Bad Dragons: Special Edition Complete Series Read online

  23

  The Past

  As Lee made his way out into the arena, he felt sweat trickle down the side of his forehead and wiped it away with the blue silk of one of his sleeves.

  All attempts to talk to the elders had failed. All his warnings? For nothing.

  At the other five entrances, Lee could see the other dragon shifters striding in, none looking as nervous as he felt.

  Rainier, the silver dragon, was calm as always, and it was impossible to know what was going on in his mind. He used a hand to sweep his thick, shoulder-length silver hair behind him as he raised the other and gave a charming wave to the crowd who was waiting.

  All of the villagers, who had given up their time and resources as they hoped to nurture the dragons into their eventual destinies and curry favor with the oracle, were restless with excitement as they waited to finally see all of their heroes.

  The arena was shaped like a hexagon with six entrances, one along each wall, and Rainier stopped ten feet from his entrance and waited with folded arms for the others to appear.

  His calm, silver eyes appraised Lee, and when Lee raised one hand in a nervous wave, Rainier only smirked at him.

  Things were getting off to a good start already.

  A whoop drew Lee’s eyes toward the red dragon, Griffin, as his hulking form emerged, both hands lifted in triumphant fists. Like most red dragons, Griffin was incredibly tall, incredibly strong… and knew it.

  His auburn hair glowed in the sun, as fiery as his personality, and his blue-gray eyes were fierce as he took in the crowd.

  Rainier’s handsome features were impassive as he watched Griffin make a run around the arena, getting the crowd riled up.

  Lee had tried to tell the elders that turning the dragon-pairing ceremony into a public event was a bad idea, but his pleas had fallen on deaf ears.

  Now Lee just had a bad feeling about where all of this was going.

  Dragons like Lee were born in groups of six, raised mostly separately and then brought together to be put in pairs for complementary powers and strengths. Because their blood was valuable, they were meant to watch each other’s backs.

  And share a mate forever.

  But first, pairs had to be picked.

  There was always an expected order, though some dragon groups had strayed from it in the past.

  The purple dragon would go first and usually pick the gold. As the leader of the group and heir to powerful prophecies, the purple dragon would want the gold dragon, with his impervious shield, to protect him.

  Lee’s eyes slid dubiously toward Byron, the gold dragon, as he flicked his hand dismissively at the man that was following him, holding up his gold cape.

  He couldn’t picture Byron protecting anyone.

  Byron turned to yell at the man, jabbing his finger at him, as the man sputtered and ran out of the arena.

  “Servants, am I right?” Byron shrugged one shoulder, his golden eyes and short, light-gold hair gleaming in the sun.

  Like all of the dragons, the main thing Byron had going for him was being beautiful. His features made him stand out in any crowd because of his sheer perfection.

  Though, his personality left something to be desired.

  “I should choose first,” Byron said, folding his arms stubbornly as he assessed the other dragons. “After all, my powers are most valuable.”

  Lee raised an eyebrow at that but was distracted by a squabble near one of the entrances. Then a reticent Van appeared, dressed in purple robes and bound with black rope as he struggled and cursed unintelligibly.

  There had always been something a bit off with their purple dragon.

  He was meant to be noble. A leader. Someone who could foresee problems and deal with them.

  Van tended to come up with fake visions when it suited him or got him out of something.

  He thrashed, finally pushing away from his captors, and then let out a shriek as he burst free from the cords. His black hair, hanging in disheveled ropes around his handsome face, glimmered with hints of indigo in the sunlight.

  “Get the fuck off me,” Van snapped, glaring at everyone, small purple flames lighting at his fingertips.

  His handlers shot a look up at the elders and then crept backward, disappearing into the darkness of the entrance.

  Van turned to Lee and narrowed his eyes, then, with a sudden movement, cracked his neck to the side, making an alarming sound. “I’m going to kick all of your asses today.”

  Byron sent Van an appraising glance, as if he were beneath him. “That’s not really the point of today.”

  “And what is the point of today?” Van snapped, flexing and clenching his hands. “As if I would want any of you for a partner.”

  Byron looked slightly surprised by that, but then his handsome face slid into a smirk. “As if they would let a broken purple dragon pick first anyway. As long as I’m not with you, I’ll be fine.”

  Van sent him a glare with dark-purple eyes, then lowered his head, letting his hair shade his face, utterly calm, as if he were waiting for something.

  Rainier studied his nails, pushing his silver hair away from his face again. “I don’t really care as long as we get going.”

  Lee didn’t understand how anyone could remain calm. This ceremony was going to determine their lives forever, and none of them could stand each other.

  Lee wasn’t sure how it worked in other dragon groupings. The elders had assured him that everything would work out.

  But he didn’t have to be a purple dragon to see a fairly bleak future.

  “Who does the blue dragon want to pair with?” Rainier asked, glancing over at Lee. “You might be the only normal one of us.”

  Lee frowned because the decision had probably already been made for him.

  Unless something went really awry, the blue dragon was always paired with…

  Seth, the black dragon, walked out, and an audible gasp fell over the arena.

  As always, an aura of black smoke seemed to rise all around the diminutive man. Well, diminutive by some standards.

  Though Seth still would be considered tall by many humans, he was nowhere near the height of the other dragons, nor as muscular. He was lean and strong and more pretty than handsome, with boyish features and large, expressive green eyes.

  Eyes that always held a certain pain, above a mouth tightened by wariness.

  His gold-blond hair came to just below his jaw, messily layered in a way that still emphasized his delicate features. The ends were dark, looking like they were singed black.

  Lee had been told that his group of dragons was exemplary, each of them imbued with more powers than any group of six so far.

  That meant Seth was holding in an amazing amount of poison, as the black dragon and most powerful of the group.

  Seth slanted a narrowed look at Lee, then dropped his eyes as if he’d seen something unpleasant.

  Not exactly how Lee wanted to start their future partnership.

  He had met other dragon pairs, thanks to his mentor, and the friendship and bond between them, with or without a mate, was something Lee had envied. Someone to fight alongside. Someone to support him and whom he could support.

  As the village elder got up to address the audience, Lee’s eyes went to an older woman with white hair, misty eyes, and a plump figure, wearing light-purple robes.

  That had to be the oracle.

  But why had she come to see their ceremony? She didn’t go to all of them.

  Lee felt a prickle on his neck at the way she was watching the arena, eyes fixing on each of the dragons.

  When her eyes met his, he flinched. Then she smiled at him, made a little wave, and it was almost enough to make him think things would go smoothly.

  But, as Lee heard Byron start arguing with Griffin about who was more powerful, he knew they wouldn’t be that lucky.

  Lee had seen these men, these dragons, at different parts of his life throughout his upbringing and training, and he didn’
t really see any way for all of them to be paired.

  Long ago, as a kid, Lee had tried to make friends with the black dragon, assuming they would one day be paired together. But Seth hadn’t been interested in even seeing him, and Seth’s mentor had slammed the door in Lee’s face.

  He glanced at Van, who was staring down at the ground and muttering things, and then looked over at Byron, who was still pointing a finger at Griffin, who was now pacing angrily.

  Heaven help them all if the red dragon’s super strength was unleashed.

  Lee sent calming energy in Griffin’s direction, hoping against hope it could work.

  Griffin snapped his gray-blue gaze to Lee, eyelids lowering slightly as he calmed while his mouth drew into a sneer. “Don’t try that shit on me. I don’t want to be paired with any weak blue dragon. I don’t need to be healed.” Griffin smirked at Byron. “I don’t need any shields either. Useless.”

  Byron’s glittering gold eyes narrowed in the bright morning sun, but his mouth just curved in a sardonic grin. “You don’t have to worry about that, since the gold dragon is never paired with a worthless red. You get the bookworm.”

  Rainier looked up at that, silver eyes flashing. “I’m fine with whoever I’m paired with. I don’t really care.” He went back to studying his nails.

  “Liar,” Griffin shouted back. “You’re so goddamn fake.”

  Rainier raised an eyebrow calmly. “Or maybe I’m smart enough to make up for being paired with even the stupidest dragon.”

  Griffin looked genuinely hurt by that, but Lee saw him hide it behind his anger as he paced. “I’ll be fine as long as I don’t end up with that asshole.”

  “Luckily, you don’t get to choose anyone, since you’re worthless,” Byron said haughtily. “Reds like you have to be happy with whatever they’re given.”

  Griffin let out a snarl of frustration, but before he could storm forward, they all turned to see a disturbance breaking out around Seth.

  The black smoke around him was curling into lines, spreading farther around him as he clenched his fists and tried to pull it back.

  Seth’s handlers ran out into the arena, but he put up a hand to them, using the other to cover his face.

  All of the dragons were silent as Seth slowly composed himself, taking deep breaths and ignoring all of them until the black tendrils slowly subsided, disappearing somewhere inside.

  Seth wore a black robe similar to the rest of them, but black bands around his wrists and ankles marked him as different.

  Presumably those bands gave those who watched him a way to control him.

  Lee shivered at that thought.

  “We need to stay calm,” Van said, stepping forward and shaking his hair out of his face. “If we don’t, something terrible is going to happen.”

  “Oh right,” Griffin said. “Another great vision. You just want us to go along with this because you’re the one who benefits. You get to choose first, and someone gets stuck with your crazy ass.”

  Van’s expression darkened. “I’m not crazy.”

  Griffin cocked a hip, his red hair gleaming in the sun. “Either crazy or evil. I haven’t ever heard of one of your visions coming true.”

  Van smirked. “I don’t need prophetic powers to know that irritating the black dragon is dangerous to all of us. But I wouldn’t expect a stupid red dragon to know about it.”

  “That’s it!” Griffin surged forward but stopped midair, frozen by invisible bonds.

  Rainier stepped forward, holding out a hand in front of him, silver eyes frozen. “I don’t really care who I end up with, but I’d prefer not to die by black dragon fire. I’ve heard it’s incredibly painful.” He used his telekinesis to restrain Griffin for a moment longer before letting him go.

  Griffin stumbled back, looking shocked.

  “We will start the choosing!” the elder announced, standing up. “Will the dragons take their assigned positions?”

  There were six pedestals around the arena, and Lee moved to stand on the one meant for him.

  “I don’t like this,” Van muttered, standing unsteadily on his pedestal, running both hands through his black hair.

  Lee took a deep breath, trying to calm the prickling sense of unease inside him. He glanced at Seth, who was dutifully stepping onto his pedestal, then at Griffin and Byron, who were glaring at each other as they stepped up as well.

  Then at Rainier, who was still calmest of all of them. But it was always hard to tell how he felt.

  When Lee was younger, Rainier had visited his village, and when they’d been introduced, Lee had thought he was the nicest dragon he’d met so far.

  That was until he’d heard Rainier after dinner, talking to his mentor and telling him Lee had to be the most boring dragon he’d ever met and that he was glad the silver dragon was never paired with the blue dragon.

  Lee frowned, hoping he was not paired with Rainier.

  Barring something catastrophic, Lee would be paired with Seth. And maybe he would improve a bit once Lee could use his healing powers to alleviate the effects of the poison.

  Maybe he’d stop scowling for once.

  The elder droned on, and then he dropped a multicolored flag into the arena, signaling that it was time to start. The oracle was watching with keen eyes. As goddess over the shifter world, her opinion was everything.

  “The purple dragon will choose first!” the elder announced. “As is tradition!”

  As Van looked around the group, Lee honestly couldn’t guess who he would choose.

  Long minutes went by, and wind blew dust across the sandy floor of the arena. It was so quiet Lee could hear his own heartbeat.

  It sounded uneven.

  “I choose no one,” Van said, folding his arms carefully.

  There was silence, then murmuring from the crowd, and then the village elder stood to address the dragons.

  “You must choose,” the elder said. “You must choose, as is tradition. This is how it is done.”

  “I choose no one,” Van said again. “I want to work on my own.”

  “You would be killed,” the elder said impatiently. “Probably while having one of your visions. You are not meant to be alone.”

  “We weren’t meant to be with anyone else either,” Byron said, folding his arms. “Maybe that’s why we were made to be exemplary. Because we don’t need anyone else.”

  The oracle was now watching with narrowed eyes, her hands resting on the railing in front of her as she leaned forward.

  Griffin slammed both fists together, shaking the floor. “I don’t need anyone either. I’m better off alone.” He glared at the other dragons. “Besides, I’m stronger than any of them.”

  Gold energy sparked at Byron’s fingertips as he stepped off his pedestal. “Wanna bet?”

  “I don’t need to bet,” Griffin said, cracking his neck. “I can show you. Right now, right here.”

  “Don’t fight,” Lee said sharply. He didn’t expect Byron to listen to him. After all, he never had before. “I know we don’t want to do this, but we have to.”

  Byron looked up at the crowd and then back to Lee. “Who is going to make us? Those losers?”

  “They sacrificed a lot,” Lee said. “All of the villages who raised us invested in us.”

  “And they’ll be rewarded by the oracle,” Byron said. “It’s not our problem.” He took another step away from his pedestal. “We are smarter than them. Stronger than them. Who said we have to follow their rules?”

  Seth was looking around at them, and Lee couldn’t tell if he was nervous or excited.

  Van clapped his hands together, stepping down from his pedestal as well. “Let’s do this. Show them our powers. Show them their rules mean nothing. If it is going to go badly, it might as well be on our terms.”

  Lee looked to Rainier for at least a hint of sanity, but he was smiling and for once it was genuine.

  “I would like to do things on my own as well,” he said softly. “I don’t nee
d anyone with lesser intellect slowing me down.”

  “Fuck,” Seth said. “You’re all being idiots. We’re going to die this way.”

  “Only you,” Rainier said coldly. “And given how much you must be suffering, is that really a bad thing?”

  “Don’t say that,” Lee snapped angrily. He took a step forward, realizing he’d left his pedestal without meaning to. “Back off of him. We all need to calm down for a minute.”

  “Ah yes, the goody-two-shoes,” Rainier said, flicking his hair. “Always trying to make things better for everyone.”

  “That’s not a fucking bad thing,” Lee said, exasperated. His dark, blue-black hair was pulled back into a ponytail, and he couldn’t help noticing it was more convenient for him to fight this way.

  Maybe it was time to show these assholes that healing powers weren’t his only ability.

  “You first,” Byron said, pointing at Griffin.

  “Any day,” Griffin said. “Dragon or human?”

  “Dragon,” Byron said. Then he was changing, growing into a large, sparkling gold mythical beast that made everyone gasp.

  The oracle stood, but before she could do anything, a red dragon appeared as well from a cloud of dust. It reared back and then roared, sending a giant red flame out in front of it, which was blocked by a gold shield that went up in front of the gold dragon.

  “I want in,” Van said, jumping forward and turning into his purple dragon in the blink of an eye.

  “These assholes,” Seth said, keeping his arms folded and looking like it was taking all of his effort to stay in place.

  There was screaming. Spectators tripped over each other to get out of their seats as Griffin and Byron knocked into the sides of the arena, attacking each other.

  Van’s purple dragon let out a scream into the sky and then roared violet flames down on Byron, but a blur of silver blocked his way as Rainier also took the form of his dragon.

  Rainier somehow managed to be condescending even in dragon form as he looked down mockingly at Van, who was pacing, his spiked tail swishing ominously. Rainier raised a clawed hand, and a large rock came up through the ground, hovering menacingly before it slammed into Van, knocking him backward.