Damon King

The heat from the night pored through me. I wasn’t sweating, though. I never sweat. One of the perks of being a dragon.

Technically, I was a dragon shifter. At the moment, I was in my human form. More times than not, I was. I had just finished working out. Pumping iron made me feel more alive, and it helped to relieve some stress.

Lately, my stress levels had been reaching stratospheric heights. Two deaths so far and I knew who had done it. Not that I would tell the police about it. I would have to handle things myself.

Well, the two other leaders of the Three-Tailed Clans and I would have to handle it. For the history of the clan, there had always been a trio of leaders, not merely one, hence our clan name. No, we did not have three tails. All of our dragons had only one. I had yet to see a dragon with three tails, but I did once see one with two.

I rubbed a hand down my burning chest. I had done so many chest presses that my pecs were on fire. My fingers brushed over my massive and impressive dragon tattoo.

“Damon, there you are.”

I glanced over to the door of my personal gym to see Miguel Ramirez Lopez, one of the other leaders. He was tall, almost as tall as my six-feet seven-inches frame. Maybe a little more muscular than I was. I had dark hair and eyes, while he had blond hair and blue eyes. The third leader, Francesco Marino, was an inch taller than I was, with red hair and green eyes. We did not look alike at all, but we were all co-leaders, and we were all best friends.

“What is it, Miguel?” I asked. I swallowed hard. Miguel looked a little green. Something was not right.

“Another body has been found.”

I gnashed my teeth. “Why do they continue to do this?”

“You know why. They want to lure us out.”

“We cannot allow that.”

Miguel nodded. “But they are anticipating that.”

“What would you have us do?” I growled.

“We can’t make a decision of that magnitude without Francesco,” Miguel pointed out.

I grimaced and rubbed my throat. He was right. We couldn’t.

Miguel was off trying to ask other clans if they might be willing to join up with us against the Fanged Serpents. After all, the Fanged Serpents had a history of making their presence felt far too closely to other dragon clans. I hadn’t heard of them killing humans before now, which was good, I guessed.

Dragons and humans. We did not interact often. Dragons kept to themselves so much that humans did not even know that dragons existed. We wanted to keep it that way, but if people started to ask questions… It would not end well. For the humans. Possibly not for us either, given the Salem Witch Trials. There had once upon a time been witches. Not anymore. They had all been killed as a result of the various witch hunts over the centuries.

Not that humans would have an easy time killing a dragon. Even in our human forms, we were far stronger than the humans ever could hope to be. We healed faster. Of course, as dragons, we could fly and breathe fire.

We were powerful, and many who had power craved more. Honestly, that was the only possible motivation I could have that would explain the actions of the Fanged Serpents.

“Perhaps we should talk to them,” I said. “See what exactly it is that the Fanged Serpents want.”

“Because they will tell us the truth.” Miguel rolled his eyes. “You can be so naïve at times.”

“Not naïve. Hopeful. If we go after the Fanged Serpents, do you realize how many dragons will die?”

Miguel flashed his white teeth. “More of them than us.”

“But we would lose numbers,” I pointed out. “That fact cannot be overlooked.”

“You mentioned that before, after the first body had been found.”

“Yes, and that’s why Miguel went off to the other clans.”

“For a battle.”

I grimaced. “I was hoping he would learn more about the Fanged Serpents and their motivation.”

“Again. Naïve.”

I couldn’t help laughing. “No one else has ever called me that.”

Miguel groaned and slapped his hand to his forehead. “I wasn’t referring to your bedroom activities.”

“I know, and that is a good thing because otherwise, you would be wrong.” My smile died. “You are wrong. The Fanged Serpents are far too dangerous. We cannot risk war. We have only just moved here ourselves.”

“It is a rather nice city,” Miguel mused. H rubbed the back of his neck. “The food, the architecture, the history… Philly is the perfect city for us.”

“It is, other than another dragon clan moving here immediately after us. And the Fanged Serpents…” I shook my head.

We had moved here to the City of Brotherly Love five months ago. A month ago, the Fanged Serpents had as well. While I didn’t know why the Fanged Serpents had come here, the Three-Winged Clan had because our old home had become overcrowded.

We had lived in the Rocky Mountains for nearly a century alongside another clan. But the Fire Breathers clan seemed to think they were part rabbits in addition to part dragon and part human. They bred and bred and bred, and they had dominated the Rocky Mountains. Miguel, Francesco, and I had unanimously opted to relocate.

“We could move again,” Miguel suggested. “Not that I want to.”

“I don’t either, and even if we did, there’s no guarantee that the Fanged Serpents will stop torturing and killing the humans.”

“Torturing?” Miguel lifted his bushy eyebrows.

I shrugged. “I don’t know if they are truly torturing them, but they are instilling fear into them. That itself is a form of torture.”

“So it is,” Miguel agreed. “Until Francesco returns, we can do nothing.”

I sighed and grimaced. “I hadn’t wanted him to go in the first place.”

“Ah, you know Francesco. He gets what he wants.”

“For the most part, yes. If he were here, we could make decisions. For now, I am going to shower. Francesco should return in a day or two. Everything will be settled soon enough.”

“I know you want to minimize bloodshed,” Miguel said, “but they don’t feel the same way.”

“If we won’t engage them…”

“Then more humans will die.”

I hung my head. “Most likely. We should not allow the humans to suffer because of the Fanged Serpents wishing to make a point.”

“Go shower. Maybe you’ll have an epiphany then.”

I rolled my eyes at my friend. “No choice will be an easy one,” I said.

“Not at all. Now, hurry and go to the bathroom or else you’ll lose your pump.”

I laughed. “You’re the one out of the two of us who would check himself in a mirror.”

Miguel threw up his hands defensively. “What else can you do when you look like that?”

“I don’t know. Not be a narcissist?”

Still laughing, I left the gym behind. Scalding hot water pounded onto my body. No epiphany came, and I could not help wondering what the future would hold.