Chapter 27: Chapter 27

SILVER

I don’t have to search long to find Summer. Right before she runs into me, her sweet scent wafts up to my sensitive Dragon nostrils, and I break out into an instant grin just before she appears.

“Oh my!” Summer trips out from behind a tree and falls to her knees, her hand to her chest.

“Silver! I didn’t expect to see you here and your teeth…wow! That’s what you call glowing, sharp teeth for a Dragon… You’re definitely scarier at night.”

~“I’m just smiling! I hope I didn’t give you a heart attack, Summer.~

~“Your mates directed me this way to find you, but I see you escaped your bondage…from a tree?”~ I question her curiously as I lean down and nudge my head into her so she can grab onto my scales.

As she jumps back to her feet, I say, ~“You look exhausted.”~

“It’s been a big day—first trying to please Dane and Aneurin, and then trying to convince them that following Xander’s army was necessary. I suspected you’d be at risk, wherever you were…

“It’s a nice place around here, very secluded.

“However, it’s also halfway to Xander’s territory, Graceful Springs,” Summer explains as I sit back on my haunches and huff out a hot breath in response.

~“I am grateful you came this way with Dane and Aneurin.~

~“With three Dragon Lords, Culling doesn’t stand a chance,”~ I say, expressing my hope for a good outcome, while Summer crosses her arms over her chest.

“Oh, I have no doubt they’ll succeed and save the day—rather, the night, I mean,” Summer says through gritted teeth, and I assess her aura.

Restlessness—she is oozing waves of throbbing black and red.

~“May I ask why you were tied up in the first place?”~ I ask my old friend.

“It’s called disobedience,” Summer whispers after pausing for a moment. “They hate it when I disobey or delay obeying their commands.

“Sometimes, I don’t mind doing what they want. Sometimes? It drives me crazy.”

~“You seem ready to distance yourself from them, like last time, Summer, when you ran away with your brother,”~ I suggest, remembering her running from the Dusk Horde not long ago.

Hunting her down was stressful, but when she was found, that is also when I met Storm.

“I love them, I really do, but sometimes, ~just sometimes~, I want to kill them,” Summer hisses through her teeth and then uncrosses her arms to clench her fists by her sides.

She starts to pace, and her golden-and-brown lace dress drags and pulls along the fallen twigs and undergrowth.

~“Let’s get closer and watch. Perhaps they will need our intervention; we can’t take the risk of assuming they will win.”~ I hope Summer agrees to get closer—and she does.

“I like how you think.” Summer smiles, finally relaxing a tad. “Let’s go save their scaly asses—no offense.”

I decide to mist to my naked human form to walk by Summer’s side.

“Look, it’s so lovely to see you, Summer…but there is ~nothing~ wrong with a scaly ass,” I say with a smile while I take the lead, striding ahead.

“You look different, Silver, like you’ve grown up now,” Summer says tentatively. “Have you and Storm…?”

“No,” I snap out quickly. “And it’s not something I want to talk about. We’re doing well, and that is all that needs to be said.”

“You don’t sound very convinced about that.” Summer is keen to draw out my real intentions, which has me quickening the pace and deciding to change the subject.

“Xander’s army has taken the Gypsies as prisoners to be punished for living willingly with the Lost Horde.

“I suggest we try to save them while Dane, Aneurin, and Storm help in the fight with the Dragons. You could distract them by speaking with Xander, your uncle.”

I look to Summer for reassurance, but she just rolls her eyes.

“What is it, Summer?”

“My brother is with Xander,” Summer sighs. “He joined his ranks—the whole army is hell-bent on slaying Dragons.”

“How good are they?” I ask.

“They have poisoned arrows, but the men are just that—mortal. The only threats are Xander, Culling…and Elena.

“I betrayed her, and I doubt she will appreciate the sight of me, so I will stay away from Culling.” As Summer and I get closer, we both refrain from furthering our plans as we sense quiet.

Upon further inspection, the camp grounds are smoky, but the fire is out. So while the air is murky, there no longer seems to be a threat.

“It’s over already?” I whisper as I peer over.

Most of the Dragons are back in mortal form, and Gypsies are running around helping the injured, while some rush to get buckets of water to put out any remaining fires or embers.

Most wagons are still standing, but many are half burned or crumbling into ash.

Dane and Aneurin sit in the center of the camp, overseeing everyone, while Storm prances out of the trees, his Dragon face covered in blood and guts.

I pause as I see his golden eyes, alight with fire and passion. His aura is seeping gold, just like his irises. He is proud, protective, and still bloodthirsty.

But I have never seen him like this before. Magnificent, deadly and terrifying—he towers over everyone and everything, just as he should. It gives me reason to pause.

Storm appears absolutely ravenous, especially when I see two mini-Lords trotting out beside him. Rawk and Zoraul proudly stick their heads up high.

Zoraul is chewing on a spine, his talons bloody. Rawk is also covered in blood like his father, his snout covered in crimson red.

“It’s over.” Summer nods to me with a small smile that is tainted with worry, no doubt for her brother. Though he is a traitor and a fool, I know she wouldn’t want Ross dead.

“Let’s go,” Summer says and turns to me, holding out a hand. She wishes for me to follow. I shake my head and instead look toward the lake, where I see Risen sitting down and resting.

It looks as if her leg is injured.

I think seriously about her suggestion to go back to the Tempest Lands. After seeing Storm looking so alive after bloodlust, I decide she is correct.

I need to take him home and have him teach me in the way he knows.

When he is absolutely confident in himself and not just full of disdain, disappointment, or frustration, thinking that I will never understand their way since I was not brought up as one of them, from their land.

I’m distracted by a crunch to the left, and Summer and I swing our heads in the opposite direction—to see a white-haired naked girl carrying an injured, half-conscious man, who is slumped into her side.

“Elena,” Summer whispers to me, which makes Elena pause and look up at us with wild eyes. She meets my gaze, and she looks distraught.

“Let us leave,” Elena asks. “We will not return.”

“So you’re helping your captor?” I ask her, confused about her intentions. “And you were fighting for him?”

“I can’t explain to you how I work; all I can ask of you is to stick to a bargain that ensures you can’t lose,” Elena whispers.

“Let us leave—don’t tell anyone…and I promise you, we will never return.”

“Culling will take you back to his kingdom or train you to keep fighting other Dragons for him,” I say, reminding her of her past, but she just glares me down with her red eyes.

“No. No, this time will be different. Now, I’m his abductor… I’m taking him with me, far away. He won’t be able to hurt me; I know his tricks. I’m going to disappear with Culling.”

Elena seems set on this. “I will poison him daily to keep him down if I have to—but I will not return to the life I had. But…he’s coming with me because I’m his mate.”

“Fine. Um…good luck?” I wave her off, confused about how to handle this.

“I’m sorry, Midnight.”

Summer nods to her.

“I know why you did what you did,” Elena snaps and then hauls ass, dragging Culling with her, obviously planning to transform later.

“Let’s go,” Summer says after watching Elena disappear into the scrub. She turns to me again with her hand held out. “Let’s see if we can help.”

“Wait.” I grab Summer’s hand, and I pull her to me while nodding to the lake. “Can you swim?”

“Of course I can swim,” Summer proclaims. “Why?”

“Do you like portals?” I ask.