Dragon Returning (Torch Lake Shifters Book 1)

by Sloane Meyers

  Mandy told herself that it was nothing to be worried about, and forced herself to set her phone down. Russ had probably just woken up late, and been too busy racing to work to send a text. Mandy took a deep breath, and turned back toward her computer. She would get done what little work she had, and do her best to keep her thoughts off Russ for the time being. But no sooner had she turned away from her phone than she heard it buzz. She let out a surprised squeak and whirled around to grab it from her desk, her fingers trembling as she swiped to unlock the screen and read the text that had just come in. But to her great disappointment, the text wasn’t from Russ. It was Jake’s name displayed across the screen. Mandy’s heart dropped even further as she read the message.

  Hey, Mandy. Russ asked me to text you and say goodbye for him. He was unexpectedly sent off on his dark monster elimination mission this morning. No cell phones are allowed in the supply packs for these missions, and he wasn’t given time to send any messages before leaving. We all expected him to be in training for another several weeks, so the sudden departure took us all by surprise, including him. Normally, he would have been given time to send some texts or emails before heading out, but his mission had been classified as urgent and he wasn’t allowed that.

  The message ended abruptly just like that, almost as though Jake had stopped typing and hit “send” mid-thought. Mandy felt her blood go cold. Something wasn’t right here, and she was determined to find out what it was. She stood, and reached for her keys and phone. She would go pay Jake a little in-person visit.

  Mandy avoided all the questioning eyes as best she could while she made her way out of the dragon recovery building. People whispered and pointed at her, not even trying to hide the fact that they were talking about her behind her back. She held her head high, and walked as quickly as she could without flat-out running. Her heart pounded in time with every step. Russ was in trouble. She could feel it in her bones.

  The employees milling about the Dragon Utilization office building where Jake worked were much less interested in Mandy than her own coworkers had been. A few people glanced at her, furrowing their brow as if trying to remember if they had ever seen her before, or knew who she was. She smiled politely and kept walking until she reached the office door with a nameplate reading “Jake Palmer.”

  Mandy took a deep breath and rapped a few times on the door, hoping Jake was in there. She should have thought to text and ask if he was in his office, but she’d been too overcome with fear for Russ’s wellbeing to think clearly.

  Thankfully, a few seconds later the door swung open and Jake was standing there in front of her, holding his phone in his hand.

  “Mandy! I was just about to send you another text. Sorry the last one got cut off so strangely, I got interrupted and had to send it while pretending to be interested in what one of my trainers was telling me. Get in here before anyone sees you.”

  Mandy stepped inside, and Jake quickly slammed the door behind Mandy, causing her to jump. “I hate to break it to you, but I think a lot of people have already seen me.”

  “Well, hopefully none of them go tell Commander Hawkins where you’ve been. If he finds out you’ve been all the way over here, he’ll know that you know.”

  “Uh, know what, exactly?”

  “That something fishy is going on with Russ’s mission.”

  Jake had piles of paper stacked everywhere on his desk, and he pushed them all unceremoniously aside as Mandy sat down in his visitor chair.

  “Jake, sit still for two minutes and stop giving me these short, fragmented pieces of information. What’s going on with Russ?”

  Jake sighed, and sunk down into his office chair. He rested his elbows on his desk and put his head in his hands for a moment before finally looking up at Mandy.

  “Commander Hawkins is still the highest ranking officer in charge of Russ’s case.”

  “Okay,” Mandy said slowly, still not sure exactly where all of this was going.

  “Remember the High Council’s order yesterday? They said he couldn’t take on any new jobs, but they did allow him to continue working on his current jobs, provided he got outside approval of any new orders.”

  Mandy felt the dread in her belly growing. “So he gave Russ new orders, which, of course, he had no trouble getting all of his little cronies to approve.”

  “Exactly. And those orders were for Russ to immediately terminate training and head out on his dark monster elimination job.”

  “Is that safe? He hasn’t been in training very long. Isn’t the training program usually a few months.”

  “Well, yes. But it doesn’t have to be. The dark monsters are actually fairly easy for dragons to kill. As long as the dragon isn’t taken completely by surprise by one of the dark monsters, dragon fire will do the trick nicely.”

  “Then why the long training?”

  Jake gave Mandy a long look, as though deciding whether to trust her. Finally, he shrugged. “The main reason we bring the dragons here isn’t to kill the dark monsters.”

  Mandy looked up at him in surprise. “That doesn’t make sense. Why all the dragon recovery agents, and the millions paid out to get dragons here, if the High Council isn’t that worried about the dark monsters.”

  “The dark monsters are a problem, admittedly, but we have enough dragons here to take care of them. The reason I’m here training instead of out hunting for monsters is that the High Council isn’t just interested in getting dragons here. They’re interested in keeping them here.”

  “I’m still not following.” Mandy was growing impatient. She was worried about Russ, and Jake wouldn’t quit talking in riddles.

  “The High Council worries a lot about the possibility of another great war. I’m sure you know that.”

  Mandy nodded.

  “Well,” Jake continued, “The High Council thinks that one of the best ways to keep up a strong defense against forces of evil is to have a strong presence of dragons in Torch Lake. Dragons are among the strongest of shifters, and are known for being difficult to corrupt. Unfortunately, after the last war, many of the dragons, especially the youngest, strongest ones, don’t want anything to do with clan life. You already know that, of course, from your work in the Dragon Recovery Division.”

  “Right. I know one of the reasons the High Council likes to get dragons here is for the chance to convince the dragons to stay. None of this is news to me.”

  “No, of course not. But what is news is that the training program for the incoming dragons is completely pointless when it comes to killing dark monsters. Its sole purpose is to keep the dragons in Torch Lake long enough that they hopefully fall in love with the place and decide to stay.”

  Mandy blinked. “You mean all these drills and training exercises you do aren’t actually to help the dragons learn how to kill a dark monster?”

  Jake shrugged. “We sort of let everyone assume that, but it’s not true. Think about it, Mandy. Dark monsters are killed by dragon fire. You don’t need to train a dragon how to use fire. He already knows. The training is just for show. There’s not even a specific timeline of how long training should be. It’s different for each dragon. The High Council’s official stance on it is that training should continue ‘as long as necessary to integrate the dragon into the city of Torch Lake.’ That’s code for ‘as long as necessary to see how awesome Torch Lake is and decide they want to move here permanently.’”

  Mandy smiled. “But Torch Lake is awesome.”

  “You and I both think so. But most of these dragons take time to see it. That’s why their training is usually several months long. In Russ’s case, I’m not sure any amount of time would have been long enough. He’s a great guy, but he seems pretty set on returning back to Chicago.”

  Mandy’s heart fell. She knew what Jake was saying was true, but she didn’t want to think about it. Why would Russ ask her on a date if he wasn’t rethinking his decision to move back to Chicago at the first available opportunity. Surely, he knew that
Mandy wasn’t going to leave Torch Lake? For one thing, her career wasn’t exactly transferable to the human world. And for another thing, she hated living in constant fear of accidentally giving herself away as a wizard. Her life was here now. Maybe agreeing to go to dinner with Russ had been a mistake. Not that it mattered now. There would be no dinner date tonight, since he’d been sent off to hunt dark monsters.

  “In any case,” Jake said, interrupting Mandy’s thoughts. “Commander Hawkins has the authority to send a dragon in training out at any time if he thinks that dragon is ready. Usually, he ignores the dragons in training and leaves it up to the trainers to decide when a dragon is ready. He doesn’t like to be bothered with work that actually makes him think, you know?”

  Mandy snorted. “Typical.”

  “But in this case, he decided to interfere. I would bet he’s doing this as payback for Russ’s testifying at the hearing. He wants to get Russ out of the way, and this is the best way to do it. Once Russ kills a dark monster and comes back, Russ’s job here is done. He’s free to go back to Chicago, and Commander Hawkins probably knows that that’s exactly what is going to happen. Dragons who are only here a few weeks usually haven’t developed strong enough ties to Torch Lake to stay.”

  Mandy turned this information over in her head. Commander Hawkins had found a way to hit back at them. Still, why would the Commander care that much whether Russ was still here or not? The hearing was already done. Whatever damaging testimony Russ was going to give had already been given. Was Commander Hawkins really so petty as to send Russ out on a mission just to make a point that he still had some power?

  Mandy frowned and sat back in her chair, thinking. Commander Hawkins could indeed be petty. Mandy had seen that herself. But the man also hated work, and all the paperwork necessary to end Russ’s training early would have been a lot of work. Why would Commander Hawkins have gone to all that trouble just to annoy Mandy and the rest of the dragons?

  Mandy had the feeling that something deeper was going on here. But what?

  “You alright?” Jake asked. “You’ve gone a little pale.”

  Mandy shook her head. She wasn’t alright. The bad feeling in the pit of her stomach, which had started when Russ didn’t text her this morning, was slowly growing. She couldn’t explain how, but she knew in her gut that something wasn’t right. Russ was in trouble.

  “Do you know where Russ was supposed to go to hunt dark monsters?” Mandy asked. Her heart had started to pound with fear. She hoped she wasn’t too late.

  “Uh, yes,” Jake said, shuffling through some of the papers on his desk until he found one that must have been Russ’s orders. “He’s supposed to be going to the Gray Oasis Forest, a bit north of here. There were dark monsters spotted there several times last month.”

  “I’m going to him,” Mandy said, jumping to her feet.

  Jake looked startled. “Mandy, don’t be foolish. The Gray Oasis Forest is huge. He’ll be nearly impossible to find, and you’ll be in danger. Dark monsters are difficult to kill if you don’t have dragon fire. You could be killed yourself. Russ will be fine. All he has to do is breathe fire on the monsters and they’ll be dead.”

  But Mandy shook her head. “I have to go. I have to find him. It’s not the dark monsters I’m worried about. It’s Commander Hawkins.”

  “Commander Hawkins?” Jake asked, confusion etched into his face.

  “Yes, Commander Hawkins. This is no ordinary mission, Jake. Commander Hawkins is intending to murder Russ.”

  Chapter Fifteen

  Russ had spent the majority of his adult life in a big city, but he was beginning to regret that decision now. Out here, in the forest, things were peaceful. Surrounded by the green beauty of the deep woods, he could hear himself think for what felt like the first time in forever.

  And his thoughts were dominated by Mandy.

  He knew he should pull back and take things slower. Spending half the night texting with her probably wasn’t the best idea when he still hadn’t figured out a way to reconcile the fact that he lived in Chicago and she lived in Torch Lake. But he hadn’t been able to stop himself. He’d felt a rush of nervous excitement every time his phone buzzed to let him know he had a new incoming text from her. Now, it would be several days before he could text her again.

  Coming in to training at the crack of dawn this morning, he’d figured it was better to wait to send a good morning text until a few hours later. He knew she usually worked more regular nine to five hours, and he didn’t want to wake her up early. She was probably as exhausted as he was from staying up way too late.

  But he’d never had the chance to send that good morning text. As soon as he arrived at the training facility, he’d been ushered into a room with Commander Hawkins and a few of his cronies. Commander Hawkins had worn a satisfied sneer on his face, and it had been all Russ could do to keep from punching the man in the nose. The next few minutes had been a blur. Russ had been stripped of his phone and car keys, and given a backpack of supplies. He was being sent on his dark monster elimination mission early, they’d explained. Russ had a feeling that this was some sort of punishment for his part in testifying against Commander Hawkins at the hearing, but none of his regular trainers were around to consult with.

  One of the Torch Lake Wizard Commanders would be giving Russ a ride to the Gray Oasis Forest on a broomstick, and Russ was already sitting on the broomstick, a bit dazed by how quickly everything was happening, when Jake had come running out of the building, angrily asking what the hell was going on.

  “He doesn’t know I’m leaving?” Russ asked the wizard commander sitting in front of him on the broomstick.

  “Shut up!” was all the old man had said.

  “What the hell is the meaning of this?” Jake asked again.

  Commander Hawkins had stepped in then. “I’ve terminated his training. I have the authority to do that you know. It’s my opinion that Russ is ready to hunt down and kill a dark monster, so that’s what he’s going to do.”

  Jake had set his mouth in a hard line and given Commander Hawkins a death glare. Russ had been sure Jake was about to tell off everyone in the vicinity, but in the end, he only shook his head in disgust. “I want a moment with Russ. And I want his stuff that you took from him. I’ll keep it for him until he gets back.”

  Commander Hawkins shrugged. “Whatever. Russ, you can have one minute with Jake. Exactly one minute, and then it’s time for you to go.”

  Russ had hopped off the broomstick and followed Jake away from the crowd.

  “I’m sorry about this, Russ,” Jake said. “Technically he has the authority to end your training. He’s doing it to get back at us for testifying against him.”

  Russ shrugged. “It doesn’t bother me. I’ll find and kill a dark monster and then no one will be able to boss me around anymore. He’s doing me a favor.”

  Jake sighed. “I’m glad you see it that way. I’ll keep your belongings for you until you return. If Commander Hawkins had them he’d go through all your texts just to be a jerk.”

  “It’s sad when a man’s own life is so uninteresting that he has to snoop in someone else’s business for some entertainment. Speaking of texts, though, would you mind texting Mandy for me to let her know I’ve been sent off? I was supposed to have dinner with her tonight but that’s not happening now.”

  Jake nodded but before he could say anything else, Commander Hawkins was yelling that their minute was up. Jake rolled his eyes, and then put his hand up on Russ’s shoulder. “Take care of yourself, okay? I’ll see you when you get back.”

  Jake had turned and walked away without another look back, and Russ got the feeling that Commander Hawkins was quite disappointed by how unruffled Jake had been by the whole situation. The Commander had probably been hoping for a bit more drama.

  Russ was glad to be in the forest now, far away from Commander Hawkins and all his cronies. After the drama of the hearing, it felt good to be alone, far away from any clan pol
itics. And when Russ got back to Torch Lake, he’d be free to head back to Chicago. Commander Hawkins had done him a favor by ending his training early.

  So why did Russ feel so conflicted?

  He knew it was because of Mandy. Try as he might, he could not see a way for them to be together long term. He might as well accept that, and start planning the best way to say goodbye. Perhaps he’d stay in Torch Lake with her just long enough to hear the High Council’s decision on Commander Hawkins. Russ was expecting the decision to be in Mandy’s favor. After the High Council had time to fully review the records, they would see that Commander Hawkins had been abusing his power for a long time. And even though Russ always swore up and down that he didn’t want anything to do with the shifter or wizard worlds, he had to admit that it felt good to play a role in taking down an evil wizard like Commander Hawkins. Russ did still worry about what would happen if another war broke out. An unlikely possibility, perhaps, but still a worrisome one.

  Russ took a deep breath of fresh forest air, letting the fresh, woodsy scents fill him and cleanse his mind. He didn’t need to worry out here. This part of the job almost felt like a vacation. The hiking wasn’t too strenuous, the forest was peaceful, and he wasn’t likely to find any dark monsters for at least another day, maybe two. He’d have to get deeper into the forest for that. The Commander who had flown him in had dropped him at the furthest outer edge of the Gray Oasis Forest. Russ knew it didn’t make sense to fly too close to the deepest interior of the forest, where there were supposedly several dark monsters hiding. The best way to find and kill the dark monsters was to take them by surprise, and it was easier to do that on foot than from the air, where the dark monsters would possibly see Russ coming in and be warned. Because the dark monsters had been created using dark magic, they were able to see through the wizards’ invisibility shields. The only way to sneak up on them was to use the old fashioned method of creeping through the woods.