“Well, we’re not getting the deposit back on the rental, that’s for sure.” Dax stared at Steele, crouched in a fighting-ready stance. He glanced to the right then back.
The SUV lay upside-down, it’s windows shattered, and the bumper ripped clean off.
“You want to tell me what the hell just happened?”
“I...don’t know.” The shard at his chest faded to a soft glow, like the light from a firefly, and warmed his skin beneath it.
Dax’s voice dropped low and his red scales flickered across his skin. “Can you stand? Can you fight?”
Steele got to his feet. “Yeah. I can. Why?”
“Because we’ve got company.” Dax growled and jerked his chin to the shadows building around them. Danger brewed in that darkness. Damn it. This was supposed to be a vacation.
Dax didn’t wait and shifted into his dragon.
The shadows grew and formed into the shape of half a dozen black winged creatures, like Steele’s own form, only twisted and dark.
Demon dragons.
What the hell were they doing here?
Steele called his dragon back up, the transformation moving through him faster and easier. The world around him shrank as shifted, his dragon form grew larger than ever before. He roared at the black demon dragons approaching. Power flowed through him, waiting for him to call upon it to battle these disgusting blights on the world.
The snakelike creatures with their sooty scales and wings were pure evil. They came from the darkeness to spread plague and chaos on the world and it was every dragon warrior’s job to send them back to hell.
He and Dax had trained and fought together in many battles. They could work together on instinct. They’d need all their skills to defeat the demon dragons amassing around them. It might be two against ten, but Steele would still put the odds in his favor. He was twice the size of any of them, maybe more now, and Dax was ruthless when it came to killing demon dragons.
The black death moved as a unit, coordinated in their attack, surrounding them on three sides.
Dax breathed out a swath of fire, stymying the demon’s first attempt to get to the two of them. They were not dissuaded and one spit its black smoke and fire back at Dax while its kin jumped together to attack Steele on two sides.
Steele struck out, swinging his tail in a wide arc, making contact with half the beasts around them, sending the things careening and crashing. One hit a tree and the other slammed into the nearest building.
Fleur’s building.
Steele sent out a prayer to the First Dragon that the women would continue their party inside and not have a clue how close death had come to their door.
The demon dragons would devour a pretty plump thing like Fleur. She’d be defenseless against them.
He could never let that happen. Every protective instinct flared inside like fire, and he lashed at the demon dragons, shredding those nearest to him.
A half-dozen black oily stains smeared the street and sidewalk in moments as he cut them down and tore out their throats. With each kill his soul shard grew brighter, as if declaring his victory.
Two new demon dragons appeared from the darkness and screeched at their remaining comrades. They stayed back from the fray while the others turned and focused their attack on Dax.
Cowards.
Dax sliced at two of them, but before he could destroy them, the other two piled on top, taking him to the ground. Steele roared, and used all his might to pounce on the bastards, snapping at them with his teeth and tearing at their skin.
His friend was at the bottom of the pile, but holding his own. Steele could feel the heat from Dax’s fire burning the demons from underneath. He speared one demon through the chest with his claw, tossing it at the cowards standing in the shadow of Fleur’s building.
Three more to go.
He reached into the fracas to grab another beast. Two sets of claws dug into him from behind, ripping at his shoulders, gripping the cord of his soul shard.
Steele bucked and rolled, but he couldn’t throw them off. The more he fought them, the harder they held on. The cord was strong but not unbreakable.
“Steele, Dax, look out.” Fleur and six of the she-wolves stood at the entrance to the building watching wide-eyed as the battle on the street raged.
His shard lit up the area with its green light, growing stronger by the second. Steele rolled, trying to crush the demon dragons beneath his giant body, or at least pin them to the ground.
“No, Fleur. Get back, get inside.” Steele projected his plea into her mind. He should have gone back in to protect her from these bastards.
Three of the women around Fleur shifted into snarling wolves and joined the battle, ripping and clawing at the remaining demons.
The other three guarded Fleur and the entrance to the building. The one called Zara even had a large rifle at the ready.
He sure hoped she knew how to use it and didn’t shoot him in the process.
One of the demons jumped off his back, shredding the skin and scales at his neck, slicing through the shard’s cord with his razor claws.
Something deep inside Steele’s chest tore when the shard fell from his skin. For a moment, he lost his breath from the pain of it. His fight was gone, and he fell out of his dragon form, the shift washing over him and out of his control.
The demon dragon held the glowing shard, a piece of Steele’s own soul in his fist, mesmerized by its light, drooling and snarling over its new treasure. Steele reached for the light, but he was weak now, and losing more strength by the second.
Dax and the wolves battled the remaining demon dragons until they were destroyed and only the bastard holding Steele’s shard remained.
It was outnumbered, and it knew it.
The wolves and Dax could stop it. They had to.
The demon dragon spread its wings, and while it couldn’t fly, it could leap, which is exactly what it did.
Three feet into the air, the trees lining the streets came alive and stretched their branches blocking its path. It smashed through one tree, only to be smacked down by another.
The light from the shard intensified so bright, it was matched only by another light coming from the entrance to the building.
The necklace around Fleur’s neck glowed with the same light. She had her eyes closed and her hands raised. Fleur controlled the trees. With a swish of her arms they followed her directions.
Each movement by the demon dragon was met by an increase in the light from her necklace and his shard, plus a literal beating from the growth of new branches on the trees.
The demon dragon screeched and dove away from the angry orchard and straight at Fleur.
“Fleur, no.” Steele yelled and found his last bit of strength. He ran and jumped, collided with the demon dragon in mid-air, rolling to the ground at Fleur’s feet. Steele lifted his legs and double barrel kicked the demon away from Fleur.
The demon dragon moved back only a little and lashed out at Steele. It was much bigger than he was now and easily threw him into the entrance where the women stood. The beast had torn his human flesh, ripping his chest open.
He slid down the door and onto his back leaving a streak of blood behind him. He’d happily give his life, his short 150 years, to have saved Fleur.
But there would be no dying this day. Until the final demon dragon was defeated, he would protect Fleur.
For reasons he could not explain he only focus was to make sure she was unharmed. He didn’t understand the feelings driving him to keep her safe, he only obeyed them with all of his might.
He couldn’t feel any pain. His limbs wouldn’t work, no matter how his mind yelled at them to get up, to defend Fleur. He swallowed and blood bubbled from his lips.
He heard the crack of bones as the remaining women shifted. Before his next ragged breath, they’d ripped the demon dragon’s throat out. It dissolved into smoke, dropping the soul shard.
Fleur snagged it from the ground. The night l
it up even brighter than before, turning the dark into a brilliant green day. He felt the shard’s power skim over his soul, and a new knowledge flowed through him.
His beautiful Fleur.
All he could do was stare up at the beauty that was his true mate.
His true mate.
A gift from the First Dragon.
She knelt beside him, pushed his tattered clothing aside, and assessed his wounds. “Dear Gods of Olympus. You’re bleeding everywhere.”
He tried to smile, to soothe her from the coming pain. “I’m sorry, little flower. Please forgive me.”
She ripped his shirt, pressing the bundle of cloth over the bloodiest of his wounds. “For bleeding? I don’t think you can help that.” She wiped her arm across her forehead, pushing the hair out of her eyes, but leaving a streak of his blood. “Don’t worry, help will be here soon. Selena called her family. The Troika men and the enforcers will be here any minute.”
Mine. His dragon clawed from inside, needing to claim his mate, needing to be reassured she hadn’t been harmed or tainted by the demon dragons.
But even the power of the most feral, animalistic part of his being withered. Some piece of him he hadn’t even known existed until tonight, was missing.
“No, little flower. For leaving you when we’ve only come together.”
He expected tears from her, but he got narrowed eyes glaring down at him instead. “Oh no you don’t.”
He hadn’t even properly claimed, her, hadn’t marked her as his. One final kiss from her would have to be enough, but his lips and tongue weren’t working.
No, damn it. He couldn’t leave her. She was his to love and protect. The very depths of his core screamed out, reaching for her.
His vision faded, tunneling until all he saw was her pretty face.
How could he protect her from the demon dragons, from anything in her world that might hurt her, if he died? First Dragon, hear his plea. Don’t let him leave her alone and in danger.
The tunnel tightened to only her eyes, glowing for him, and finally darkness.
CHAPTER FOUR
Save the Dragon
Fleur smacked Steele’s cheeks, trying to get him to open his eyes. She wasn’t sure how or why, but she could feel the life draining out of him by the second. It felt like it was draining her, too.
“Someone call an ambulance,” she yelled, but there was no way even the best first responders would how to save a dragon. Fear for his life and a need to help him bubbled inside of her chest, smoky and hot.
Humans didn’t even know about shifters. Their doctors wouldn’t be able to help and Fleur would have let a secret kept for millennia out. She didn’t care. She had to save Steele.
Dax, ran over and slid to her side. “Damn, damn. Why doesn’t he shift and heal himself?”
“Can you help him? I don’t know what to do.” The light from the green crystal the black dragon-lizard thing dropped was fading, too.
He shook his head. “I’m a red dragon, not a green. I can’t heal. He was supposed to save my sorry ass if anything happened to us.” He shook Steele’s shoulder. “Come on, man, shift.”
Galyna appeared with her in-case-of-emergency-werewolfing bag and handed out clothes to the women who had shifted back to human form and a blanket for Steele. “Here, I’m sorry. I don’t think I have anything else that can help.”
Fleur kept one hand on his wound, keeping the pressure on, and spread the blanket over him with the other. If she could keep him warm until she figured out how to help him heal, he would have a better chance.
She swallowed down the acrid taste in the back of her throat. No way a blanket would be enough. She knew basic first aid, and could treat all kinds of illnesses with her medicinal garden, but she had to figure out another way to help him. Think, think.
The rest of the women joined them, all in various states of disrepair, clothing torn, scratches and bruises all over their bodies.
“Hey, how come you guys are fully clothed and we’re over here in shreds?” Zara asked Dax.
“Our shift isn’t like yours. We were gifted the power to move between forms by the White Witch, mate to the First Dragon. The magic allows us to keep our forms, our possessions, and our clothing.”
“I need to make friends with this witch. I go through clothes like there’s no tomorrow,” Jules said.
“Unfortunately, she died about seven-hundred years ago. So, I don’t think that is possible.” Dax waved the girls’ questions off and touched Fleur’s shoulder. “Can you help him?”
“Do you want me to run up and get some of your herbs or the salves? The one you made for my sunburn worked like a miracle. Would they help?” Galyna asked.
“Yes. No. I don’t know. They’re for minor first aid, like bug bites and PMS, not for sucking chest wounds.”
Did she have anything on hand that could stop the bleeding? She did have some wild iris root. That would help with bleeding, but not this much.
“What the fuck happened? Heli, Mom are you okay?” Kosta pushed his way into the circle of women and gathered Heli into his arms.
“I’m fine. But this guy isn’t.” Heli pointed down at Steele.
Her assessment of Steele’s wounds tore at Fleur’s gut. Heli was right. He really wasn’t fine. He was dying, and she didn’t have any way to stop it.
She’d only just met him like an hour ago, and she didn’t understand why, but she could not lose him. Something inside her would break if he died.
“Dirmo.” Kosta swore in Russian and shook his head.
Niko shoved in and grabbed Zara, kissing her hard and then looking her up and down. “Those don’t look like wolves’ claw marks. What attacked you all?”
“Some sort of black lizard men. I guess they were dragons, but nothing like these two.” Zara snuggled against Niko.
“Black dragons? What the hell? Did you guys bring some sort of feud with you?” Niko’s voice turned dark, the alpha in him coming out.
Fleur wished they’d all shut up and let her think. Yarrow root? No. She didn’t have time to make a poultice and didn’t know what she’d do with it anyway. Not like she could pour it straight into his gaping wounds. No. What she needed was a god-damned needle and a whole spool of thread.
Dax stood and shook his head. “They shouldn’t be here. I’ve never heard of demon dragons in this area. That’s what they are, part demon, part dragon, and all evil.”
Niko growled and paced, circling Zara and staring Dax down. “Fucking hell. Just what we need the night before the mating ritual. We’ve got wolves coming in from all three packs, hoping to find mates, and instead they’re going to find god-damned demon dragons.”
“You’re lucky we were here. If you’ve got an infestation of demon dragons, you’ll need our—” Dax glanced down at Steele, “—my help to hunt and destroy them. Unless you want a case of the Bubonic plague and everyone’s vital organs MIA on your hands.”
Oh, no. Fleur shook her head, not allowing the tears bubbling there to fall. Even Steele’s friend had given up on him. Fleur couldn’t. She wouldn’t.
The biggest of the wounds she had under her hand seemed to be bleeding less. Olympus above, please don’t let it be because his heart wasn’t pumping.
Her fingers trembled as she placed two fingers on his neck. She was shaking too badly to feel anything. Either that or she would have to admit she couldn’t feel his heartbeat.
“We wouldn’t have this problem in the first place, if you two hadn’t decided to do your dicking around in my town.” Niko stepped up, chest to chest with Dax.
Fleur wanted to tell him to back off. Couldn’t they see Steele needed help, not a pissing contest? Bastards.
But a mere human with a little bit of flower nymph heritage didn’t simply tell the Alpha of the packs to step off. Not the night before the mating ritual where she hoped to find a mate.
Besides, yelling at the men wouldn’t help Steele. If only she’d studied traditional western medicine
instead of botany and herbalism.
“You were supposed to protect our women, not put them in jeopardy. I trusted you with their lives.” Kosta pushed Heli behind him and got in Dax’s face too.
May Zeus strike them down where they stood.
Dax didn’t give them an inch. “We did, and my friend sacrificed his life to protect them.”
That was it. She might lose her chance at going to the mating ritual, and she might piss off the Alpha, but she didn’t give a flying squirrel if she did. Not if she could get some help for Steele.
“Shut the hell up, the lot of you. I’m trying to figure out how to save this dragon. Go measure your dicks somewhere else or help me.”
Niko turned his glare on her, the rims of his eyes glowed with the wolf inside of him. Fleur glared right back.
He might be able to intimidate everyone else around him with that look and his inherent power, but just now, he could suck it. “Well?”
Zara sidled up to her mate and slid a hand into his. She spoke softly, soothing his beast. “Niko, quit trying to frighten Fleur. She’s trying to save the hottie.”
His wolf was close to the surface, in protection mode. But Zara had soothed this beast before. Fleur wasn’t afraid. She understood he was trying to protect his pack, his mate.
Zara laid her head against Niko’s chest. “The dragons did fight off a dozen of those beasts before we joined in. We only took out a couple.”
“Fine.” His voice wasn’t so much a growl anymore. “Let’s get him to Doc. Maybe he can help.”
Yes. She should have thought of that. Doc was the pack’s healer. Wolves didn’t get sick, but he patched them up after battles.
Serena stepped into the circle that had formed around Fleur and Steele. “I already called him. He’ll be here soon. But,” she locked eyes with Fleur. “He’s never worked on a dragon shifter before. I don’t know that he’ll be able to do anything.”
CHAPTER FIVE
Tripping to the Afterlife