Page 27 of Red and Her Dragons (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 4)

“Look,” I started, “I understand where you both are coming from. But I’m too exhausted to continue arguing. I’m going to bed. And that, by no means, should be taken as me giving in. We will continue this discussion in the morning.”

“Very well,” Marcus said.

“Good luck with that and get some good rest,” Bret added.

I glared at the two of them. “Goodnight.”

I stood from the island and headed to my room, frustrated to the core. They had another thing coming if they thought I was going to sit idly by and let them do all the heavy lifting.

Once I collapsed on my bed, I stared at the window until my eyelids became too heavy to keep open.

10

JAX

It was late, and I was growing bored. Little did I know that was going to change… And not for the better. But seeing as how I had no idea, it made little difference in my mood.

I was flying over the forest, searching for signs of humans. Dragons had stellar vision and I prided myself on being able to spot things from miles away, and I was confident I would find what Marcus and Bret weren’t able to. But a strange stillness had settled on the woods that had my tensions running high. Shadows were thicker than normal, and it made searching for humans setting traps for shifters a bit harder than I had expected.

My senses prickled with danger.

Still, section by section, I searched the woods and shadows, and I found nothing.

Needing a break, I landed in a clearing and stretched my wings and neck. I raked my eyes along the area surrounding me, finding nothing out of the ordinary. But I still couldn’t shake the feeling of something being out in the shadows, watching me search for them. Definitely not human, that wasn’t possible. Humans didn’t have the ability to cloak themselves in such ways. But whatever it was, it didn’t belong. Minutes later, I launched into the air and looked for a cliff to land on so that I could get a better view of the section of forest. I remained on the cliff, focusing hard on all the land. It shouldn’t be hard to spot a campfire or a torch or flashlight. Especially with my eyes.

The land before me was dark and still. But that sensation that prickled along my scales remained. There was much more to what was going on below me than my eyes were picking up, which would have been hard to believe if I wasn’t living it. Tension grew within me as I struggled to place exactly what I was missing. The key to finding the humans who were laying the traps was around here somewhere. I just had to find it.

And then movement caught my attention.

I had barely caught sight of some shadowy forms shifting along the ground. It was too clustered and weird for it to be nothing, so I went to investigate. What I found had kept me busy for the rest of my patrol and then some.

I launched into the air and drew closer to the area where the movement had been. The scent of metal, sweat, and meat filled my nose. The scent was familiar and struck me as human. Though I couldn’t reconcile the smell with the inability to spot them with my eyes from above, I continued until I found their camp.

Though it was hard to believe, the humans were not only gathering but they were moving through thick woods unaccompanied by any source of light. It was a smart move, but how they were doing it left me baffled. But one thing was for certain, when there was one group, there was more.

I returned to the sky and continued to search for more groups, now that I knew what I was looking for.

In the span of a couple of hours, I ended up finding dozens upon dozens of camps filled with humans stationed in various parts of the forest throughout the region. I was surprised I had found as many as I had, rather that they were able to stay hidden so well. It didn’t make sense for me not to even sense them until I was right on top of them. The fact that I had was purely by accident. Or even maybe luck.

Regardless, the important thing was that I had found them. And not a single one of them were using light. At least no obvious source, which made no sense.

The rest of my night was spent figuring out how many camps were set up in the woods and how many people were hidden in the camps. I had managed to scare a few of them off, but not enough to make a real difference. And I was sure of the ones that I had found, there were many, many more I hadn’t.

None of what I had discovered was a good thing.

I was forced to return to the castle just as the sun started to crest over the horizon, shining its light on a brand-new day. Normally, I admired the sunrise. But this time, I was filled with hopelessness over what I had observed throughout the night. Still, I had flown home, doing my best to admire the colors that filled the sky as the sun rose higher. As I arrived home, Marcus was waiting for me in the courtyard.

I shifted into my human form and greeted him.

“Morning.” I stuck out my hand toward him.

“Anything to report?” he asked, giving my hand a squeeze.

I nodded, lips curving down at the corners. “I have plenty. But not here.”

My eyes raked through every ounce of shadow that filled the woods surrounding the castle. With the happenstance of which I had stumbled upon the camps during my patrol, it was possible that a few might have been keeping watch over the castle, monitoring our movements.

If I had somehow found a way to avoid detection as well as the humans had, that’s what I would do.

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