307 Feb 1

My body coiled instinctively around Ethan. Perfectly defending his back the best way a dragon could. The distrust all those people showed me just now was hurtful. I dropped the angry growl, and pulled my murderous intent back in. There were dozens more people hiding in the building because they were too scared or passed out.

The tip of my tail went in little circles out of irritation. I scanned the crowd slowly. My eyes stopped on Vernon, and my lip curled up again out of hatred. I hadn't retracted my teeth yet because I was surrounded by hostile people at the moment.

{What happened?} Ethan glanced down to where I was holding my head around his waist level.

{Vernon attacked me while I was sleeping,} I snarled at him, {Felt like he cut my face.}

Ethan's rage shook my sanity enough to make me forget where I was. Almost. I caught myself taking a step toward Vernon.

{I don't see any blood,} Ethan was looking me over more carefully.

Now that I though about it I realized that my face didn't hurt anymore either. It was easier for me to calm down now that I knew he hadn't actually wounded me.

"Nix wouldn't have attacked for no reason," Ethan looked at Vernon, "You must have done something to piss him off."

"All I did was walk up to him," Vernon playing the victim as he got up on his shaky feet, "He just started growl, and punched me through that wall." by now Calen was out here as well, "And you want us to trust that monster."

The growl died in my throat before it could even make it out into the open. That was what he was after. He wanted me to stay here that badly. My tail slammed into the pavement. Startling multiple people as well as leaving a fifteen foot gouge into the pavement.

My wings extended about halfway while I waited for Vernon to make his next move. One wing ended up just over Ethan's head. The other hung out over thin air. Savannah came up along the outside of the little circle. Jax was behind her a ways.

Standing closer to the warehouse. Savannah ran her hand along my neck without an ounce of fear. Her anger was more subtle then Ethan's. Dozens of little balls of fire formed in the air around her as she waited for an explanation. Lighting up the dark in an eerie light.

I pulled my wings back in tight to my body as I tried to focus on soothing the cold wrath Savannah was about to unleash while still keeping my own wrath under control. I could feel my muscles start trembling under the pressure. I was barely holding it together.

"Nix go back inside," Ethan snapped.

He was having trouble keeping himself under control let alone me, but I didn't want to listen. Not with the source of my rage right in front of me. Part of me wanted to just completely ignore Ethan as I stepped forward. Toward Vernon again. Ethan slammed down my head with his telepathy.

Forcing me to think clearly for moment. I shook off his mental grip, and headed into the warehouse liked I'd been asked. I was halfway tempted to rip the door off the hinges on my way in, but I walked through the hole I created instead of pushing their nerves any further than I already had. I was more than a little irritated with Vernon's entire charade. All that work just to get me locked up in the warehouse for a few hours.

What plan did the bastard have for me here? I knew he wanted me to lose it while he was out so he could come back, and save the settlement, but today while he was gone seemed a little too loose to consider it a good plan. I paced around the warehouse until daybreak. They were supposed to leave at daybreak so it didn't make sense for them to stay much longer even with the plan messed up in the way it was. My wings twitched as I thought about what would happen.

There was no way Calen was still going to bring me on the hunt anymore. I'd proved myself to be dangerous by attacking Vernon the way I did. God I hated being tricked in such an obvious way. How did he make me feel as if I'd been hurt in the first place? He had to have used some sort of weapon.

The question was what did he use to trick me. I was a veteran when it came to pain so why was he able to so cleverly deceive my senses . My body was completely convinced that my face had been slashed. Ethan told me not long after that that Calen had decided on not bringing me along. That alone was enough to piss me off completely.

It was the first time I'd ever been this angry with anyone that hadn't managed to damage me in any way. I would spend a lot of time pacing today.

*****

I drummed my fingers on the paneling of the door frame over, and over again. I hadn't been this far from Wyatt in a while. It was most a days drive out to get to the outer edges of the spiders nest. I wanted to ask how much further we needed to go, but at the same time I didn't want to sound like a child. I wasn't a little kid anymore.

Not that my parents had let me act like a child since the day my ability manifested. I'd been treated well until I didn't manage to show the promise my parents wanted from me. I could feel my connection to Wyatt thinning as we got further, and further away from him. I didn't like this new Wyatt not coming change to the plans. They should have just let him come along anyway.