Eos could hear Knud and his brothers arguing from many wingspans away, and the thinnest of the three was waving a white flag.
“Oh hell, here they come,” Knud said to his brothers, as they approached. “Told you the kid was doing a security sweep when we saw him earlier.
“Fuck, they’re big,” the brother behind the wheel of the speedboat said. He was taller and broader than the other two but had their same complexion of burnt gold skin. “Keep waving that flag, Rafes. Hopefully, they know what it means or else we’re about to get burnt to a crisp. Seriously, lift it higher, bro!”
The one he’d called Rafes did as instructed but glared at Knud. “We wouldn’t have to risk our lives like this if you hadn’t helped them hide where no one could find or get to them.”
“Hey, it was my father-in-law, not me. And they wouldn’t have had to hide if you hadn’t—”
“You know what, they’re not going to stop,” the largest brother yells over their argument. “Maybe if we act like sitting ducks, they won’t roast us first and ask questions later.”
“Maybe,” the two brothers answered. Neither of them sounded very hopeful.
The boat stopped and Blue Father screeched at Eos to do so as well.
Pulling his tail down beneath him, Eos hovered, flapping his wings to stay in place as Blue Father demanded to know why they were here in their dragon tongue.
This was a language the wolf brothers obviously didn’t understand.
“Oh, shit, we’re going to die. Today’s the day,” Knud said with a despondent shake of his head. The one called Rafes didn’t look much more optimistic.
“Hey, how’s it going, guys!” Nago called up to them, obviously struggling to keep his voice casual. “Great to finally meet you two. Sorry, I couldn’t before, but I’ve heard great things—”
Blue Father interrupted with a screeched command for Nago to stop rambling and tell him why they had compromised his family’s security by coming to their island.
The meaning of Blue Father’s words must come across. Nago cringed and raised his hands even higher as he answered, “Look, we know you value your security, or you wouldn’t be living out here in the island boonies. We never would have tracked you down if it wasn’t important.”
Nago then lowered his hands to say, “It’s Ola. She’s been taken. We’re pretty sure it was Damianos Drákon, and we need your help to get her back.”
Silence. For many, many moments on end, all that could be heard were the crash of the ocean waves, the speed boat’s small engine, and the beating of their dragon wings against the air.
Then Blue Father roared, sending a great flame down directly in front of the brothers’ boat.
And lest the brothers believed Blue Father made his roaring flame by mistake, he sent another one when they merely stood there, mouths agape. This time even closer.
Eos did not understand. The beloved twin sister of Great Wolf Mother had been taken. Should they not be reshelling and setting down in their boat? Asking how they might aid the brothers in their search?
No, it would seem not. Eos watched, sad and disappointed when the largest brother yanked hard on the wheel and turned the boat around.
“You will not tell Wolf Mother of what happened here this morn,” Blue Father said as the brothers disappeared into the distance. “It is not reverent to upset her with the news of her sister.”
“I won’t,” Eos promised, but that vow sat heavy in his flame as they turned to fly back to their island home.
Wolf Mother loved them all more than her own life, but she and Aunt Ola had a special bond. She was allowed to visit against Blue Father’s wishes, because as mother told him, “Twins don’t work like that. We can’t do that never seeing each other again thing.”
Her flame always burned bright yellow when she talked of Aunt Ola, just as it did for her children. And ever since her visit, Wolf Mother had referred to things she would ask her beloved twin sister to bring the next time she called.
Which she hadn’t. In a long time. Too long of a time. Eos realized why now.
Yes, it would upset Wolf Mother greatly to hear of her twin sister’s capture by Blue Father’s mortal enemy.
However, as they flew back to their home at a much slower pace than they left it, he couldn’t help but recall what Blue Father had said to him, after Eos asked him whether he, too, would be able to take a mate someday, despite his hybrid nature.
Blue Father’s answer had been long and depressing. Their family may or may not ever be able to come out of hiding, he’d told him, but if by some miracle, they did, Eos would have to be careful around she-wolves, especially if he ever found himself in a “no drone” state.