Treasure Of Dragons, Royal Dragons Book 1 Chapter 144

David

I had watched Ria go from place to place working with everyone, especially the kids to get us all ready to leave. The plane was scheduled in another hour, so we were loading up all of the vehicles with bags, and using some cars just to carry bags. Wow, this was such a production, I had never even thought about how hard it must be to do things like this. 

So, soon all of the bags would be packed. We had decided that with so much other shit, it would be better to just stop and buy a bunch of food and coolers once we were actually in the buses, rather than packing it up from here. The kitchen staff would be using it for those still in the house, or donating it to the village. So, that seemed like an acceptable solution.

I know a majority of the kids were aware that something was happening, but with the older kids helping, the atmosphere had stayed upbeat rather than panicked. I think the earlier flight into the caves helped them prepare for this, so in one way that was a positive. I still hated the idea that this was even necessary.

When the Patels had been attacked down in New Zealand, we had hoped it was an isolated incident, and was caused by something they had been digging into that had alerted their government about what they were researching. However, now that the Landrys had also been attacked, I was starting to think that perhaps the secret was out, and they knew that they were working on exposing their whole circus. I can’t even say for sure who these bastards are. So, that will be another area we have to pin down information. There are too many open-ended questions right now. 

We know that the SSFA that Braun had talked about is total bullshit. He said they were with the CIA, so there’s the potential for several other such entities to be out there doing the same fucking bullshit. That is something we must answer, and answer soon. That’s going to be the only way that we can truly make sure the kids are safe.

There had already been discussions about where they should relocate, as being here was not really a good thing all the way around. The village was panicked, but honestly, I think they deserved to be panicked, and they would just have to grow a pair and step up. I had a small cabin in Alaska, and I visited Pyre often, but with me being out on digs, I hadn’t set down huge roots really. Now, that would be changing. I had a daughter and an army of grandkids that needed me. 

I had been hoping that we could plan a relocation to Alaska. It was remote enough that I could let my dragon out some, and that would come in handy with a huge family of dragons. I did have to wonder at the situation with Romania not ever calling out the dragons flying around though. I had honestly never thought about it. I guess right now it hadn’t been all that many, well until I got here and had every single one of the kids’ dragons up and out. So, in the future, there would be a whole lot more dragons flying around. 

Perhaps now that we were revitalizing the whole dragon world, there would need to actually be some type of contact with the government. I wasn’t sure how that would work in all honesty. The governments tended to be rather trigger-happy with things they didn’t understand. So, having a bunch of powerful and talented dragon shifters might be classified as more of a threat than anything else. So, there would have to be huge amounts of discussions and investigation into that. 

Honestly, I still stood back and looked at my daughter in absolute awe. How many people, dragon or not, just people, could come back from what she had? Not only had Collette ruined her life, but then she’d handed her over to Braun, and hell, not caring one iota about what she was doing. Then Ria not only dealt with Braun and his brother but a whole lot of others, and still tried to help those weaker than herself. After discovering that foster care was a new peril rather than just curling up and accepting what they dished out, she ran and took care of herself. We haven’t talked about all of her time on the streets, but she’s dropped enough hints for me to know she was hurt then too, but it was different because she saw it coming.

Then she had the absolute joy of a family and the love they gave one another, and then to only receive another blow of having them ripped away, and finding out about dragon shifters, and the whole pile of bullshit that was heaped on her along with all of that. She fought for herself and her children, never once did she fold and just accept what was happening. I had briefly heard about one time she thought they might be able to cobble something together out of the shit, but then she found out about that god damned agreement, and drew a line in the sand. 

Now, after so many years, and so much bullshit, she had the fortitude to keep going, to raise amazing kids, and still be my badass daughter. The men in her life knew what they had been handed finally, and they were finally trying to be decent enough that I wouldn’t kill them. There were no guarantees about the future of that, but we’d have to see if they kept up the groveling to a good enough degree, and maintained the new not being stupid fuckers. I’d most definitely be watching very closely.

I saw Ria rushing by, and I snaked my arm out and she stopped looking up at me with a question. I stepped closer and opened my arms. This had been our thing. I opened my arms, but she had the option to step into them or not. Too many people had stopped asking her and getting her permission, so I was determined I never would. Even as her dad, she had the right to say nope, not today, not in a hug mood. So I just waited.

She smiled, and got that misty-eyed look she still did, and she walked into my arms. I pulled her close and just hugged her, I kissed her temple, and I whispered, “I am so proud of you kiddo, just want you to remember that. Even with all of this bullshit, I’m here, and I’m proud of you. Not to mention I love you too.” 

She laughed, “Love you, too Dad. Now, let’s get the fuck out of here.” I nodded and we walked out to the cars.