Chapter 176
*Hayes*
"What do you want to do with him?" Teiran asks, tipping his chin toward the now grunting ball of roots. Ezrah has regained some strength, it appears, as he screams in fury and tries to escape.
“I am more concerned with the dead guy over there.” I mutter, holding Kyra in my arms, refusing to put her down.
It was a dick move to not trust her enough to come back on time. Granted, we were right and we would have ended up finding her much later had we waited for the girls not to show back up. And considering Flora is not all that trustworthy, it was hard, even for Teiran, to muster up that trust.
"He showed up out of nowhere." Kyra says, shuddering in my arms as if a chill has run through her.
"Are you cold?" I whisper, and she furrows her brows, shaking her head no.
"When I was trying to trap the guy you are after, I felt like...a cold, wet hold on my mind. Like a soggy blanket was placed over my powers and someone else was guiding me." Flora says, a shudder running through her as well.
Teiran gives me a look, one that tells me he notices it too, the way both women respond when talking about the dead man on the ground. After a second of hesitation, I squat down, gently placing Kyra on the ground as I reach out and tuck her hair behind her ear. She blushes as I stand and walk away, pushing down the fluttering in my gut.All rights © NôvelDrama.Org.
I circle the body, taking into account that he doesn't smell like our kind or any special kind, really. He is human in species, but clearly supernatural somehow. Teiran stoops down, poking at the fatal wound in his chest where his heart should be. I let out a low whistle, leaning over and glancing at it as well.
"Not a great way to go." I mutter, and Teiran chuckles.
"I can think of worse ways,"
"He must be a wizard." I sigh, pushing back the hood and revealing a tattoo on his cheek. We don't run into many wizards or witches out here, but that doesn't mean they don't hang around or that there isn't a coven somewhere.
"That would make sense, especially with him breaking into Flora's mind." Teiran hums, almost in thought.
"But why would a random wizard interject himself in a fight that doesn't have anything to do with him?" I exhale deeply, then drag my hand through my hair. "When all of this started, there were wizards that used magic to control my kind."
"I am very much aware of that," Teiran says as he stands. He seems disappointed as he shakes his head. "You forget I was not exiled then, only demoted in my ranking as my father's shameless lying chosen mate rained chaos on everything I love."
His face grows red, and his eyes glow golden as steam swirls around him. Teiran has been calm and collected the entire time since meeting him on our journey that I forget he has the temper of a dragon, probably because he is a dragon.
"You are right, I did forget." I admit, frowning. "Forgive me for making it seem like I know it all."
"If these fuckers are back in the fray with my father, there is no telling who we can trust." Teiran growls, kicking the ground as he paces away. I look back at Flora, who walks around where Ezrah is still literally rooted in place, pressing on spots looking for a weakness. How the hell are we supposed to determine who we trust moving forward?
My eyes drift to Kyra, finding her watching me with a curious look. Her head is slightly tilted and her bottom lip trapped between her teeth as she seems to be processing something.
There is no doubt she has already come to the same conclusion Teiran and I have. With so many obstacles in our way already, we find ourselves with yet another one. We have captured our prisoner, but now what do we do with him? Is the egg with him or has he hidden it somewhere?
"Damn it," I grit out, looking away.
"We can't stay here." Teiran says finally. "I doubt he is alone."
He is right, and I know it too. Humans do not wander around very far alone. Magically gifted or not, they are creatures of companionship, much like my kind or any shifter other than a dragon.
"We need to get moving." I agree, marching toward Kyra and Flora. "Now we just have to figure out how to get this thing mobile. Or what to do with the thing inside?"
"Can we just...take it like this and deliver it to your king and queen?" Flora asks.
“Alpha and Luna." Kyra corrects her, but Flora doesn't seem to care either way.
"In theory, that would be the best thing. Just drop it off and be gone." Teiran says, as if the thought process is feasible.
I break into a deep laugh. The
thought of rolling that asshole there
e
in one of those pet balls the humans put those rats in for running. He would tumble around and around, likely getting sick and dizzy. But as amusing as it sounds, the thought is incredibly absurd and not at all possible.
"We will need to break him out and drag him along with us." I tell them, meeting each of their gazes.
"This is the guy that beat your brother, Hayes," Kyra says in a gentle tone to not offend me.
It shouldn't bother me that she underestimates me, she knows past me that was more words and less fight. Merikh was always the bigger one, the more skilled fighter. But what I lacked was proper motivation like he had. I found that when I became this disfigured monster, I am.
"Merikh gave up." I remind her with a raised brow. "That is something I will never do, for any reason."
"He was going to kill Luna Colette, of course he gave the egg up." She rolls her eyes. "We all know you would have done the same for Leandra."
My mouth goes dry, and I press my tongue to my inner cheek, trying to control the rising anger in my chest. She makes assumptions she has no right to make.
"I have nothing here of importance to me that can be used to sway my actions." I bite out at her, taking two strides in her direction. Kyra looks away as if I had slapped her with my words, her hair flying out and covering her face.
"Good to know." She whispers.
"Are you dense?" Flora scoffs, looking around at all of us like we are idiots. "We have a freaking dragon." She points to Teiran, who arches a brow in confusion.
Then she rolls her eyes, groaning in annoyance as she stomps over to the roots and presses her hands to it. The ground softly rumbles, roots twisting and turning through loops as a handle grows and she falls to her knees, sucking in air.
"Dragon heir turns into dragon. Lifts the damn thing and flies it back for you." She says, her words soft and breathless. "For being high ranking in your species, you both are slow on the uptake."
“I refuse to let him out of my sight." I argue, my finger pointing at the bulbous wooden cage. "The fucker in there has led to two years of war and that egg, that bastard...I refuse to let them go from my side until they are delivered to my brother safely."
"You could ride him." Kyra offers a twitch of a smile on her lips as I glare at her.
"I have never ridden on a dragon and do not plan on starting that now." I grit out.
“Hate to say it, but I agree with Hayes. Colette riding on me was one thing, but Hayes? No, thank you," He says, shaking his head like I've offered him the largest spider I could find as a snack.
"Fine." Kyra shrugs. "We can sit here
until I heal and hope no other
wizards or witches show up, then
release the bastard so we can fight him. Which I am sure will go
fantastic based on previous
attempts. Then, if we win, vel
can
drag him all the way back over days of travel-"
I cut her off with a groan, throwing my hands up in despair.
"What was your original plan?" Flora asks, her nose scrunching in curiosity.
"Kill the fucker, take the egg." I shrug.
“Quick and simple." Teiran mutters, "I like it. I say we go with Hayes' plan."
"Merikh would like him alive." Kyra says, her eyelids falling as she struggles to stay awake. It takes immense effort to heal a wound, more so to heal a broken bone.
"Well, that's too bad." I shrug, walking toward the wooden orb. "Open this up,"
Flora looks at me like I turned into an alien as she shifts uncomfortably before she stands up and moves toward Kyra. My, how quickly alliances can shift. I see what is happening and I chuckle bitterly. Of course, this is the shit that happens.
I should have just kept the rest of
ne
the group with me, but no, my dumbass split us all up and now I'm stuck with a stubborn lycan, a dishonored dragon and a loopy Fae who lacks serious social skills. To think that this will go in my favor is a pipe dream filled with gasoline and placed on a damn stove.
“So mutiny, then?” I arch a brow, my spine shivering in anticipation. A fight doesn't sound too terrible, not that I plan to fight Kyra, but the other two...I wouldn't mind slapping them around a bit.
"Call it what you must," Kyra says, a frown on her pink lips as she glances away, unable to look me in the eye.
"Oh no no, Kyra. If you are going to fuck me over, at least do me the service of looking me in the eye." I growl at her, watching as she flinches.