Nikky’s seatbelt constricted as his mother’s scream filled the car. His dad hollered one of those words Nikky wasn’t supposed to say. The wheels screeched. The car jiggled, jumped, and slammed through the guardrail.
Mommy reached back, holding Nikky in his booster seat even though he was already belted. “It’s okay, baby. Hold on.”
Her eyes didn’t look okay, though. Nikky wailed as the windshield shattered, and everything went black.
* * *
Don’t look down, he told himself, shaking as he stood. The spear jutted out from the edge of a perch two spans over, and one tier up.
He’d have to climb higher. Shit.
It’s just altitude. Mind over matter.
Taking a deep breath, he lunged for the next perch. His heart rattled, knowing no seatbelt protected him this time. His mind screamed until his right hand caught the ledge, but his left slid on loose gravel. Nik dangled God-knows-how-high off the ground.
He steeled himself. This was no different than climbing the ladders at his last job. Focus on your destination, eyes up, not down. His stomach still twitched though, perfectly aware of what was and wasn’t below him.
The gravel sprinkled from the edge as Nik grappled for purchase. His right hand slipped, and sweat drenched his back and dripped down his temples. He could do this. No. He would do this.
He reached for the ledge again, but a gray dragon with a jagged scar across one foggy white eye peered over the precipice. Hot breath puffed against Nik’s face, coating him with the smell of decayed flesh. He struggled to hold his breath as veiny, yellow eyes promised him a swift death.
Dammit! Why wasn’t this one with the other grays? The revolting beast growled as it reached down and grabbed Nik’s flailing left hand. Nik gripped the ledge tighter with his right, waiting for the dragon to fling him from the perch.
Below, the audience bounded in excitement, half the eyes drawn to him, the remainder on the battle still raging below. Nik slipped and the dragon growled. This murderous, shit-for-brains lizard was playing with him, waiting for the perfect moment before it dropped him into Gale’s waiting gullet below.
A flash of cobalt and wind fluttered past as a blue dragon alighted to the right of the gray and shifted into a woman with long, dark hair covering her… Jesus, covering her naked everything.
“The ancient gray is injured,” she called to Nik. “He can’t pull you up. Give me your other hand.” She reached down to him.
Nik looked from her, to the crazed yellow eyes of the gray dragon. If he released his grip, this gray bastard, who could be Gale’s brother for all he knew, would drop him. There was no way he was letting go.
The woman waved her open palm at him. “Come, human. There is no time!”
Naked Lady’s fierce gaze filled him with hope, but the stinking gray dragon… was trembling. Its bloodshot eyes implored, as if it was in pain. Shit. It wasn’t trying to kill him; it was helping.
Nik let go and shot his hand into Naked Lady’s grip. She yanked him up with strength no woman should have. She stumbled back and Nik fell on top of her, one hand beside her shoulder and the other full-on grabbing her boob.
“Shit!” He scrambled off her. “Sorry. That was completely unintentional.”
She smiled at him, rising to her full, naked glory. “Dragons do not have modesty, or alarm concerning one part of our bodies over another.”
That made sense, he guessed.
She inclined her head as she walked toward the edge and dropped to her hands and knees. “Mount me. Quickly.”
Nik’s gaze carried over her perfectly sculpted ass. “Excuse me?”
The air about her rippled, and her beautiful derriere morphed into an even more beautiful sparkling blue array of scales.
Oh! Mount her. Idiot. He climbed up and wedged his nutsack between two menacing black barbs on her back. She growled at him, and he took that as a warning to hang on as she jumped off the perch.
He winced, sliding forward, the crotch of his jeans jamming against the razor-like protrusions on her spine, before she settled a few feet from where the spear had landed.
He rolled off her, holding his crotch as she shifted back into human form. Her breasts hung in his face as she nudged him.
“Get up, human.”
Nik blinked, forcing his gaze away from that incredible rack, and stared at her. She pointed to the edge of the perch, where the spear glistened, imbedded in the stone.
Shit, yeah, the spear. Dizzy, he shook his head to clear out the remnants of pain and inched toward the edge.
* * *
“I got you, little bro.” A man outside the car window called to Nikky as he tried the door. He said one of those bad words when it wouldn’t open.
Nikky cried for Mommy again. Why weren’t she and Daddy scaring away the stranger? The car shifted, sliding down the side of the mountain before jolting to a stop.
Nikky struggled to breathe through his sobs, closing his eyes to hide from the voices and muffled shouting outside. Mommy and Daddy said they were all going to see Nanna and Pops. Why were they here?
The man appeared at the other window. “Look away.” He called, hauling a big rock in the air.
The car jiggled again, and the man cried out, dropping the rock. He stumbled, waving his arms before he disappeared. Nikky froze as he saw him again through the windshield below, falling until he was only a spec in the distance.
* * *
Nik’s heartbeat thudded in his ears as he inched toward the edge. Behind him, the blue dragons scraped their claws on the rocky shelf.
His voluptuous friend stepped beside him. “What’s wrong with you? Take the spear.”
Sweat dripped from his hairline as the edge blurred. His mind spun and he stepped back. The edge— shit, the edge!
* * *
Tears blurred Nikky’s vision as another man appeared by his window. The guy tested a rope tied to his waist and clunked a giant metal alligator mouth against the door. Nikky howled, hiding from the monster as it ate the side of the car.
The metal crunched and Nikky hid beneath his palms until warm, human hands cupped his face, released his seatbelt and lifted him from the car.
The window jarred as he slipped through. The man said a bad word, crushing Nikky to his chest as the car creaked and rolled until it flew through the air and dropped, leaving Nikky alone with the man tied to a rope.
Nikky screamed for Mommy and Daddy as he twisted against the stranger’s grip and reached for the valley far beneath them.
But the car was gone, taking Mommy and Daddy with it.
* * *
Nik fell to his knees, immobile as the dragons dueled below. The shaft of the spear stuck out of the edge, mocking him, less than a step away.
The woman shoved him. “Take it, human. Use the height to your advantage.”
The height. Yes, height would normally be an advantage, at least to other people. With a clean drop from overhead, the spear would pick up speed as it fell. A throw from here would be ten times as deadly, and Gale would never see it coming.
Nik drew in a deep breath and crawled half a pace to the edge. Heavy with sweat, his shirt clung to his chest and arms. He stopped, panting.
Naked Lady knelt beside him. “I cannot touch the spear. If you are ill, remove your shirt and I will use the cloth to try to pull the weapon free, but you must hurry.”
A dragon shrieked below. The high pitch had to be Pijeth. Nik didn’t have time to take off his shirt and hope the spear didn’t hurt the pretty naked dragon. He needed to do this now. He had one job to do in this godforsaken crazy plan, and he sure as hell was going to do it.
He slid to the edge on his stomach, his hands shaking on the cold stone floor.
* * *
“Let me go! Let me go!” Nikky screamed.
The man only tightened his grip as the people above pulled the rope, hoisting them up the side of the mountain.
* * *
Dragging himself across
the floor, the shaft now loomed inches from Nik’s face. He could do this. He could save everyone with one throw of the ancient weapon. But the hilt blurred and doubled, jumping from left to right. Nik closed his eyes. It was an illusion. The spear was right there. He needed to finish this. He was the only one who could.
* * *
Nanna hugged little Nikky to her. “It’s going to be all right, Nikau.”
He struggled in her grip. “It’s not okay. I want my Momma!”
She brushed the damp hair from his eyes. “The sun has risen on a new day, my strong Maori warrior. It may not seem like it now, but you are destined for great things. You will do your parents proud.”
Nikky fell onto her shoulder, sobbing. How could anything ever be great again?
* * *
Nik squeezed his eyes tighter against the memory. He was destined for great things. He was a Kotahi. The first in generations. He’d been chosen, and his dragon, and every dragon in this theater were counting on him. He wouldn’t let them down. He’d never let anyone down again.
He reached out and grasped cold steel. The shaft pulsed in his grip, beckoning, begging for blood.
“Pull it out, human.”
Nik gulped, opening his eyes.
Below, Joe and Anna tugged on the chain connected to her ankle. Joe would struggle with a chain that thick even in dragon form. He wasn’t freeing her anytime soon. To their right, Gale pinned Pijeth to the arena floor. His spine was a huge target. Nik wouldn’t even have to throw. At this height, he could just drop the heavy weapon and let gravity win the day.
He yanked on the spear, but at the odd angle, he had no leverage.
The room spun.
The ground beckoned to him.
His head and arms drew down as if weighted, or the ground below was sucking him in.
Nik closed his eyes again. Nothing was moving, and the ground wasn’t alive and plotting his death. He knew it. He just needed to convince his eyes, his mind, his everything that there was nothing to fear.
“Hold tight, human.” Naked Lady wrapped her arms around his waist, towing him from the edge.
His hands slipped along the cool shaft. His shoulders burned. Clenching his teeth, he tightened his grip. They could do this. He could do this.
“Come on!” Nik shouted at the ancient weapon, adding his strength. The shaft creaked, jimmied, then slid free.
He stared at the spear, a long dark cylinder over the torchlight from behind, until the metal began to hum again, as if powering up for its impending flight.
Joe looked up at him from Anna’s platform and nodded to his Kotahi. He shouted something to Anna and they attacked the chain anew. Pijeth snapped at Gale’s face, and his tail slapped the larger dragon’s back. The huge gray growled, slamming the gold’s head to the floor, baring Pijeth’s neck.
Joe leaned back, yanking Anna’s restraints until the baseplate dislodged from the floor, leaving a hole in the platform where the chains had been anchored. Both he and Anna stumbled and fell, but she was free.
If Nik was going to do this, now was the time.
He stepped to the edge. The gray dragons staring at him from the opposite platform froze. He raised the spear, held his breath, and readied to drop the weapon on Gale should any of them bathe him in fire, but the entire section of the king’s kin sat and watched. The only fire came from their yellow eyes. Nik smiled, more aware than ever of what a monster the beast below must be, before he drew the spear back and threw.
28
The weapon glinted in the torchlight as it fell toward them. Anna clutched Joe, holding her breath until the spear pierced scale. Gale reared up like a colossal, shrieking demon as the wound smoked and sizzled at the point of impact.
Pijeth slipped out from under the huge gray, favoring his right front leg. The gold flared out his wings, but Gale only ducked.
Joe and Anna stooped below Pijeth’s swishing tale before Gale reached back and yanked the spear from his shoulder.
Her stomach dropped.
No. It wasn’t possible.
Nik had hit Gale. This insanity should all be over.
The stadium grew silent. Smoke rose from Gale’s fist and a sickly, ashen smell hung in the air as he aimed the spear at Pijeth. Anna’s grip on Joe’s shirt tightened. The spear was burning the mammoth gray, but not enough. That had been their one and only chance at victory.
A howl echoed through the chamber as Nik jumped from the ledge above. He seemed to fall forever before he slammed onto Gale’s back. Anna gasped as the Kotahi wheezed out a breath and shook his head as if he couldn’t see.
Eyes blazing with fury, Gale turned toward the intruder as Nike scrabbled up the dragon’s hide and wrapped his arms and legs around the monster’s neck. Gale growled and spun, snapping at him.
The spear slipped from Gale’s grip and clanked to the floor. Could they be so lucky?
Joe stepped back as the shimmering weapon rolled toward him.
Anna stopped it with her foot. She grasped the shaft, hefting the cool, dense metal with both hands. Her biceps stung from the exertion as Gale continued to spin, clawing at Nik.
“I can’t throw it,” Anna shouted over Gale’s roar. “It’s too heavy.”
Joe reached for the shaft. As his fingers met the metal, he gasped and drew away, shaking his hand.
Gale stood on his hind legs, still trying to knock Nik off, when Pijeth reared up, shoving the larger dragon.
Anna’s eyes widened as the drum of her heartbeat slowed in her ears. Her vision tunneled, focusing on the deep hole in the platform where her chains had disappeared into the floor.
“Help me!”
She hefted the weapon, dragging it across the ground as Gale faltered. Joe grabbed the shaft, grimacing as smoke and the nauseating stench of burned flesh rose from his grip. They reached the hole, shoved the aft of the spear into the floor, and held the humming rod steady as Gale stumbled towards them, drawn down by Nik’s extra weight. The huge beast toppled back, and Joe tackled Anna to the floor as the colossus fell.
Gale’s roar filled the stadium as Nik dropped off the gray’s neck and rolled to safety before the spear pierced Gale’s hide. The beast’s momentum drove the weapon clear through his back and out his reptilian chest.
The gray convulsed, clawing at the metal and howling. Flames spewed from his mouth, igniting the air with the beast’s fury. The dragons above roared and slammed on their perches, sounding like an army of horses charging into battle.
Smoke rose from the wound. Dark, boiling ooze bubbled down the dragon’s gray hide until his arms and head dropped to the floor.
An eerie silence fell over the chamber.
Nik stood, favoring one leg.
On the far side of the room, Connor balanced against Shun’s wing and clutched his stomach with his other arm.
Pijeth nudged Gale’s body twice, then bellowed, shooting flame toward the ceiling. The room erupted in howls and Draconic prattle as three brilliant purple dragons hovered over the carcass, shooting what looked like water from their mouths, coating the former king with a sticky goo. Within seconds, Gale’s skin bubbled and smoke rose into the heights of the theater. Anna covered her nose from the stench as the carcass shifted and oozed. The bones caved in on themselves, puddling into a thick black liquid that seeped into the floor and disappeared, leaving no trace of the former king.
It was over. He was actually gone.
The smell dissipated. Anna choked out a breath and grabbed Joe. He clung to her, shaking.
She tightened their embrace. When Gale flew her away from their mountain, she’d thought that was the end, that her own idiocy and stupid trusting nature had doomed herself and the Draconi. Then Joe had appeared like an avenging angel. Now they stood together on the same platform where she’d been bound, victorious.
The roar in the theater was deafening as a duo of gold dragons left their perches and slammed to the dais, shaking the ground.
Joe pushed Anna behind him
.
“What’s wrong?” she asked. “It’s over. We won.”
“No we didn’t. I didn’t kill Gale. Pijeth did.”
Anna gaped. “But we held the dragon spear. He died because of us.”
Joe shook his head. “It was Pijeth’s battle. He toppled Gale, not us. They won’t care who set the spear.”
The largest of the golden brothers limped toward them, a menacing figure despite his injury. Two speckled gold guards held sentry at his flanks.
Joe’s grip tightened as Pijeth’s gaze hovered over them. The larger dragon took a step toward her, and Anna’s blood iced.
She was still the dragon queen, and now she belonged to the wrong dragon.
There had to be a way out of this. They just needed a second to think it through.
The guard on Pijeth’s right raked the floor with his talons.
Pijeth garbled something in Draconic and Joe released his grip on Anna.
She grabbed his shoulder. “What are you doing?”
“He’s the king, Anna. It’s over.”
That’s it? He wasn’t even going to fight for her?
“Gale is dead and golds don’t kill their mates.” Joe looked back at her. “You’re safe. That’s all I ever wanted.”
Her chest twisted. “But what about what I want?” She grabbed his hand. “Whatever this is between us, I don’t get it, but think I lo—” She stopped herself, and a small part of her heart shattered. She’d been fighting her growing feelings for days, but now she wanted to cling to her little pale dragon forever. She never expected this thing between them to last, but if it had to end, she wanted it to be under their own terms, amicably, as they’d agreed. And if she had to stay, she wanted Joe, not this gold dragon she barely knew.
Pijeth erupted in a flash of light, shifting into his human form. He dropped to his knees, wincing and holding his thigh. He brushed off the two guards who tried to help him and stood on his own, managing to look regal even through the pain.
Sirens and Scales Page 375
