Captured By The Dragon
Episode 82

Dylan

I woke up to a garbled sound above me. I couldn’t make out what it was meant to be, but the tone was pleading rather than threatening. It had to be Ethan. I opened my eyes and found him nudging Patara gently, his hands trembling as he let out random sounds at her. It was good that he was trying to communicate, but he had a while to go before he managed to speak clearly. I was still amazed that he’d managed to say gone.

“Ethan,” I said. He turned his head to look at me. His eyes were full of tears. “She’s going to be just fine. She’s just sleeping.”

I didn’t know if he understood, but he crawled toward me and lay his head on my chest. He trembled against me as I gathered him in my arms.

“I’m sorry you had to be apart from her again,” I said into his thick hair. “I’m so sorry, Ethan. Dad’s really making a mess of things.”

And I was. Never mind what hell had unfolded while I was sleeping. I wasn’t even sure if the Tiger King and his minions had survived the night, but I wasn’t really worried about it either.

Someone knocked on the door and it opened to reveal the medic. I sat up and lifted Ethan out of the bed with me.

“Morning.”

“I’m here to check on her injuries.”

I nodded and stepped aside, watching her undo all of Patara’s bandages and rub more cream and things into her injuries. The gashes on her back still angered me, but they didn’t smell or look infected. My mind still turned over how she had gotten into the river. The sheet that I’d found smelled of her. Had she escaped from the Tiger King’s house somehow? If she had, how had she gotten so far without being noticed?

When she was done checking Patara’s wounds, she left me and Ethan to get cleaned up and changed for breakfast.

I went downstairs with Ethan in search of food and found my dining area full of people, leaning over phones and paper-looking grave. Erik was nursing a cup of coffee and looking a little pale still.

“You should be resting still.”

“We have bigger problems.”

What could have possibly happened while I was asleep?

I sat at the table and listened as they played a recording. It was the Tiger King’s voice.

“We know the dragon Dylan has a taste for making war, but this is the first time I ever imagined that he would dare to make war upon me, let alone in such a dishonorable way. Using shifter weaponry after years of harping about stopping any weaponry from crossing the border! Stand with me if you’re tired of his tyranny and we’ll shoot the dragon out of the sky!”

I sneered at the message, “I should have roasted him when I had the chance.”

“Plenty of people have replied to his message in public and in secret.”

“The problem is that he knows we don’t have any shifter weaponry. We’re going to be facing legions of shifters with an issue with you armed to the teeth soon if we don’t do something.”

The truth was that it was likely that it would be sooner than we could prepare for.

I shook my head, “We have a bigger problem.”

“What’s that?”

“The Tiger King’s weapons dealer gives them rigged weaponry. The explosions of the guns are enough to take out at least four or five shifters if they’re within range and set off a chain of explosions. I don’t know about the canons, but I bet it’s even worse.”

And that idiot had them mounted to the side of his house. If he started outfitting jeeps and cars with them, it would be an even bigger problem. The humans had gotten smarter.

“Most of the damage to the Tiger King’s house was caused by the Tiger King’s weapons going off.”

Who knew how many incidents like that would happen and with the Tiger King’s message floating around, controlling the border would be a problem? If I had to guess, humans had a way to tap into our network the way we had a way of tapping into their world, so they were prepared to meet the demand for shifter weaponry soon.

The idiot was just playing into their hands, but I couldn’t do anything about that just yet.

“They’re calling you a traitor to shifters,” Erik said, scrolling through his phone. “People are pissed.”

“Increase the security on our borders. If anyone even looks like they’re getting out of hand, detain them. As for the human border, withdraw from it. It’s a waste of time with this circulating and the humans have their own schemes. Leave scouts to watch the movements. I bet there will be more coming over the border filled with weapons and women.”

It was a mess, but I’d get us out of it. While I didn’t want to spill shifter b***d unnecessarily, it was looking like there wouldn’t be a choice in the matter. It was too much to hope that the two years of all-out war had been enough to beat some sense into shifters.

“Find out where he’s moving his base of operations too and who is defecting to his side. We’ll hit them first.”

“Easy,” Erik said, placing his phone down. “The werewolves were the first to declare defection on the south side.”

I eyed him and Erik shook his head, “Don’t look at me like that. I’ve chosen my place, Dylan.”

I nodded. “Fine. We hit the werewolves first and make an example of them.”

“And if they have weaponry?”

“Seize it, check it, and keep it.”

“You can’t be serious about using the weaponry going forward?”

“We’ll be outnumbered and outmatched,” I said. “We keep it if we need it. Especially if they’re rigged to explode.”

I settled Ethan into a chair and got him some food. I was still aching from the battle, but that wouldn’t matter. We planned on moving out within the hour against the werewolves. They were a pretty big group, attacking them first ad getting their rebellion under control would go a long way to controlling anyone else who thought it was a good idea to cross me.

“Stay here,” I told Erik, leaving a small unit to look after the house. “Call if you need.”

He nodded, “Be safe. I don’t know what I’m supposed to tell the kid if you don’t come back.”

I ruffled Ethan’s hair, “Dad will be back, okay?”

He looked up at me and blinked, but he said nothing.

I turned and climbed onto a jeep as it cranked up and he headed towards the werewolf part of the territory. As we neared their borders, I saw them hurrying around. They weren’t all armed with weaponry and they were different models than the models the Tiger King’s forces had. If I had to guess they were older meaning they probably weren’t rigged, but I wasn’t going to chance it until we knew for sure.

I leaped from the jeep and shifted, taking to the air. Three others followed me. I heard them screaming.

“Dragons! Shoot!”

I opened my mouth and let the fire boiling inside me shoot out.