Cruel Daddy Dragon (Candara Dragon Ops #3)

Chapter 3 - Rufus

Patrolling the center of the town is infuriating right now. I can smell those Eclipse bastards crawling around the forest just outside of town, and yet I’m only allowed to patrol inside the town. I know this patrolling is basically just a facade to not tip Eclipse off to the fact that we’re planning something, but it’s still driving me insane to just keep wandering aimlessly throughout town. I feel like I can smell them surrounding us. They’re gathering around us, and I wonder what they’re going to do once they have. Cyrus’s logic is sound; they can surround us all they like, but when we find all these powerful relics, that won’t be a problem, and the fact we have Julie, who can accurately pin-point objects with her visions, guarantees that we will find the keys, sooner or later. But still… the dragon under my skin is writhing, aching to leap toward the smell of Eclipse and rip them to shreds for what they’ve done...

But perhaps that’s why I’ve been given the most boring route to patrol; Cyrus doesn’t fully trust me right now…

I have to distract myself. When I look around, there’s not much here, but there are at least some interesting smells. It smells like Merl’s been through here, and he doesn’t smell that drunk. Good for him. I can smell some kids, that little trash panda (what’s that mangy thing doing now?)—and Sarah.

Her sweet scent is imprinted on my brain. I’d recognize it anywhere.

But only because she’s around so often! That’s the only reason it’s as recognizable as other humans.

It's like… a plant but not necessarily floral. Herby, perhaps. Like sage—fresh and cleansing. It’s hard to describe how wonderful that scent is… It’s borderline overwhelming, but I welcome it. It does a fine job distracting me from Eclipse’s scent.

I home in on it; what have you been up to, Sheriff?

I follow her trail throughout the sleepy little town. She seems to have wandered up and down every street and back alley, with one street by Gunn’s Diner where her scent seems to have pooled alongside someone else’s; she must have had a conversation. Giving directions, perhaps? Maybe there was a kid doing something naughty that she had to admonish?

I smile to myself. I wish I could have been here earlier to see that. I can imagine her padding up and down these streets, patrolling her territory like we do. The life of a small-town cop, I suppose. At some point, I’ll catch up with her on my own patrol, and I’ll be able to watch her in action.

I keep wandering, following her trail, where she crossed paths with others. It’s like I can piece together her day from where her trail has gone, and I occupy my mind with that as I go through my punishment patrol.

Then there’s a crash nearby. What was that?

Immediately, I’m hyped. My skin shimmers in the adrenaline-fueled desire to shift. That was either a car crash or a gunshot. Either way, that’s not good. I sprint toward the sound of the chaos. My legs feel like they are spring-loaded. I keep running but freeze for a moment when I see it. Sarah’s collapsed on the floor. A navy dragon towers over her. Their taloned hand closes over her, and they spread their wings to take flight.

My body launches back into motion, crossing the distance in record time. At the same time, my voice wrenches from my throat in a bellowing roar:

“PUT HER DOWN!”

The dragon spots me and beats their powerful wings. They soar away toward the forest outside Greyson Ridge.

No, you don’t!

In one smooth motion, I grab the hem of my shirt and pull it up over my head. Once I’m in the forest outside Greyson Ridge, unlikely to be seen, I strip off the rest of my clothing before exploding into dragon form. I take to the skies, crashing through the canopy of the forest. Once I hit the atmosphere, I catch sight of the navy dragon. It lollops through the air, heaving up and then falling down between each wing beat. Sarah lies limp over his arm. I rip through the air, crashing through the space between us. I swoop down below the dragon flying and then turn upwards to hit him from below. As his open belly approaches me at speed, I prepare my head. My head cracks into his stomach. My neck shudders at the impact. I hear the dragon above me cry out. Before he can recover, my hand snaps forward toward his closed arm. I grab his closed talon hand and try to unfurl his fingers from Sarah forcefully. He roars and swipes a taloned hand at me. I lean back—the claws hack at the air in front of my face. Then, I snap my head forward, crashing into his nose. The other dragon groans, and Sarah slips from his arms.

Sarah tumbles out into the empty sky. I launch a kick into the face of the other dragon, and he snarls in pain again. As he plummets down, I home in on the tiny figure of Sarah falling through the air.

I fold my wings back and let myself drop. My body furls into a missile shape, the wind rushing over my scales and stinging my eyes as I fall. Sarah’s still unconscious, but she’s spread out in the air, starfishing as she falls. But that catches some wind resistance, slowing her down enough for me to catch up to her. I duck under her and spread my wings until she lands on my back. She gives the lightest moan when she lands on me.

Thank god. She’s alright. I’d better go before she fully wakes up; if she starts wriggling and protesting like I know she will, then she’ll complicate things.

I turn toward the town and start descending.

***

I can see the hole I tore through the branches when I rose up, and I do everything in my power to maneuver through the hole and not catch the branches with my wings—or, more importantly, catch Sarah on my back—as I descend. As we reach the floor, I can hear her starting to burble on my back. When my feet touch the floor, I shift back to human, holding her like a piggy-back ride. Her entire front is spread over the flat of my back, her full surface area warming me. Her sage-like smell fills my nostrils. Wow. She smells incredible.

Her small fist beats on the back of my shoulder, drawing my attention.

“Let me go…” Sarah slurs, “I’m… not going anywhere with you…”

“Hey,” I say, as soothingly as I can, “it’s me.”

“I… It’s you… Ginger,” she drawls.

I break out laughing.

“Well, there are worse things you could know me as, I guess,” I reply, “What happened, Sarah?”

I crouch and put her down. Sarah sits on the floor, her head lolling. I put my hand under her face and hold her head steady. Her blonde hair tickles my hand. Her green eyes blink slowly at me, glazed over. Another pulse of anger ripples through me; he must have done something to her.

She looks so small right now. She’s curvaceous, and a little muscle lingers on her, but now she’s here, drugged, she looks so vulnerable. The dragon under my skin bares his teeth, snarling a little: How dare he do something like this?

But then I blink at myself; am I feeling protective over her? Her? Why?

I try to shake those thoughts and concentrate.

“Sarah, what happened?”

She squeezes her eyes shut and snaps them open again.

“Uh… um…” she stutters, “The… Sheriff… He was looking for… the Sheriff… He pricked me.”

My stomach clenches.

“What do you mean?” I snap, “He did what?! ”

“A needle… in my arm,” she says.

Oh, she… she meant…

Again, I’m surprised by how hard my stomach squeezed in horror when I heard that—and how sweet the relief is when I realize what she means.

Why do I care? Last time we talked, we were arguing about… Roscoe. Again. Now, suddenly, the idea that someone drugged her and tried to kidnap her has so much rage boiling throughout my body that I can barely contain it. I want to go back up there and find him. Rip his skin to ribbons and pull him limb from limb.

Well, it’s because it’s in my nature to protect. That’s all.

But I can’t move hastily right now. Sarah’s still sitting against the tree I laid her down again, and her head droops when I don’t hold it. She’s so warm and small…

Her skin, especially that on her face, is so soft, too… I’ve never touched it before. Her delicately pink lips open, and I realize I’m staring at them as she murmurs:

“Make sure he… doesn’t get anyone else…” She says, “Please… Ginger…”

I pause for a moment as I digest that. Even now, she’s more concerned about other people than herself… This time, when my stomach clenches, my heart breaks a little for her.

I need to protect her. She’s not going to protect herself.

Once the thought hits me, I can’t shake it. Looking at her, down by the foot of the tree, too weak to even hold her head up, yet asking about the safety of other people, I know I have to do something.

I lean down and loop her arm over my neck. Then, I scoop her up into my arms.

“Come on,” I murmur, “I’ll get you somewhere safe.”

“There’s… nowhere… safe…” She slurs.

Hm. Perhaps she’s right. If they’re willing to attack her right in the middle of town, then where exactly is safe for her? I think hard about it. What can I do?

Then, an idea hits me. It’s not an ideal solution, but…

I look down at her. Her head rests softly on my chest. Her glazed green eyes blink slowly at me. As she sleepily blinks, her hand reaches up and touches my bare skin. A shiver rattles down my spine, pooling in the pit of my stomach.

“You’re… warm…” She murmurs.

“Y—yeah.” Suddenly, I’m breathless, “So are you.”

Sarah looks around.

“Are you… naked?” she asks me.

I struggle to answer for a moment—but then she breaks out into drunken giggles. She leans her head into my chest, still tittering away.

“I had a dream… like this once!” she laughs.

I chuckle back to her.

“Oh, did you, now?” I laugh.

I wonder what they drugged her with. Is she going to remember she said that to me? I laugh again; probably not!

Sheriff… you have a different side to you, don’t you?

I wonder if I’ll ever get to see that other side when she’s not impaired like this…

I sigh; probably not.

She is going to be furious when she finds out how I’m going to protect her. But through this small encounter, I think I understand something she’ll never say: she’ll never protect herself first when there’s someone else to protect, and there will always be someone else to protect.

Someone has to protect her. I know it with a warming pulse of determination through me.

Her head rests on my shoulder, her warm breath fanning out over my collarbone.

“I’m so tired…” She murmurs, “But I have to… find him again…Make sure… he doesn’t…”

“I know,” I reply, “It’s okay. He’s not going to hurt anyone else. I promise you.”

“You… promise?” she says.

“Yeah. You can trust me,” I tell her, “He’s not going to hurt anyone else. I promise. ”

Sarah closes her eyes.

“Thanks… Ginger,” she says.

I chuckle lightly, but she’s resting. She’s probably going to have to sleep that injection off, but I don’t think I’m going to have to take her straight to Milo for this.

That’s good—because, alongside her, I get the feeling the Candara team is going to have to be told after the fact, too.

Cyrus may have given me the idea, but that doesn’t mean he’s going to be happy to hear it.