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Scanning the lake, Kai didn’t see any boats, either. That only left one possibility—the knights could be riding dirt bikes along the edge of the forest, out of sight.
Just as he began to descend, a shot fired from the trees at his team below. While dragonhide was tough, armor piercing bullets could cause a lot of damage.
He glanced down and saw his team leader, Quinn, giving orders. Trusting Quinn, Kai swooped toward the road and landed.
With no bikes, cars, or men nearby, he imagined his legs and forearms shifting back into limbs, his snout shrinking into his nose, and his wings merging with his back. The second he was in human form, Kai dashed toward the trees and headed in the direction of the sounds of gunfire.
Due to years of training, Kai didn’t so much as flinch at the rocks and sticks under his bare feet. The hard part was not running full tilt so that he could retain the element of surprise.
Even if they saw him land in the distance, they had no idea he’d shifted and was in the forest.
The sound of guns drew nearer until Kai could make out some light-colored t-shirts. For all their planning, the Dragon Knights weren’t soldiers and had overlooked camouflage.
A dragon’s cry roared out, but Kai pushed aside his worry. If he didn’t take down or distract the shooters, more dragons would be injured.
Kai jumped and took hold of the branch above before swinging his body up. Crouched on the branch, he took in the position of the three shooters. They were close enough together that he could easily take them, provided they didn’t shoot him down first.
His dragon snorted. They don’t stand a chance against us.
Swiftly yet silently, Kai flung himself toward the nearest shooter and tackled him to the ground. Taking the strangely shaped gun out of the human’s hand, he flung it behind him. With a punch to the back of the head, the male went still.
Another tried to tackle him, but Kai smacked the back of his head into the man’s nose. The human cried out and Kai took the split-second advantage to use the momentum of his body to toss the man in front of him. The human crashed into the tree with an audible crack. He didn’t get up.
The last shooter fired and Kai dove to the side, undeterred by the scratches from the debris on the forest floor. With a growl, he jumped to a crouch. From behind a tree, he peeked around the corner. The human shot at him, and Kai moved back to safety.
Even though he was naked and hiding behind a tree, he would think of something.
Just as he calculated if he had enough space to shift into a dragon or not, a purple dragon crashed through the trees from above and grabbed the human with her talons. The dragon tossed the human against a tree and he fell silent.
Kai nodded at Nikki in dragon form and then motioned up for her to fly back to the others.
Crouching low, Nikki jumped high into the air and just managed to clear the treetops so she could flap her wings enough to rise into the sky.
He brushed off the dirt from his chest and thighs as he confiscated all the weapons he could find. Two of the humans were dead, so he ripped a strip off one’s t-shirt and secured the remaining knight’s hands behind his back.
The sound of helicopters drew near. It was most likely the DDA, come to smoke out the knights from the forest.
Kai retrieved the three strange-looking guns and ran back toward the road. He had no idea what the DDA would use to contain the knights and he sure as hell wasn’t going to stick around to find out.
Running as fast as he could, Kai weaved through the trees and under forest. The second he hit the road, he lay down the guns and imagined his wings extending from his back, his fingers growing into talons, and his face turning into a snout and ears.
The helicopters were nearly overhead when he plucked the guns up with his back talons and jumped into the air. By the time he was three hundred feet above the road, the DDA helicopters began dropping canisters that left behind a trail of smoke as they fell.
Not wanting to inhale the chemicals, Kai flapped his wings and headed back to his team. The knights might be the DDA’s problem now, but at least one of his dragons were hurt. Kai needed to take care of them.
Only once he ensured everyone’s safety could he return to Stonefire, and to Jane.
~~~
Inside the Protectors’ central command building, Jane paced back and forth, clenching and releasing her fingers. The wait was killing her.
She trusted the source who had leaked the information to the Dragon Knights, but there were a million reasons why the knights might dismiss it. For all she knew, Kai and his team would find nothing. Not only that, her actions might’ve destroyed the tentative trust between Stonefire and the Department of Dragon Affairs.
She paced harder.
Bram’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “If you wear a hole in the rug, then you’re going to have to replace it, lass.”
Jane stopped in her tracks and frowned. “How can you be so calm?”
