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I plastered a smile on my face, which felt as false as it was.
Og shook his head, glaring daggers at Tyson.
“Shall we keep walking?” I shoved my hands forward.
Og scrunched up his face. “Jay…”
Before he continued, Rehan stepped forward and wrapped me in his arms. “Friend or mate, I’m here. I want to help you fix whatever you may or may not have done. We’ll keep this simple, just like you asked.”
I bit my lips together to keep from crying in relief. Support without pressure is exactly what I needed. Demons were terrible shit, and I was powerful. I needed allies, not therapists. I sank back into the arms of my too-muscled-for-his-own good dragon. His warmth and support filled me. I let myself live in his simple acceptance of the situation before standing on my own two feet once more.
Og frowned, but I saw the gears grinding behind his eyes. Hopefully, he’d back off. I didn’t need to spend more time arguing with him about the nature of curses when we clearly stood on different sides of the table.
“Look,” I refocused us on the actual problem the fire dragon’s report, delivered by an air dragon, represented. “The fire dragons are up to something, and they’re either working with the air dragons or using them. Maybe both.” I physically pushed Og, and he unhappily started walking once more. “What’s important: they’ve claimed no knowledge of me or my situation. So, for now, we need to focus on Scalehive. I came here as part of your Hunt, and Scalehive’s the only point of contact for that, so let’s review what we’re walking towards.”
Lux read from the report Oliviarose gave me yesterday. Five dragon shifters, dedicated to neutrality, spent most of their daysprocessing applications and playing tech support to the island’s communication network… phones and internet.
My need for a weapon felt silly by the time Lux finished describing the three-story apartment built into the massive radio tower and the pencil pushers who lived in it. But, peaceful or not, one of these people knew who put me here.
Painted with dark greens and browns, the tower blended in with the forest, though the front door was a cheery yellow and had a few dead potted plants on either side. It wasn’t a good sign. To make things worse, no one answered when we knocked.
Tyson kicked the door down, bursting into a front room which contained a kitchen. Half a sandwich sat molding on a cutting board while a small army of ants marched across the counters to and from the rotten trash bin.
“Rehan, take point.” I motioned toward the stairs leading up.
Tyson growled, not wanting to give up his position at the front, while all four of my mates eyed each other, waiting for one or the other to take charge.
I sighed. “Look, I get it. I’m not in control here. But,” I sliced my hand through the air. “I’ve got more tactical experience than the rest of you combined, and I really don’t want whatever we find incinerated on sight.” I made eye contact with Tyson. “More, I don’t have magic or claws I can whip out on command.”
You are such a manipulative shit. You can use their elements.
Tyson won’t remember that, and I want Og’s Ley Line magic at our front. Now dance for me, mates. Arg.
A crazy giggle at my thoughts slipped out of my lips.
Ogden and Lux gave me flat looks as if they knew exactly what I was doing, but they didn’t interfere. As I hoped, Tyson immediately caught my drift and appointed himself head bodyguard, gluing himself to my hip.
Rehan let out an unhappy grunt, but I pushed our versatile magical warlock into the lead, with Rehan’s muscle looming over him. Lux and his ability to cast shields brought up the rear, though he didn’t call on his wind magic. We spilled onto the next level up. Rehan clipped Og’s heel, making the warlock cry out in pain and jump forward while Tyson laughed. Lux just followed at our back, still not using his elemental powers.
I’ve seen cats with better teamwork.
It’s not hopeless. They worked really well together with you between them.
Heat rose to my face. Fortunately, no one saw.
Except for Tyson, still at my hip, the other three split off and slipped further down the hall. They each opened a different door without considering the consequences. A part of me wished something terrible would jump out so they’d learn something, but nothing did. Only their steps sounded in the deathly silence. Every fiber of my being went on high alert. We cleared the five bedrooms and three bathrooms. Nothing was out of place, though a few beds were unmade, and every surface collected dust. A squirrel scampered out an open window.
We moved on. The smell of decay hit me halfway up to the top floor, and my stomach knotted.
Big, strong dragon shifters or not, death impacted everyone differently. Based on the smell, what we were about to see was not freshly cut-down dragon shifters after a battle but something far more gruesome.
A door at the top stood mostly closed. Rehan had to shove hard to get it open. The smell of decay quadrupled, and I cast a spell to cut off my sense of smell, but nothing happened. Like the magicless peon I was, I pinched my nose shut with my fingers.
Rehan stepped through, followed by Og and Tyson. By the time I stepped over the threshold, Og was bent over, vomitingup his breakfast, and Tyson had his gaze glued to the ceiling, breathing hard.
I kept my fingers on my nose and studied the scene, forcing Lux to stay in the hall at my back, though he easily saw over me.
Monitors hummed, and computer fans whirred. Dried blood covered almost every surface. Rehan’s shoving of the door had moved a corpse, which had been cut down, presumably running. Its mostly rotted body had come apart in three pieces. Two of the others still sat in their chairs in the same state of decay. The blood spatter around them suggested their major arteries had been somehow slashed. I’d need to get closer to confirm. Of the remaining two, one lay on its face in the middle and the other on its side as if having stood before crumpling.
