Page 26 of Cast By Flames (Dragon’s Breath #7)

Bailey

I gulped down my canteen of water, finishing it. We had just finished our second day of training at the dome—at least for slayers—and I was hot, sweaty, and covered in wounds. Aidan had made it as well, but he only participated in the last round of fighting. He stood a few feet away, discussing how it went with the other leaders. Some were in human bodies and others in their beast forms, depending on whether or not they were shifters.

My mate’s head lifted as a red dragon approached from the northwest. I could only surmise that it was one of our border guards since there was no other reason for him to come from that direction. Putting my canteen away, I moved closer to Aidan.

“What is it?” I asked.

“The coalition is coming down the interstate and should reach Tinker within the hour. The Straegud are flying overhead with them.”

A thrill ran through me. I’d spoken to my old commander on the sat phone a few days ago, and he’d said they would be arriving soon, but one never knew when traveling in a post- apocalyptic world. Some idiots might be stupid enough to attack a huge, armored convoy with a sizeable dragon escort. Even if they hadn’t, they would have to take numerous detours due to road conditions and a lot of refueling and rest stops. Never mind finding a place to sleep for the night when transporting five hundred troops. Of course, more than that would be fighting, but the rest would travel on cargo planes. They had to verify we’d repaired the runways at Tinker to their standards before letting them come.

“It shouldn’t take more than fifteen minutes for us to fly there,” I said, almost bouncing with anticipation.

While we needed all the dragons we could get for the upcoming war, the coalition would provide serious firepower that would make a huge difference. I was also excited to see the Straegud pendragon again. Had it only been a little over three months since we last spoke? So much had happened since then that it felt like much longer.

I beckoned to Rayna, who had just finished bandaging a wound on her leg. A dragon had bitten her, but she got it back by stabbing extra deep into its neck.

“What’s going on?” she asked after limping over to us.

“The coalition will be at Tinker in less than an hour, along with the Straegud.”

A broad grin stretched her face. “Really? Can I come? I’ve never been around the coalition before, and I’ve missed Syrus and some of his shifters.”

Wren, the Craegud pendragon, was looking at us like we’d grown horns. “You two are friends with the Straegud toriq?”

Aidan had told him that Rayna met them first, but perhaps he’d forgotten that with everything else we’d thrown at him upon his arrival.

“Oh, they’re great,” I said, nodding. “Especially when there’s drinks and parties involved.”

Aidan frowned at me. “I think you’ve failed to tell me some stories.”

“Maybe a few,” I admitted, giving him a sweet smile. “But you’re welcome to grill me about it later tonight.”

Light danced in his eyes. “Oh, I plan on it.”

“Why is it my toriq only meets the murderous slayers and none of the friendly ones like them?” Wren asked, gesturing at us. He was clearly annoyed that he’d been left out.

Rayna was working to re-braid her hair. “Well, now you have. Better late than never.”

The pendragon grunted.

“Anyway, of course, you can come,” I told the female slayer.

Galadon and Lorcan joined us, with the latter cocking his head. “What’s going on?”

“The coalition and Straegud are almost here,” I explained. “We’re about to head out and meet them.”

The Faegud pendragon’s son had a twinkle in his eyes. “We’ll come as well. I’m sure Galadon will be happy to carry Rayna if she requires assistance.”

“Why don’t you carry her?” the lone shifter asked.

Lorcan lifted a brow. “She’s almost as frightening as you. I have a child and another on the way, so I cannot risk her wrath if I say the wrong thing. Not to mention, she likes you better.”

Rayna shot a tiny spark of lightning toward his feet, and he jumped. “If I wanted you dead, you’d be dead.”

“That was not funny,” Lorcan grumbled, moving to the other side of Galadon. “But it proves my point—she’s merciless.”

The lone shifter gave a martyred sigh. “Very well, I will take her, but…” He shot Rayna a warning look. “If you start babbling in my mind, I swear I will create a rain cloud to follow over your head the rest of the day.”

“You can do that?” she asked, eyes rounding in surprise.

He gave her a dark look. “I’ve done it once or twice before.”

“Oh, good. I really need to wash my hair, especially after getting this gash on my head that bled all over.” She pointed at the dried blood at the base of her skull. “If you could get the rain started, then at least I won’t look so horrible when we meet the Straegud. It’s been ages since I’ve seen them, and I’d like to look nice.”

Galadon let out a string of curses in the dragon language and turned to the Craegud pendragon. “I think I prefer the murderous slayers.”

Wren chuckled.

***

We stood near a Tinker Air Force Base hanger as Humvees, armored personnel carriers, tankers, towed artillery pieces, and flatbed trucks with heavier military vehicles and equipment moved across the runway toward us. I couldn’t see the end of the convoy because it was so long. They parked in neat rows, and soldiers began piling out.

Nadine Richards, who we’d picked up before coming, greeted them. She was the highest civilian leader in the area, which was why we’d brought her and the one who took the lead on Tinker’s preparations. Justin and Miles stood with her to provide guidance since they had the most experience with the military.

Falcon and Sabryn also helped by directing troops to the dorms with bathrooms since we had anticipated many would be looking for a place to relieve themselves after their long drive. Thankfully, the town council had found a way to connect water and electricity to the base. I didn’t ask how they made it happen with less than two months’ notice, but many miracles had been performed lately. Necessity tends to make people work harder to overcome obstacles.

Colonel Melvin strode up to Aidan and me after speaking with Nadine. “I’m glad to see you’re alive and well, Bailey.” His gaze ran over my ragged appearance since I’d had no time to clean up. “Or rather, in one piece?”

“We just finished joint training when we got word of your arrival,” I explained.

“Ah, of course.” He nodded. “I’ll look forward to seeing that.”

Aidan cleared his throat.

I glanced at him. “Oh, right. Colonel Melvin, this is my mate, Aidan. He is the pendragon for the Taugud shifter clan.”

They exchanged nods since the commander couldn’t touch him without risking getting burned. Javier would be here in the morning to show the coalition sorcerers how to make the anti-burn potions, and they could use their own slayers’ blood to concoct them. He’d chosen to wait since we didn’t want to throw too much at them until they had a night to settle.

“I’ve looked forward to meeting you,” Aidan said, putting an arm around my shoulders. “Bailey has told me a lot about her time with your people.”

Colonel Melvin’s lips twitched. “As one of our top slayers, we were sorry to lose her, but we understood it was for a good reason.” He turned his gaze to me and lifted a brow. “Is this the father of your son?”

Oh, right, I never told anyone in the coalition the truth about Orion’s father.

“Yes, he is.”

The colonel gave me a rueful smile. “We suspected as much after I received a report about burn marks on the floor of your house after you vacated it. Some were mystified by the pattern, but I had my suspicions.”

“Sorry,” I said, resisting the urge to hide behind Aidan. It was easier to face giant dragons than stern military commanders. “He had his first shift while I was away on a mission, and I didn’t think it would happen with him that young.”

“There is much we must discuss.” Aidan changed the subject—to my relief—and called Morgan over to erect a shield for privacy.

Colonel Melvin shook the sorcerer’s hand after he finished casting the spell. “I’m glad they’ve kept you alive and in one piece as well. We’ve missed having you.”

Morgan had also participated in training and received a few bumps and bruises. We protected the magic users as best we could, but it got crowded on the battlefield, and we couldn’t stop everything. The poor guy was covered in dirt and had a cut on his cheek.

“I’m looking forward to you joining the training,” the sorcerer said, shooting me a dark look. “Maybe you can convince the slayers to try harder to protect me on the battlefield.”

I rolled my eyes. “We have simulated battlefield chaos as closely as possible. He needs to get used to working while injured and with tails flying at him. I tried to tell him how to avoid them, but his dodging skills are lacking.”

“Did you tell the colonel about when you had a shifter throw me on top of a flying Kandoran dragon and expected me to take him down from six hundred feet in the air?” Morgan asked, glaring at me.

He would never let that go, but I’d never stop laughing about it, either.

I grinned. “You survived, didn’t you? We had complete faith in your survival instincts.”

The commander patted Morgan’s shoulder. “It sounds like this place has been good for you.” He turned to Aidan and me. “I can’t tell you how many times I tried to get him to be more active on the battlefield, but he refused. He’s too valuable to keep far from the front lines.”

“Totally agree,” I said with a sage nod.

Aidan patted Morgan’s other shoulder as he cringed under all the attention. “He has been slowly coming out of his shell under my guidance. I’ve had him attend all my meetings with the pure dragons to create the privacy shields, and he’s gotten much better at not cowering.”

Colonel Melvin laughed. “I’m sorry I missed that.”

Movement in the distance caught my eye. I squinted as countless red dragons came into view from the east, heading straight for us. “Is that the Straegud?”

“Yes, approximately three hundred and twenty of them,” the commander said, then looked at Aidan. “We have been exposing our slayers to them as much as possible so they can learn control like Bailey, but it would be better if the shifters resided in another location.”

“Of course, we anticipated that,” he replied.

Aidan gestured toward Galadon and Rayna, calling them over. Morgan created a gap in the shield bubble so the pair could get through and closed it behind them. They were both stiff, making me wonder if they’d been arguing again.

“This is Galadon—a member of the Faegud toriq—who is a powerful warrior and sorcerer. He knows the area where the Straegud will be staying,” Aidan said.

The colonel had inadvertently taken a step back, and his hands trembled so much he stuffed them into his pockets. “Powerful is certainly one word for him, but I’m glad you’re on our side.”

I managed to hide a smile.

“Of course.” Galadon nodded, reigning in his aura as much as possible. “I have heard much about your weaponry and look forward to seeing it used against the Kandoran.”

He was being surprisingly polite, which was unusual for him. Perhaps he didn’t want to scare an important human off who could make a significant difference in the war.

Aidan continued his introductions. “This is Rayna. She is a strong slayer and sorceress with telepathic abilities and control of lightning. The Straegud were the ones to indoctrinate her to dragons, so she has excellent control around them, and she can introduce Galadon to the shifter pendragon.”

Galadon worked his jaw. “Perhaps it would be better if I took Bailey.”

“She needs to stay here to assist me with the coalition since she is their point of contact,” Aidan said.

Rayna looped her arm through Galadon’s, ignoring him stiffening at her touch. “It’s just me and you, big guy. We got this.”

“You are a most annoying creature,” he said, scowling at her.

Colonel Melvin gazed between them, incredulous. “She’s…very brave.”

While I wasn’t usually scared of Galadon, I still wouldn’t have been able to go near him if he glared at me like he did Rayna. He was not holding back on his “fear me, puny person” power toward her whatsoever. It was a mystery how she didn’t run screaming.

“That slayer is certainly something,” Morgan muttered. He’d inched to the other side of me, nearly hiding, when Galadon ramped up his power. “More like crazy and suicidal.”

I had to bite my tongue to keep from laughing.

Aidan ran a hand through his dark hair with trembling fingers—no one was immune to the lone shifter’s power. “Those two have a complicated alliance, but Rayna is among the few willing to work closely with him, and Galadon is among the few who don’t fear her.”

The lone shifter carefully extracted Rayna’s arm from him. “I fear I won’t be able to resist killing her before the war begins.”

“Ignore him. That’s his way of showing how much he cares,” she replied, leaning on him with a dramatic sigh. “If he’d just get laid, he wouldn’t always act so uptight.”

The colonel blanched.

Galadon let out a growl, took her by the arms, and deposited her a few feet from him. Despite his anger, he gently performed the entire maneuver. He didn’t even let go of her until he was certain she was steady on her feet. Perhaps Rayna was right.

Aidan muttered a prayer to Zorya before addressing the pair again. “Please let Syrus know that Bailey and I will meet them at the lake after we finish here. You two should go. They’re almost here, and I imagine they’d prefer to get settled sooner rather than later after their long journey.”

Everyone turned their gazes toward the sky, where the formation of red dragons grew larger with their approach. They were only a few miles away now.

“Of course,” Galadon said, giving him a nod.

He and Rayna walked toward the place designated for shifting, neither of them speaking further. It was an open field near the runway. I could only hope she eased up and stopped baiting him for a while.

Aidan continued talking to the colonel, and Morgan opened the shield bubble to allow his executive officer to join them. They explained how their convoy only brought about five hundred soldiers with weapons, equipment, and supplies. Designated officers were already inspecting the runway to ensure it was operational. Planes were on standby at Pope Field in Fayetteville, North Carolina, to begin bringing another seventeen hundred troops and more supplies via C-17s and C-130s. It would take a couple of days to complete the transfer. After that, they’d bring five A-10 Warthogs that would be stationed at the base for close air support, and helicopters would go to the Norman airport for various other uses.

I left their discussion when I saw Captain Taylor wave at me with a group of familiar slayers behind him. With a wide grin, I ran up and hugged Brody—my former fighting partner—and then Jana. She’d had my back many times, too. Taking in the bunch, I counted thirty of them.

“Not a bad turnout,” I said, surprised the coalition brought that many.

The captain shrugged. “It would have been more, but these are the only ones who’ve developed a sufficient tolerance of dragons. Throughout the trip, we used the Straegud to keep up regular exposure. A few of them still need a little work, though.”

“You can pair them with me and my two slayer friends. We’ll watch them during joint training because it can be chaotic, and they might lose their grip,” I suggested.

I avoided saying anything too specific since Morgan could only raise one shield at a time, but we didn’t have the luxury of dancing around the subject altogether. The war would begin in six days. There was so much to discuss and do before then.

“Did they show you where you’ll be bunking yet?” I asked.

Captain Taylor shook his head. “They did for the soldiers but not us.”

I’d fought hard to get the slayers decent accommodations and hoped they’d be pleased. “Follow me. There is electricity and hot showers are available.”

Jana put an arm around my shoulders as we walked. “I was mad when you left, but I suppose you can be my friend again if the quarters are as good as you say.”

“All it took was the offer of a hot shower?” I asked, glancing up at her. She was taller than me by five inches, but her scent made it clear they hadn’t showered during their trip.

“I’m easy to please.”

Brody laughed. “That’s what he said.”

Jana rolled her eyes. “It was all I could do to resist gutting him on this trip.”

“You didn’t? Not once?” Whenever a lot of slayers gathered, we tended to get violent, even among our own kind. The coalition leadership gave up long ago with forbidding us from fighting as long as we didn’t cause grave wounds. It helped blow off steam between battles.

“Okay, I did stab him in the gut once, but it was really just a gash,” she admitted.

Brody caught up to walk on the other side of me from Jana. “Don’t let her fool you. She was aiming lower and missed.”

“I never miss,” she scoffed.

The building where they would be staying came into view. “This one is all yours. They’re former Air Force dorms I got some people to clean up last week.”

They hooted and howled, running for the entrance. Having them here felt good, and knowing they’d have our backs for this war gave me a boost. A glimmer of hope formed that we might be able to pull it off and win.