Origin (Scales 'n' Spells 1)

His tail lashed with satisfaction. Yes, revenge was best served hot after all. Who else could he take on? Spying another, he whipped about and smacked them with his tail, sending another body careening into the building which landed with a meaty thud and no movement afterwards.

“Simmer down, love.” Cameron came closer, touching his leg lightly. “We need at least one person for questioning, right? I didn’t overhear anything while they had me.”

Alric regarded him with one eye, expression baleful. “You speak sense.”

“Sorry for ruining your fun.” Cameron grinned up at him. “Just one. You can choose the smallest one if you’d like.”

Why did he sound like a parent trying to coax a child into eating a vegetable? Sighing, Alric let the responsible part of his nature take back over, and he turned to issue the command. “Ravi! Bring me one!”

“Dead or alive!” Ravi called back.

“Cameron says he has to be alive.”

“Oh, are we starting that stage of your relationship already?” the wind dragon asked, tone sing-song as he teased.

“Shit!” Baldewin dove in to land nearby and reported on a pant, “They had a contingency in place. Cameron, did you see how many cars they had?”

“Six, why?”

“There’s only four here, so we’re probably short on bad guys.”

“Two vehicles?” Alric demanded in alarm. “How could they possibly escape when we have them surrounded like this?”

“I don’t know, Hoheit. I really wish I did. But I counted vehicles as we came in, wanting to be thorough on the cleanup, and it matches what Cameron saw, so we’re short. I know we didn’t drive them, so…”

Alric used the vilest swear words he could think of in every language and still didn’t feel it adequately relayed his frustration. “So you’re telling me that once again, we were attacked, and we still don’t understand our enemy’s motivations.”

Baldwin grimaced. “I’ll search for survivors.”

“Go.” Alric highly doubted there were any. His clan had been too enraged to pull any punches. He couldn’t remain in dragon form, though. His left arm couldn’t hold up his body weight anymore. With a grimace, he shifted back into human form and tried not to show how much pain that caused him.

“Hey. I can tell you’re in serious pain right now.” Cameron eyed his arm already starting to tremble with pain and fatigue. “What the hell were you thinking, dropping in like that in dragon form? Although your dragon form is hella sexy, honey, I have to tell you. I about swallowed my tongue. I kept thinking, man, this is one powerful looking dragon, who’s this, then I realized it was you, and I almost forgot about the bad guys. But seriously, landing on your bad arm?”

“They were aiming at the back of your head,” Alric explained simply. His whole body felt like one live wire of pain now that the adrenaline had worn off. “I had to shield you.”

Cameron stopped dead, and stared at Alric. “I’m not sure whether to shake you for the stupidity or kiss you for being so protective of me.”

“I’d rather a kiss. If I get a vote.”

“You most certainly do.” Cameron leaned in and kissed him softly, the kiss sweet and filled with not only gratitude that each of them were alive and well, but together. “I love you.”

Alric smiled and kissed him again, relishing in those words. Words he’d half lost any hope of hearing from a lover’s lips. “I love you.”

“Thanks for coming to the rescue.”

“Of course I’d come. Although I’m rather glad my chosen mate is intelligent enough to rescue himself.”

“So it was my brains you fell for?” Cameron teased as he put a supportive arm around Alric’s waist, taking some of the weight onto himself. “Not my beauty?”

Alric sighed and leaned into the hold. “Fortunately for me, you have both. Right now, I choose to be thankful for your brains.”

“I too like my brains, but even if I can get myself out of sticky situations, I want you to understand that I do not want to face the bad guys by my lonesome. You got me? That was scary as fuck.”

Alric looked up at him in concern. “You seemed fine so I didn’t think to ask, but you are well? They didn’t hurt you?”

Cameron snorted. “I barely have bruises to show. They were too worried about you guys quickly catching up to do much to me except throw me into a room. It’s why I sadly don’t know much. I didn’t spend much time listening to them. I picked up only a little. Thomas was here, he’s British, and he said that he wants mages as a stepping stone? It didn’t make sense to me. I’m not sure what their aim is.”

“I’d rather you safe and we figure out the mystery later.” Alric meant every word of it even if he did wish they had something of an answer. But it was a problem to be solved a different day.