Page 15 of Serving my Dragon (The Dragocracy Chronicles #2)

Chapter Eleven

With my family in peril, the time had come to stop being a silent listener. I eased myself from the hammock, my bare feet quiet on the grass my uncle proudly maintained. The two guys talking so callously stood waiting, armed with tasers, according to their own words.

While usually a guy who fought fair, I couldn’t take any chances.

My stealthy movement brought me behind the bigger man without him noticing and I sucker-punched him in the back of the head.

He went reeling and I pivoted with my hands linked as a club and swung at his partner.

I felt a satisfying crunch as his nose broke, followed by his yelp of pain.

A shame I didn’t knock either of them unconscious, but at least they focused on me and not those inside the fiery trap. As I dropped into a fighting stance, I yelled a warning, “Wake up! Fire!”

Did it wake those sleeping inside? I could only hope. I had my hands full as both men turned on me.

“You should have run while you had the chance,” snarled the bigger guy, aiming his taser.

Fast reflexes honed by my uncles who’d sparred with me in my youth had me ducking and also diving at the man’s knees.

The wire probe went zipping past my head just as I hit him hard in the legs.

Down he went with me on top. A flurry of punches to his face made his eyes roll back before he passed out.

Zap.

The tasing shock stole my breath, but I managed to remain conscious.

Barely.

In my daze, I couldn’t stop the body that bowled into me, knocking me over.

The guy grabbed me by the shirt and began slamming me against the ground which did much to help me recover from the jittery feeling in all my muscles.

Hands went around my neck and squeezed, but I brought my legs up and latched them around his head in a wrestling move I’d learned as a kid.

The force of it yanked the grip from my neck, and despite the throbbing, I could breathe.

I threw myself on my assailant before he could recover.

We tussled in the grass, equally matched in strength.

He proved slippery as a greased pig and managed to evade my attempts to lock him into place.

But I knew how to fight dirty courtesy of my tíos, who’d always said better to win dishonorably than end up dead in an alley, or in this case, a house fire.

Wham. The knee to my opponent’s balls sucked the breath from him, and then a few hard punches to his face finally left him limp.

Panting slightly, I rose to my feet just as Tío Juan drawled, “Took you long enough to handle them. Thought I was going to have to step in.”

I glared at my uncle. “A little help would have been appreciated.”

“And emasculate you in front of your woman?”

“What woman…” I trailed off as I spotted Kayleigh in the shadows by the back door, holding a bundle that the casual observer would guess was a baby, though I saw Polly’s snout protruding.

“Matias, are you okay?” she exclaimed, rushing to me.

“Yeah, but we’re not done. There’s more of them out front.”

“No there’s not,” Juan smugly stated.

“What of the fire?” A glance at the house showed no terrifying glow and the scent of smoke hadn’t gotten any stronger.

“Carmelita and Lola doused it while me and Santiago handled the bastardos out front.”

A relief. “So everyone’s okay?”

“I am fine, mijo.” Mama emerged, bundled in a robe over her borrowed nightdress. “The nerve of those escorias,” she snarled, kicking one of the prone bodies with her slippered foot.

“Easy, Mama,” I muttered as I noticed Kayleigh’s wide eyes.

“Come, Lola. Let’s go check on Carmelita and Santiago.” Juan led Mama around to the front of the house and I rubbed a hand over my face. What a mess.

“Who were they?” Kayleigh asked.

“My enemies,” Polly stated. She growled as she gave the bodies a glare.

“Yes and no,” I replied. “They came here because of Kayleigh.”

“But why?”

“Because apparently you found out they were trying to capture a dragon and threatened to expose them. As such, you became a loose thread they wanted snipped.” I left out the fact they’d planned to murder us all on the off-chance Kayleigh had remembered and spoken to us.

“Oh.” She must have hugged the dragon too tight because Polly complained.

“Must you squeeze me so hard?”

“Sorry.”

My uncle returned and said, “We should get out of here before they send more people.”

“More?” Kayleigh squeaked.

“To go where?” I asked. “They found us within hours.”

“Which is why you’re relocating to a place no one knows about but me.”

A safe place sounded good right about now. “What’s the address?”

Juan chuckled. “As if it has one. The spot I’ve got for you isn’t on any map. We leave in five minutes.”

“Five?” Mama yelped as she returned to join us. “That’s not enough time to cook for them.”

A comment that rolled my uncle’s eyes. “We don’t have time for that. Load the truck with what we have available. Food. Bedding. The place they’re going lacks amenities so more is better.”

Just where did my uncle plan to take us?

Mama’s hands waved. “Come, Kayleigh. Help me raid Carmelita’s kitchen so you have everything you need to feed you, my boy, and Pollita.”

Kayleigh glanced at me. I knew she wanted to protest this wasn’t necessary. But it was. Setting fire to the house holding my family? It had become personal.

The women left to raid the house and my uncle eyed Pollita in Kayleigh’s arms. “All this over that little creature.” He shook his head. “We’ll discuss this more on the drive. Right now, you need to give me a hand moving the bodies.”

“To where?” I asked, grabbing a pair of feet, only to pause mid-lift. “You’re not going to kill them, are you?”

Juan snorted. “Bodies are annoying to get rid of and we don’t have time. I have a better idea.” That idea involved stuffing them in the car they’d used to drive here but leaving the driver seat empty for Santiago.

I frowned. “Where is he supposed to take them?” We toted a body around the house, and I saw the car in question with the headlights on, illuminating Santiago. Good thing he didn’t have any close neighbors that might be nosy.

My question brought a smirk to Juan’s face. “A place the policia will find them.”

“Won’t we be in trouble once they wake up and they tell the cops we beat them?”

“They’ll be too busy explaining the guns in their trunk and the traces of cocaine all over the car.” Juan’s sly reply.

“You’re going to make it look like a drug deal gone wrong.” I would have smiled if the situation weren’t so terribly convoluted.

“Exactly,” Santiago declared as we dumped the body in the backseat. The second one in the yard ended up in the trunk until Santiago got to his destination and moved it to the driver’s spot.

“Good to go.” Juan slapped Santiago on the back. “Diego is on his way to meet you so you have a ride back.”

My uncle chuckled. “Reminds me of that time when we?—”

“Not now,” Juan growled, and my other uncle never did finish what he was going to say. He tugged gloves on his hands before he got into the car and drove off.

“Why does it seem like you’re all enjoying this?” I muttered.

“Nothing like a little danger to keep a man young. Come, let’s see what my crazy sister tried to pack in my truck.”

Pretty much everything in the kitchen and linen closet, as it turned out.

As Mama explained, they could easily go shopping. We couldn’t. They’d even cobbled together some bags of clothes.

After much hugging—where Mama might have cracked a rib—we set off. Me in the front and Kayleigh in the back with Polly.

Juan waited until we’d gone a few miles before saying, “So, who’s going to tell me more about the lizard.”

“How rude. I’m not a lizard. I’m a dragon,” Polly huffed.

“Dios! You really do talk.”