Page 47 of Red and Her Dragons (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 4)

Rowan smirked. “So long as you leave with me, that’s fine by me.”

“Rowan,” Bryson snapped.

Rowan glared at his father. “I said what I said.”

“One problem at a time,” the alpha said. “Starting with this one.”

He nodded toward Collin who rolled his eyes before resettling them on Kai.

“Listen to Daddy, mutt,” I said. “Run along now before you get hurt.”

Rowan huffed. “You’re going to pay for that.”

I stood straighter with my nose angled into the air. If it was a fight he wanted, it was a fight he was going to get, and this time, I wasn’t going to hold back.

18

BRET

I was busy on patrol, trying to follow some fleeting shadows which had continuously evaded me regardless of how close I got to them. It was the darndest thing. I couldn’t figure out what or who was responsible for making the shadows, much less how they were moving so fluidly. No matter how many times I had tried to catch up to them, they escaped me. I was growing frustrated and there was no end to that in sight.

Jax’s roar ripped through the night air. It sounded urgent. With a frustrated sigh, I gave up my hunt and headed in the direction of the sound. I had a feeling we were too late to head off whatever army that was moving in the direction of the cabin. I assumed the shadows were a part of the fight we had been preparing for. But I couldn’t reconcile what I saw with what I already knew.

Wolves didn’t have the ability to move so fluidly. Neither did humans. Other, darker things had such abilities, but I wasn’t sure entirely what those things were specifically. I never needed to know.

Though a part of me wanted to continue tailing the shadows, I knew I had to meet up with Jax and find out what was up. Once I was high enough above the earth, I found him easily.

I joined his side and together we flew toward the cabin. Once we got close, I signaled for him to land. He nodded and followed me. Once we were on the ground we shifted back into our human forms.

“We don’t have time for this,” Jax said approaching me. “We have to get to the cabin to warn the others.”

“Relax. We need a plan,” I said. “One that doesn’t involve jumping into the middle of a fight which may not have started yet.”

“The plan is to get to our friends before all hell breaks out,” he said. “We may already be too late.”

“But we may not be,” I added. “It’s worth taking the few extra minutes to plan our advance. We don’t want to show up and startle anyone. Especially our foes. We might inadvertently turn the tide in their favor.”

He shook his head. “We don’t have time to sit around and plan this out.”

“We’re hardly sitting,” I said and leveled my gaze on him.

“Jokes. Seriously?” he asked.

“You’re not thinking clearly,” I said. “And the point of a joke is to avoid being serious by the way.”

“My thinking is perfectly fine.” He pinched the bridge of his nose and huffed. “We don’t have time to stand here and argue or even form plans step by step. If you have an idea, then say it. Otherwise, I’m taking off and helping before our friends are overwhelmed.”

I narrowed my eyes on him. “What are you not telling me? What do you mean before our friends are overwhelmed?”

“Bret, we have to go. Now.” Jax clenched his hands into fists. “I don’t have time to play twenty questions with you.”

I rolled my eyes and shrugged. He desperately needed to learn how to breathe. Or find a way to alleviate his tension before it gave him a heart attack. Regardless, he was right. We didn’t have all the time in the world to formulate a plan. Not that we would if we had the time. There were still too many unknowns in our approach. But I thought of one way we could make this work.

“All right, fine. As it so happens, I have an idea,” I said.

“Well, let’s hear it,” Jax said, voice strained. “We’re running out of time as it is, so make it quick.”

“The way I see it is we need to gauge where they are and flank them. You take one side, and I take the other.” I nodded toward him. “Does this work for you?”

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