Page 6 of Been There Dragon That
His dragon growled in his chest, and he charged toward the next man still standing. “I appreciate you calling me,” he shouted toward Liam.
Liam chuckled and took a couple steps backward, removing himself from the immediate view of the soon-to-be-unconscious men.
Wrath flashed a pleased smile at the bartender and drove into the next idiot charging straight at him. They collided, and Wrath sent him hurtling through the air a good ten feet.
Another assailant punched Wrath hard in the side before he could spin around.
Wrath opened his mouth and roared right in the man’s face.
“Fuck’s w-wrong with you?” The human male’s eyes were also dilated and glassy, but Wrath hadn’t been very careful, and some of his dragon’s fire had probably shown in his eyes. It was something he worked hard to avoid. At least these men were so drunk they wouldn’t remember anything.
The human male took an unsteady step backward.
Sean had joined his cousin on the steps leading into the bar. They were both leaning against the doors watching the show. Sean had a black eye and a split lip. Liam was also sporting a split lip, but they both looked fine. And both enjoyed a good brawl, but they’d kindly left the fight so he could work out his frustrations on the poor drunk bastards who had all foolishly attacked him first.
“Nothing wrong with me, you’re drunk, you’re seeing things. You shouldn’t be here. You shouldn’t have harassed my people.” His menacing tone made the human’s heart beat faster.
“You’re just a fucking cop. Bars are supposed to serve customers.”
“Do you live in Mystery?” Wrath asked, sniffing the air. He let his gaze drift around the parking lot again, looking for any new threats. Two men were on the ground out cold, but the fourth was coming up behind him. He could hear his footsteps and smell his fear.
“No.”
“Then you’re not my people.”
“What does that matter? You’re a cop. You can’t do anything. Lock me up, and I’ll sleep it off.”
“Since when do you get to tell me what to do?”
Wrath feinted to the right and then leapt forward, throwing a punch that flattened the guy. He collapsed to the muddy gravel. His friend charged from behind, but Wrath had never lost track. He sidestepped the charge and kicked the man in the chest, cracking at least one rib.
“I heard that break from here.” The bartender chuckled loudly. He and his brother stepped off the porch, big grins on both their faces. “Feel better?”
Wrath rolled his shoulders and frowned. All four men lay motionless on the ground in various places around the parking lot. “They didn’t last very long.”
“We’d already softened them up for you,” Sean said, his tone jovial.
A snort of laughter rolled up from his chest. “Sure, you did.”
“Want help putting them in the cruiser?”
“They have a car here?”
Liam nodded toward a big tan pickup truck parked in front of the bar. “That’s theirs.”
“Let’s toss them in the bed. They can sleep it off and leave themselves after they sober up. I don’t want to deal with them. Aarav is pissed about the break-ins. He’s likely to work them over worse than me.”
“Still haven’t figured out who’s doing it?” Liam’s face was solemn. “You don’t think they could have anything to do with it?”
Wrath shook his head. “Whoever is doing this … they are careful not to leave a trace. The scents are all human as far as we can tell. The neighborhood is near the school. There’s a lot of traffic through it. No signs stand out from the rest.”
“Everyone was okay?”
Wrath nodded. “No one’s been hurt … yet, but the last break-in was in the middle of the night. The family was sleeping. They’re getting bolder.”
The behavior was escalating. Someone was bound to get hurt soon. He and Aarav were doing everything they could to track the invaders, but even with help from other tribemates, they were failing miserably.
Wrath and the two bartenders worked together to move the unconscious men to the bed of their parked truck.
