When Red Roses Die

Chapter 10

Lincoln

Her jaw dropped as she gaped at Kjell with shock in her eyes.

He just smirked back at her.

"You're a dragon? Like wings and fire?" Scarlett asked him.

"Well wings and ice." Kjell shrugged.

Of all the reactions I expected to see from Scarlett, one of them was not laughter. I watched as her body broke into hysterical laughter.

I looked around at the others. Erik and Oakley also seemed surprised by her reaction. Kjell just stared worriedly at her.

Scarlett's abrupt laughter suddenly turned into crying. Then we all froze. Ugh, no tears please. I groaned inwardly.

What do we do? Erik pushed in my head and asked. I felt as he linked Oakley, Kjell, and I's brain so we could now talk mentally.

I think you broke her. Oakley said towards Kjell.

I watched as Kjell tightened his arms around Scarlett. He lifted one of his hands up and pushed her head down onto his shoulder. So now she was crying into his shoulder.

I guess she couldn't push away her breakdown much longer. Oakley laughed down the link.

Kjell growled in response. His dragon quickly flashing in his eyes at Oakley before they returned to gold and Kjell went back to fussing over Scarlett.

It was another 10 minutes before she cried herself to sleep. Her cries turned into sobs, then her sobs turned into soft snores. Kjell held her the whole time. I could tell that Kjells dragon was content by the peace that rested on his face.

I bet that bastard dragon has mated her.

I glared over at Oakley, who confirmed my thought with a nod. Lucky Bastard.

"She is relaxed," Erik said as he took a seat in one of the two recliners in the living room.

"No duh," Oakley said as he jumped off the kitchen island and stalked to her fridge. "This will have to do." He grunted as he grabbed an apple from her fridge.

My glare did nothing to dissuade him from taking a bite while joining us in the living room finally. He sat down in the other recliner. Leaving me to join Kjell on the couch.

I thought I heard a slight growl leave Kjells throat as I sat down next to him. Possessive Reptiles. I rolled my eyes as I reached out for the girl. His glare met mine, but he finally relinquished.

He shifted Scarlett around so that her feet stretched towards me while her head still rested on his shoulder.

I reached over, grabbed her feet, and starting rubbing the heels of them. A soft moan left her throat that made us all tense.

We sat in comfortable silence, content to just listen to Scarlett's breathing as she fell into a deeper sleep.

The outside sun had already set about an hour ago. Darkness fell around the outside of the house. Leaving the room to only be lit by the house lights.

"What did you see?" I asked Oakley, breaking the long-standing silence. 

He knew what I was talking about. As he began talking. "Blood. And lots of it. Apparently her father ran a child sex trafficking ring. In one of the memories I saw, Scarlett snuck down into her basement. There were kids everywhere. Some were crying, some were sleeping, and," Oakley's purple eyes flicked up to meet mine," some were dead. One of the kids was Scarlett's friend. Like she said earlier, she had healed her. But the girl was dead by the next night. Scarlett's father made her watch as his men did.. things.. to her friend. He made her watch for hours as she died. Until finally Scarlett was able to get to her." Oakley's breath hitched as he recalled more of Scarlett's memory. "She tried to heal her, but was hours late. Scarlett was ten at that time."