That kind of thing wouldn’t work though. A stupid tactic used by a stupid do-gooder, Tanner thought bitterly. It had been like when that girl had tried to recruit him to the Dragon Elite. There were demon dragonriders and angel ones, and the two didn’t mix. They were too simple and could never compete with the superior strategy employed by the Rogue Riders.
Nathaniel drained the silver flask he’d pulled from his Dolce & Gabbana jeans and screwed on the lid before slamming it into Tanner’s chest. “Fill ‘er up.”
Tanner cut his eyes at the other dragonrider. “Fill it yourself. I’m not your servant.”
“I’m second in command, so technically you are.” Nathaniel raked his fingers through his bright orange-red hair. The tropical island was much better than the desert where they’d been stationed. Hopefully once the natives built their shelter and cleared off the islands, it would be nice—like a resort location for the Rogue Riders. Then they could put up a barrier and keep people like Wilder out.
“Get one of the other guys to do it.” Tanner indicated the other two dragonriders stationed around the pit on the far side, guarding it. The boss said that they weren’t to take any chances with the trespassing Dragon Elite member, so he had guards on him at all times.
Wilder, the rider for the Dragon Elite, obviously hadn’t approved of the Rogue Riders tactics of taking over lands and forcing out the natives. The guy had probably been planning something—a way to stop the Rogue Riders. Well, he had planned something, but now he sat in the ground, realizing that he messed with the wrong guys. That dragonrider had finally met his match. No longer would the Dragon Elite rule. There were new sheriffs on the globe now, and they didn’t play by the same rules.
Also too bad for the angel dragonrider, he wouldn’t get onto the main island where the boss and the others were. That place was tightly sealed with a barrier that no one but a Rogue Rider could get past. Soon this island would have a barrier too. All of the islands would when they fully took over that area—after forcing all the dumb elves out.
Tanner pulled the soul stone from his pocket, tossed it in the air slightly and ignored Nathan. The light purple color caught the light as it landed in the palm of his hand, cold and smooth.
“Put that thing away,” the second in command ordered at once as anger flared on his face. “It’s not a toy.”
“Don’t tell me what to do,” Tanner fired back.
“Go get my drink refilled from the barrel,” Nathaniel ordered, ignoring him.
Reluctantly, Tanner took the flask. “Fine, but only because I’m thirsty.”
He strode around the pit, and his eyes connected with the guy contained inside it. He shot him a scathing expression while enjoying the black eye on his face along with the other bruises they’d given him.
The ten-by-ten hole in the ground where the prisoner was held was reinforced with magic around the walls and the netting that ran over the top. Still, they weren’t taking any chances especially since they knew Wilder’s dragon was still out there somewhere. They’d searched the island but hadn’t found any signs of the dragon, which according to Nathaniel was white and a large female.
“What are you looking at, Dumb Butt Wipe?” Tanner asked the angel dragonrider as he went over to the barrel of rum sitting next to a palm tree by the pit.
Wilder stood and strode over to the far corner of the pit, then looked up at Tanner with a discerning expression in his blue eyes. “The weakest dragonrider ever put on this Earth. It’s a wonder that you ever magnetized to a dragon.”
Tanner’s fingers tensed on the flask. The boss had told them not to do more than ugly up this guy’s face with bruises since they might need him for leverage with the Dragon Elite. He was a definite bargaining chip as they took over and secured power. However, at this rate, Wilder would get seriously hurt—possibly worse.
Dead men couldn’t talk either, and no one would know that it had been Tanner who offed the angel dragonrider who needed to be taught a lesson.
Chapter Fifty-One
“Are you sure that your dragon isn’t a large pony?” Wilder continued to egg Tanner on. “I hear they’re sometimes attracted to runts. You know, because they relate to their size.”
“You better shut your mouth, or I’ll knock your teeth out,” Tanner threatened as heat built in his chest. In school, they always called him Runt. Sometimes Nathaniel still did.
“I mean,” Wilder flipped his hand back and forth, “it stands to reason that if your pony bounced in the air that it would feel like flying.”
“Coal is a dragon and way better than yours, Foot Sniffer,” Tanner fired back, then flushed hot, feeling stupid for his attempt at an insult. Wilder reminded him of the cool guys in school. The ones who always got the girl and sat at the table with the jocks. The ones that Tanner was going to make pay now that he was a dragonrider.
“At the Gullington, Coal was one of those reject dragons who no one wanted around,” Wilder stated casually. “I see nothing has changed.”
“Take that back!” Tanner pulled back his foot and kicked the side of the rum barrel. The wood splintered from the dent he’d made from the assault from his steel-toed shoe.
“What’s going on over there?” Nathaniel glared in Tanner’s direction.
“Nothing,” he replied at once, his breath hot. “Listening to the incessant rambling of this Suck Pipe.”
“Don’t talk to him, Squid,” Nathaniel ordered. “And get my drink. I’m parched from this heat.”
Tanner narrowed his eyes, but it was the sound of the trickling liquid from the barrel that stole his attention. “Shit,” he muttered after realizing that he’d cracked the container and the drink was quickly soaking the ground.
“Your boss is going to be pretty mad,” Wilder observed and indicated the barrel.
“He ain’t my boss,” Tanner seethed.
“Oh, so you wait on him hand and foot because what? Are y’all going steady? Is he your boyfriend?”
“You got a lot of nerve, you reject!” Tanner yelled.
“Get my rum and get back here!” Nathaniel exclaimed when he realized that Tanner was still talking to the angel dragonrider.
“Oh man, you’re in trouble.” Wilder shook his head and clicked his tongue.
“There’s more rum on the other side of the village,” Tanner offered, then narrowed his eyes after realizing he didn’t have to tell this guy anything.
“So if that redhead isn’t your boss, why do you take orders from him?” Wilder asked.
“I don’t,” Tanner answered.
“Right, so when he told you to put away your little gem, why did you do it?”
“It’s not a gem.” Tanner kept his voice down this time, not wanting Nathan’s wrath. “It’s a soul stone and way more valuable than anything you own.”
“Oh, you nicked it from a defenseless child, did you?” Wilder asked. “About like how you got those clothes, stealing from a boy on a playground?”
“I didn’t steal these clothes from a child,” Tanner fired back. Anger made his head hot. “And the boss gave me my soul stone. That’s how we all got them, you Tramp Waffle.”