Author’s Note: This is it the last part of Dragon Rescue. There is possibility for more in the series, but not sure what exactly …
It had been a few months since the incident with Greer, and things had settled back into relatively normal life. Westen recently Mated fully with Harvey, settling the Dragon down. He was becoming a figure at the the law firm, and a few times has helped investigate cases.
The time he took on a rival firm, because they tried to blackmail Harvey, was a sight to behold.
Michael Westen was a damn good spy, and his ability with accents had amazed everyone.
Harvey’s tells the story with delight about how his Mate waltzed into the other law firm, acted like a haggard clerk who was looking for information, broke into the file room, and stole the files against Harvey.
Castle had fistpumbed Westen, then whined at Becket of why she won’t let him do cool things like that. “Cause you would get caught in three seconds.” She pointed out, trying not to roll her eyes.
Elias was now part of the Dragon Mate Club, which was awkward at best and downright scary at worst. Harold told him if he goes after his Dragon he wouldn’t care about protocol and sick Aveline on him. The Assassin had laughed, but then gave Elias a look, indicating she would actually do harm.
“So our little club has an assassin, a writer, a spy, a mob boss, and a hacker.”
“We could take over the world.” Elias smiled brightly at Harold.
Harold set his Sencha Green Tea down – finally a place that served it. “That so 1980’s.”
Westen snorted, the others chuckling. It really was a weird group of people, but despite everything, they relied on each other, something none of them were used to but had learned to cherish.
Things were settling down, almost routine – well as routine as life can be when dealing with Dragons and the Numbers.
When the Machine alerted them to a break in at the Warehouse. Harold expected John to go on a rampage, and was ready to call in reinforcements to either deal with the idiot who broke into John’s stash or help him calm his Dragon down before he destroyed sections of New York.
Only to stand gaping at his Mate, who looked at the video, smiled softly then calmly told Harold to pack up, they were going to the warehouse.
Bear even looked startled.
Harold gave the dog extra treats, then scurried behind John, who as far as he was concerned should be stalking to the car, not taking a casual stroll.
Reese pulled the vehicle up to his warehouse, eyeing the car parked close to the front entrance. “Looks like we got guests.”
“Are they friendly?” Harold asked, still ready to call back up. “And why are you not freaking out over this?”
“I know them. They are friends, but at times they have no manners” He stepped out the car, and stalked over to the front door, slamming it open. “Get out of my bullets!”
There was a rustling of metal against metal. John sighed, as the Dragon likely went deeper into the crate. John looked over at the younger man, who was waiting by the parked SUV. “How long has he been in there?”
“Only about twenty minutes.” He smiled up at John. “You know how he gets with that much metal in one place. It’s good to see you, it’s been a while – despite the fact you’re only a few hours away from us. Heard there was a problem a couple months back.”
John gave him a look. “Does the guilt trip work on the kids.”
“Always.” He turned towards Harold, smiling brightly. “Even more upsetting is you haven’t brought your Mate to visit. I’m pretty sure, he’s trying to figure out who we are, how you know us, and what you’re hiding now.”
“It’s like you know him.” John pulled Harold close to him, ignoring the narrowed eyes. “Harold this is Charles Xavier, his Dragon is swimming in my crate of bullets.”
“Well that’s rude.” Harold glared over at the open door, hearing the commotion inside.
“He’s a metal hoarder.” Charles said as if that explained everything. He shifted slightly, as he maneuvered his wheelchair towards the door. “A crate of bullets is like a spa day for him.”
“Metal?” Harold felt his phone buzz, likely The Machine sending him information about this Charles Xavier, and how he knew John.
“Erik is…” Charles turned his chair around and looked up at Harold. “Special. I don’t mean that in the way you think either.”
John made his way over to the large crate to see Erik’s head propped up on the edge. “Enjoying yourself?”
“Yes.” He squirmed a bit more, sighing softly. “Nice security system you got here, really sophisticated. And I don’t mean that sarcastically, the cameras are good, the infrared is top of the line, and there’s at least one trip wire. To bad I’m really good at getting past all that. Though I did show off in front of the cameras, figured it would get your ass here, since you’ve been ignoring Charles’ voicemails.”
“So you set this all up to say hello?” John moved a few of the bullets around to let it slide down the Dragon’s back, who shivered in happiness.
“That and I really needed a Spa Day!” He wiggled further into the bullets.
“How did you get in?” John glanced around trying to find how the Dragon slithered into the secure space.
“Used my tail as a key.” He lifted his tail to show the spikes. “Figured you would be here sooner, but hey, I got an extra long soak.” He climbed out of the bullets and onto the floor, shaking the excess out of his scales.
Harold understood what Xavier meant about special. Erik was metal, his scales were not flesh or even armour like, but actual metal, as were the spikes on his tail. He wasn’t large, sitting on his butt, shoulders back looked to be barely eight foot. Considering the smallest he had seen was Ethan, and he was 10 ft long, as he didn’t have the ability to sit up, with his long sinewy body.
In a flash a over six foot man stood, not shy that he was naked, in front of John. He reached over and started to dress in the simple jeans and turtleneck that was hanging over the crates edge.
Harold glanced down at Charles.
“I’m guessing that’s not normal.” Every Dragon he met, had flesh scales some were like armor. When he had finally seen Connor in Dragon form, the assassin was huge and the scale plates were massive, but still flesh.
“No.” Charles gave him a soft smile. “But he’s perfect to me.”
“Go ahead and take a longer soak, just leave them behind, when you’re done.” John smiled when Erik quickly shifted and slithered back into the box. He knew how much these carefree moments were needed for every Dragon, but especially for Erik.
He walked over to Harold, chuckling when Charles wheeled by, to sit by the crate and play with his Dragon. He took his Mate’s hand, and moved him towards their sitting area, letting the two have their privacy … though with the Machine there was only an illusion of privacy.
“I don’t understand.” Harold stared at John, eyes wide as he tried to figure this out. “You were about killed me for losing a piece of your stash, yet he’s swimming in it.”
“He’s not taking it, and I know that. You noticed Erik’s not a normal Dragon?” He reached into Harold’s pocket and took out his phone, not surprised to see as much info The Machine could find.
Erik was well off the radar, most of the information it had found was on Charles, including the death of his parents, the car accident, and the fact he owed a mansion up in Westchester and had a School for Gifted Youngsters. Erik was listed as Headmaster of the school, taught languages and history, but not even one photo could be found.
“Is he metal?” Harold hesitated not quite sure how to describe what he saw. “Or is he like Ethan?”
He sat Harold down, to tell him about the closest thing he had to a son. “Erik is a survivor of the camps.” He could see Harold zipping through all his history lessons, trying to figure out what camps… “Auschwitz Harold, he survived Auschwitz.”
“Oh dear.” A hand went over his mouth, as his eyes closed. Everything he read about the horrors of the camp, the pictures of the survivors, and even now the disgust at people denying it even happened. “How does that explain his uniqueness?”
“When they took him away from his parents, he flipped his shit. Standing in the midst of the soldier was no longer a young twelve year old, but a Dragon. He took out at least five before he was shot. It’s hard to kill a Dragon in its natural form, so he survived but ended up under the care of Herr Klaus Schmidt, s a doctor who experimented on ‘unique’ individuals. No one knows what he did, or how he did it, but by the time the Allies liberated the camp, Erik was a fourteen year old boy, whose Dragon form had been altered irrevocably.”
Harold glanced over to the sound of soft laughter, and the twinkling of metal against metal. “How did you meet him?”
“He was an angry young man.” John smirked slightly. “Hunting Nazis searching for Herr Schmidt. I got a hold of him, as he was making too much show of his Dragon and not caring. I discovered his grandfather was a Dragon, but his mother wasn’t, so they hadn’t even known his gift until that day. I was able to handle him easily, and when he acted up to much I sat on him.”
Harold’s lips twitched.
“It took awhile but he finally calmed down, and we learned how to deal with his form. He never got over 8 ft, whatever Schmidt did he damaged him enough that the Dragon was muted, but with the metal scales he was invincible. The fact he hoards metal is just a byproduct.”
“And Charles?”
“Met him in the 60’s. You should ask Charles about their first few meetings. After his car accident, Erik emerged himself in his life to help him recover. They found a purpose together, and now they have a school upstate New York that takes in orphaned Dragons, kids from non-Dragon parents, or unwieldy teenage Dragons that are having a hard time and can’t be in a regular school. Samaritan was poking around up there, Erik had called to let me know there was a Rogue Dragon in the area.”
“So he’s special to you.” Harold looked up to see the now man, dressed in jeans and a turtle neck, walking close to Charles as they made their way over to them.
“Closest thing to an annoying teenager I’ll have.” John smirked over at Erik, who rolled his eyes.
“You should bring all your friends to the school.” Charles gave him a pointed look. “They could talk to other Dragons, than the few you got here. By the way Logan is now with us, just so you know.”
John sighed. “I’m sure you’re good for him, and he’s good for the kids. Let alone a damn good protector.”
“He’s the one that sniffed out Samaritan.” Erik settled in one of the chairs, hand reaching to take Charles. “His claws were enough to send the red bastard running.”
“Well you don’t have to worry about him, he’s was taken out.” John wasn’t ready to explain The Machine to them, but it was time that they were introduced to his team. The school could use the backup, and he could always use a few extra Dragons under the radar.
“Oh tell me that missile launch…” Erik smiled with glee, at John’s evil smirk of confirmation. “Couldn’t happen to a better Dragon.”
“I’m sure this is a bit overwhelming.” Charles glanced over at Harold.
“I’m getting used to it.” He smiled slightly, liking the idea that John had a ‘kid’. “I would like to see this school, I never even thought about the need for one but it makes sense.”
“The children are wonderful…”
“Pain in the ass.”
Charles gave his Mate a look. “But they are a delight to teach.”
Harold had a mischievous look on his face, then glanced at his own Dragon. “I should invite Charles to the next Dragon Mate Club meeting. We can add Professor to our long list of characters.”
“Is this as bad as it sounds?” Erik demanded, eyes narrowing.
John laughed lightly. “I’m sure they’re plotting world domination over tea.”
“I could use a day in the city!” Charles smiled, he hadn’t much time to talk to other humans Mated to Dragons, so this was heaven sent. “I’m sure there’s discussion on how to deal with these annoying yet lovely creatures.”
“If we keep adding to the group, Castle is going to want to get jackets.” Harold commented with a soft smile. “We meet every Tuesday, will make sure you get the info.” He glanced at Erik. “Dragons are not welcome.”
“That’s okay, we meet at the Speakeasy.” John gave Erik a look. “It’s about time you settled into a pack.” He could see Erik’s hesitation. “They aren’t going to judge.”
“We’ll be there!” Charles squeezed his Mate’s hand, smiling brightly at him. Erik could never say no to Charles.
“Oh I have feeling life just got even more interesting.” Harold leaned back in the seat, his own hand reaching out to Reese, who just smiled happily at him. So now they had friends and family, and he knew his Dragon well enough that the school was now in the zone for his protection. “Castle is going to squee when he discovers there’s a school of dragons.”
“What tell he meets Logan.” John shook his head imagining the writer’s reaction to a whole new world of Dragons.
LOVE this series! <3
Have truly enjoyed this. Thank You.