Treasure Of Dragons, Royal Dragons Book 1 Chapter 153

David

We were all at the clearing, but back in the trees so as not to be easily seen. Two of the group, one of the phoenixes and one of the wyverns, had taken a dirty bike we’d rented and driven about 20 miles down the mountain area where we were, they were our lookouts. They had a handheld radio, and we had another, so as soon as they saw anyone heading our way, they would notify us, as well as tell us how many.

We were all wound pretty tight, as it was only about 30 minutes from the scheduled time of the “meeting” so, any time now, we’d see what was really about to go down. I looked over to Ria and she looked back, as she must have sensed me looking at her. I smiled, and she nodded. 

I thought about everything, how just months ago, while out on a dig in Brazil, there was no inkling that I would ever find my daughter, let alone find out I had like an army of grandkids. Then to find out the whole mess of this stupid fucking cult, and what they were still doing, and the devastation they were bringing to our world. 

Ria had faced so much, even as a little girl, that most would crumble beneath. She however, had risen, thrived, and even when once again, hurt and abused, she became an awesome mom and never gave up who she was. She fought, and now because of that, so much has been fixed or come to light. The cascade has been life-altering for unknown numbers of shifters everywhere.

I know Elizabeth is a badass, but I don’t think she would be that badass, if she didn’t have a badass mom, who taught her. Yes, Eli is her own firecracker that’s for sure, but I see so much of Ria in her, and I have to smile thinking about that. I’m not totally sure about the whole mate dynamic with her and the guys, but I see they are genuinely trying to make things better. They have owned their fuck ups so that is good. I will just watch and see.

I’m actually excited about the prospect of helping to build the training facility, and I haven’t been this excited about life’s prospects in a very long time. So, now, as I watched her interact with the kids, I was proud of the woman she had become, and the life she had wrestled from the ashes of what people tried to heap on her. 

She’d actually thought to bring a big huge bag of clothes, so all the kids, well not actually kids, they were all adults, but to us they were kids, wouldn’t have to run around in front of each other without clothes on. I thought it was an excellent idea for us old guys as well. I heard the crackle of a radio, and I turned to look at Drago as he answered.

“We copy you, status update.” We all honed in on the voices that would come from that little handheld device and set this whole thing alight or not.

“We have incoming. Looks to be approximately 150 people, various vehicles, and various weapons visible. It’s a god damn attack force, is what this is.”

All of us turned and went to various places in the trees, to remove clothes and shift, “We read you, get back here, we’re getting ready.” 

“Copy that on our way.” Then the radio was silent, and we all prepared. 

We tried to stay somewhat hidden, so as not to spook them before they got close enough, however, keeping this many large dragons together, and not being seen is a feat, and it was a bitch. The trees paid the price I’m afraid. The phoenixes and the wyverns were shifted and ready, and as someone who had never seen a wyvern, they were actually rather interesting. 

My dragon had looked at them, huffed to them, and then he was like, " Ah, okay, new buddies, works for me. I was inside chuckling at that thought. He was far more honed in on Ria’s white dragon, and then Brand and his huge black dragon that could rival the size of his dad’s. Drako’s was red, and Collette’s was blue, so their dragons weren’t alike, and I’d wondered as they were fraternal twins if they would be at all alike as dragons, the answer was no. Dragori’s dragon was also blue. The amount of power flowing off my grandkids was amazing. 

My keen dragon hearing picked up the sound of vehicles and I knew they were getting close. The boys who had been the lookouts had arrived just a second ago, ditched the dirt bike and started their shift, and now, finally, we were all standing at the ready.

I watched as Collette’s dragon’s scales morphed into metal, like she was wearing a huge dragon-shaped suit of armor, and I saw the ends of her wings were what appeared to be sharp knives, so that was different, and I had known her gift was defensive, but I had to see it in actual execution, to completely understand what I had been sensing. Her mate was staying very close to her, and I saw a small flame was dancing along the edge of his wings as he stood close to her. 

The majority of us had gifts that would, unfortunately, probably devastate some of the land around us as well as the enemy, so everything was going to be scorched Earth, or frozen Earth pretty soon. I was thinking we were probably going to have to take care of that before we started a huge forest fire by the end of this. Then my dragon was pissed off that I was thinking of stupid shit rather than getting ready to fight, and I had to send him soothing, I’m sorry.

Then as I watched, Ria’s dragon lifted her head to the sky, then hopped up and flapped her wings. I saw her open her mouth, as she’d done back at the castle, and emit that EMP pulse, disabling the vehicles, and most of their electronic toys. The battle had begun.