Forged by Flames: Book 3 (Dragon's Breath Series)

by Susan Illene

  Conrad’s stomach let out a loud growl, agreeing with that assessment. He rubbed at it. “Please tell me it’ll be ready soon.”

  Kade nodded. “He started on it a couple of hours ago with a couple of rabbits I caught when it warmed up a bit this afternoon, and he’s using some fresh vegetables I brought with me from the fortress. Almost thought about eating without you since I could use something warm in my stomach. Try to make it quicker next time—we can’t afford delays like this.”

  He received a lot of sour looks and glares, which he ignored. While we were having our hearts ripped out by possibly dead relatives and making the most difficult decisions of our lives, Aidan’s uncle had been out hunting rabbits. Who cared if it was a little cold? But somehow he’d been the one to suffer while waiting. I was half tempted to throttle him, but I was too tired and hungry to bother at the moment.

  “Is there enough room in the house for everyone to sleep?” Danae asked.

  Kade nodded. “I’m all rested up, and if Miles takes the couch, the rest of you will each have your own bedrooms. There’s plenty of space.”

  Aidan gave me a look that said we weren’t sleeping in separate beds.

  “We will rest together, but that’s it,” I whispered. My mind was on that scene we’d watched with the slayer and her dragon man. I wasn’t ready to risk ending up in a situation like theirs until I could do something to control it.

  Understanding filled his eyes, and he nodded.

  Chapter 26

  Bailey

  The truck hummed along as we made our way across northeast Oklahoma, toasty warm despite the cool weather outside. I ran my fingers through Aidan’s short, spikey hair where his head rested on my lap. It was almost noon, but I sort of hoped he didn’t wake up for a little while longer. I enjoyed having a strong man, who despite me being a slayer, could sleep that securely with me close.

  We’d gotten up just after ten in the morning, and managed to drag the shifters to the trucks where they passed out again. Before that, I’d enjoyed a night in Aidan’s arms with no one watching us. We had only held each other and kissed, but it couldn’t have been more intimate. He watched me as I lost my battle with fatigue and fell asleep. It had been nice having him there. Just as he trusted me now, I’d trusted him to keep me safe while I was unconscious and vulnerable. Taking our relationship slow seemed to be working for us. There was no point in rushing into anything, especially under the circumstances. If it was meant to be, it would be.

  Conrad was driving the truck. Kade snoozed in the front passenger seat, snoring lightly. We’d just entered the Tulsa city limits, though our route would only take us partway through town and allow us to circumvent the rest. I kept a close eye out. The dragons might not be awake yet, but we’d entered my father’s territory. Wayne was out there somewhere, and there was always the chance he might show up.

  “I recognize that look on your face,” Conrad said, meeting my gaze in the rearview mirror. “You’re nervous.”

  “You know why.”

  His fingers tightened on the wheel. “Daddy issues?”

  “Yeah, something like that.” I turned my gaze toward the window, noting Tulsa had its fair share of damage from dragons.

  With every mile we drove along the highway, I found plenty of half-destroyed buildings and bare spots with only scorch marks remaining. The city might have a dragon slayer, but he was outnumbered by a thousand to one, maybe more. He could only do so much against those odds.

  “Think he’ll turn up?” Conrad asked.

  “I hope not.” Though a part of me wouldn’t have minded a chance to get answers from him, I didn’t want him coming near the shifters.

  Aidan stirred and lifted his head. “How far have we gone?”

  “About a third of the way. We’re in Tulsa now,” I replied.

  He sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes. “I assume there has been no trouble yet?”

  Conrad snorted. “Yet is the keyword in that sentence.”

  Damage to one of the highway’s bridges forced us to take a slight detour. Kade woke up when we moved onto a bumpy city street for a mile before finding a ramp to get back on US-412. We’d gotten used to having to work our way around obstacles for this trip. Aidan’s uncle gazed around for a moment, clearly trying to make sense of where he was at.

  He turned in his seat. “Water?”

  Aidan handed him the canteen he’d just finished taking a drink from, and his uncle gratefully took it. Shifters were always very thirsty when they first woke up. Prepared for his next request, I dug through the pack sitting on the floorboard and handed him some trail mix. It made for a decent breakfast when you couldn’t stop to cook something hot. He munched down on it like he hadn’t eaten in a week, finishing the bag.

  We finally reached the west end of the city, heading back into the countryside, and I breathed a sigh of relief. It was almost one in the afternoon. I hadn’t thought we would actually make it through Tulsa without running into some kind of trouble.

  I dug out a granola bar and chewed on it. The land around us was mostly flat or rolling plains. If anything came along, we’d probably see it long before it reached us. I wanted more than anything to hurry up and get to our final destination. When I pulled out the map to see if it had changed, though, I got nothing other than it had re-centered itself so everything east of Tulsa no longer showed. Interstate-35 had popped up to help make things clearer. We’d probably reach it in a little over an hour if nothing happened to slow us down.

  “Dragons are headed toward us,” Aidan said, gesturing to the north. “I count five of them.”

  Should have known the peace had lasted too long. They were still some distance away, but we were in their sights. Ahead of us, Miles sped up the RV hauler. Conrad gunned the truck’s engine to stay close behind him as we made a mad dash for the exit ramp coming up. They veered onto it, barely slowing down. As soon as they reached a crossroads section, they slammed on their brakes and turned north. We had the choice of either a gas station or storage facility to give the trucks some cover. Not much else was in our direct path since we’d just passed the town of Sand Springs and entered remote territory again. At least for the moment, a cluster of trees blocked the dragons’ view of us. Miles chose the gas station.

  Aidan and I glanced at each other, and as the trucks careened toward the shelter of the canopy in front of the place, we leaped out. I hit the ground running. We needed to divert the dragons’ attention away from the vehicles and force them to battle us on open ground. There was a large field across from the station to the west. Aidan and I headed toward it with Phoebe not far behind us. Kade stayed with the others but began shifting into his beast form.

  A chain-link fence ran parallel to the road across from the service station. It was low enough that I managed to leap right over the top. Aidan and Phoebe overtook me as we raced up a hill. When they reached the crest, they began shifting into their beast forms. I pulled out my sword and searched the sky. All five dragons were coming over the trees northeast of us. As I watched them fly closer, I prayed they didn’t pay any attention to the gas station and kept their attention on us.

  “Try to wound the first ones you fight and send them to me,” I told Aidan. He was about a heartbeat away from taking flight.

  I will do as you ask, his beast replied in my head.

  Then he took off into the air, following Phoebe as they met the dragons a short distance away. I was surprised Aidan had allowed Beast to take over for this battle, but perhaps I shouldn’t have been. He’d said his inner dragon was a ferocious fighter and could finish his enemies off twice as fast. Considering we were outnumbered, we needed every advantage.

  Aidan clashed in the air with a large, green dragon. With his beast in control, he moved at an incredible speed, ripping his talons across his opponent’s face. They wrestled for a moment longer before he managed to toss the wounded creature down to the ground in my direction. I raced toward it, sticking my boot on the drago
n’s side as it struggled to get up from where it lay on a crumpled wing. Raising my sword high, I drove the blade into the creature’s heart.

  I barely had time to make sure it was dead before another green dragon landed with a thump twenty feet away. Good grief, Beast was a killing machine. I’d watched Aidan fight enough times to know he didn’t finish his opponents off quite that quickly.

  My newest target didn’t land in as awkward a position. The dragon was already getting to its feet and staring at me with its beady, red eyes. Blood pumped hard through my body as I reached the dragon. It poised to make a leap, and I kicked my foot out, nailing it in the side of its face where Aidan had already carved a deep wound. My opponent made a grunting sound of pain. I began hacking and slashing at it wherever I could strike, weakening it as fast as I could. The dragon let out a roar of fire. For a moment, I was blinded by the flames, but I kept my sword pointed outward. The creature rammed straight into it with the sharp tip going into its chest. His tough ribs stopped the blade from going far, but the resulting wound had to hurt. His flames died down.

  I jerked my blade out, dropped to one knee, and thrust lower this time. My sword sunk into the softer scales just below the ribs and straight toward the dragon’s heart. It roared and tried to snap at me, but I managed to lean far enough to the right to avoid its razor-sharp teeth. With a twist of my blade, I finally cut into the beast’s heart. Shock entered its eyes, and then it fell over on its side. I watched the dragon expel its final breath before withdrawing my sword.

  Glancing up, I didn’t spot Aidan or Phoebe in the air anymore. It wasn’t uncommon in a battle with many opponents for them to eventually end up on the ground. I scanned the area around me and found them about two hundred feet away—with my father and another man attacking them.

  “No,” I said under my breath, panic rising.

  Wasting no time, I sprinted toward the battle. I passed the three dead dragons along the way, whose corpses lay in crumpled heaps. It seemed to take forever to reach the fight. All I could do was watch as my father tore into Aidan with his blade while the shifter dodged the strikes and didn’t fight back. He was trying not to hurt my father. At some point, though, he was going to get tired of that and strike back. It was animal nature to protect one’s self. Phoebe did fight against her attacker, and they’d traded several wounds if the fresh blood running down their bodies was anything to go by.

  “Stop!” I commanded.

  The slayers barely spared a glance for me. They were in battle mode, and the shifter dragons posed the greater threat. I waited for a break in the fighting, leaped toward my father, and pressed my blade to his neck. “If you strike him one more time, I don’t care who you are, I will kill you.”

  Though I meant every word, I hoped I didn’t have to carry through with it.

  “You are a slayer. Why would you choose a dragon over me?” he asked, holding still with his sword remaining high.

  I glanced at Aidan, and by the look in his eyes, could tell he was in charge of his body. He must have forced Beast back in his mind as soon as he realized who he fought. That explained the control I’d seen. Still, I ached for all the cuts and tears in his scales that had to have mostly come from my father. He’d suffered for my sake.

  “If you haven’t noticed, he isn’t trying to kill you,” I pointed out.

  Wayne jerked his brown eyes toward me. My father was half Cherokee, and it showed in his features. He looked to be middle-aged, wore his dark hair long, and had a sturdy build well suited for fighting dragons. His skin was medium brown and on the leathery side. With my mother being half Malaysian and half white, I had inherited a distinct appearance.

  “I do not care whether they fight back. All that matters is they die,” he replied.

  “These shifters are my friends.” I pointed at Aidan and then Phoebe. “Go after the green dragons all you want, but don’t touch the red ones.”

  “Who does this woman think she is to order us around?” the other slayer asked, walking toward us. Beyond him, I caught Phoebe covered in flames as she shifted. It was almost impossible to hurt her right now, so he must have decided to join our conversation. He was maybe a few years older than me with medium-length blond hair and a muscular build.

  “She is my daughter,” Wayne answered. There wasn’t a hint of emotion in his voice—he’d stated it like a fact.

  The other slayer lifted his brow, and looked at me in surprise. “I didn’t know you had a daughter.”

  “He wants nothing to do with me, so don’t feel bad,” I informed the guy.

  “That is not true,” Wayne said, drawing my attention back his way.

  I leveled my gaze at him. “Could have fooled me. You decided after one brief meeting that you hated me so badly you left all of Oklahoma City for me to defend by myself. I didn’t even become a slayer until August! Now I discover you’ve even got help up here—for a city that is not nearly as populated. Talk about picking and choosing your enemies.”

  That probably sounded a bit whinier than I had meant for it to come out, but it had been bad enough when I’d thought my long-lost father abandoned me to take care of his territory. Now I’d discovered there was another perfectly good slayer in Tulsa who could handle the job, and still he didn’t come down to help me cover my larger territory. It was a small miracle steam didn’t come out of my ears.

  Wayne thrust his sword in the ground. “You wear dragon-made cloth and consort with our enemies. I could not stay.”

  “My mother—the woman you left behind when she was pregnant with me—is down in Texas where I can’t get to her. She’s running low on the medicine she needs for her heart, and I need to do whatever it takes to get to her. If that means allying with shifters who don’t hurt humans, and even protect them, so be it. These two you’re trying to kill…” I said, gesturing at Aidan and Phoebe, who’d both changed into their human forms now, “have chosen to put aside their differences and help me, which is more than I can say for you.”

  “Damn, Wayne. I had no idea you were training me while you had a daughter who needed you,” the second slayer said, gazing between us. “I would have told you to help her.”

  It was good to know my speech worked on someone. It didn’t fail to escape my notice that both slayers were able to control themselves. Over and over, I’d been told it was almost impossible. I’d considered that if I could do it, maybe my father could too, but he must have taught this guy as well.

  “Quiet, David.” Wayne gave him a disgruntled look. “This is between me and my daughter. You can get the truck ready for us to leave.”

  David hesitated, clearly not wanting to miss what was said next, but he left when my father’s furious glare didn’t let up. I watched him go, wondering how the two men started working together. Had they known each other long? I didn’t want to feel jealous, maybe my father wasn’t worth the trouble of getting to know, but after so much time spent wondering about Wayne, I wasn’t quite ready to write him off yet.

  I crossed my arms. “Does this mean the fight is over?”

  “For now.” He glanced at the shifters. “But I don’t want to find them in my territory again. What are you doing up here anyway?”

  “Passing through.”

  He lifted a brow. “From where?”

  “What does it matter?” I asked. This was not a conversation I wanted to get into since I’d sworn not to reveal our mission and even our alternate story wouldn’t sound good to my father. He wouldn’t like the idea of us scouting his territory.

  “I am aware the Shadowan and Taugud are enemies,” he said, running his gaze around to all of us. “It surprises me that any shifters would dare cross this deep into pure dragon territory—even with a slayer on their side. You must have a good reason, or you would not be here.”

  As I stood there trying to come up with some sort of plausible excuse, Kade walked up and nodded at Wayne. “It is good to meet the man who sired such an amazing woman.”

  My father narr
owed his eyes. “Who are you?”

  “I am Kade of the Taugud, and I am the one who insisted on us going on this trip,” he answered.

  “What for?” Wayne asked, impatience in his eyes.

  “Let’s just say we are working to stop a sorcerer from doing something horrible and leave it at that,” Kade answered.

  “How bad?” my father addressed me.

  “We will be saving a lot of lives by doing this,” I said.

  “That is all I need to know.” He waved an arm. “You are free to leave.”

  “That’s it?” I’d expected a little more conversation or at least uncomfortable questions.

  Wayne nodded. “You have your sources, and I have mine. I knew a group would be passing this way on a very important mission, and they must not be impeded. The only thing I did not know was that my daughter and shifters would be involved.”

  For the first time, I saw a hint of pride in his gaze. How much did he know about our quest and how? “Assuming we pull this off…” I swallowed and decided to take a chance. “Will you come visit me sometime soon?”

  He lifted a brow. “Would I be welcome?”

  Aidan came to stand by my side. “As long as you do not attack members of my toriq, we will allow you into our territory to visit your daughter.”

  I held my breath.

  Wayne was silent for a moment. “Christmas is coming in a few weeks. I will see you then.”

  A small thrill ran through me. We might have started off on the wrong foot, but maybe there was a chance we could work things out after all.

  “That would be great,” I said.

  He stared at me. “Travel safely, daughter. Your journey is not over yet.”

  Chapter 27

  Aidan

  Aidan glanced at Bailey for the dozenth time. She’d been quiet since they left her father behind to continue their journey. He was thankful he’d managed to wrestle control from Beast in time, so that he did not hurt the older slayer. It had not been easy, especially knowing he was The Shadow and could very well kill Aidan. Though he’d been proud of his control, he’d sensed Bailey’s father had held back from the start as well. Had he known how much it would upset his daughter if he killed her travel companions? Had that scene been played out on purpose?