Embers (Scales 'N' Spells 4)

Ignoring Thomas and his mocking, Gunter sank his claws into the earth, scooping out large brown chunks. He would dig however deep he needed to in order to reach his mate.

“Hey, Gunter,” Nikki called.

Gunter looked at them, trying not to let his own pain show. “Yes, Liebling?”

“What time is it?”

That one question stilled him as nothing else could. Because Nikki would only ask for one reason. “Did they catch you before or after?”

“After.” Nikki grinned at him, wagging both brows. “I’m good that way. So, baby, what time is it?”

“After?” Thomas started to look worried for the first time. His eyes darted between the two of them, the grin on his face fading. “After what? Nikki, what the hell did you do?”

“All the things,” Nikki said with complete satisfaction.

Gunter obviously had no way of telling the time in his dragon form, so he turned his head and called back to the mages waiting out of sight, “What time is it?”

Alric stepped out into the open, Cameron still on his back, and the sight of them illuminated by mage light was an impressive one indeed. More glowing globes popped up from the other mages, outlining the forms of the other dragons gathered. It gave even Gunter chills for a moment, bringing up a half-forgotten memory of a time gone by when they’d gone to war, just like this, with mage and dragon riding in together.

“It’s 22:30 on the dot,” Cameron called to him, waving a phone over his head. “Why, did Nikki do the deed?”

“I did!” Nikki responded loudly, beaming.

“Did what, you little asshole?” Thomas rounded on him, shaking Nikki violently by both shoulders. “And how many of them are there?”

“We’re all here,” Alric stated calmly. It was a false calm, like the stillness before a mother storm. “We all came this time, Jaeggi.”

Thomas dropped Nikki’s shoulders, stepping back warily. “All? What do you mean by all? The dragons are decimated—”

Nikki laughed outright, making Gunter’s heart skip. “Wow, is your information terrible. You seriously fought with multiple clans’ dragons and didn’t realize? Green, red, white, grey, blue dragons and you thought they were all in the same clan?”

The look on Thomas’s face made it clear. He really had thought that.

For all that they had such little information on the Jaeggi, the reverse was apparently equally true. The Jaeggi had been so consumed with hiding, with their sneak attacks, they’d not gathered information on the dragons as they should have. With the Burkhards so close—and visible—they’d assumed all dragons must come from there.

Gunter would chastise them for the stupidity, but, well. It worked rather well in his favor, didn’t it?

With Alric having stepped out into the open, dragons and mages on all sides came out, walking at a menacing pace. Thomas’s eyes darted around, panic bulging in his eyes as he could clearly see dozens of dragons arrayed before the town, stretching out into the darkness. The defensive position of the town was no longer a refuge.

It was a trap.

Gunter would gloat, but he had more important things on his mind. A question burned on his tongue, demanding an answer. “Nikki. How long?”

“I don’t actually know,” Nikki admitted. They winced, sending an apologetic look his way. “I lost track of time pretty quickly, especially after they showed up. I was in maybe five, ten minutes when I found a good place to put it?”

Cameron, quick with the math, provided an answer before Gunter could calculate it all in his head. “At most, we’ve got maybe a minute.” With the ease of a man who had all the time in the world, Cameron leaned forward in his saddle. “Hey there, Thomas, long time no see. As thanks for your hospitality last time, let me explain. Nikki did us the favor of slipping in through the ward and planting a bomb on one of your ward generators.”

Gunter let out a low, deep chuckle as Thomas paled. Sweat broke out across his forehead and his eyes darted around as if he could spot the nasty device.

“Yes, bomb, you heard me right,” Cameron continued with wicked glee. “It’s on a timer, set to go off annnnny minute now. The bomb was designed by yours truly.” He paused with pride and mimicked shining his nails on his shirt. “It’s specifically made to shoot a high-voltage electric charge with a magic boost in either direction, like a power surge, to the generators connected to it. Which means, in layman’s terms, that once the bomb goes off—”

As if his words were a detonator, a concussive sound of noise and a bright burst of color blew out on the eastern side of the town. There was no mistaking it as anything other than a bomb going off.

At the same time, Gunter hunkered down, wings tucked in close, every muscle tightened like a spring, ready to launch himself right at Thomas. A cool, deadly smile spread across his lips, pulling back to reveal fangs as long as a man’s arm. No mercy. No forgiveness.