Page 48 of Surge of Storms

Taking a deep breath, I feel the power of my ice grow, and then I blast the fire in front of me, flying along and freezing everything in my path. The other ice dragons get to work too, but they are smaller and less powerful. They need my help to control this blaze, so I keep going until all the grass and trees are nothing but ice.

If Malikay and his group are near, we must find them,Evander orders. Then he splits up the betas in teams with each of us leading them, although I am paired with Evander and Sam. Even though it would be smarter to split up all the alphas in a technical sense, Evander is prioritizing her protection, which shows that he is a mate first and a warrior second.

I am glad of it.

Our groups stay close enough to assist each other, but spread out in all directions, looking for our enemies. We see no one, but hold our breaths, waiting for reports from the others.

How did this happen?I ask.

Evander answers readily.They had to turn off the protection, now that we have dragons constantly flying over our base. They didn’t want to mistake good dragons and the dragons coming to us for help with the bad dragons.

As we fly, I watch as the three betas with us drift towards Sam, even though her scent is masked, then jerk away in the sky. They are drawn to her. To her scent. But they know better. Their instinct to mate isn’t nearly as powerful as their instinct to survive.

There is more fire in a patch of grass in front of us. Evander does not say a word before I’ve already raced to it and begun using my ice powers to put the fire out. Fire has its uses, but it can also be very dangerous. A patch of fire can soon turn into a burning town in a blink of an eye.

Why the fuck did they do this?Sam hisses.What was the point?

One of the dragons answers softly,Malikay and his kind like nothing better than destruction and chaos.

And stealing females, I add.

I feel their silent agreement.

The wind is cool and crisp, tinged with the scent of smoke. I can scent the humans in the buildings, and the unpleasant smell of the occasional car far below. We are on the outskirts of the city, a place where buildings are sprinkled in with nature. I prefer this to the hustle and bustle of the city, even if I like the ice cream and the drinks in the shops.

We search and search, but there are no other signs of Malikay and his group. They must have attacked and been gone as quickly as they came, like cowards, and I don’t like it one bit. With the addition of the storm dragon, the bad dragons should have stayed away. The fact that they didn’t tells me everything I need to know.

Malikay is worse this lifetime.

How so?Evander asks.

Each lifetime Malikay awakens within a man with a heart as dark as soot. The man’s personality never changes. He is someone who cannot contain a drop of goodness, leaving all dragon females to fear, and all dragon males to stand on guard. But there are always slight changes to him between lifetimes. The boundaries of what terrible things he’s capable of changes. This time, I imagine, based on what he did tonight, Malikay must be truly a rotten apple.

Another of the dragons speaks.This time, no doubt, he will be a stain on all of us.

If we allow him to be.Evander sounds unhappy.We should head back. We don’t want to get too far from the others.

So, we head back.

Sensing the tension between the betas, I know something must be said.Our pack of dragons has four powerful alphas, a female, and more than a dozen strong beta males. Malikay and his like may try to cause all the trouble they wish. It will be nothing more than a fly causing us irritation.

There are sounds of agreement, but it is not the enthusiastic agreement I was hoping for. The last thing we want is for the betas to leave the base, thinking that aligning with us will cause more trouble than good.

We also intend to welcome all the awakened female dragons to our base. We’re hoping that they will get to know all of you betas in a safe way. For some of you, this might be your first lifetime finding a female of your own. And for others, we may help you find the female of your hearts even faster.

This gets a round of cheers, and the mood lightens up.

Sam’s thoughts enter my mind.Good job. You always know just what to say.

I do not, but it is good to hear her say that.

As if from a great distance, we hear Aydan say,There’s something you need to see.

We change directions, flying just a little faster. Something in Aydan’s voice makes me think that we will not like what we are about to see. I just hope whatever we find, Sam is still safe.

Our group of dragons comes upon Aydan’s group. The others join us quickly after, and then we’re all left staring at the unsettling sight on the ground. It looks as if Malikay and his dragons rounded up a group of humans and… burned them until they left nothing but bones. There had to be a dozen of them.

What the hell?Sam asks.

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