When I woke up the next morning, Adelind was still out, kicking lightly in her sleep like Ace used to when he was little. I smiled and pulled her close to me, laying my head over her neck. The kids were still asleep,piled on top of one another and basicly out cold. The sun was shining in through the curtains and the room was chilled from the window unit and fan I had going on full blast.
I could see the hands on the clock approaching 11AM. Smiling at how late we'd slept in, I nudged Adelind awake. She looked around, seeming confused at first, but then smiled when she saw me.
“Morning my boy”, she said softly.
I smiled and licked her, “did you notice Ace is missing?”
She looked over at the pile of our kids and then looked back at me with curious eyes, “where is he?”
I smiled, “with his female no doubt.”
She smiled, “let's go eat.”
“Hmm?”, Tyson asked as he stirred, “food?”
The all powerful words, eat and food. Say them and you'll have the complete, undivided attention of any of my kids. We rounded them up and walked down to the mess hall where Emelia and he rest of Raven was waiting for us.
“Hey guys”, Emelia said, “how you liking Romeo?”
“Haven't really been here long enough to even form and opinion”, I laughed as I sat down, “ask my oldest, and he'll tell you he found a girlfriend the same day he moved here.”
Emelia laughed, “so that's what yesterday's fiasco was about. Jayden better get a girlfriend soon.”
“Whose Jayden?”, I asked.
“My son”, she replied, “he's 15.”
I smiled, “so you found a guy after all huh? Seesh, I remember that night in Vietnam you asked me if I thought there were others out there.”
She laughed, “I know. And by the way, his name's Tyranny.”
I smiled, “well done sister.”
She blushed as she sat down and the waiters brought us breakfast. Soon after we had started eating, a long, Chrome Blue Asian dragon hauled himself into the mess hall. He was maybe six feet tall and twenty four or so feet long. The insides of his wings were a light blue while the outsides were the deep blue the rest of him was. His eyes were a bright silver and he looked a lot like Emelia.
“Sweetie”, he asked nuzzling her, “who are these dragons.”
“Friends”, Emelia replied introducing the us.
“So your Tyro?”, he asked looking at me, “damn your huge.”
“I get that a lot”, I replied, “I take I as a complement now.”
He laughed, “I heard from my mate you weren't always a dragon?”
I sighed, “no, I'm HDR.”
“You don't have to go any further”, he said, “I know what that is.”
“How?”, I asked.
“I've dealt with them before”, Tyranny said, “let's just leave it at that.”
Tyranny sat down next to Emelia and started eating when a third Asian dragon walked in. This one was only four feet tall and ten feet long. His scales were a mix of blue and silver and his eyes wee blue with silver threaded into them. His face was pretty much one big bruise and there were claw gashes on his chest. Two other dragons were helping him walk when he called out.
“Mom? Dad?”
“SON!”, Tyranny yelled jumping up and running over to him. He sent the other dragons away and helped him to the table as Emelia licked his cheek.
“What happened Jayden?”, she asked.
“Four guys from school attacked me”, Jayden replied, “they stole my backpack and then beat me up, just cause.”
“I want names”, Tyranny said.
“I didn't know them”, Jayden replied, “they were guys I heard were bad, so I stayed away from them. They'd been in so much trouble the cops had to come out once because they beat another kid and her brother halfway to death.”
“Damn kids”, Tyranny growled, “seriously son, who were these dragons?”
“I didn't know them Dad”, Jayden replied leaning into his Dad's chest, “they just came outta no where and attacked me. They were talking of tying me in a knot when the cops showed up and took me to the hospital.”
“Fuckers”, Tyranny snuffed
“If I find em I'll make them swallow what ever they took”, Emelia said, “since they wanted it so much.”
“Hey”, Tyranny said a smile returning, “remember as a hatchling how Jayden was always swallowing anything he could get his paws around?”
Emelia snorted, “the spare house key?”
“The spare change from the top of the microwave”, Tyranny laughed.
Everyone was laughing. Everyone except for Jayden, who was crying.
“Dad please stop”, he said through pain filled whines.
Tyranny just laughed, “his toy cars?”
“The ear buds to my MP3?”, Mnerloth asked, “and the dimes from my collection?”
Emelia laughed, “the battery cover to the TV remote.”
Jayden was still crying tears of pain, but you could see he was smiling, “guys please, they broke three ribs and it hurts when I laugh.”
Tyranny hugged his son tightly, “okay, we'll stop...the key to the liquor cabinet?”
“My dogtags”, Hunter laughed.
Jayden snorted, “Mom never did wear those pearl earrings again.”
Everyone laughed. Once we'd calmed ourselves down, we exited the mess hall to find Nolan waiting for us, he looked shocked when he saw Jayden.
“Who did that?”, he asked inspecting Jayden's head as Tyranny held him close.
“Some kids during recess”, Jayden said, “I went to the store to get a snack for later when three big 11th graders jumped me. They stole my stuff and beat me up. They were talking about tying me in a knot when the cops showed up.”
Nolan sighed, “I'll speak to them later. In the meantime, you guys can have another day before your back to active duty, I want you to learn the layout of the city.”
I nodded as Nolan left.
“You guys wanna spend the day at the park?”, Emelia asked, “we always have a good time there.”
“Sure”, I said, “and afterwords we can hit the beach.”
“The beach is always a good time”, Emelia said, “by the way, just bring money, there's a lot of food vendors and all kinds of other stores at the park.”
I nodded and ran back to our room. I had a little bit of money that I'd brought with me from the Temple. It wasn't much, but I figured it see us through the day. I met up with the others and soon we were off base and walking tworads the park.
The city reminded me of Huston back home in Texas, I lived there for a while as a human. There were busy roads that were teaming with expensive looking cars and Metro buses. There were large buildings, some of which looked to rise more than a mile in the air. The sidewalks and roads looked brand new and there was green grass lining the street with the occasional wild flower.
“This reminds me of Huston back home”, I said, “except in Huston everything was old, this stuff looks all new.”
“It's because when people here build stuff”, Emelia said, “they don't half-ass it. Everything you see is built to last for pretty much ever.”
“It looks that way”, Dusk observed.
Emelia smiled, “Park's not to far ahead.”
We walked for about ten or so more minutes before coming on a large, tree covered grassy area that was filled with people and dragons. Some were sparring with each other, others were playing on a basketball court while some were flying kites or just having a good time.
Hudson looked around, “Damn, reminds me of New York.”
“I know right?”, Emelia said, “but we ain't ever gonna get nuked here. Only way that happens is if our Cold Fusion reactors decide to to critical.”
“Cold Fusion?”, Hunter asked, “I'm no science buff, but that's only theoretical.”
“I don't know much”, Emelia replied, “Nolan keeps such a tight leash on that tech it's not funny.”
“It makes sense though”, Ator said, “I like blowing stuff up, so someone like me will tell you that if that gets out some country will have Hypernukes in a year
“Seems right to me”, Emelia said, “you'd be surprised at the tech we have here. You'll find out on your own, for now, I'm going to go see if I can't win Garret's Jackpot of 2,000 bucks.”
“I'm coming with you”, Tyranny said.
“Can I come to Dad?”, Jayden asked.
“Sure”, Tyranny said hugging him.
They walked off as the others dispersed. My kids were gone too, so that left just Adelind, Syralth, Tess and myself.
“Guess were stuck with each other”, Tess said, “so what you guys wanna do?”
“Hell if I know”, Syralth said, “Emelia mentioned street vendors, let's hit them up.”
“Sounds like an idea”, I said, “let's go.”
We started sniffing around the park for the vendors that Emelia had mentioned. It wasn't long before we found them. There was one that was selling pizza and various pastas, another meat from hamburgers to hotdogs hey were both selling drinks like Coke and Sprite and there was another vendor who was selling what looked like military surplus things that were made for dragons.
“Hey check out these”, Syralth said pulling a pair of desert BDU's with a tail sleeve off a pile, “this is made for Anthro's.”
“Do they come in Feral sizes?”, I asked.
The Anthro who was behind the small stand counter looked around at her piles, “I take you guys are new to Romeo?”
“Yeah”, Tess said, “just got in two days ago.”
“Then you still have a lot to discover about life here”, the Anthro laughed as she handed me a full set of Feral camouflage.
“How much for it?”, I asked.
“20 bucks for the set”, she said.
“Done”, I said handing her the money. I now knew why every Feral I'd seen was wearing clothes, because they needed the pocket space.
I slipped into the BDU's. I liked the way they felt on me and I liked that they were basicly brand new. Adelind and Tess looked at the stuff the Anthro had while Syralth and I got lunch. We got two large sausage pizzas and a medium sized bowl full of Mac & Cheese along with a box of chicken fingers and sodas. We ate lunch under a big tree, the food we got was good and extremely satisfying, especially since it was only $34.50. Back in the states, when I was a human, I would have had to have gone to five different places to get what we got and would have payed at least three times as much.
After lunch we hung around the park, racing each other, sunning ourselves and watching videos on Syralth's tablet. It was about 5 in the afternoon when we met up for dinner by the vendors and then ate. We grilled Emelia and Tyranny for at least an hour about Romeo and what we could find on the island. Once that was done we walked down to the public beach which was playing host to may dragons and even more people.
I liked it here. The people here seemed to see us a equal, not like the way the US did. We killed at least another hour burying each other in the sand and playing in the water. I was laying on the sand watching the sunset with Adelind when a a white SUV drove up.
“Hey look”, Ator said, “it's a Bowler Nemesis.”
Nolan stepped out of the car. He was dressed in a white shirt, blue jeans and Nike sneakers, just taking it easy I guess.
“I take it you guys had a good day huh?”, he asked.
“Romeo's always been good to me”, my Dad said, “I wish I'd raised Tyro here.”
I smiled, “I still like Tacoma better, I'm not a fan of being so close to a city.”
“Yeah”, Nolan said, “in all honesty, I'm not either, but I'm the President, so I gotta hideout near the capital.”
I laughed.
“Anyway”, Nolan said, “I dropped by because I have a job for you guys, you should start heading back, I'll have the briefing ready when you get there.”
Nolan jumped in his Bowler and left the beach.
“Well guess we got a job”, I said rising and shaking the sand from my scales.
“Do we have to go Daddy?”, Helix asked, “can't Mommy stay with us?”
I looked at Helix, “it's not up to me if your Mom wants to stay or leave.”
“I'm not ready to leave just yet”, Adelind said licking my cheek, “we'll be waiting for you when you get home.”
I smiled and kissed her and the cubs before leaving with the rest of my team to see what Nolan needed.