“It was about that dragon that attacked us yesterday.”
“How do you know it was the same one?”
“He had the same eyes, and you were right, it is Gill. Just like when you are in your dragon form, you have the exact same eyes. Gill’s haven't changed, either. He got really close to me a couple of times, so I got a good look at him. I am almost positive that he is the dragon.”
“So, what happened in the dream?”
Antoine wanted to reassure her again that she was safe, but he was far more interested in what happened in the dream. Why did he feel like it was going to give him some kind of clue that he was going to need to know? Stranger things had happened, of course.
“Well, he was at this place. It was so strange, but it actually glowed like all around with fire. It looked like the whole place was on fire, and I saw Gill there. He slowed down and started burning everything. It looked just like a fire at first, but obviously, it was more than that, though. He burned everything in his way. You could hear screaming; it was horrible. I don't think I've ever been that scared in all of my life. It was like I was watching it happen and there was nothing I could do about it. I felt so helpless.”
Antoine immediately knew that if the dream was correct, then Gill was on his way to the Fire Islands to wreak havoc. Nathan had been ready to move there with Lauren, his wife, but they were just plans for now. Soon they were supposed to move for good, even though it was so far away from London where he worked.
“How would you feel about staying here with Lauren?”
“I don't really know her all that well, but she seems nice enough.”
“She is. I think the two of you will get along just fine.”
“Is she a human, too?”
Antoine disagreed. “No, but she actually thought that she was a human for most of her life. She just recently found out that she's a shifter.”
“How do you find that out?”
Antoine told her that it was a long story, and he would tell it to her when he got back.
“You better come back.”
Antoine kissed her.
He promised to come back. “I guess that I will stay here and get along with everyone, waiting for you. Don't make me wait too long, Antoine.”
Antoine agreed that he wouldn’t make her wait long at all. He was worried about how everything was going to turn out. At the same time, Antoine knew that he had to have faith in the plan. He didn't have it yet, it was still forming in his head, but one last person to take out wasn’t that bad. Then, he would have peace and he could be mated properly, ceremonies could be done. There was a lot to do and Antoine was ready to get on the other side of the civil war he was in the middle of. Once Gill was gone, Nathan could continue with his transition and everything would be as it was supposed to be.
***
It was just as Antoine had suspected. He had immediately gone to get Nathan and told Nathan about Cassandra’s dream. Nathan had been a little skeptical, but when he realized how sure Antoine was about it, he got dressed and the two of them went out. They probably should have gotten more people, but Antoine was in the mood to do some damage. He wanted to get back to his life, and the only way that was going to happen was to squash out any rebellion that was left.
When they got there, Fire Islands was literally on fire. They could easily see Gill up in the sky, going back and forth, spraying everything with fire. The heat was intense, and they silently shifted into their true forms. It would not only keep them safe from the intensity of the heat, but it would give them the upper hand. It would be two on one and Antoine was hopeful that those odds would be what was needed. All they had to do was take him down.
Before, they would have worried about collateral damage. Of course, they didn't want to make more trouble than there already was. Obviously, though, half of the village was burning and there was already so much collateral damage. The only worry was to take Gill out of the sky as quickly as possible. Only then would they be able to put the rest of it back together and find out what kind of damage had really been done.
Antoine moved to the east of Gill and Nathan started up to the west. He didn’t have flying capabilities, but the idea was that Antoine was going to fire- breathe him down to the ground, and then Nathan would be able to take over. There was strength in both of the forms, the differences complementing each other. They had done several attacks together recently and had gotten rather good at it.
Gill did not stand a chance. He was taken down rather quickly, and Antoine did not make the mistake of allowing him to live. He was always going to wonder what would have happened if he would have just chased him down the day before. Then, a lot of bad stuff could have been avoided.
On the flip side, Antoine knew that even though he lost his house and Cassandra had taken a little bit of time to get used to the idea, he knew that it was the push that he had to have to do what was needed. It had been nearly impossible to get up the courage to tell her he was a dragon. But then when it came down to it, when he needed to be the one to save her life, he hadn't even thought about it. That was the silver lining in the whole situation.
Once Gill was taken care of and they had helped put out some of the fires, Antoine and Nathan made their way back. They were both tired and Antoine asked his friend something that had been on his mind for a while.
“Do you regret it?”
“Regret what?”
“Do you regret finding out who you are and becoming king? I mean, I know that it's a cool title and everything, but it has caused a whole lot of problems. Would you have rather just stayed the way it was and not known?”
“No, it is always better to know, Antoine, even if it's hard to deal with.”
