Leave those two behind.” She pointed at Kelly and Hayley.

  “No can do,” John said, as he flicked a few switches.

  “Leave Kelly then.” Paige touched the younger woman’s arm. “Please,” she added, even though she knew being polite wouldn’t help.

  “I must say,” Tim sneered. “I’m quite partial to Kelly. I would hate for her to leave just yet. We still need to get to know one another, don’t we?” He turned to the other woman, who whimpered as Tim winked at her.

  Paige put an arm around Kelly, who shook as she cried softly. The engines fired up and they lifted. It all happened so quickly her stomach lurched.

  “We have incoming!” Mike yelled so loud she could hear him above the engine noise.

  John said something that sounded like, “We prepared for this.” But she couldn’t be sure.

  They all scanned the horizon. Even Kelly, who was still crying, snot dripping from her nose. Water streaming from her eyes in rivulets. Sure enough, two dragons were flying towards them at high speed.

  Her heart beat faster. Did the shifters know that they were inside the helicopter, or would they attack them indiscriminately?

  Mike and John were talking to one another but Paige couldn’t make out what they were saying.

  There was a loud popping sound and the chopper gave a quick shudder. Paige watched in horror as something hit one of the dragons. The creature was torn apart. The second dragon was sent reeling from the blast, half of its wing torn clean off.
It dropped like a rock. They both did.

  Tim cheered, fist pumping the air. “You got ’em!” he shouted.

  A plume of dust rose where the beasts landed in a heap. She felt sick to her stomach. That’s when the tears started. She hated that she was showing weakness but she couldn’t stop. That made three of these beautiful, majestic creatures. Destroyed…and for what? She had a horrible feeling she was about to find out.

  Chapter 3

  They flew for about forty minutes before finally touching down on what looked like a corn farm since there were fields of the stuff all around them. There was a ramshackle house to the far left and several barns scattered about. All of them were old and dilapidated, barring one, which they landed next to.

  “Out.” Mike gestured to them with his gun.

  John was calling for back-up on a two-way radio. The closest barn doors opened and three men emerged. They were wearing the same fatigues.

  “You got one,” one of the men said. “I can’t believe it.”

  “Don’t get too excited.” John shook his head. “I had to shoot it with a silver bullet since genius over here left his safety on.” He pointed at Tim who frowned, looking away.

  “Gus, you take the women. Put them in cell number two. No need for silver bars for them,” John said. “Once you are done locking them up tight, you can help George get the helicopter covered.”

  Gus nodded.

  “The rest of you can carry this son of a bitch to cell six. Tim, you get the lucky job of digging out that bullet before it’s too late. Silver kills these fuckers. We might just be too late as it is.”

  Tim shook his head. “I’m no doctor.”

  “None of us are doctors, dimwit. You shot him, you can fix him. You had better hope he lives.”

  “Dig out the bullet.” Tim nodded. “I can do that.” He smiled cruelly.

  Paige didn’t like the look in his eyes. Didn’t like Tim, full stop. She stepped forward. “I’ll do it,” she volunteered. “I’m a vet’s assistant. I help with surgeries all the time,” she added.

  John looked at her for a good few seconds. She could see he was struggling with a decision.

  “It looks like you need him alive. If that’s the case. I’m your best bet.” She looked him head-on.

  John glanced at Tim and then back at her. He finally nodded, still looking hesitant. “Those three in cell two. You can put her in with the animal. It’s on you now, girly. Better hope it lives.”

  Paige wanted to point out that the shifter was a he and not an it but this was not the right time to argue about something like that. She nodded once, wondering what the hell she had just got herself into. Especially considering the shifter looked dead. If he wasn’t already dead, he wasn’t far from it. She hoped she was wrong about that though.

  Paige watched the three women head inside the barn. Gus kept his gun trained on them. Kelly turned back once or twice. Her eyes were still wide but at least she’d stopped crying. Paige nodded once to try to reassure her. They were going to get out of this. She wasn’t sure how, only that she would work tirelessly to make it happen. Making sure the shifter survived would increase their odds.

  “Let’s go,” Mike pushed the words out as they lifted the shifter. Muscles strained and shook. The men grunted and groaned. She followed as the men carried him in the same direction the women had taken. They shuffled each step, cursing and grunting and cursing some more. The barn looked like any other barn you would find on any other ranch. This one was filled with bales of hay. Thing was, she hadn’t seen any livestock. Far to the rear of the building between bales stacked high, they arrived at stairs that led down. If you weren’t close enough, you wouldn’t even see there was anything there. The way the bales had been stacked made it look like they were trying to hide them.

  She looked behind her. George was the only one still outside. Maybe she could…

  “Follow us down,” Tim called from over his shoulder. “Don’t try anything,” he added. “You won’t get far and I’d enjoy punishing you.” He chuckled.

  “Quit fucking around and help carry this thing,” one of the other guys said between grunts. “The bitch isn’t going anywhere. Are you, honey?”

  Nice bunch of guys.

  Paige didn't bother answering. She followed, her feet felt heavy. She almost took a step back when she reached the landing at the bottom. The area downstairs was reasonably large, depending on where the doors led, it was most likely bigger than the barn itself. There was a big open-plan section that housed rows of cells… she quickly counted ten. Five on one side and five on the other. Each cell had a mattress to one side. A basin, toilet and faucet coming out of the wall on the other. Hopefully, these men didn't plan on housing them there for long, considering that there was zero privacy.

  The three women were huddled together on the mattress. Kelly was crying softly again, Hayley hugged her. Sydney looked angry, but her eyes held a good dose of fear as well.

  “Keep moving!” one of the guys yelled from ahead of her. She looked up just as they were entering a cell. She couldn’t see inside it from this angle.

  “We’ll be okay,” Sydney urged.

  “We should stick together,” Kelly said between sobs.

  “I need to help him,” Paige said quickly, moving off before she lost her nerve.

  They threw the shifter onto the mattress as she approached the cell.

  "You sure you want to be caged in with an animal?" one of the men chuckled, leering at her. "You're attractive. I wouldn't trust it if I were you."

  One thing was for sure, she would rather be locked in with a shifter than any of these guys. Anger burned in her gut. “Him and he, not it!” she said as the other men left, leaving her with this asshole.

  “Oh really now?” The guy approached her and she had to work not to step back. “Do you know it?” He pointed at the shifter. “Have you fucked one of them?” His gaze dropped to her breasts and she felt distinctly uncomfortable. “Maybe you need a real man to show you what fucking is all about.”

  Shit!

  Shit!

  “I n-need to get to work on r-removing that bullet,” she stammered. Keep it together! “If he dies, your boss won’t be happy.”

  “John is not our boss,” he announced before pushing out a breath. “Our real boss will be here soon enough.” Thankfully, he moved out of the way of the entrance and allowed her to go inside.

  Paige dropped down to her knees next to the fallen shifter as the door clanged shut. He didn’t look good. There was blood at the corners of his mouth. He was very pale and his eyes were closed. She put two fingers on his neck, feeling for a pulse. “I think he’s dead,” she said before leaning closer to him. Her ear against his mouth, trying to feel and listen for breathing. Nothing. "I'm sure he's dead," she said again, sounding shriller this time. The poor guy didn't deserve to be dead when all he'd done was try to help them. He had to have known he was in danger and yet he had marched in any way. She felt sad for him.

  “Shifters don’t die easily,” the guy disagreed. She looked up and saw he was smirking.

  “Well this one is gone,” she countered just as Mike returned. He swiped a card and entered the cell, dropping a bag on the floor next to her.

  “It’s a first aid kit,” he said.

  “I think it might be a little late for that.” Her lip trembled and her eyes stung with the need to cry.

  “Get that bullet out as quickly as possible and he just might make it.”

  “Didn’t you hear me?” She shook her head. “He doesn’t have a pulse.”

  “That doesn’t mean anything. Get the silver out of him and he should come back.”

  Come back? Was this guy for real?

  Mike handed her a knife. “Don’t think of trying something stupid. If you do, one of those women will get it. Dig that slug out and dress his wound. You heard John, if he doesn’t make it, it’s on you.”

  “I’m not the one who shot him.” She shook her head. What wou
ld these guys do to her if the shifter didn’t make it? What was she thinking? He was already dead. Most likely had been for a while.

  “You did say you could save him.” Mike raised his brows.

  “No, I didn’t. I said I was his best chance at survival and that was when I thought he was still alive. It’s too late.”

  “Same thing,” Mike said. “It might not be too late. Just do as I say and dig that slug out. He has super-human healing abilities that won’t work while he’s in contact with silver. At least, that’s what the boss told us.”

  “Your boss?” She frowned. “How would your boss know anything about dragon shifters.”

  He shrugged. “I’m not paid to ask questions. Do as you are told,” he ordered as he left.

  It wasn’t the same thing, but she knew she may as well have been speaking to a brick wall. There were more pressing issues at hand though, like trying to save the poor shifter.

  It was true, she was a vet's assistant and had assisted in plenty of surgeries. ‘Assisted' being the operative word there. She was the one who shaved the area, disinfected the surgery site and handed the veterinarian the instruments. She had never performed actual surgery before. There had only been one surgery that required the removal of a bullet. One ever. That had been several years ago.

  She opened the first aid kit. Her hands shook. A person didn’t just come back from the dead. This was crazy. In a strange way though, it was her one saving grace in the situation. At least she wasn’t going to accidentally kill him. He was already dead, so too late for that! Paige rummaged through the bag. Thankfully it was well stocked.

  She needed to try to save him even if it was futile. Maybe these men were right. They seemed to know a few things about dragon shifters. She was going to do everything as by the book as possible, even with these limited supplies, because, even though the first aid kit was well stocked, it was still only a first aid kit. First, she took all the items she thought she might need out. She poured some distilled water over the wound to wash away some of the blood so that she would be able to see what she was doing better. The entry wound was small. So deceptive. The damage would all be on the inside. The wound was located an inch to the left of the sternum, a couple of inches below his pec.