by M. L. Briers
He felt bone cold, as if the witches had reached right into his body and had frozen it solid, but he was made of fire, and heat melted ice. He could already feel his body thawing out.
He was still alive, and if he was still breathing then he was still in with a chance of completing his mission and getting back home.
Live to fight another day wasn’t something that he believed in, but still, he’d rather be the one left standing.
He tested his muscles and found them wanting, and yet, he still managed to pull himself up onto all fours, dragged himself backwards onto his knees, and then he pushed upwards…
With a roar of anger mixed with the inability to function properly; he forced his muscles to move. The more he moved, the more he’d be able to warm himself…
The more he warmed himself – the easier it would be to shift and take to flight again, and then he’d burn the damn castle down to the ground with those sneaky witches on top.
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“After me you’re …” Connor had allowed him mate to go so far, but outside to face the dragon was another matter entirely…
“First?” Vicky finished for him…
“Never going to get out the damn door…” Connor assured her, lifting her in one easy movement, and turning her behind him.
“Can you two please have your domestic squabble-fest at another time?” Justice growled and Dexter had to chuckle…
“Squabble-fest?” Connor considered it. “I like that.”
“Can we just go and get our backsides kicked by the dragon?” Landon growled.
His beast wasn’t exactly eager to take on a mythical being, but it was all in for protecting the mates…
“With that attitude maybe you should stay behind…” Connor berated him, and the alpha growled a long, hard warning at the man. “Or not.”
“Not…” Landon growled back.
“Fine, females stay, men…” Connor got no further.
“Females stay…?” Zana snorted her contempt for that as she headed out of the front door right behind George…
“If she can go…” Vicky started forward, trying to elbow Connor out of the way.
“She has a sword…” Connor didn’t have time to sooth his mate’s ego.
“I have magic and a kick in the balls for you if you…” Vicky bit down on her need to zap her mate.
The man was the biggest male chauvinist pig that she’d ever met – but, only where she was concerned – he bended the rules for others…
“Well, my mate isn’t here – I’m going…” Chelsea said, following on after Landon and Justice and some of Dexter’s pack…
“Oh, the damn hell, no…” Vicky practically elbowed Connor out of the way – adding a little magic to her thrust to shift him – and started towards the door with the sound of her mate groaning in annoyance behind her.
“I just love to talk to my damn self…” Connor bit out…
“We noticed…” Dexter offered from somewhere in front of Vicky.
Connor’s argument with his troublesome mate had put him at the back of the queue to deal with the dragon.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
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George didn’t wait for the others. The moment that he was outside of the castle he started running on fast feet, following his nose to lead him towards the downed dragon.
His arms pumped the air as he ran … a heartbeat later and his beast burst from inside of him.
His wolf roared with anger. The beast churned up the earth as it went. His claws dug deep and spat out chucks of turf into the air.
George’s only desire was to get to the dragon shifter and kill him as fast as possible so that nobody else could get hurt, especially not his mate.
If he could do that then he might just have a chance at a life with his one true love.
If he died trying … well, then he hoped the others would protect his mate as he’d protected theirs since he’d been on the mountain.
He spotted the shifter in his human form – it would have been hard to miss the man. He was damn big, but George’s beast was determined…
One or the other would die, and he damn well wanted to be the one that was left standing.
He wanted his mate.
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Roloko saw the size of the beast that was coming at him and his heart thumped his ribcage. It wasn’t just the size of the wolf, but the red eyes that gave away what it was that he was about to tangle with.
A true alpha – formidable…
Roloko forced the shift within him. He knew that his dragon wasn’t ready, but he had little choice.
His beast didn’t protest. The shift didn’t come easy, but by the time that the wolf was almost upon him, the dragon rose from within him and burst into being with a roar that told of the pain it had caused him…
Roloko’s wings felt as if they were encased in cement. He lifted them and felt the effort drag them back down again…
The wolf launched itself at one wing.
He felt the piercing tear into his flesh from the beast’s razor sharp claws and his dragon let out a deafening screech…
He managed to jerk his wing and dislodge the wolf, but he knew that the beast would quickly be back for more…
He needed to take to flight, and he needed to do it before the alpha picked himself up from the ground, or the rest of the group managed to reach him…
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Zana ran on fast feet towards the dragon. Her mate was down, but far from out – she knew that the wolf just needed a few seconds to shake off what ailed him.
She instilled her magic into the blade and launched herself towards the beast. It turned its head, and she caught sight of her own reflection within its huge eye…
For such a huge beast, it moved faster than she’d expected – spinning in place and flicking its tail at her…
She felt the strong arms come around her body – felt her sword bury within the flesh of the beast before it was wrenched away as she was tossed through the air – away from the dragon – away from the fight…
Zana hit the ground hard, but she rolled straight through it and up onto her feet on the other side of that collision. Her eyes took a second to locate the man who had saved her backside as he flew backwards through the air from the hard lash of the dragon’s tail as it whipped him…
Connor knew before he’d even hit the ground that he’d damaged more than one rib by taking the hit for the witch. Better him than a human female – at least he wouldn’t have to waste any time feeding her his blood and fighting off the wrath of her mate…
Landon had shifted into his bear, and the other alphas had decided to follow suit and shift into their beasts.
One true alpha, six alpha wolves, one vampire, and five witches faced down the dragon.
It was just a case of who blinked first…
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Roloko took to flight. He had little option – the beasts were on the move, trying to surround him on all sides, and he couldn’t let that happen.
He wasn’t the fastest of them. He needed to rise above to see where the next challenge was going to come from…
The witch had surprised him with her attack, and he hadn’t wanted to hurt her too badly, but he obviously didn’t trust that she’d felt the same way about him.
As it was the vampire had taken the hit. Good for him. He liked a man who fought with honour.
As for the witch with the sword – he wouldn’t misjudge her again.
He rose from the ground with a screech of anger and pain. His wing still hadn’t healed. His bones still felt damn cold, and the sword had injured his tail … none of that felt life threatening. None of it gave him a reason to abandon his kill for now.
He would still be able to defeat the true alpha, and the witches’ magic could do little to him – they could only manipulate nature as
they had done with the ice storm. But he knew that if they tried to use that tactic now, then they would kill themselves and their mates in the process…
He had the upper hand, but in case they were in any doubt…
He filled his chest with the crisp air and let loose the fire that hit the castle and set it to burn…
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“The others…” Chelsea saw the flames licking the castle and felt the rush of panic within her…
“The tunnels will survive it…” Connor assured her.
“We need to magic the damn thing…” she bit out. She preferred to fight one on one, but there was no damn way that she could take a dragon on in a fist fight.
She aimed her magic at the beast, but even with a damn good kick in the pants that she should have given it – nothing happened.
“We need a damn big leash, or a really big stick to beat it with…” Connor said.
Vicky looked up.
The dragon wasn’t that far away … she pulled on the collective magic of the witches inside the castle and forced it out of her fingertips in one blast that missed the beast, but caught the top of Connor’s tree – the crack of the magic hitting the trunk echoed through the air; as she grabbed the thick bough with her magic and wrenched it towards her…
“My branch…” Connor bit out, but he knew what his mate had planned, and he made damn sure that he was out of the way as the trunk smashed down onto the dragon’s back and sent the beast tail spinning downwards…
“Really big bloody stick…” Vicky bit out.
“I don’t think magic works…” Zana bit out. “I hit it with my sword that was laced with magic and nothing…”
“Manipulate your surroundings,” Vicky said.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” Connor asked.
“We hit it with really thick things, wanna volunteer?”
“Throw an alpha at it. We’ve got plenty,” Connor said and heard every wolf growl at him.
“You wanna get your backside bitten off?” Vicky asked.
“Alphas – no damn sense of humour…” Connor muttered, but there wasn’t any more time left – the dragon was shaking itself off for another strike…
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
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“Storm – we need a storm…” Vicky decided.
“Don’t freeze our backsides, Vicky…” Brody growled as he stalked the imaginary line around the beast along with the others, he shifted into his wolf and felt a lot better for it.
The dragon started to push up…
Landon’s bear raced for the tail. He didn’t much like the idea of going for a ride, but he hoped it wouldn’t come to that…
George’s wolf raced towards Roloko. The beast was outsized and outweighed by the might of the dragon – but the man didn’t care.
George knew that the alphas were going to attack to protect what was theirs, and he wasn’t about to stand by and watch it happen.
Zana was hard on his heels. Her magic was somewhat useless against the beast, but she still had her sword – if she got close enough, maybe she could inflict some lasting damage, enough, hopefully, for the alphas to do their thing…
Landon sunk his claws into the dragon’s tail and his jaws clamped around whatever he could find. When the dragon released a piercing screech; he had to guess that someone had hit him where it hurt…
When Roloko whipped his tail – Landon held on for dear life…
The winds had been whipped up. Rain fell in bucket loads rather than sheets – dampening the fire that clung to the castle, and making life difficult for everyone … including the dragon…
Connor pressed forwards while the dragon was distracted by the alphas attacking in one surge. The beast was frantically whipping its tail around, trying to dislodge Landon and strike at the wolves…
“Sword…” Connor shouted to Zana, and the witch wasted no time in launching it towards him.
Connor used the dragon’s leg as a stepping stone from which to push upwards. In a heartbeat; he was upon the beast’s back – a moment later and he held the sword within both of his hands as he brought the blade down into the neck of the beast…
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Roloko felt the blade piece his armoured skin. The pain screamed through his body and his mind, and he tried, and failed to launch his weight from the ground.
He whipped his tail and finally flung the bear aside, but the alpha wolves were taking their share of his flesh…
He couldn’t stay, but he couldn’t leave either…
In a moment of frenzy he used his tail to whip the alphas aside … spinning around in place, he even managed to dislodge the vampire, who jumped for firm ground…
His eyes locked onto the true alpha as the beast stood firm and proud before him.
The beasts red eyes locked with his own and challenged him…
Roloko knew that he could have crushed the alpha with one hard flick of his tail, and yet, he chose not to…
The witch’s sword was still lodged firmly within his flesh and the only way to be rid of it was to shift back into his human form…
But, would they attack as one if he did?
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“What the…?” Connor bit out at the sight of the dragon shifting back into his human form.
The man’s jet black eyes were locked and loaded on George’s beast, and a heartbeat later that beast had been replaced by the man himself.
“I came for you and only you…” Roloko roared.
His words signalled a challenge that the others couldn’t ignore.
“Here I am…” George growled with the roar of anger inside of him.
“You fight him – you fight me…” Zana held a dagger within each fisted hand. “He’s my mate.”
“Mate…” Roloko bit out as if the word tasted bitter upon his tongue.
While his own beast was so cruelly caged, he would never know a mate. It was the way of it, and had been for many centuries.
“Now, let’s not get ahead of ourselves…” Connor said, eyeing the witch, but still with half an eye on the dragon shifter.
“This is my fight,” George growled at Roloko. “Keep her out of it.”
“All I have to do is kill you and then I can be on my way…” the dragon shifter assured him.
He had no real argument with the rest of them. They’d attacked him to save their own – he respected that.
“Why do you have to kill him?” Vicky demanded…
“To keep the balance in our world,” Roloko looked at her as if she was insane. “You’re a witch – you know how this goes.”
“And a dragon is balance?” Chelsea snorted her contempt for the man and his beast.
“My dragon only awakens when there is a perceived threat…”
“Who perceives it?” Vicky didn’t give him a chance to finish.
“The ancient ones…” Roloko growled back.
“Well, we all have ancient ones – what makes them so damn special…?” she tossed back.
“They are the ones from which all supernatural came…” He growled in annoyance at the witch’s questions…
“The Pict…” she snorted her contempt for his answer…
Roloko gave a curt nod of his head…
“And your watchers are…?” Connor asked Zana, and the witch frowned.
“Pict…” she answered.
“So they’ll playing a game of chess with us here…” Connor tossed up a hand…
He didn’t like it. Pict verses Pict. Perhaps they should fight their own damn battles themselves.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
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“Why does your dragon only awaken when there is a threat?” Vicky asked…
“Because dragons are long since dead and harder to hide than wolves, vampires, or other Fae … and then there is the balance thing…” Roloko growled.
He felt the hard stin
g of hatred within him for that decision … it wasn’t right – not for his beast.
“Not on top of the mountain…” Connor said back, eyeing the shifter, and trying to size him up…
“Now hold on a damn minute there…” Landon had shifted back into his human form the moment that he sensed which way the conversation was turning…
“It’s not the worst idea…” Connor said…
“It’s not the best damn idea either…” Landon growled…
“We’ve got pups here…” Justice growled – human again the moment that Landon had shifted…
“He’s not a monster…” Connor tossed a hand towards the man… “He’s just really … big.”
“Let’s do this…” George growled. His beast was more than ready for the fight to death…
“Hold your horses there true alpha…” Connor bit out.
“Hey…” George growled back.
“What?” Connor demanded, flustered right down to his very bones as he whipped around to face the man…
“I don’t know…” George growled back.
“Nice … logical argument,” Connor tossed his way, before he turned towards Roloko. “All I’m wondering is … do we have to get all claws and razor sharp fangs…?”
“I know if I don’t kill him then they’ll just send someone else to do it…” Roloko nodded towards George and the alpha growled back…
“Not if we hide him…” Vicky said with a small shrug off her shoulders.
“Like inside the castle?” Zana snorted. “That’s not going to work…”
“Like under magic…” Vicky offered back. “We’ve got enough witches on this mountain for more than one coven, between us we could come up with a spell that would – I don’t know – doom off the mountain and surrounding areas…”
“I still have to kill the dragon…” George growled with the anticipation of the fight that his beast was ready for…
