Free The Emerald Dragon (The Lost Ancients Book 3) by Marie Andreas

you want to do the honors or me?”
    The goons shared a look; this wasn’t how victims were supposed to behave.
    I had no idea what Alric’s plan was, but he could easily take these two. Along with my struggling magic, Covey and he were back to trying to teach me to fight. My skill set in either group wasn’t what anyone would call trustworthy.
    “Oh, why don’t you? I took the last ones.” It was easy to be cocky when I was standing with a serious fighter at my back.
    “I’ll give them one more chance.” Alric looked ready to play along until Garbage flew into view. Even I could see the scowl on her face. Alric could too. “Okay, change in plans—no more chances.” He pushed back his hood and hair on one side to show his elven ear, then flipped back his cloak to show a familiar large sword that I knew hadn’t been there moments ago. One of these days, I would find out how he did that.
    “Now do you know why you shouldn’t mess with us?” He wasn’t paying attention; his eyes were on Garbage who frantically motioned us toward Covey’s house.
    The goon’s eyes didn’t change at Alric’s elven ear, they did get bigger at the sword. But the one in front was smarter than I’d given him credit for and also clearly noticed Alric’s distraction.
    “Don’t know why you think them ears will be scaring us, but we will take what you have.” The goon lunged forward to grab Alric’s bag.
    I was in between and reacted without thinking and pushed the would-be thief away.
    I’d been startled by both Alric’s inattention and the thief’s gall, so my reaction wasn’t controlled. My head filled with fire ants and I dropped to the ground. After I’d sent the thief ass over head into the next block.
    The remaining thief shook and ran off. In the opposite direction. They may have been working together, but there was no camaraderie between them. Especially since I’d just displayed an unreasonable amount of magic.
    Alric spun around, looking for any other attackers, and it wasn’t lost that his left hand was down near the hilt of his sword. His eyes were better than mine and night was falling quickly, once he was certain no other attackers were around, he helped me to my feet.
    “Please tell me this was one of your testing situations, and that I didn’t just save your ass?” I dusted myself off, but it was more to hide my shaking hands than any real fear of dirt.
    Alric was still distracted, even though Garbage had flown to Covey’s house. “What? Yeah, sure. And we need to talk. But not here.”
    I was getting sick and tired of his ‘not here’ comments. But I followed him down the street in silence.
    The fire ants in my head dissipated faster than ever, which was a good thing. I hoped. With my luck it meant something worse was coming down the line.
    “Here. Now. Hurry.” Garbage was agitated and she kept flying up to us, then back to Covey’s door. The fact that clearly Bunky and the other girls weren’t with her finally settled in my agitated brain.
    “Where are the others?” We walked up to the door and I heard Covey and Harlan arguing, but I didn’t hear or see the faeries.
    “Not here.” This time Garbage said it, but the tone was almost exactly like Alric. Great, now I’d be hearing that annoying phrase from two sources.
    I knocked on the door, but Covey had left it partially open and it swung further at my knock. Garbage flew in over my head, and Alric, with one final look behind us, followed. He pointedly shut and locked the door behind us.
    “Come here. Now.” Garbage was more upset than I’d ever seen her, and she didn’t wait for our response before flying into Covey’s kitchen.
    Alric looked almost as upset as she was but his looks kept drifting toward me.
    “Thank the gods you’re both here.” Harlan said from an adversarial position at one end of the kitchen table. “Covey has gone completely beyond the bend.”
    Covey spun toward us. “I am completely justified. Someone