Her Mad Dragon (Dragon Guard Series Book 15) by Julia Mills Page A

powerful among us, then what are the shifters with lesser
mystical capabilities to do?”
    Della appeared out of nowhere and said, “It’s got to be why
the four refugees still with us can’t call their beasts. The synthetic toxin is
blocking them.”
    Nodding, Niall agreed. “You are right. That’s why I’ve got
Jasper and Zander working on identifying the elements of the compound so that
we can create both an antidote and a vaccine. They both have their degrees in
molecular biology and have chosen healing as their calling.”
    “That’s good because not only do they have Kyran, but calls
are coming in from several of the shifter communities concerning missing
members. Seems the twins are taking up where dear old dad left off.” Rian’s low
tone and the frown on his face said things had gone from bad to worse as he
strode into the room. “And no one has a clue as to the whereabouts of Adam and
Eve’s base of operation. They are ghosts.”
    “Adam and Eve? You have got to be kidding me?” Kyra
spat as she and Royce appeared in the now very crowded room.
    “Nope, no jokes here. Apparently, Tariq had a plan from the
beginning to make his children the start of a new improved race, hence the
names. From what I’ve gathered from the dark web, our buddy O’Baoill was a
tyrannical megalomaniac from a young age. Started all this shit in his
undergraduate days at university,” Lenn scoffed. The frown on his face
deepened. Maddox had to admit that he missed the cheeky grin the mad bomber
usually wore. This look spoke volumes and screamed that no one was going to
like his next revelation. Holding Calysta even closer, he braced himself for
what was to come.
    Turning the clipboard he had in his hand around to face the
group, Lenn pointed to a grainy picture of the same woman who’d mocked Maddox
and shot Kyran, standing beside a man with identical looks, except that his
hair was high and tight in a military buzz cut. The caption underneath the
photo read, ‘Miracle Twins Discover Secret to Eternal Life’. Maddox’s dragon
growled within his mind, voicing exactly what the man was thinking…Things were
about to go from bad to worse. 
    “So you see, these jerks have not only created a way to
poison us, it appears they have found a way to harness and redistribute our
longevity into humans, as well.”
    Reading the article attached to the picture, Maddox’s rage
grew with every word. Not only was the Hunter’s Alliance for Humanity’s Sake
promising the ‘genocide’ of all creatures both magical and mystical but also
the execution of all witches and the imprisonment of all human sympathizers.
They literally wanted world domination and were crazy enough to think they
could achieve it.
    “We also have a video you guys need to see.” Brannoc pulled
a laptop from his duffle, clicked a few buttons, turned the screen around for
everyone to see, and hit play. What Maddox saw made his blood run cold.
    In their effort to create what they were calling the
‘Superior Human Warrior’ the O’Baoills had done last stage testing on
themselves. Time lapsed photography, at least that’s what Brann called it,
showed both Adam and Eve going through day after day of high fevers, seizures,
delusions, bouts of uncontrollable vomiting, and overwhelming outbursts of
aggression until their bodies finally accepted whatever fucked up serum they’d
introduced into their systems. Had they not been insane absolutists hell bent
on the destruction of his own kind, Maddox would’ve applauded their commitment
to the cause, but as it stood, he wanted them dead. It was just that simple.
    When the video finally ended, the room was deathly quiet.
The mad dragon looked into the faces of those he called family. Each showed the
same look of horrified disbelief that he felt. The enemy the ancestors of their
ancestors had been fighting since the beginning of time had just upped the
ante. The bastards were going for broke. They were literally