by Lolita Lopez
Wanting to soothe her, he kissed her forehead. “Sweetheart, it’s okay. I’m fine. It’s just a little blood.”
“I’m so sorry. I didn’t mean to bite you. I couldn’t control it.”
“Honey,” he whispered tenderly and dared to press his lips to her fanged mouth. “I know you didn’t do it on purpose.” He swept a fingertip down her cheek. “Your eyes have gone completely serpentine. I think this”—he touched one of her fangs—“is a side effect of some type of hormonal surge.”
“You’re not mad at me?” She looked terrified.
“No. Never.” He let his lips touch hers again, reassuring her that he had no problem kissing her even with two venomous fangs protruding from her upper jaw. “We’re fine.”
Avani’s fingers moved to his neck. She ran them over the puncture wounds in his skin. “I wanted to taste you so badly. My throat burned with the need to drink from you.”
Her description of wanting his blood freaked him out a little, but he’d never let her know that. He made sure to keep his emotions in check rather than hurt her for something she couldn’t control.
“You did say that biting and swapping blood were part of the Naga mating ritual.” Steeling himself for the pain to come, he suggested, “You should probably finish it. Bite me again and drink from me.”
She hesitated. “Are you sure? It’s going to hurt.”
He swept his hands up and down her arms. “I’m sure.” Baring his neck, he ordered, “Bite me.”
As her fanged mouth moved closer to his neck, Griff experienced a surge of panic—but it wasn’t the fear of being bit that hit him right in the solar plexus. “Stop!”
His shout startled her. Hasty with her apology, she cried, “I’m sorry. I won’t—”
“Hush,” he instructed with a hissed whisper. Pulling out of her, he scrambled off the bed and turned his gaze toward the ceiling. Dread filled him. “We have to move. Now!”
Chapter Seven
Avani realized that Griffin wasn’t angry with her. Something was terribly wrong. She clambered to her feet and grasped his strong hand. He ran to the ladder and hoisted her up high onto the rungs. Naked and scared, she didn’t dare waste time asking what was coming. Deep down inside, she already knew that answer.
Only the Knights with their bloodlust for slaying dragons could have put that look on Griffin’s face.
She climbed quickly. Griffin kept his hand on her lower back as they moved up the ladder. With the mating heat on them, the forced shifting would be disastrous in this shaft. Up in the closet, he picked her up and moved her behind him. He opened the door and cautiously crept into the hallway. Avani gripped his hand and silently prayed they’d make it out of this alive.
“Dragon! We know you’re in there. Give us the girl and we’ll be on our way.”
Despite the darkness, Avani could see Griffin’s face clearly with her snakelike eyes. His confused expression didn’t bode well. Did they mean her? Or was this something to do with Madoc and Ivy Morales?
Clearing his throat, Griffin bellowed at the Knight outside the front door. “There is no girl here. Leave or I will be forced to defend my home.”
She eyed Griffin with some surprise. He’d made it sound like he was home alone and he’d taken ownership of Mad’s place. She wasn’t proficient in the various intricacies of the rules governing the war between Knights and dragons, but she did know that they respected the protection of a domicile only if it belonged to the dragon they chased. She and Griffin didn’t live here and had no claim on this home’s protection.
It was a mistake she feared they would soon regret.
A low, menacing laugh came from the front porch. “Funny thing, dragon, but the truck out here in the driveway is registered to Griffin Cadogan and not Ian Madoc, the owner of this home.”
Griffin stiffened. He started to push her back into the closet. One look at his determined face and she knew what he planned. Squeezing his hand, she whispered, “No.”
He kissed her with such passion and love. “Stay hidden. They don’t know you’re here.”
“Griffin!” She clutched at him, refusing to be separated from him.
“It’s the only way, sweetheart.”
Shoved into the closet, she crouched down like a coward. The door was cracked open enough for her to see Griff. He shifted with such finesse and ease. His giant frame expanded a foot and his muscular chest and arms increased as another hundred or so pounds of brutally strong flesh swelled on his limbs. She couldn’t see the bright red color of the scales now covering his skin, but she could imagine how beautiful and awesome he looked.
Wings shot free from his back, slamming into the house’s interior and tearing the drywall. As a teenager, she’d seen other dragons testing out their wings but she’d never seen any like Griffin’s. Unlike the bony, reptilian types she’d seen, his were thicker and heavier with reinforced webbing. No doubt the loud thunder he’d spoken of creating required those genetic differences.
As glass shattered upstairs and downstairs, Avani felt the searing pain of her change begin. Swallowing the cries of agony, she snapped flat onto her belly in the closet. Her feet slammed together and her arms fused to her sides. Her bones cracked and realigned themselves, joining together in spots and dissolving in others.
Like Griffin who became absolutely gigantic in his dragon form, she also gained bulk. Avani’s average-sized frame elongated and expanded as the supernatural change overcame her. In her shifted state, Avani resembled a frightfully large anaconda, with all the strength and speed of the slithery beast.
Rolling her neck, she experienced the frightful trauma of her tongue splitting and forking to become more serpentine. Her skin grew clammy and slimy as she became hairless and then sprouted scales. The fangs in her mouth protruded even more now. They throbbed and ached as venom filled her cheeks and the sacs located there.
Now fully a serpent, Avani refused to let the feral side of her take control. Griffin’s words circled round and round in her head. She was strong enough. She could do this.
Coiled into a striking position, her gaze darted to the crack between the door and its frame. Unable to hear in this form, she relied on her acute vision and the pitted sensors in her face that allowed her to read heat signals. Sound waves bounced around the house and ricocheted off her skull, allowing her to feel Griffin’s movements. His heat signal flared bright orange in her brain. The smaller, yellower signals belonged to the human Knights attacking the house.
Counting seven of them, Avani realized they were terribly outnumbered. Griffin didn’t let the obvious disadvantage stop him. He slapped his wings together. The force of his thunderous vibrations rattled her and made the walls shake. The closest Knight, the one creeping in through the front door, dropped instantly. No doubt he’d been rendered unconscious by the sound waves.
Upstairs, three Knights made their way to the stairs. Two came in from the kitchen and another dared the front door. That one didn’t make it far. Griffin whacked the Knight with his wing, throwing the man through a wall. She’d never seen anything like it in her life. In her snake form, the display of dominance caused a flare of interest and desire.
Certain Griffin could hold his own with the two slayers coming from the kitchen, Avani turned her attention to the trio coming downstairs. The primal instincts of her snake took hold. The love she felt for Griffin empowered her and drove her to defend him. She’d die before she let anyone harm her mate.
Embracing her reptilian instincts, Avani bided her time. She didn’t dare strike at the first man or the second. No, she waited for the third to walk just beyond the closet before moving in a flash of violent speed. Undaunted by the human logic that would have left her feeling remorse or guilt, she struck the man right in his neck, locking her jaw around his soft flesh and sinking her fangs deep into his neck. Venom spilled into his bloodstream. He gasped and clawed at her, but it was futile. The moment she felt the venom take hold, she relaxed her jaw and let him
drop.
The second man heard the commotion and turned toward her. His eyes widened with fear as she rose up to peer in his face. With a hiss, she attacked him. Unable to lock onto his neck, she bit his cheeks and forehead and finally his nose. He screamed and fell to his knees, but she paid him no mind.
The first Knight to come down the stairs aimed his weapon at her. In her human form, she would have hesitated and been hit fatally. As a serpent, she reacted with maximum speed, dropping to the floor and slithering out of the way. The bullets tore through the wall and then into the hardwood planks, but she managed to evade most of them. Two grazed her scaly flesh, but the wounds weren’t deep or life threatening.
She struck his calf and then bit his thigh twice. Screaming, he dropped to his knees. The weapon fell from his hand as he clutched at his numb limbs. She slammed her fangs into his chest and released a dose of venom. He made a choking sound before dropping onto his face and seizing.
Vibrations rippled through her skull. Gunshots? Slithering along the wall, she came into the living room. Griffin staggered on his feet as he faced his opponent. There were three Knights facedown on the floor surrounding him.
But the Knight standing across from Griffin filled her with such fury. It was the man he’d thrown through the wall earlier. Though clearly injured, he fired his weapon again, hitting Griffin with a series of darts. The poison in them left him lurching and unsteady on his feet.
Across the dark living room, their gazes met. As if in slow motion, Griffin fell to the floor. His body bounced as it impacted the wood, cracking the planks and shaking the house. His hand moved toward her, his fingers twitching wildly before his eyes closed.
Enraged, Avani reacted with lightning speed. She flew at the Knight who had shot her mate, lunging toward him with enough speed to knock him onto his back. He kicked her in the face and scurried away but she was quicker. She wound around his legs and jerked hard.
Back on the ground, he grabbed his weapon and fired at her. The poisonous dart hit its mark but had no immediate effect. He realized his mistake a moment too soon and reached for the handgun holster on his thigh. She bit his hand and injected enough venom to render him useless. With a cry of pain, he clutched his hand to his chest and dropped back to the floor.
The threat of the Knights neutralized, Avani slithered across the living room floor to reach Griffin. Nuzzling his neck, she felt the life draining out of him. The poison in the darts slowed his heartbeat and made it difficult for him to breathe. She could still feel the dart embedded along her scaly back. The poison had no effect on her. Apparently, she was immune to whatever it was.
Seeing no other choice, Avani knocked away the first dart with a swipe of her nose. She opened her jaw wide and rose up to bite Griffin in the spot he’d been shot. His nearly lifeless body didn’t even jerk when she sank her fangs into his hot, red dragon flesh. With long pulls, she sucked the poison from him, taking his rich blood into her mouth along with it.
As she moved to the next dart wound, she prayed this would work. Please live. I need you.
*
Griffin tried to surface from beneath the heavy, oppressive weight of drug-induced sleep. In the back of his mind, he knew he’d taken too many tranquilizer darts. The overdose of the medication the Knights used to subdue dragons for capture and interrogation made his lungs burn and his heart stutter as it fought to beat.
The vision of Avani as a serpent danced before him. As if conjured from thin air, she’d suddenly appeared from around the corner in a flash of milky white and mossy green. He’d never seen such coloring on a snake in the wild.
He’d been momentarily taken aback by her size and strength. She wasn’t nearly as big in her shifted form as he was in his, but she’d started from a smaller human frame. The way she’d moved with such striking finesse had stunned him. For all her talk of fighting her Naga side, she seemed so natural and at ease in that form. Or maybe she’d simply given in to animal instincts in her desperate need to protect him.
Even facing certain death, he’d been too taken with her exotic serpentine beauty to think of anything else. The darts hitting his chest and arms had dragged him back to reality.
She’d depended on him to protect her, but he’d failed her.
Refusing to let her die at the hands of the Knights, he fought against the poison coursing through his veins. Slowly, he became aware of a shocking, burning pain on the right side of his belly. He twitched as incredible suction tugged on his injured tissues. His vision morphed from the black sea of unconsciousness to spotty blurs of movement.
Blinking rapidly, he finally regained his eyesight but couldn’t move his limbs. The aching suction on his belly eased but a moment later the agony returned as two sharp fangs punctured the left side of his chest. The painful pulling sensation made his heart race. He gulped air into his oxygen-starved lungs and finally managed to move his fingers.
His hand moved with aggravating slowness. When he touched the scaly flesh laid across him, Griffin realized Avani was biting him—and taking the poison from his body. Panic punched him in the gut. What if it killed her? What if she was just as vulnerable to the powerful drugs used by the Knights? What if it hurt the child they might have already conceived?
Terrified that she would die or harm their possible child, he pushed at her, but she clamped down on his hand. She surprised him with her strength. He fought harder this time, shoving at her body and trying to dislodge the mouth fixed tightly to his skin. Her tail slithered closer and smacked at his free hand, but he wouldn’t be swayed. She had to stop before she’d taken too much of the poison into her.
As they grappled on the floor, Griffin grew aware of the pulsing dragon signatures drawing closer and closer. He recognized Stig and Ignatius approaching Mad’s house in a blast of speed. After his earlier phone call, they’d promised to stand guard. No doubt they’d felt his pain and panic as the Knights had descended and had rushed to reach them.
Like two planes coming in for a crash landing, the pair of dragons slammed into the front porch. Wood splintered and drywall exploded as the two burst into the living room. A moment too late, Griffin recognized how the scene must have looked as a Naga, his blood enemy, sank her fangs into his flesh. Before he could stop Stig, the fire-breathing dragon let loose a burst of wicked flames that skimmed Avani.
Hissing with pain, she jerked off him and reared up into a frightful striking stance. Fangs extended and dripping with his blood, she snapped forward to bite Stig but the other dragon whacked her with his wing. The impact knocked her across the room.
“No!” With a surge of anger, Griffin regained control of much of his body. He rolled onto his belly and pushed up on shaking arms. Stumbling toward Avani, he shielded her from Stig. “No!”
Shock filtered across Stig’s face as Avani coiled around Griffin’s leg and nuzzled her serpentine face against his bleeding belly. He protectively curled his wing around her body, simultaneously shielding and reassuring her. Her forked tongue flicked against his skin. Unable to speak, she communicated with him in the only way possible. He understood her message loud and clear and placed his hand along her side.
Meeting Ignatius and Stig’s curious gazes, he cleared his throat and tried to speak. Talking in this form was difficult so he chose the simplest words. “She is mine.”
He glanced down and held her gaze. Even with her face distorted in that snakelike way, he read the love expressed in her eyes. “And I am hers.”
Chapter Eight
Gripping Avani’s hand tightly, Griff led her down into the bunker beneath her home. Ignatius had remained behind at Mad’s place to clean up the mess and wait for reinforcements. Stig had accompanied them, but Griff’s Scandinavian friend remained upstairs to stand guard, giving the couple some much-needed privacy.
He tugged her along behind him and straight into the bathroom. Dazed from the violence she’d witnessed and her first—and hopefully only—kills in her shifted form, she didn’t protest w
hen he began to strip her. He dragged her soiled clothing from her shaking, shivering body and dropped it on the floor.
When they’d returned to human form, they’d hastily dressed and left the ransacked and badly demolished house. She’d gathered so much blood and debris on her skin and clothing during their hurried escape. Getting her clean and washing away the evidence of the horrific attack they’d barely survived topped his priorities.
She didn’t fight him as he pulled her into the small shower stall and into his arms. Clinging to his solid form, she burrowed tightly against him. Only then did she finally break down and begin to sob hysterically.
Guilt gripped his heart like a vise. This whole mess was his fault. He should never have put her at risk by taking her to Mad’s house. If she hadn’t been able to shift or dig deep to unleash her primal instincts, she would have been slaughtered alongside him in Mad’s living room. The thought of losing her cut him to the very core.
Suddenly, he was reminded of the way she’d wanted to be a single mother. Her motives at the time had been to protect their offspring from the painful childhood she’d experienced. He’d considered it a selfish move at first, before he’d gained an understanding of her fears and the strong maternal instinct to love and cherish that she already displayed. Now he had to wonder if he was the selfish one.
Was it selfish to want to keep her in his life even though his work with the Brotherhood would always be so dangerous? Was it selfish to mark the family they were trying to create with a massive target for retribution?
His gut churned as he faced an impossible choice. The desire to love and bind Vonny to him forever was too strong to deny—but his desperate need to protect her threatened to force them apart. If anything happened to her because of him, he would never forgive himself. She was the last of her kind and very precious.
