Chapter Eight #2
When the last car was parked and everyone was seated, we waited so we could record exactly what these disgusting people were doing.
We wanted to catch them in the act, not before they actually did anything, so we had to let the auction begin, unfortunately.
I felt terrible for those poor kidnapped people.
They had to be petrified, and being auctioned off like that would only make it more terrifying for them.
Oakley made a disgusted noise when the woman brought out the first poor fae woman. They made her stand on the stage in only a bra and underwear—thank goodness the poor thing wasn’t forced to stand there naked—while she cried and shook in fear.
The incubus began the auction, and we could hear his words loud and clear through our equipment and enhanced hearing.
People in the audience held up their little numbered signs to bid on the poor fae, and bile filled my gut, my stomach queasy.
We were told to let them auction off two or three people, just to have more hard evidence against the group since we were recording it from several different cameras, before we busted in, as long as no one tried to leave.
We watched two more fae men be auctioned off like they were cattle before I looked at Oakley and asked, “We’re good now, right?”
They nodded. “I definitely think we have enough evidence.”
“Good, because I can’t watch this anymore.”
“Me either.”
Into my mic, I said, “All teams ready?” After I got affirmations from everyone, I gave Oakley a small smile and spoke into my mic. “On my count. Three… two… one. Go, go, go!”
We swarmed the barn like a group of angry bees, coming out of trees, off the street, out of the fields, from everywhere.
Oakley and I had our guns raised as we approached the barn from the west end, and I shouted to the crowd, “Keep your hands up. Any sudden movements will be seen as a threat and result in you being shot. Hands up where we can see them!”
One vampire tried to run, but Jed used his own speed to catch him, and I winced as the two fell to the ground in a heap, claws and fangs creating a bloody mess.
The incubus on stage reached into his coat pocket, and I didn’t hesitate to shoot him.
The bullets we were using were spelled to make the person freeze, so it wouldn’t kill him as long as the bullet itself didn’t do too much damage, although nearly all supes had healing abilities, so they should be fine.
We had only counted a handful of humans in the crowd, though there may be more in the barn.
Oakley said, “Oh shit,” before they fired their own gun, and I was surprised to see the wolf shifter in his wolf form. Oakley’s aim was true, though, and the wolf fell over, whimpering in pain as the spell took hold and kept him completely still.
A vampire stood in the middle of the crowd and yelled something unintelligible, and it was like some kind of signal to the others.
Everyone in the audience stood as one and started running, shifting, or drawing on their magic.
Several put shields over themselves, most not even covering their neighbors, only worrying about themselves, which, given what they were here for, wasn’t surprising.
“Well, shit,” Oakley said as several people scattered, running in all directions.
Into my mic, I said, “Light ‘em up!”
We both opened fire, taking down supe after supe after supe with nonlethal force.
But then a bear shifter came running toward us, and we were both out of magical freezing bullets.
The bear seemed to have eyes for me, and I was debating whether or not to shift to stop him when Oakley let out a loud roar from ten feet away.
It started with their human voice, but it grew louder and deeper as the sound of clothes ripping joined the noise.
They transformed in the blink of an eye into their golden dragon.
They were nearly as big as the barn, even with their wings pressed tightly to their sides.
They clearly didn’t want to knock anyone on our side over with them, which I appreciated.
Without hesitation, they stepped right in front of me, growled at the bear again, and snapped their teeth in his direction. The bear skidded to a halt, dropped to the ground, and rolled over, showing his belly.
When a cyclops tried sneaking around the side of the barn, Oakley turned to him and growled, and the cyclops froze right there. Tan ran over to him and started cuffing him.
Wow. Had Oakley really just…
I patted their big, scaly leg, heartened that they’d stepped in front of me to protect me.
It was sweet. Cute, even.
I was a bigger dragon than they were, and I was sure I’d be able to beat that bear in combat, even in this form, but they’d wanted to keep me safe.
“Thanks, Oak,” I said, stepping around them and up to the bear. “Shift back.”
The bear didn’t move, and Oakley growled, showing a little tooth. A whimper escaped the bear before he shifted back to his human form, giving us a naked eyeful.
Oakley growled at a couple of other perps who were giving our guys trouble, and they all listened, clearly terrified of the huge dragon that looked ready to flame them all and eat them for dinner.
After I cuffed the bear guy, I was about to ask if anyone needed anything, but Oak let out another loud, angry roar.
Before I could do anything other than gape at them, they had launched into the air. They leapt, or sort of jumped rather than flew, over the main crowd, landing far away from me.
But I saw what they already did—a vampire running for the trees.
It must’ve been an old vampire because they were so fast, they were almost invisible—almost.
Oakley ran a few steps, their wings tucked to their sides, before they leapt again, this time over the top of the perp. Oak twisted in the air like some kind of acrobat and landed right in front of the vamp, facing him.
The vampire must’ve been as surprised as everyone else was, because he didn’t have a chance to slow down. He ran right into Oak’s chest.
The momentary shock gave Oak an advantage, and they leaned down and placed their entire huge jaws around the vampire’s entire body. The threat was clear. You move, you get bitten in half.
Well… that was one way to stop a perp, that was for sure.
After making sure everyone else was alright and not in need of assistance, I ran through the crowd to catch up to Oak.
“You’ve got moves today,” I called out as I jogged over, receiving a rumbling laugh from the dragon.
The sound made the vampire perp whimper in fear.
As soon as I was close enough, I patted Oak’s snout and pulled out some magically strengthened twist ties.
“Keep your hands up where I can see them,” I said in my stern voice. “Don’t move or I’ll let the dragon bite you in half.”
The vamp whimpered again, and I figured he was going to listen. If not, well, I wouldn’t stop Oakley from eating the guy.
“Ready, babe,” I said, not fully registering my words.
Oakley blinked at me for a long moment before they finally pulled their mouth off the vampire. I stepped in, grabbed the guy’s arms, pulled them behind his back, and secured him.
Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Oakley opening and closing their mouth, sticking their tongue in and out in an obvious get this fucking taste out of my mouth kind of way.
I wanted to laugh at them, but I didn’t want to embarrass them or anything.
Grabbing the vamp’s arm, I pulled him closer to my dragon so I could give Oak a couple of pats. “Good work, Oak,” I whispered for only their ears.
Their mouth twitched up into a dragony smile—making the vamp whimper again.
The three of us marched back over to the crowd, and I handed the vampire off to another king’s guard to load him into our van. We were going to move our prisoners back to Sedoba tonight, and from the looks of it, we were going to need several more vans.
We walked closer to the main crowd, and Oakley scanned the area, seeing no one else who needed to be tackled into submission. Their giant head leaned down and nuzzled gently against my chest, making me laugh and pet the golden scales on their snout.
Everyone else had it well in hand, so I focused on my viramore for a few minutes, giving them lots of pets and a few kisses on the snout.
The rumbling that came out of their chest sounded like a purr, and it made my own dragon rumble in response.
I couldn’t have stopped it if I tried. The purr came out, and as soon as Oak heard it, they nuzzled me again.
I laughed and kept up the pets, but I was the team lead on this mission, so I couldn’t stay this way forever. After a few more seconds, I said, “You should shift back. We need to help the victims in the barn.”
They huffed in annoyance and surprised me by sticking their tongue out and swiping it over the entire length of my body, seeming not to care about licking my clothes. Their tongue ran up my face, and I wrinkled my nose at the slobber.
Their piercing would’ve looked ridiculous on anyone else, but I liked it, even in dragon form. Luckily, Tan had helped Oak come up with a magical stud that grew and shrank with them when they shifted, so they kept the piercing in both forms.
This wasn’t exactly what I’d had in mind when I pictured Oakley licking me.
They let out a little chuffing noise that I knew meant they were laughing at me, and I chuckled as I used my sleeve to wipe my face.
“Gross.”
They stuck their tongue out at me.
A brat, even as a dragon.
I felt a shift in the air and wasn’t surprised to find Oakley shifted back to their human form. But my eyes widened when I got a look at them.
Because they were naked.
Like completely, one hundred percent naked.
They had their hands in front of their crotch, looking at me with a sheepish expression. “Um… I ripped my clothes up when I shifted.”
Right. Of course they had. I knew that. But… holy crap on a cracker, look at them. “Uh…” I… skin. So much skin. So much beautiful, gorgeous, soft-looking skin that I wanted to get my hands and tongue on. Oh Mother of Scales, I wanted to get my tongue all over that—
“Here, Oak,” Tan said, walking over to us. “I made Jed run back to the car for extra clothes. Figured you’d need them. These should fit you okay.”
Oakley took the clothes. “Thanks, Tan.”
Tan grinned and walked away, and all I could do was continue to stare.
Oakley caught me. Of course they did. I wasn’t exactly hiding anything considering I was just… standing there, staring. With my mouth open.
But all they did was smile a little, then they turned around so I was forced to look at their ass.
Ohhhhh fuck. Oh fuck, oh fuck, oh fuck.
I wanted to grab it.
No. I wanted to bite it.
Yes. Bite it and lick it and spread it open so I could bury—
With more effort than it’d ever taken me, I wrenched myself away and turned a little so I wasn’t staring directly at them.
I would not objectify Oakley.
Nope. No, siree.
No objectifying. No matter how drop-dead gorgeous they really were.
“I’m dressed,” Oak said, walking past me and elbowing me in the side. “Perv.” They shot me a wink over their shoulder.
“I… but I… no… I wasn’t… I’m not… I… shit.”
They barked out a laugh, shaking their head as they walked to the barn, leaving me gaping behind them.