Cruel Daddy Dragon (Candara Dragon Ops #3)

Chapter 27 - Sarah

Everyone is silent for a moment after I speak. Cyrus just stares at me for a moment—and it feels like it’s me versus him in this conversation.

“We’re not going anywhere,” I repeat, “Even if we could try to convince every person in Greyson Ridge to pick up and leave, there’s no way we wouldn’t have stragglers. Merl’s not leaving, for one thing.”

Julie and Rufus both nod knowingly next to me.

“But even more important than that, Greyson Ridge is our home,” I assert, “ Our home. We should have the right to fight for it.”

“A nice sentiment,” Cyrus says stonily, “but Soleilus can’t defend all of Greyson Ridge if Eclipse goes all out in their attack.”

“It won’t just be you,” I answer confidently, “If we stay in Greyson Ridge, there’s a better chance that we might be able to help you.”

Cyrus frowns a little.

“Who’s ‘we’?” he asks.

“The people of Greyson Ridge,” I answer, “Us humans. I think you’ve been underestimating us.”

“I am not happy to involve humans in this,” he answers me in a monotone.

I put my hands on my hips.

“While you dragons were off facing the attack, we had to deal with one of the stragglers from Eclipse,” I say, “You know, one of those who gave up on the idea of hiding themselves from humans; we’re lucky he didn’t cause a panic when we fought him.”

Cyrus’s eyes widen. The other dragons look at each other in alarm.

“Wait, you actually had to fight one of them?!” Kaius gasps, looking between Julie and me, “I thought you girls were just chased by one!”

I just shoot Julie a look, and she squirms a little bit.

“I didn’t want him to worry,” she murmurs.

I grunt and—ignoring Rufus’s concerned gaze on me—look back to Cyrus.

“We did have to fight one of them,” I clarify, “And we won together. Combined, we managed to summon some kind of power that absolutely decimated the dragon who was attacking us.”

Cyrus frowns at me and looks between Lena and me as he speaks back:

“What kind of power?” he focuses in on Lena, “Was it like your lightning or electrocution powers?”

“Sort of,” Lena explains, “I started to try and throw lightning at him, but Sarah grabbed my wrist. Then… it was like she’d added her power to mine. I just felt my magic double. Then, when Julie got in on it, it got more powerful again. It wasn’t like lightning; it was like… a beam or something. But when we fired it, it was like a wave of power.”

Lena gives a light chuckle: “It was kind of incredible, actually.”

Cyrus leans back a little bit, surprised. He then nods.

“What I’m trying to say,” I say, attracting his attention back to me, “is we’re clearly magically inclined. It’d be stupid to say we’re not—Lena, Julie, and I have activated visions. Lena has lightning powers that can stun a dragon, and when we band together, we can destroy a dragon. In fact—” I look to Lena, “—I don’t want to overestimate us, but I reckon that wave of power could have taken out more than one dragon.”

Lena considers and then nods. I look at Julie, and she smiles, nodding as well.

“And from what I understand about this magical bullshit,” I continue, “Greyson Ridge itself is the source of all this. The relics, the keys… it seems like you dragons had to arrive and set it all off, but if we’d met in anywhere other than Greyson Ridge, it wouldn’t have worked.”

There’s more nodding around the table from the others watching this conversation happen.

“There may still be more powers waiting to be unlocked in the residents here,” I argue, “I think combining our powers with Lena proves that Julie and I have some extra power we haven’t manifested yet, and we might not be the only ones. Who knows who else might have potential.”

“I see your point,” Cyrus counters, “but this only matters if those same residents are planning on fighting with us.”

“I don’t think you should underestimate the get off my porch community spirit Greyson Ridge has,” I clap back, “This town has survived the silver rush, epidemics—so many things that turned other towns around here into ghost towns, and we’re still kicking.”

Cyrus’s face twists a little, unconvinced. I can see the other dragons in the circle staring at him, reading his responses. I know if I can’t convince the Alpha, there’s no point convincing any of the others.

“Okay,” I start up again, “consider this: we somehow manage to convince the entire population—both human and shifter—to pack up and leave within a month. Eclipse takes over the ghost town that Greyson Ridge has become. What then?”

Cyrus narrows his eyes a little at me.

“What do you mean, ‘what then’?” he asks.

“We know that they don’t actually want Greyson Ridge,” I state them, “They want the keys and relics in Greyson Ridge, not the town itself. Once they have those, they’ll be even more powerful than ever, right? What then? What if they still want to settle the score with Soleilus after that? What if they want to do something else with that power?”

Cyrus averts his gaze, pondering over that. There’s a light rumbling around the table.

“You make a good point,” Cyrus admits after a second.

“We have to stay and fight,” I say, “As far as I can see, there’s no other option. Not just because we have to keep Eclipse from the power in the town, but because this is our home. All of us, human and dragon—we have to fight for it. If the carvings are right, then it’s always been our shared home.”

Cyrus frowns a little at me.

“Carvings?” he questions simply.

“Oh, that’s right!” Lena says, “You weren’t around when we investigated them! We found some very old carvings in a cave close to the collapsed mineshaft. Julie and I had a look over them, and it really looks like these carvings are ancient.”

“They are,” Julie adds, “They look a couple of hundred years old, at least. I haven’t had the chance to check exactly how old—I’ll need to find that out, but it’s a few generations at least.”

“Yeah. Anyway, it seems to show dragons and a certain coven of witches in Greyson Ridge many years ago,” Lena says, “So, it almost seems like dragons were always meant to be here in Greyson Ridge.”

Cyrus nods, looking down at her, then staring off into the middle distance. He spends a second in thought, and everyone waits with bated breath to see what he says next.

“Fine,” he concedes, “I will need to check these carvings myself. We’ll discuss whether or not we should leave later. For now, everyone’s dismissed. Rest up. We don’t know if Eclipse is going to try again when we go to the cave.”

All the dragons nod and start walking away from the table, dismissed. Cyrus walks away first, and Lena starts walking after him. She pauses for a second and looks over her shoulder at me:

“I’ll talk to him,” she says before following him.

After he goes, the others separate out into their own little groups. I can feel Rufus’s gaze on me. I turn to him with a smile.

“Yes?” I ask him.

“I love how you do that,” he murmurs.

“Do what?”

“Talk back,” he says, “We don’t talk back to Cyrus like that, but I suppose you’re not scared to talk back to anyone, are you?”

He has this smirk on his face. I feel myself grin back.

“Well, it’s just part of my job,” I chuckle, “I mean…I wouldn’t be a good sheriff if I couldn’t face down men bigger than me every once in a while.”

“Mm,” Rufus purrs, “You think you could take bigger men down?”

I walk closer to Rufus, pressing myself against his chest. His arms wind around my waist.

“Depends what you mean by take them down,” I murmur, “If you mean tie them to a radiator to subdue them, then yes.”

Rufus laughs, looking away. His face drops a little when he looks away from me. I follow his gaze, and catch the outline of Lena through the door. She has quite an identifiable silhouette nowadays, thanks to her pregnancy. She’s making some animated gestures with her hands, and I can only assume she’s talking to Cyrus.

“Do you think she’ll convince him?” I ask, “I know if he says go, all the dragons will go.”

Rufus looks back at me, a hard edge to his eye.

“Not sure,” he admits, “She definitely has a way of getting around to him. I’ve never seen anything like it. With Lena on the case, we might have a chance.”

He then looks back at me, that hard edge dissolving into pain.

“If we can’t convince Cyrus to stay in Greyson Ridge, then… would you come with me?” he asks.

“What?” I whisper.

His arms squeeze around my waist, pulling me even harder into him.

“If we have to leave, would you come with me?” he asks, “I know you worked so hard to become the sheriff here, and it means a lot to you, but if I’m forced to leave, would you even consider coming with me?”

My heart sinks. I pause for a moment, my mouth a little agape. I look down. The question weighs on me like a yoke dropped onto my shoulders.

He’s right. I did work so hard to get where I am… Moving away would undo all of that. I’d have to start again somewhere new, and obviously, I’d be at a man’s side. I wouldn’t be coming in an independent woman, but someone’s wife, which is what I didn’t want…

But on the other hand, I… I don’t want him to go. I don’t want to be without him. When I imagine life without him, even the life I was pretty happy with before I knew he existed, it feels hollow. I wouldn’t be able to go back to how I was living without feeling like something was missing…

Maybe it’s time I put that kind of pride aside; being independent in my job doesn’t mean I have to be lonely forever, does it? Being his wife hasn’t changed how anyone’s looked at me—not anyone important, anyway—and I’m still respected as the sheriff. Hell, Rufus was just saying I was talking back to their Alpha in a way most of the dragons wouldn’t dare.

Maybe… I can have both. Be both. The soft side, the wife, and the hardened police officer—they can coexist in me.

I look back up to Rufus. He’s been silently watching me the whole time, a sheen of anxiety tightening his jaw as he watches me weigh my options. I smile at him.

“I’d go with you,” I reply quietly, “I don’t want to, but I love you, so I’d go.”

He gives a breathless laugh of relief. Suddenly, his hands sweep down to the backs of my thighs, and he lifts me off my feet.

“Rufus!” I shriek in delight.

He swings me around in a circle, and I start laughing. His own laugh rumbles through his chest. He then slows and places me back down on the floor. When he does, he leans back and looks me in the eye:

“You know,” he murmurs, “I really worried for a second there… but I shouldn’t have. I love you, Sarah.”

My stomach still does a little flip when I hear those words. The fluttering escapes me in a light giggle.

“I love you too.”

His lips touch mine, and I sink my hands into his lovely long hair.

It feels so good to just… be in love with someone.