The weeping man lifted his head, his face now hard. “We should. I’m going to take out as many of them as I can. Those red bastards are mine.”
The dragons were not the good guys in this situation. How had Skye changed to the wrong side?
Rowan pushed at Skye. We have the locations. Let’s get the hell out of here.
Skye stared back at the burning building. Then she spread her wings, but accidentally knocked into one of the men who’d been talking.
“What the hell?” she heard him say, but she didn’t stick around to face the consequences. She wondered if he had any idea what had hit him or what he had said in the presence of a dragon.
She flew hard and fast. Hazel and Rowan clung tightly to her back. When she was far from civilization, she touched down on the ground and shook Hazel and Rowan off.
She let herself feel what she hadn’t so far. The utter sickness and remorse for the dead. Her body heaved, and she let out her own black flame. The color was appropriate. Death. She was so horrified by what she heard. The screams still lingered in her mind.
“Are you okay?” Rowan asked, putting a hand on her flank.
She turned into a human and collapsed in his arms.
“Did you hear those screams? The terror of those men. We did that!”
Hazel marched up to her. “Are you a dragon king or not?”
“Of course I am. I can still feel remorse and sadness.”
“Yes, you can but not now. You need to be strong and fight for your people. Did you hear those men back there? They won’t rest until they’ve killed the fire dragons. Val is a fire dragon. So is all of his family. Would you doom them to death?”
Skye stood tall and clenched her fists. “What we did was not right.” The screams still echoed in her head.
Hazel got right into Skye’s face, her own face twisted in a sneer. “Not right? Not right? We did that because they chose to use a weapon that could kill all dragons. That includes you. Now man up, sister. We’ve got a war to fight. You turn your skinny ass back into a dragon, and let’s go to Colorado, find the next building, and bring Val back.”
Skye did as Hazel said. She’d never heard Hazel speak so much. Though she had given Rowan a thorough telling off when he got home after running away.
Skye wasn’t built for war. For this death. It was all too much. Her mind wanted to shut the death off and block it out, but they were far from done. Death was just beginning.
As they approached the base in Colorado, Skye noticed the planes swarming all over.
They know we’re coming. Skye’s insides twisted. This would not end well.
Just be careful you don’t run into any of the planes, Rowan said.
Skye flew lower than the planes so she wasn’t terribly worried, but she kept her mind alert. The building that housed the weapons was easy to find.
They’re already moving them. We’ll be too late in Montana. Skye felt her stomach fall. What good was taking out the other bases if they would still have to face the weapons anyway?
Hazel tapped her on her back. We need to get Val here now. I can’t text while on your back. Can you land?
Skye couldn’t see any good place to land. She turned around and froze for a half second. A plane headed straight for her. She dropped as quickly as she could, but the wind from the plane still pushed her off course, and she rolled. She righted herself and shook her head.
SKYE! Hazel yelled. ROWAN!
Skye looked down in horror. Rowan was falling. His arms were flailing, and he was screaming. Skye dove hard and caught him with her claws ten feet before he hit the ground. Below her shouts erupted.
You’ve been spotted. Go, go, go. Hazel beat at her flank.
Skye concentrated on her camouflage, but she was pretty sure Rowan was in no place to do it, so it probably appeared as if he was soaring through the air like some bizarre floating corpse.
The plane was on her in a flash. Rowan, are you awake?
Yeah. His voice was weak, but at least he was still there.
You need to camouflage, or we’re dead.
Okay.
Skye looked to the ground and knew this would be her chance. She veered left, but the plane followed. What the hell? It shouldn’t be able to see her.
Skye thought quickly. A missile flew right past her ear.
Dammit, Skye. We’re going to get killed. You have to take out the plane, Hazel said.
No. I can’t do that. She couldn’t kill the pilot.
You have to. It’s our life or theirs.
Skye dropped lower, and the plane did as well. She had no choice. She spun her neck around and saw the helmet of the pilot winking in the sunlight. She closed her eyes and let out a jet of flames. She couldn’t think about what she was doing. She didn’t even wait to see if she met her mark. She spun and flew away. After several minutes, Hazel tapped her.
We need to land so I can text Val, and we need to check on Rowan.
They were in the middle of the mountains somewhere. Skye didn’t even know where. She landed near a stream. Hazel was on her phone in seconds. Skye turned into a human and hugged Rowan. He was pale, but otherwise unharmed.
“Are you okay?” Skye asked.
“I am. What about you?”
She shook her head. “I don’t think I’ll ever be okay again. Rowan, I’m killing innocent humans. They’re just doing their job.”
Hazel put her hand on Skye’s shoulder. “I know this is hard. This is war. It will be over soon, but we have to protect our own. Come on. Let’s make sure they get the right building.”
“You need to warn Val about the planes.”
“I already did. No worries there. Let’s go watch.”
Skye let out a breath. “I don’t want to.”
“I know, but we have to. Our job is to make sure the task gets done since they will fly in fast and leave before checking that all the weapons are gone.”
Skye turned back into a dragon and reluctantly flew back. She landed inside the base again. Troops loaded weapons onto trucks. There were so many people.
Val and the others flew in. This time only two dragons hit the building. The other three went after the trucks, but the humans were prepared. Val pulled away, but within seconds a plane was twenty feet from his tail. A huge boom rocked the base. Skye swiveled her neck around and saw one of the new guns smoking. She followed the trail.
A hole bloomed in the side of one of the fire dragons. He fell, and Skye knew he was dead. Just like that. With one shot. He dropped into the base and people scattered. There were still a couple of untouched trucks full of weapons.
Hang on, Skye said. She spread her wings and lifted into the air, and then she let out a jet of hot black flames and incinerated the rest of the trucks. She took off, flying faster than she’d ever flown. She raced for Sid’s house, not wanting to do this anymore. She was done with war, with death, with all of it. She’d leave Hazel there, and she and Rowan would go to some deserted island far, far away, and never look back.
She landed hard in the middle of the fire dragons. Val turned into a human almost immediately and pulled Hazel into a hug. “I thought for sure something had happened to you.”
Hazel pulled away. “Who died?” she asked.
“Blaze. He was a warrior through and through. We will avenge his death.”
Hazel nodded. “We still have one more set of weapons.”
Skye stepped forward and interrupted. “How will we do that? They know we’re coming, and too much time has passed. Look at what happened in Colorado. Also, it’s possible they changed the locations when they realized the security had been breached.”
“We have no way of knowing for sure,” Val said.
“Yeah, actually we do. Come on, Skye. I need your help. Val, wait for my text. I’ll have a location for you in less than a
n hour. After you take it out, the weapons will be gone. The humans will need to regroup. Hopefully by then we’ll have taken care of the white witch.”
Skye clenched her fists. Hazel just expected her to go with like an obedient little puppy. “No.”
Hazel spun around. “No, what?”
“No. I’m not going.”
“Why not?”
“Because I can’t kill anyone else.”
Hazel sighed. “Listen, I have a way that I think we can do this without anyone else dying, but I need your help.”
Skye appraised her skeptically. “How?” Skye wasn’t sure what Hazel was getting at.
Hazel’s eyes flicked to Val. “I’ll tell you on the way. You don’t even have to become a dragon. Just please come with me.”
Skye followed her into the house. Sid, Aspen, and Freddie were all huddled around a computer.
“Hey, guys,” Skye said.
Sid spun around. “Hey. How’s everyone?”
“Did you hear about Blaze?”
“Yeah.”
“How did the humans see us while we were camouflaged?”
Freddie frowned. “I’m afraid that’s my fault. Sorry.”
“What do you mean?” Hazel asked.
“It’s my software. We’re trying to figure out how to hack into the government servers and fry it, but so far, we haven’t had any luck.”
Rowan pulled up a chair. “I might be able to help.”
“Really?” Aspen asked.
“Yeah, I hacked into my fair share of servers before. This can’t be that hard. They won’t be expecting it,” said Rowan
“Will you be okay without me?” Skye asked.
“She sure will. Come on, Skye,” Hazel answered. She tugged at Skye’s arm and grabbed a set of keys off the counter. “You guys stay here and figure out how to turn that thing off, and Skye and I will go find the third location. Aspen, you wanna come?”
She looked at all the boys. “Nah. I’ll stay here.”
“You should go,” Sid said. “It might be good for you to get out of the house.”
Aspen rolled her eyes. “Nope. I’m good.”
“Where are we going?” Skye asked as soon as they were out of earshot of everyone. Hazel was acting suspiciously.
“The Purple Dragon.”
In the car, Hazel pulled out her phone and handed it to Skye. “I need to you send a message to Paul while I drive.”
“Who?”
“Paul. He’s my ex. He’s in the National Guard. Tell him we need to talk and to meet me at the PD.”
Skye typed the message, still thoroughly confused. His answer came back almost immediately. Heading to work in an hour. You there already?
On my way, Skye typed.
See you soon.
“Okay, explain why we’re going to see your ex.”
“Look, this could totally backfire, but I think it’s the best shot we’ve got. Plus, I don’t want Paul to die with the rest of them.”
“What do you mean?”
“Oh, yeah, I forgot you weren’t there. When Theo was killing people, the president didn’t trust us to take care of him ourselves, so she sent a group of National Guard members with that weapon we’re trying to destroy. Paul led them.”
“And you want to go talk to him?” Skye couldn’t figure out why Hazel would do something like this.
Hazel nodded. “I think we can reason with him, and I’m pretty sure he’ll know where they’re being stored.”
Skye shook her head. “Do you really think that will work?”
“You got any better ideas?”
“No.”
The parking lot at the Purple Dragon was packed. Skye had expected fewer people to be out, but with the state of emergency, no one was allowed out after dark, so she supposed everyone was getting their social fix during the day.
They wove their way through the crowds to the bar. Ella was frazzled.
“Hey, how are you?” Hazel asked.
Ella frowned. “In a pickle. Everyone’s quit. I could use Aspen. Any idea where she is?”
Hazel gave her a sympathetic smile. “Not available. This dragon thing has got her all up in arms. You know how she is.”
“I know. Can I get you anything?”
“Just a regular coffee. Large. Skye, you want something?”
“Same.”
Ella handed her the two cups, and they found an empty table in the corner to wait for Paul.
Aspen’s friend Tori plopped down in the seat across from Hazel.
“Where’s Aspen?” Tori asked.
“With Sid,” Hazel replied.
Tori rolled her eyes. “Figures. Probably out there fighting for dragon rights.”
Hazel cupped her hands around her coffee, and her shoulders were tense. “She’s never done anything differently. How are you?”
“Actually, I’m collecting signatures.”
“For what?”
“An online petition. It’s time the dragons disappeared. Have you seen what they’ve done in Alaska and Arizona? The whole West Coast?”
“That’s just a few of them.”
“Aspen’s gotten to you too. Well, if you change your mind, here.” Tori handed her a small flier with a website on it. “If you go there, you can sign the petition. It has over a million signatures already. We’re asking the president to take action against them.”
Skye wasn’t about to tell her that the president was already doing that. She was actually amazed that some people had no idea what was really going on.
“Thanks, Tori, I’ll think about it,” Hazel said with a tight smile.
Tori nodded, apparently satisfied, and stood. Skye waited until she was out of earshot. “Even if we win, people aren’t going to accept the dragons.”
Hazel shook her head. “One battle at a time, sister. Oh look, there’s Paul.” Hazel waved at him. He pointed at the bar, and Hazel smiled.
“He’s cute,” Skye said.
“Yeah. Part of me thinks I should’ve chosen him instead of Val. Life would be much less complicated, but I never loved him the way I love Val,” Hazel said.
Paul sank down in the chair across from Hazel. He had dark circles under his eyes.
“Who’s this?” he asked, pointing at Skye.
“Skye. Rowan’s girlfriend.”
Paul raised his eyebrows. “I heard he was found alive. How’d he land someone like you?”
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Skye asked. What an ass.
“Nothing,” he said and picked up the flier. “Didn’t think you’d betray your dragon-loving boyfriend and sister.”
“I’m not. But it was easier to take the flier than to argue with her,” Hazel said.
He nodded.
“You okay? You don’t look so hot,” said Hazel.
He gave a harsh laugh. “No. I’m not. I’m working eighteen-hour days. No time to sleep. They gave me the morning off because I was about to drop dead yesterday.”
“You’re working with the weapons?”
He snapped his head up. “How’d you know about that?”
“Aspen and Val are in with the dragons. You know this,” Hazel said.
“So they’re heading to Bozeman? How do they know? Shit. I have to go.”
Hazel put her hands over his. “Look, it doesn’t matter how. What matters is, they know. In less than an hour, they are going to take out those weapons too. Stay here. Please.”
“And abandon my post? Let all my men die like Kentucky and Colorado? No way.”
“I’m begging you. Call in sick. Don’t go out there today.”
“I’m not going to abandon my men.” Paul stood and hurried for the door.
“Let’s go,” Hazel said and rushed after him. Sk
ye weaved through the crowds and out the door. Hazel caught up to him as he was climbing into his Hummer. Hazel rushed around the other side and hopped in the passenger seat. Skye jumped in the backseat, still not clear on what they were doing, but she wasn’t about to be left behind.
Paul glared at Hazel. “What in Hades are you doing?”
She placed her hand his arm. “Don’t go.”
“I have to. Do you even understand what it means to be loyal to anything? I can’t let my men die while I call in sick. Tell me what they are planning.”
He turned the Hummer on and squealed out of the parking lot. Skye clung to the edge of her seat while Hazel typed furiously in her phone. When she was done, she spoke to Skye.
I didn’t know where the weapons were moved to, but Paul confirmed that they are in Bozeman. I told Val. I’m still going to try to keep Paul from getting killed.
“Just go, get your men out of there, and get the hell away from the post,” Hazel said.
“Right, and lose all our weapons. Not on your life.”
“So what are you going to do?”
“We’re going to fight,” Paul said.
Skye did not like the sound of that. Hazel could’ve sentenced Val and his team to death. Skye doubted Hazel even realized it.
Hazel, What are you doing?
Not now, Skye. Please trust me on this.
Not likely.
Hazel continued her pleadings. “No. Please. Just get your men and go.”
“Did you know about the other bases?”
“What are you talking about?”
Skye wondered what Paul would think if he knew Hazel was responsible for some of the deaths.
“Where’s Val?” Paul asked. “The last time we talked, you wouldn’t leave his side.”
“None of your business. Now let’s chat about what’s going to go down in Bozeman. You will not fight, or I will call Aspen right now and tell her to send in more dragons. Do you understand?”
The Kings: The Dragon Kings Book 5 Page 12
