Dragon Breeder 3 by Dante King (e novels to read online .TXT) 📕

words got me thinking, despite the adrenaline that still coursed through my head and heart after the fight.

It had been two months since we had dealt with Cade. Two whole months.

The Overseer had been busy organizing our proposed venture into the Subterranean Realms. It was in this strange and foreboding place where we would hunt the crystals needed to house newborn dragons. There was also the matter of a special substance that would allow my seed to impregnate dragonmancers with dragonlings.

I was eager to get started but I had also been appreciating the down time we had been granted by Sergeant Milena. I’d been dividing myself between my training, in which I had been making some good headway, and having some great sex with my expanding following of eager women.

This downtime though, had not been without its worries.

Wayne, the dragonling that I had sired with Elenari, wasn’t going so well without a crystal to hold him. Claire the Seer had said that he’d already been far too long without one, but, thankfully, Wayne appeared to be a tougher than average dragonling.

I swallowed at the thought of the ailing dragonling. Any day now, the little guy was going to be in some serious trouble.

There had even been an occasion when I had attempted to seek out the Subterranean Realms myself, only to have Claire stop me. That had been on a night when Wayne had been terribly weak. The Seer convinced me that I needed to be patient, however. She said that if I left, it would not bode well.

After I had given her a rather explicit earful, she told me that, if the Overseer didn’t approve the campaign to find the crystals by the end of the week, that I had her blessing to go alone.

That week was almost up.

As my thoughts took a bit of a turn to Negative Town, a shadow flashed across the battlefield. Looking up, I saw that it was none other than Elenari. She was riding on her Emerald Dragon, Gharmon. Wayne was slung in a pouch across her chest. As they descended and came in to land, it became apparent that Wayne was not long for this world. He croaked a small welcome at Garth, who I’d let materialize next to me.

“Elenari,” I said, “what are you—”

Elenari cut me off with a gesture.

”The Overseer wishes to call a meeting, Mike,” she said, in the brisk manner that so reminded me of when we had first met in a Los Angeles back alley.

“A meeting?” I asked, excitement trickling through my guts as I waved Penelope, Saya, and Tamsin over. “A meeting about what?”

Elenari stroked Wayne’s head. “It’s happening,” she said. “We’ve finally been approved to enter the Subterranean Realms.”

Chapter 3

We flew back to the Drako Academy and the Crystal Spire like the wind that drives a storm. I led the way, flying at the tip of a V of five dragonmancers. Elenari and Saya soared along at Garth’s wingtips, while Tamsin and Penelope flew behind them.

As was usual, our respective coteries would make their way back in a slower and less spectacular fashion. My squad, due to Gabby crashing their longship through a giant’s rib cage, would take the road back home, bolstering the numbers of the soldiers of the Academy who were also heading back.

I was bent over Garth’s neck, tucked into his slipstream, my eyes fixed on the pin-sized Crystal Spire that had just emerged on the far horizon. My mind was curiously blank, considering the news that Elenari had delivered us. All that mattered now was returning to base and learning the Overseer’s plans, most especially her plan for me. I’d hear the words straight from the horse’s mouth, so to speak. Nothing else would suffice.

With that in mind, on reaching the Academy, I pulled Garth up over the landing area in the middle bailey. It was here that dragonmancers usually landed. Having a general staging area allowed a clerk to record the comings and goings of the dragonriders a little more easily. This, in turn, meant that said clerk could inform higher ranking officers whether or not they had seen certain dragonmancers, and when.

The four other dragonmancers pulled up in midair next to me.

“What’s up, Mike Noctis?” Tamsin asked.

“I’m going straight to see the Overseer.” I looked around at the quartet of dragonmancers. “I want to hear from her lips what the hell we’re doing and when we’re doing it. I’m sick of waiting. Sick of not knowing when I can start looking for the things that will save Wayne.”

Elenari and Saya glanced at one another and then at me.

“We’re coming too,” they both said at the same time, as I thought they would.

I shook my head. “It’s okay, really. I can go this alone. I don’t know how much trouble I might bring down on myself showing up at her tower without a formal invitation, but I have to know what’s going on.”

Elenari’s face was so set it may as well have been carved from marble.

“We’re going with you, Mike,” she said. “Even if it’s just to stand at your back.”

I nodded. I wouldn’t ever be ballsy enough to claim that I knew the workings of women, but I knew enough not to argue with that tone.

“Very well,” Penelope said. Her voice, as usual, was reasonableness itself. “In that case, I will head back to the library. I would like to warn you though, Mike, that what you say is true. Turning up at the Overseer’s Tower without invitation is to invite the displeasure of Sergeant Milena and Lieutenant Kaleen.”

I shrugged. I really, truly, did not care one bit about our superiors right now.

Tamsin inclined her head and raised her spear.

“I will get cleaned up, scrub my armor and weapons, and make ready for whatever comes