Page 4 of Mad Dragon of Chaos

“I’d rather not be eaten by a clan of pissed-off dragons.”

“No one is going to eat you.”

Tyche huffed and glared at Shey. “Really? Are you going to stop them?”

Shey tightened his hand on Tyche’s arm while his heart thumped hard, nearly knocking the breath out of him. “Yes, I am. I won’t let anyone harm you. Haru made the choice. I heard him. And you didn’t do it to hurt him. They will understand and respect that. Even if they don’t, I’ll still protect you.”

The God of Luck huffed and scowled, but Shey knew these glares and the telltale twinkle of mischief in his leaf-green eyes. “Fine. I’ll go. Dragons have a very good reason for hating my kind. I don’t blame them, even if I had nothing to do with it. But if they get angry about Haru, I swear I’m letting them eat you first.”

Shey chuckled, and the urge to steal a kiss from those pouty lips returned with a vengeance. There was something about Tyche that left him wanting to kiss the man senseless.

“Should we worry about…” Adrian paused, his face scrunched up as he waved a hand in the air as if to indicate the entire world, “things going crazy?”

Caelan’s lips crooked into a half smile. “The good news is that those nightmare episodes are growing shorter and less frequent. There have been only a few injuries. Thankfully, dragons are fast healers.”

“Does that mean Haru is getting better at managing the magic from the Goddess of Nightmares?” Shey asked.

Tyche shoved a hand into his messy hair and scratched his scalp. “It’s Haru. The longer he holds on to that magic, the better he will get at controlling it. This slip…” He looked over at Adrian, who nodded.

“He knows I’m here. He can feel that I’m close.”

That was probably right. In Haru’s excitement, his control had slipped.

Regardless, this magic needed to come out of Haru now. It was time for them to face the dragons.

TWO

SHEY THRUDESH-VO

He was here.

In the land of dragons.

As a kid, he’d read every folktale and history book he could get his hands on about the dragons of the Isle of Stone. He’d stare off at the ocean while daydreaming about stealing a boat and sailing off to see the dragons. Once, he’d mentioned his dream to someone—his father. The old king had scoffed and claimed that they were legends that didn’t hold an ounce of truth. There were no dragons. There was nothing on the Isle of Stone except for rocks and ice. What was the point of going there?

But Drayce and Haru had proved so many years later that dragons were real, and they lived on the forbidden island in clans. What was more, they drove cars and shopped in stores with flashing neon lights. They clearly lived lives very similar to what he experienced in Sirelis, except their clothes were very different. And, well, they could also shift into dragons.

“I can’t believe I’m here,” Shey breathed, his eyes locked on the dark pine trees passing by the window.

“Ditto,” Tyche mumbled, sinking lower on the seat between Shey and Adrian.

His heart squeezed for Tyche. The god was genuinely afraid of the dragons. Not only was his kind hated by dragons for good reason, but he’d caused Haru’s problems. However, Caelan and Drayce were reasonable, and they had accepted what Tyche had told them. Drayce was a dragon, and Caelan had a dragon father. Shey hoped the rest of the dragons would at least be willing to hear Tyche out.

Regardless, Shey was prepared to defend Tyche if necessary. The God of Luck had been in a bad position and had needed to make a tough decision. The one thing he didn’t totally understand was his continuous references to Zyros. There were pieces to the story about Zyros that he was missing, but if he was lucky, he’d be able to pull those from Tyche.

Adrian rolled down his window and stuck his face outside, drawing in a deep breath. “Gods, I missed this smell. Even from here, you can smell the snow on the mountains mixing with the pine trees. I’m just missing the jasmine.”

“Don’t worry. We’ll be back to the clan soon. At the rate Drayce is going, it probably won’t take more than ten minutes,” Caelan said from the front passenger seat.

“I’m being careful,” Drayce grumbled.

He and Adrian had fought over who’d get to drive as soon as they’d spotted the black SUV. Adrian had made a good case that he was a member of the royal guard, while Drayce was the king’s fiancé. He shouldn’t be driving. However, Drayce had reminded Adrian that he knew the way better and could get them to their destination faster. Adrian had fallen silent and hopped into the rear seat behind Drayce.

“Have you been here long?” Shey inquired of Caelan.

“Not long. About a week.” Caelan turned his head toward them and smirked. “It would have been sooner, but Rayne wasn’t too keen on the idea of me flying out on Drayce. He thought it would be safer by ship.”

Drayce groaned. “Like I would have dropped him.”