by Vella Day
“Did Rathan come alone?” he asked.
“As far as I can tell.”
That helped alleviate some of his anxiety. Her cousin’s arrogance would hopefully be his downfall. Finn edged closer to where the forest met the field. Even though the dragon shifter probably wouldn’t give a second look at a wolf, he remained hidden behind a tree nonetheless. At least from there he had a good vantage point of the area above the field.
His heart pounded hard at the idea his mate would do battle against an experienced fighter. Yes, she had magic on her side since she could cloak herself, but even Kaleena said it took a lot of her energy to remain invisible for long.
Even though he’d watched Kaleena fight, he had no idea if female dragons were equally as strong as male dragons. Somehow he thought not, and that idea petrified him.
Kaleena suddenly let out a screech, jarring him out of his complacency. He looked up to find a huge black-scaled beast a mere ten feet from her. Rathan was attacking—or some beast he assumed was Rathan. Oh, shit!
Her tail whipped around her enemy’s head, but that wasn’t enough to stop him from scratching her snout with his massive claws.
Help her, his wolf begged.
No, stay put, his dragon demanded. She can handle him.
His dragon was right. We’ll let her tire him out first. It’s what Kaleena wants. What she needs.
Finn believed that was a good compromise. He could only wait so long before he helped—promise or no promise.
Kaleena flapped her wings with a great deal of force, and the two warriors became entangled. Rathan let out a roar as he struggled to disengage. When he failed to free himself, they began to descend, accelerating toward the ground. Just as Finn thought they’d crash, she opened her wings and let go of him before soaring upward.
Pride raced through him at that smart move. Kaleena was now above her foe. Wings tucked against her body, she dove toward him. Just when he thought she could grab a hold of his spiny back with her claws, Rathan did a loop around her and took back the upper hand.
“Come on, Kaleena. You can take this ass. Remember how he caged you and tried to steal your magic.” Finn wanted to spur her on.
She rolled onto her back and let out a stream of powerful fire. He wasn’t sure what that would do, but maybe it was to stall for time. Rathan moved closer and grabbed a hold of one of her wings and ripped a wide hole right down the middle.
Crap. A strong ache attacked Finn’s shoulder, making him want to lick his front leg to soothe it. Helplessness swamped him seeing Kaleena flail. One wing flapped furiously while she tried to gain her freedom. Her tail whipped around Rathan’s back, but he was too large for her to get a good grip.
“Christ, Kaleena, I’m coming to help! Hold on.” Finn telepathed her, his paws quickly changing into dragon talons.
“No! He’s mine!”
Finn’s dragon claws scratched at the ground, but the rest of his body stopped the shift. Damn woman. Kaleena was too stubborn for her own good.
She reached up with her claws and gouged Rathan’s chest, but the dragon seemed unaffected. Had he been infused with magic too? Is that why he’d taken so long to come after her?
Finn’s dragon claws pawed the ground once more, anxious to take down the bastard. Just a few more seconds…then I don’t give a shit what she wants, I won’t lose her.
She’s got this, his dragon roared.
No, she doesn’t, his wolf chimed in.
Damn animals. The panicked determination rolling off of Kaleena gave him mixed signals. She had a plan; he could sense it.
Somehow Kaleena managed to get free of her foe this time, but her wing had been badly mangled. While Finn couldn’t see if the skin on her face or chest had been damaged, there was no way she could hang on for much longer. Without warning, Rathan shot away from her and soared upward. What was he doing?
Kaleena tried to take chase, but her left wing was so badly torn, she was having difficulty moving fast or in a straight line. She was halfway to Rathan when he turned around and came at her again.
Before she could respond to his change in flight, Rathan stretched out his talons and whipped his tail around her clawed hands. Oh, no!
Finn had seen enough. He was going after Rathan. As Finn charged into the field, he transformed into his dragon. Finn had never cloaked himself before, but Kaleena said it was a matter of concentrating and picturing invisibility. He did so now, and when he looked over at his wings, he saw nothing. Yes!
Just as he took off, Kaleena fell from the sky. The air left his lungs, and he nearly plummeted from the excruciating pain shooting off her.
As much as he wanted to tend to her, he had to deal with Rathan first.
“Kill him for—” Those were Kaleena’s last thoughts to him before she crashed in a lump on the ground.
Fury and hatred coursed through him. Rathan would pay. Finn tried to remember everything Kaleena and Thane had taught him about how to attack, but he was so blinded by grief that he couldn’t remember anything. All he wanted to do was claw the bastard’s heart out.
While Finn might not be able to hold this invisibility shield for long, he would take advantage of the time he did have. Both Kaleena and Thane mentioned that as a new dragon, he would possess superior strength and stamina. He could only hope they were right.
Incapacitating Rathan was not his goal. Killing him was, and the only way to achieve that was to gouge out his heart.
As Rathan dove for the ground, probably to finish off Kaleena, Finn whipped his tail back and forth, ready to wrap it around Rathan’s arms. With his own claws extended, Finn charged. Rathan let out a roar when Finn deftly tied up Rathan’s wrists with his tail.
Surprised you bastard, didn’t I?
Rathan shot fire blindly all around and got lucky, the blaze hitting Finn’s face, temporarily blinding him. Finn returned the favor, and his opponent screeched. No one had said anything about biting a dragon, but his wolf’s instinct demanded that he attack the man’s throat while his claws aimed for the chest.
As Finn leaned in close to bite him, his cloaking began to fail, and Rathan managed to slip his claws from Finn’s grasp. With only a few seconds before his prey escaped, Finn bit down on Rathan’s neck and dug his claws blindly into the man’s chest.
Most of his talons failed to puncture the hard scales, but one succeeded. Rathan struggled and tore at Finn’s wing, forcing him to let go. That was a mistake on Finn’s part. Rathan swung his tail around Finn’s wing and pulled hard. Despite his severe injury, his opponent seemed to possess some kind of super strength.
Rathan’s hold tightened, and an intense searing stabbed Finn’s shoulder as the tendons stretched and tore. It was almost as if his wing had caught fire.
Without warning, Finn began to lose altitude, and the ground raced up to meet him.
“Lift your head.” He wasn’t sure if he remembered Kaleena’s words from before or if she telepathed them now.
Finn did as she suggested and also stretched out his one wing to slow his free fall. Legs ready to take the full brunt of the impact, he landed and rolled onto his good side. His head pounded, and his heart did a rapid tattoo.
Rest was a luxury right now, so he rose to his clawed feet. Finn looked up to locate Rathan, but all he could see was a huge black body plummeting straight toward him from out of the sky.
Chapter Twenty-Four
At the last second, Finn managed to move out of the way as Rathan landed unceremoniously next to him. His foe’s eyes were glassy, and the body lay in a crumpled mess. A few seconds later, the animal returned to its human form. Kaleena had shown him her cousin’s picture. This was Rathan.
Paralyzed by having fought his first battle, it took a moment for Finn to realize that Rathan was dead, and the woman he loved might soon be too.
Because Finn’s wing was almost useless, he shifted into his wolf form. His right shoulder hurt like a bitch, but three of his legs worked well. He limped toward Kaleena
and dropped down next to her.
When her chest rose and fell slightly, joy soared through him. He licked her face. “Kaleena?” he telepathed.
She didn’t answer nor did she move. Her face was badly gouged with multiple claw marks, and the hole in the top half of her wing looked extensive. But it was the huge opening in her chest that worried him the most. The scales near her heart had been clawed away and blood was oozing out of her.
“Try to shift into your wolf form,” he begged. “Please, Kaleena. You have to be okay.”
Finn debated shifting into his human form, but he wasn’t sure what good that would do. He glanced toward the castle. Why weren’t Gregor’s men coming to help? Hadn’t they witnessed the fight?
Just as Finn was about to run to the castle for help, a swarm of dragons flew in from the east—from the direction of Avonbelle—making enough noise to raise the dead.
Oh, shit, oh shit. None of them had any colors in their scales, implying these might be Rathan’s men. But if they were, why had they waited so long to arrive? Had Rathan told them that he wanted to take down Kaleena himself?
Think!
Kaleena moaned, and Finn’s pulse soared. “We have to get out of here, Kaleena.”
How he’d accomplish that he didn’t know. They had mere seconds before the large army attacked them. Even if Finn shifted into his dragon, he couldn’t take on six of them by himself.
Wanting to spend his last moments with the woman he loved, Finn curled up next to Kaleena and placed his snout on hers. He memorized her scent and then licked her battered face.
“I love you, Kaleena. Forever.”
Just as he prepared for the attack and his last moment with his mate, what sounded like a different army of screeching banshees came from the north—from the direction of Kearn’s castle.
Adrenaline shot through Finn’s wolf as he jumped up onto all fours. At least ten green dragons soared upward and charged after the six dragons in the air. Finn’s wolf howled, and his inner dragon roared.
Two of Rathan’s men peeled off and charged toward Finn and Kaleena. Determined to protect his mate at all costs, Finn shifted into his dragon and blocked any access to her. Claws extended and wings spread, he waited for the onslaught of the beasts.
Instead of attacking either of them, they swooped down, picked up Rathan’s dead body and headed back the way they came, while the rest of the Royals fought Gregor’s men.
What followed was a quick and decisive victory. Bodies fell from the sky, and when it was over, it looked like what he imagined a one-sided Civil War battle would look like. Death was everywhere.
Two of the castle dragons landed and shifted into humans. Finn returned to human form too, but that was a mistake. The pain nearly crippled him.
“Kaleena’s in bad shape,” Finn managed to say.
“We’ll take care of her.” The man knelt by Kaleena’s side. “Can you shift?” he asked her.
Kaleena groaned, and his own ache was compounded by waves of agony radiating off her. Finn dropped next to his mate. “Try to shift into your wolf form, Kaleena,” Finn begged again.
He placed a hand on her head and willed her his remaining strength. As if his love and magic was enough, she shifted into a wolf. Then the guard swept her up into his arms and turned back to Finn. “Shift into your wolf form. You’re too weak from the battle to walk back.”
Finn did as they suggested, hoping between his wolf and his dragon that he would heal quickly. He assumed he could return under his own power, but after taking two steps, he dropped to the ground. Damn. He was weaker than he’d thought. He must have given Kaleena what little strength he had left.
“It’s okay. We’ll carry you,” one of the men said.
Before Finn could protest, the guard lifted him up. Together, the two carried him and Kaleena back to the castle.
Since Finn had had enough time for both his wolf and his dragon to heal him quite well, he rose from the sofa in the living room that was part of the suite just as Declan emerged from their bedroom. “How is Kaleena?” Finn asked.
Her brother had raced to the castle as soon as he’d learned she’d been injured. “I honestly don’t know how she lived. Rathan’s claw punctured the spot right above her heart, missing it by a whisper. All I can think of is that between her wolf and dragon, they kept her alive long enough to get help. It was a vicious wound, and she was damned lucky her heart wasn’t hit.”
That didn’t really answer Finn’s question. “But she’ll live, right?”
Declan clamped a hand on Finn’s shoulder. “I did my magic, so time will tell. Kaleena is strong. I think it’s her love for you that is helping her heal. Go in and keep her company.” He smiled.
“She’s awake?” His mate had been in and out of consciousness for almost a day.
“More or less. I’ve infused her with extra healing powers, but she needs you more.”
He clasped Declan’s shoulder. “Thank you.”
“No, thank you.”
Finn charged into the bedroom. Kaleena’s face was pale and her hair was matted, but he’d never seen anyone more beautiful. Her eyes opened, and her lips almost reached a smile.
He sat next to her. “Hey, beautiful.”
She reached up to clasp his hand. While her grip was weak, he believed she’d recover. “Thank you.”
“For killing Rathan? You did most of the work. I merely finished him off.”
“No, for holding me when I was on the ground and I thought I was dying. Your energy and love kept me going.”
Finn lifted her hand and kissed it. “When I thought you might die, I wanted to die too.”
“Don’t be silly. You have to stay alive. You’re going to be a great fighter.”
He didn’t care about that. Finn just wanted to be with Kaleena forever. “So now what?”
“As soon as we heal, we’ll go back to Edendale and resume as normal a life as we can.”
She gave a weak smile, but he spotted a slight twinkle in her eyes. “I hope so, but what about Rathan’s family? I doubt they were overjoyed when they learned he was dead. Don’t you think they will want retribution?” he asked.
She turned her head and blew out a breath. “Most likely.”
“Will our life always be a series of attacks then?” Finn’s gut churned.
She shrugged. “I’m a Guardian. It’s our way of life. The world might not know who we are or what we do, but we’ve been put here to rid Tarradon of evil. Will we ever succeed? Maybe not in my lifetime, but someday, we’ll make things better. Even if every Royal and every dark lighter is driven from our realm, there will be evil people to take their place. All we can do is our best.”
Kaleena’s sense of hope made Finn feel a little bit better. His family lived under the same kind of evil shadow. If it wasn’t the Changelings on Earth who were always searching for more power, it was stalkers or some common thief. “We have a lot in common—your family and mine.”
She smiled even though her eyes were starting to close. Then he heard her quietly ask, “Does that mean you’ll join us in our quest for battling evil?”
“I’ll always be right beside you, my love.”
Finn felt her squeeze his hand, and when he leaned over to kiss her, she’d already fallen asleep.
Two days later, after Kaleena completely healed, they headed back to Avonbelle and settled into her condo in Edendale. Even though Finn was physically fit, he seemed to be unsettled, and that troubled her.
Kaleena ran a hand down his chest. “What’s bothering you?” she asked. She’d been around him long enough to take a guess, but she wanted Finn to tell her.
He stepped away from her and stabbed a hand through his hair. His slight rejection hurt. “I’m waiting for the next shoe to drop.”
“Meaning you think the Royals will attack again.”
“Yes.”
She’d thought about this too. “I’m sure my aunt and uncle can guess that I killed Rathan, but I doubt th
ey’ll want to broadcast the reason why he came after me. It would give them bad press. I’m betting they will probably say he was on a goodwill mission and was viciously attacked. The torn out heart would give credence to that claim.”
“I hope that’s true, but where does that leave me?”
His frustration was rolling off him and paining her. “What do you mean?”
“I can’t hang out at your apartment while you go to work. I can’t work for your family since I know nothing about mining. I have to feel useful or I’ll go crazy.”
She could totally understand that. “What do you want to do?”
Finn returned to her and drew her near. “If returning to Earth is out of the question, at least on a permanent basis, do you think I could manage a bar here?”
She laughed. “You could have any job in the realm. Why would you want to do that?”
“I like people. Besides, they tell me things that might be useful to you and your family.”
That had a lot of potential. Before she could respond, the doorbell rang, and Kaleena held up a finger. “Hold that thought.” She jogged to the front and looked through the peephole. Pulling open the door, she smiled. “Declan!”
He dragged his gaze down her body and then speared a look at Finn. “You both are looking good.”
She threaded an arm around his. “Thanks to you.”
“Thank Finn. If it weren’t for him, you might not be here.”
She’d been thanking him profusely for days. “What’s up?” Declan rarely came unannounced.
“I have something I want to pass by Finn.” He motioned for the two of them to sit on the sofa while he took the chair across from them. “I’m not sure where to begin, so I’ll just spit it out. I’ve spoken with the others, and we’d like to have you join us, Finn, as one of the Guardians.”
A blast of excitement radiated off him, but it was mixed with some confusion. She looked over at him and smiled. “That sounds wonderful,” she said. “What do you think, Finn?”
“Join you? As in fight the Royals?” he asked.
