Cruel Daddy Dragon (Candara Dragon Ops #3)

Chapter 24 - Rufus

Everything happens so very fast after that—everyone gets ready in what feels like a moment, but then we get to the actual goodbyes, and time seems to stand still.

Time stands still when I meet eyes with Sarah, both of us alone for the first time since her announcement.

“Sarah…”

She drops her gaze, looking away from me. I walk forward and put a hand on her bicep.

“Sarah…” I say again.

“I’m sorry, Rufus,” she murmurs, “I know I promised that I was going to keep myself safe, but I don’t think there’s any other way.”

“I know,” I assure her, “It’s okay.”

Sarah meets my eyes again. Her green eyes shimmer subtly through held-back tears.

“I couldn’t think of any other way either,” I tell her, “I wish I could, but I couldn’t.”

I give her a small, sad smile.

“But… you are going to keep yourself safe, right?” I ask, “You, Lena, and Julie?”

She nods. Her eyes harden in determination.

“Of course. I’m going to keep the pair of them safe as I possibly can.” She gives me a teasing smile. “I think the side effect of that is that I’m going to have to hunker down myself to keep myself safe, too.”

I chuckle. She loses her smile and she’s looking at me with the eyes welling with tears again.

“I’m more scared for you,” she says, “Rufus, there were so many of them… it was a bloodbath. If you guys don’t ambush the Eclipse dragons right, then it’s going to be a disaster, and you… I mean… you…”

She trails off. Sarah averts her gaze again, and this time, when her green eyes fill with tears, she can’t hold them back. She places her hand on her forehead and hangs her head as the salt water starts to flow down her face.

“Oh, Sarah.”

I walk closer, close enough that my body lightly touches on hers. As soon as my torso presses on Sarah, her arms snap around mine, clutching at my back. She grabs tight fistfuls of my shirt and pulls me into her.

I breathe in her sweet, herby scent for a second before I rest my head on her hair.

“I’m going to be okay. We’re going to be okay,” I murmur, “We do this kind of thing all the time. We haven’t died yet!”

I chuckle at my weak joke. Sarah doesn’t laugh, though.

“I remember watching you die, Rufus,” she murmurs into my chest, “That’s not the kind of thing you forget. I know it didn’t end up happening, but I can’t have you die on me again. I really can’t! I can’t lose you…”

“You’re not going to lose me,” I assure her, “I won’t let that happen.”

She sucks in a deep breath, releasing it slowly.

“Rufus… I have to tell you something.” She murmurs, “I was going to tell you later, but…”

My skin prickles. Her tone is so serious.

“What is it?”

Her eyes meet mine, then flicker around nervously. She looks around for a long moment before she meets my eyes again. When she speaks again, it’s almost inaudible.

“I’m… I’m pregnant.” She whispers.

My body feels like it turns to ice around me; I can’t move for a long second.

“What?” I manage to choke out after a second.

“Please, not so loud!” She pleads, “We don’t need to tell everyone yet. It’s going to complicate everything and we don’t need that right now!”

“B-but are you sure, though?!” I hiss, fighting to keep my voice low.

“Positive.” Sarah says, “Well, the test was positive, anyway. I had a vision a little while ago, and I’ve been taking tests ever since. At first, they were negative, so I didn’t bother telling you. But I think the vision came too early for the tests, and one day, it was positive. I’ve taken a few tests and they’re all positive, so there’s no doubt anymore.”

I’m just staring, mouth open. There are no words.

I’m… gonna be a dad?!

“Rufus,” Sarah says tearfully, “you have to come back from this. It’s not just that I can’t lose you, I’m not the only one waiting anymore. Don’t leave me to figure this out alone. Please!”

“I won’t.” I tell her, “I was going to come back even if you were the only one waiting for me. Of course I’m coming back for you and our little one.” She just snuffles her head into me more. I wrap my arms around her, and she squeezes me tighter. I lean my head down and run my cheek over the top of her head. Her glossy blonde hair is so soft on my face. It smells so good… I think she’s using a new shampoo. Apple scented. I run my hand over her back a few times, and Sarah just nestles her head into me. I plant a kiss on her head and then move my head down to her ear.

“Sarah,” I murmur to her, “I promise you. You won’t lose me. You remember how I lost Celeste in a fight before?”

I press another kiss onto the side of her jaw, just below her ear.

“I would never do that to you,” I tell her, “Never. I’d never put you through what I had to go through. Never. And I especially wouldn’t leave you alone with a baby.”

“I wish I could believe you,” she murmurs back to me, “But in a fight, it’s not up to you, is it? Anything could happen…”

I can’t answer her on that one. It’s true; I can’t guarantee that nothing will happen—one wrong move, one strike I didn’t see coming, and I might not be coming back.

Before… that didn’t matter. It didn’t matter to me whether or not I came back. Not that I wanted to die per se, but fighting for my clan and my clanmates was infinitely more important. If I could save someone’s life, that was all that mattered to me.

Things are different now.

I have to come back for her. I have to come back for our future child. The fight is one thing, but I know I need to come back.

“I know I can’t guarantee anything, but I promise you, I’m going to fight hard to get back to you,” I say, “I promise. I promise you.”

Sarah just brushes her head back and forth across my chest. A deep shiver passes through me.

Orion’s voice rings over the air:

“Come on, Guys! We need to GO! RIGHT NOW!”

Sarah’s head snaps up; she looks at him, and then at me, pain dancing in her green eyes.

“Rufus…” She murmurs.

I smile sadly at her.

“Duty calls, Sarah,” I reply, “Keep the girls safe. I promise you, I’m coming back.”

“You’d better,” she says, borderline tearfully, “Because I—I love you.”

My body stiffens when I hear it. I feel like the world slows down for a moment.

“Say that again,” I say.

Sarah loops her arms around my neck. She pulls herself close to me, inching up on her tiptoes and resting her head on my shoulder. Her lips touch on my ear, and she whispers to me:

“I love you.”

I just close my eyes, holding her close for a moment.

“KAIUS! RUFUS!” Orion screams, “LET’S GO!”

It takes a Herculean effort, but I force my arms off Sarah. I have to hold them away from her and walk backward from Sarah.

“I love you too,” I say, walking backward.

She just stares at me. I can hear everyone gather around behind me. Julie and Lena join Sarah, and Julie looks similarly devastated. Julie gets close to Sarah, and Sarah notices. She puts her arm around Julie comfortingly, but she’s still looking at me with tears in her eyes.

“Rufus,” Orion says stonily, “Let’s go.”

I look at him and then to her. I have to turn my back on her because otherwise, it’s too hard. I can’t leave while looking at that sad face.

But I will see her again. I will make sure of it.

***

We take flight and soar across the skies, taking the same path we can only assume Cyrus and Evander would take. There’s not a single word passed between us; with how hard we’re flying, I don’t think a single one of us could even manage to form a word. I feel like I’m sprinting, my heart knocking on my ribs like an insect trapped in a glass, my lungs burning as I try to suck in enough breath to keep going. Orion trails ahead, leading our way.

I’m just hoping that we’re going the right way—it’s the most direct way to the council, but if Cyrus and Evander took the scenic route, then they’re fucked.

And so are we.

And so are the girls back home…

But Orion looks back at us and then gestures to something with the tip of his snout. I follow his gesture and—

I see them.

Oh, shit. Sarah was right; there have to be at least a dozen Eclipse dragons, flying in the same direction as us.

Orion falls back a little bit over to Milo. He speaks to Milo quietly and then looks over all of us sharply. Milo pauses in his flying, pivoting straight and then sweeping his wings forward. A cloud starts gathering around Milo first and then passes out further and further. Everyone gets the picture, and we hover close to Milo. Soon, we’re all covered in the shroud, and in the middle of the fog, we fly.

“Up!” Orion orders, “Let’s get above the Eclipse ambush.”

We all comply. Before long, I can sense them below us all, but I can’t see them; Milo wouldn’t make the cloud cover so weak that they could look up and see us. We carry on like that for a while, shoulder to shoulder, bumping into one another as we fly.

“There!” Milo gasps.

I look down, and in the distance, in the gap that Milo’s made for us to see through, I can see two dragons on the horizon, but just by instinct, I know my Alpha when I see him.

“We need to hurry!” Orion growls.

We all speed up, still bumping into each other since we’re so close to one another. The Eclipse dragons have spread out, but luckily, they’ve split up into groups of three.

“Rufus,” Orion says, and I straighten in attention, “you take the closest ones to the left. Kaius, the right. The others look like they’re coming from above—Milo, back me up as those take them.”

We all nod. The Eclipse dragons are getting closer… Cyrus and Evander keep flying forward, none the wiser. We watch the Eclipse dragons getting closer…

Then, they swoop in. They dive down, swarming like bees as they dive in. Cyrus and Evander look up, barely with enough time to see them.

“NOW!”

We crash out of our cloud, roaring our battle cries. The Eclipse dragons pause. Their heads snap up toward us as we bear down on them, claws unsheathed at the ready. I see the others scatter around me as I focus on the ones to the left. Three of them—the first thing I do is sweep around them, lining them up so only one of them has direct access to me. That one charges toward me, teeth first.

As it flies toward me, I watch the teeth close in on my face. At the last moment, I duck my head under the jaws, ramming my head into their throat. The dragon chokes. I shove as hard as I can, and the dragon tumbles backward, collapsing into the other two. As I fly around, I grab one of the Eclipse dragon’s wings in my mouth and crunch it between my teeth, breaking it. They shriek—but most importantly, they fall from the sky, flapping their one wing to no avail.

Pain scatters over the back of my neck. I hear myself cry out and roll over in the air. The other dragon loses their grip on my scales and falls away from me. When I get my bearings, I can see both of them starting to surround me, the hissing sounds of the clashes happening around me. I keep both of them in my line of sight at the same time. They both surge toward me. I jerk backward, and one of them misses me. The other’s claw rakes through the air toward my face. I throw my arm up and block the other one. I then thrust a kick out into its stomach, and the dragon floats away from the force. The one that missed looks around to me, and I headbutt the enemy as hard as I can. The other dragon hisses and lurches away from me in flight. I take the risk to look around. Orion and Milo are holding their own. Kaius seems to be out-speeding them, looping around them in an ariel battle. Cyrus and Evander have joined in the fight, but they only have a couple to face themselves.

Then, Kaius roars in pain. Evander notices and throws his own opponent off to fly over and support him. But more gather around Cyrus. Others soar toward him.

No! Evander! They’re aiming for Cyrus! Don’t leave him!

Cyrus roars. He’s fighting four at once. He grabs two of them and smashes them into one another—but then another begins to strike a clawed hand down toward Cyrus’s neck.

No!

I beat my wings and plummet toward Cyrus like a rocket launched. I aim for the strike.

I need to block it!

I hit the other dragon. Try to grab the dragon’s arm. But the strike has too much momentum. The arm crashes through my resistance. Gouges into my wing. I scream as my wing begins sizzling in pain. I flap my wings, but the wind rushes through my right wing. I’m losing air.

No! NO!

The dragon ahead of me smirks and raises their hand again. Cyrus snaps forward and bites the dragon around the jaw—stopping the attack before it comes.

But I’m losing air. I’m starting to plummet down.

“Rufus!” Cyrus snaps, but there’s nothing he can do—there are too many of them around him.

I flap as hard as I can, but I’m falling. All I can do is brace myself as I begin crashing toward the ground.

The earth strikes me hard. Hard enough for my head to snap back on my neck and for stars to flutter behind my eyes. A dull ache shudders through my shoulders.

No! Don’t pass out! Don’t!

Something hits me hard on the back. My head reels again. Pain strikes down on the back of my head. I scream, but my body feels like lead; I can’t move it.

No! NO! MOVE!

I PROMISED SARAH I WAS COMING BACK!

Suddenly, a second wind, a renewed flood of strength, crashes through me. I push off the ground, forcing the other dragon off my back. I spin around. The dragon has stumbled, taken by surprise, and I snarl. No. He’s not going to be the reason I don’t make it back home!

I leap forward, grab him by the throat, and twist my head. The snap that rings out rattles through my teeth, and he’s limp in a moment. Once he’s gone, I listen, and I realize there’s a disturbing lack of sound in the air.

My head snaps up, but I see a lot of the Eclipse dragons retreating. As I scan my eyes across the skies, I do a head count.

Before I can finish, Cyrus lands next to me.

“Rufus!” he barks, “Are you okay?”

“Y—yeah. I think I’m all right.”

“Good,” Cyrus says, “Because we don’t have the time to stay here and lick our wounds. We have to get back to Greyson Ridge as fast as we can!”

“What?” I ask, “Why?”

“Because this is the least of what Eclipse has planned, and the girls are alone back there!”