Dragon Hunter by Charlene Hartnady

Chapter 24

Fog twitched awake. He sucked in a breath. His head hurt. What the fuck? What the hell happened? He groaned as he sat up, trying to remember. His flashlight was on the ground. What?

Avalanche.

His wings.

Fog grabbed at his back. He was fine. What? No! He still had his wings. That wasn’t right.

“Avalanche?” he tried, getting to his feet.

Fog gave his head a shake, trying to get rid of the fuzzy feeling, and called out for his friend again. Nothing! Where was the male? He picked the flashlight up and shone it around the cavernous space.

This made no sense. Avalanche had knocked him out. Supposedly so that Fog didn’t have to go through being conscious during the wing removal process. That’s why he had done it, wasn’t it? If that was the case, then where was Avalanche? Why hadn’t the male removed his wings? Fog didn’t like where this was going.

Fuck!

Fog could scent blood. He walked to the narrow passage. There were fresh blood spatters all the way leading there. More fresh spatters leading down into the dark, tight space. Avalanche’s blood. It had to be. And then Fog spotted something else. He spent a few seconds wishing it wasn’t there. That piece of white paper with smears of blood on it.

“Avalanche,” he whispered as he picked up the paper. “What did you do?”

Go back to your human.

I’ve got this.

That was it. No further explanation. What the fuck had Avalanche been thinking? Not a chance was he letting him do this alone. This was bullshit. This was his mission. Fog had promised Riley he would do this. She might not want him in that way, but he was damned if he wasn’t carrying out this operation.

Fog backed up into the cavernous space and checked all areas. “No ax,” he muttered. His pack was on the ground where he’d left it. He unzipped it and rummaged through all the items inside. “What?”

Couldn’t be. Fog checked again, unpacking the bag this time. “Bastard!” he spat.

Avalanche had taken his knife, as well as the ax. “Fuck!” he muttered. He had two choices. Go back to the lair for supplies before returning, or head down the passage without cutting his wings off first and risk getting stuck. Sweat dripped off him, and yet a chill swept down his whole body.

“Fuck!” he whisper-shouted. Why had Avalanche done this? The male was going to get himself killed.

Fog grabbed his things and started back in the direction from which they had just come. If Avalanche thought Fog was just going to leave him down here, he was crazy. No! Fog was going to give that asshole a piece of his mind when he saw him next, which was going to be sooner rather than later. Fog ran down the passage as fast as his legs would take him. It didn’t take him too long to reach the exit. He gulped in lungfuls of air, hunching over the middle for a minute or two to catch his breath. Then he was shifting, his pants ripping from his body in the process. Fog took to the sky on a loud roar.

Rage coursed through him. It wasn’t directed at Avalanche. It wasn’t even directed at the cave dwellers.

He roared again, shocked when he heard an answering call and then another. What? He recognized those calls. Knew them well. He felt a rumble build up in his chest as he caught sight of them.

His team, led by Ice. There had never been a time he’d been happier to see these males. Ice gave a rumble and cocked his wing, gliding down towards the ground. The others followed. They all touched down.

Fog was last to do so and to shift.

“What were you thinking?” Ice yelled. “Where is Avalanche?” he quickly added before Fog could answer the first question.

“He knocked me out cold and left me there. He’s gone in alone. Down a narrow passage. I couldn’t follow. Not with my wings still attached.”

“So that’s why Skarn had his wings cut off twice?” Ice said.

“Yes, once to go in and a second time in order to leave. The deeper passages are so fucking narrow.” He swallowed thickly just thinking about it. “I cut off Avalanche’s wings. Then the bastard knocked me out and left me there. Took all the blades with him. I need to get more supplies from the lair, and then I’m going back.”

“The fuck you are! Whether it’s one or two of you, it doesn’t matter. Avalanche is done for. He’s not coming back.”

“Don’t say that. It’s not true. I’m going back in!”

“It is fucking true.” Ice’s face turned red. “What are the two of you going to do against a lair of cave dwellers? What the fuck, Fog? You told me you’d give up that crazy-ass idea of yours. I thought I talked you out of it when you approached us yesterday. You promised as much!”

“If we don’t go, who will?” Fog growled. “Ashlyn is Riley’s best friend, and even if she wasn’t, she didn’t deserve to be abducted. Doesn’t deserve to be down there. Those royal fucks aren’t sending a team.”

“So, you embarked on a suicide mission? Fuck, Fog! I wish to god that Avalanche wasn’t down there, but I’m glad he had the good sense to leave you.”

“Fuck you! I am quite capable.”

“It’s not that. At least now there’s only one who will die instead of two. It doesn’t matter how amazing each of you are. How strong, how fast, how intelligent. Avalanche will be caught, and he will die. You would’ve died too.”

“No, I wouldn’t have. Listen to me, they’re dragon shifters, Ice. I would’ve appealed to them. Talked to them. Avalanche isn’t exactly the most eloquent. He’s too violent. He won’t last down there a minute without me. I have to go back. I can do this. I wish you’d believe in me,” he appealed to the male.

“Again, it’s not about believing in you. I know you have your heart in the right place, but you don’t know what you’re saying.” Ice shook his head.

“You’re not listening to me. They’re dragon shifters. They have our markings.” He touched his chest. “They’re the same species. Riley saw them when she made her escape. She blinded them with her flashlight. Got a good look at them. I couldn’t tell you any of this before. I wanted to tell you yesterday, but you shot me down. I want to talk it out with the cave dragons. They speak some other language, but one of the three abductors spoke broken English. There must be more who speak our language. They’ll see that I’m one of them. It’ll work. I need to go back—”

“You planned on talking with them? Appealing to them?” Ice paced away, shoving his hand through his hair.

“They’re the same as us,” Fog tried again.

“They are not the same as us. They’re barbaric fucks. They’re the fifth tribe. The feud all started because the king of the fifth tribe stole the Fire king’s female, mating her against her will. It started a war. They were so hated by the four tribes that they were forced to flee underground or face being exterminated. They’re not kind or charitable. We chased them into the bowels of the earth. We are the reason they are living as they are. They must hate us.”

“Why did they let Skarn go? Why not ask their questions and kill him?”

“I don’t know. Maybe Skarn made a deal with them or gave them information he shouldn’t have in exchange for letting him go. Maybe he is spying for them.”

Fog snorted. “Please! That’s as farfetched as it gets.”

“Is it?” Ice said, lowering his voice. The male sighed. “Look, I don’t want to argue. I won’t allow you to go back there.”

“You can’t stop me. No one can. My mind is made up.” Fog didn’t wait to hear any more. He shifted and took to the sky.

He ignored Ice’s shout of frustration.