Bates huffed, emanating a low sound of rage, and shook his head back and forth. The mud sloshed beneath Clancy’s back claws as he dug in, trying to wrestle the bigger, stronger dragon down. Even with his thick scales, Bates’s underbelly was his most vulnerable point, and if Clancy could get a good shot, he could gut the bastard like a river trout.
But Bates had other ideas, huffing long exhales from his nostrils that made mist and hot breath shoot up as he tried to pry his mouth free from Clancy’s grip. For a moment, Clancy wondered if Bates was finally slowing down.
Bates’s huge tail swished back then forth, the heaviness of it swinging like a giant pendulum. And when Bates threw his huge head to the side, using his tail like a lever, the force of it was so great it lifted Clancy entirely off the ground.
Without the stability of the earth beneath his claws, Clancy’s entire dragon body flew to the side. Clancy tried to keep his talons dug in, but they slipped free as he careened backward, soaring through the air before slamming into a formation of rocks at the far end of the mesa they’d been fighting beneath.
Everything in his body jolted as the rocks exploded backward, and Clancy tumbled several times before rolling to a stop. All he could feel was blinding pain in his muscles and in the wounds he’d received.
Then, from the thick mist of the falling rain, Bates appeared, looking over Clancy.
He didn’t even speak, just growled eagerly.
But as Bates moved to strike, another form appeared off to their side, rumbling with heavy steps, interrupting their battle.
Clancy and Bates looked over in unison as a huge, dinosaur-like shape lined with spikes and rocks appeared, and Clancy instantly recognized it as a basilisk. In fact, it looked like the one from the other day.
Bates moved back, eyeing this new threat with trepidation.
Shit. The basilisk had probably been awoken by all the rain and had showed up to two-on-one Clancy with Bates. Just my luck, Clancy thought to himself.
But to his surprise, the basilisk’s eyes were glowing blue instead of red. And as it came closer, it appraised both him and Bates before trotting in the direction of Clancy.
“Clancy!” A tiny, familiar voice called over the cacophony of the rain.
Bates stepped back, watching to see if the newcomer was friend or foe, growling at both of them.
It couldn’t be…
As the basilisk drew closer, close enough that he could make out its features through the sheets of rain, Clancy saw a person riding on its neck, barely visible between its huge horns.
Not just any person, though.
His mate.
“Billie? What are you doing here?” Clancy yelled, fear rushing through him at the thought of his mate on that monster.
Still, it seemed perfectly fine with a human riding atop it like a mouse on the back of a horse.
The basilisk stopped, and Billie stood up on top of its neck, arms waving wildly. To his increased shock, it looked like Gary was tucked into her raincoat, peeking out with wide black eyes.
“I had to come after you. Had to find you,” she yelled at the top of her lungs, talking over the storm, sounding out of breath.
“Did you tell the others?” he yelled back, even more fear filling him.
“No,” she said. “They’re out working the storm.”
“So you brought a basilisk instead?” Clancy had wanted her far away from the carnage, as far from danger as possible. He’d never put her in danger.
But Billie just nodded eagerly, so brave and badass he didn’t know how he’d gotten so lucky to have met her. “Yup. I needed help, and this big guy rose to the occasion. Literally!”
“You should run. Get out of here!” Clancy yelled.
In the background, Bates had recovered from his shock and was just glowering at them, teeth snapping as he riled himself up for another attack. It was something swamp dragons did, get themselves worked up until they literally were so angry they would fight anything and everything.
Billie needed to get clear before Bates attacked.
“I’m not running, Clancy,” she replied, putting her hands sternly on her hips. “I realized something this morning, something about Tucker Thompson. He always had to fight alone, always had to push people away after he’d helped them. I understand why now.”
The basilisk looked up at Billie, surprisingly unbothered by his mate as she talked. “It’s because he didn’t want anyone to get hurt. In all the stories, he never came back to the people he’d helped, even when they cared about him, because he was afraid it would just bring more trouble. But it’s not you, Clancy. You’re not the reason there’s trouble. And I ain’t going to just let you run away and take all the responsibility for the problems bad people around you have created. Not even that ugly bastard,” she said, pointing over at Bates, who just seemed miffed and pissed off by the talking.
Clancy just watched his mate, agape. How could one person be so right about him after all this time?
All the more reason she was his mate, he supposed.
“So here I am, Clancy. I’m here to fight by your side, to be your partner so you never have to fight alone. And it’s because I love you. I love you, Tucker Thompson. Or Clancy. Whatever you prefer.” She smiled up at him, wide and fearless, as strands of her red hair fell in damp waves over her face.
“I love you too, Billie.” The words came through his mouth unbidden, without even needing to think about it. He’d felt it since the moment he’d looked across that restaurant booth and his dragon had said, “Mate.” And every day, she’d only given him more reasons to love her. “I’m sorry that what I am has caused all this trouble, that I keep trying to protect the people I care about by pushing them away. And I’m sorry for those things I said yesterday. I only wanted to keep you safe.”
“You can keep me safe by letting me be by your side for the rest of our lives. How does that sound?”
Clancy nodded. If they made it through this, he’d never let his mate out of his sight ever again, regardless of the fact that he was a swamp dragon.
“And also, there’s nothing wrong with what you are. It’s what’s wrong with that thing over there,” she said, pointing a finger at Bates.
“Fuck you all.” An inhuman-sounding bellow came from Bates’s direction, cutting off the tender moment between Clancy and his mate. His slitted red eyes looked over at Clancy, then the basilisk. “Kill,” seemed to be the only other word he could say.
Even with Clancy’s renewed energy upon seeing his mate, knowing she didn’t hate him for what he’d done, Clancy knew Bates had strength enough to take on both of them.
Clancy looked over to face Bates. At his side, the basilisk just seemed confused about what to do next.
“You protect my mate with your life, y’hear? Keep on the outside of the fight and strike when the time is right,” he commanded the basilisk.
The basilisk’s mouth opened, and it let out a strange hoarse sound. Like it was trying to talk but didn’t know how. Then, to make its answer clear, it nodded at Clancy and backed away a bit, growling at Bates.
On some primal level, Clancy knew the basilisk understood. And in his years of working on the ranch, there hadn’t been a creature he hadn’t been able to wrangle into submission.
This was just the first time a basilisk had ever listened to anyone.
Bates bared down on Clancy and charged, his roar so loud even the rain seemed to shake as it fell to the earth.
Clancy dove to the left, drawing Bates away from the basilisk and his mate.
Snap. Snap. Snap. Bates’s titanic maw closed and opened as he bit at Clancy. Clancy ducked back, then rolled to the side, watching his footing as he narrowly avoided each bite.
Bates’s eyes flew open with rage, zeroing in on his quarry, venomous mouth wide as he waited for the right moment to chomp.
But this gave Clancy an opening. With his mouth open, Bates’s view was limited, and Clancy used the split second before Bates’
s mouth came snapping shut to duck past him. Clancy extended his talons and slashed hard and deep across Bates’s wounded knee, slicing through muscle and tissue and whatever his claws could reach.
Bates yowled, his leg buckling beneath him. But the monster, even with only three legs, twisted toward Clancy, heavy tail pounding the earth and making the entire valley shake from its impact.
Clancy had only a split second to back away just as Bates rushed up from behind, nearly in crushing distance.
Then there was the sound of something whizzing through the air, and a huge, rocky spike slammed into Bates’s side, interrupting him. Bates whirled in the direction the projectile had come from, and two more spikes came careening downward, one deflecting off the thick scales on his back, the other grazing the side of his face with a heavy slicing sound.
“You go, Mr. Basilisk. Get him!” Billie was shouting from the other end of the clearing, and he looked past Bates to see the basilisk’s tail was raised like a scorpion’s, the huge, razor-sharp spikes sticking out in all directions at the end of it.
Clancy was used to being on the receiving end of those damn spikes. It was nice they weren’t flying at him for once.
But the poison in them seemed to have no effect. And with a roar, Bates turned away from Clancy, charging straight for the basilisk.
And Billie perched precariously on its thick neck.
The basilisk roared, backing away and whipping its tail as three more spikes flew toward Bates, probably trying to ward him off. But Bates was a gigantic, rage-induced freight train, as big as the basilisk but with all the deadliness of a swamp dragon.
One of the spikes hit Bates square in the back while the other two narrowly missed, but that just seemed to enrage him more.
Clancy had to act quick, or his mate would be on the receiving end of those numberless teeth.
So he leapt at Bates’s tail and chomped down with all the might he could muster, wrenching backward. He ignored the flash of pain as one of the jagged, protruding scales that ran the length of Bates’s tail sliced through the side of his jaw, and he focused on digging his feet into the loose earth.
Mate. Mate. Mate, his dragon roared inside, energized and emboldened and enraged that Bates would dare go after his mate.
At first, Clancy was yanked forward. But as he focused, he felt strength like he’d never felt before, harnessing the feral, nearly uncontrollable power of the ancient beast that lived within him without letting the rage that came with it overcome him.
Mate.
Protect.
Clancy bit down even harder, teeth tearing into Bates’s tail. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see the basilisk as it raised its hackles, the rocks on its shoulders coming up to form a protective barrier around Billie even as it braced for the impact of the gargantuan, charging monster headed straight at it.
Bates’s mouth opened wide, lunging for the basilisk.
Then with one final yank where Clancy summoned all the strength he’d ever possessed as a swamp dragon, which had been strengthened by the love of his mate, he finally pulled Bates backward. Bates’s huge feet slipped in the mud, and his forward motion changed as the huge creature fell onto its belly.
In desperation, Bates’s mouth chomped down, but he missed the basilisk by a fair distance now that Clancy was holding him back.
Clancy shot the basilisk a look, and with a roar, the basilisk raised its right front foot into the air, its crystal-like talons glinting in the rain.
Then it slammed its talons right into Bates’s left eye, stabbing deep before pulling away.
And not a moment too soon, as Bates writhed in the mud, screeching and growling and thrashing as his tail whipped around in circles. He slashed at the air, bit at nothing, a flurry of rage and claws and spikes as the gaping wound where his eye had been oozed green.
Clancy knew he had to end this now. Because if Bates escaped, he’d surely be back for revenge.
He rushed toward the heap of motion that was Bates, grabbing one of the basilisk’s spikes out of the earth with his right claw as he did. In the background, the basilisk watched carefully, thankfully not getting closer.
Then Clancy leapt into the air and rammed the basilisk spike through the end of Bates’s tail, sticking it deep into the earth and pinning Bates where he was before he could make a run for it. Bates, on his back now, lunged for Clancy, but Clancy avoided the teeth, aiming for his exposed underbelly.
With the precision of a gunslinger and the ferocity of a dragon, Clancy raised both his claws into the air and stabbed through Bates’s thick hide, right where his heart was. Bates screamed, growled, snapped at the air, but Clancy just kept his claws dug in as the huge swamp dragon’s writhing slowed.
Then finally, Bates went still.
Around them, the rain continued to pour. Clancy looked up, saw his mate safe atop the basilisk, and let out a long, pent-up breath.
It was over.
He withdrew his talons and got off of Bates’s lifeless body, surprised when the giant swamp dragon didn’t shift back into a human like most dragons did once they’d taken a fatal amount of harm.
Clancy supposed it was just further proof that Bates was more monster than man.
The aches and pains from so much fighting started to take their toll, and as Clancy strode toward his mate, he shifted back into a human, unable to keep his dragon out any longer.
He fell to a knee, trying to catch his breath. A second later, he heard footsteps fast approaching in the mud.
As he looked up, Billie slipped in the mud, her arms outstretched, trying to reach him. But before she could trip, Clancy was there, picking her up in his arms as just the presence of his mate seemed to rejuvenate him nearly instantly.
“Whoa!” she exclaimed, having nearly fallen, then finding herself in Clancy’s arms. “That was amazing!”
First, he kissed her. Kissed his mate long and good as wonderful, warm emotions flowed between them. When he pulled back, Billie was already flushing, grinning up at him.
“How in the hell did you find me?” Clancy asked.
“I just followed my heart. Though, I had a little help.” She smiled wide and looked up at the basilisk, which now stood a hundred feet above them, towering like a silent colossus.
Clancy appraised the creature, full of wonder at how all of this had transpired. There was definitely more to the ancient beasts than he and the others at Dragonclaw could’ve ever thought possible until now.
He tipped his Stetson at the basilisk, grateful for its help. “I’m forever in your debt, partner. Thank you.”
The basilisk’s eyes appraised him, a shocking color of blue, not like the red he was used to. Then it let out a huff and started to walk past them, rocks and debris still falling from its hide as it moved.
To Clancy’s surprise, it pulled free the spike stuck in Bates’s tail, then grabbed Bates’s huge body by the neck.
And started to dig.
Slowly, the earth opened up, and the basilisk dragged the lifeless swamp dragon down with him.
A minute later, there was only a huge ring of dug-up earth that marked where either of the huge beasts had just been.
Clancy supposed he owed the basilisk another favor now.
“You have a lot of explainin’ to do, mister,” Billie said up at him.
He turned to his mate, wanting to set things straight, when the sound of wings and something big running toward them interrupted the moment. Clancy and Billie looked up just as Harrison’s dragon came flying down from the skies, landing a short ways from them. Just as his dragon reached the earth, a huge, familiar-looking tiger soaked in rain came up to them as well, stopping a few dozen feet from them before resting back on its haunches.
It warmed his heart to see his friends had come for him.
“What the hell are you doing out here, you bastard?” Harrison called as he ran toward them.
“A little late if you were looking to help,” Clancy replied, carrying Billie
in his arms.
He never, ever wanted to let go now that she was safe.
“That’s because you’re a damn idiot! It wasn’t until Reno came out to tell us that Billie couldn’t find you that we figured something was up. Then all we had to do was follow the noise. That and Dallas’s nose.”
Dallas just nodded, not shifting probably because, unlike dragons, most shifters didn’t retain their clothes when changing form.
Just then, Gary’s tiny head appeared from the opening of Billie’s raincoat with a squeak.
“And what in tarnation is Gary doing out here with you?” Harrison said, a grin creeping up the sides of his mouth.
“He wanted to help me find Clancy as well.” Billie chimed in, and Harrison shrugged.
“So what was all the commotion anyway?” Harrison asked.
“Bates. One of my kind from the swamps. I’ll explain later.”
“You bet your ass you’ll explain,” Clancy’s boss said. “But it looks like you have some explaining to do to your mate first.”
Clancy nodded. He sure as hell did.
“You just promise me no more lone gunslinger bullshit. As long as you’re part of the Dragonclaw crew, we work together as a crew, okay?”
“You got it,” Clancy replied.
There was a whinny, and Thunderhead appeared from the mist as the rain started to ebb.
“Hey, you didn’t actually run away, did you? You were following us the whole time!” Billie said as Thunderhead approached them.
“Don’t tell me you actually rode Thunderhead?” Clancy asked, incredulous. “He kicked me just for using a rope bridle.”
Behind them, Harrison and Dallas were talking about something, and Clancy looked forward to giving everyone at Dragonclaw a much-needed update.
But first to take care of his mate. To tell her all the things that needed saying.
“I mean, more like he let me ride him, but yeah,” Billie said.
“That was the most reckless, foolhardy, amazing thing you did back there,” Clancy said.
Thunderhead was completely still as Clancy put Billie up on his back. And when Clancy got on as well, Thunderhead didn’t seem to mind. Gary emerged from Billie’s coat and tucked himself into one of the saddlebags, munching on something he’d found inside.
Wrangler Dragon Page 15
