SavageDragon

by Anna Hackett

  He had to get off her. Before she did something she’d regret.

  She jerked her knee up, aiming where he was most vulnerable. Her movements were hampered by the weight of him and she only grazed his thigh. Still, it was enough to make him loosen his grip.

  Leaping to her feet, she lashed out again with a side kick.

  This time he used his full strength against her. She realized how much he’d held back before. And just how strong he was.

  Kira found herself facedown on the ground, cheek pressed to the dirt. He lowered his body on her again, pinning her. Tears welled up in her eyes. She was a knight and a good fighter, but she’d been bested. He was better and more experienced, although she’d had a chance if she hadn’t lost control.

  “I probably deserved the first hit, but I’m not going to let you get away with it again.” His lips brushed her ear, his breath hot on the back of her neck.

  She squeezed her eyes shut. Against the shame of having attacked a higher-ranking knight. Against the dazzling sensations he incited in her.

  How could she want this man? Sarkany nuzzled her neck and her back went stiff. “What are you doing?”

  “You smell so good.”

  She burned, wanted to turn around and let this man have her. It was so easy to imagine how he’d feel naked, thrusting inside her. Oh, God. She was so weak.

  “Please don’t do this. Get off me.” She hated that she sounded so panicked.

  He rested his face against her hair and she thought she heard him sigh. Then he pushed off her.

  She warily got to her feet and forced her breathing to slow. She needed to get herself under control.

  He dusted off his clothes. “Let’s call a truce.”

  She stared at a point over his shoulder, couldn’t look him in the eye. She didn’t want to think about what had just happened. Think about the wild, Kira. You have a job to do.

  She managed a nod. “Okay, truce.”

  “Let’s get going. We need to catch this wild before nightfall.” He looked up at the darkening sky. “He’ll know I’m coming after him.”

  There was something in his voice. “You know who the wild is?”

  He nodded and started back up the path, determination in his stride.

  She followed, and forced her gaze off his firm butt. “Who is he?”

  Sarkany was silent for a moment. “His name was Ander. He was a squire for the Order.”

  A squire, a knight in training. That meant this wild was anywhere from thirteen to eighteen years old. So young.

  Her heart twisted. Was. Sarkany had said was. To him the boy was already dead.

  “He was my squire.”

  His words were so quiet, she almost didn’t catch them. She frowned and cast him a sharp glance. His face was in profile, but she saw the way his jaw worked. And she’d heard something in his tone, something underlying his words.

  Surely that wasn’t regret in the voice of the Savage Dragon?

  Chapter Three

  “This is it,” Rordan murmured as the reek of wild dragon and death assaulted him. “His lair.”

  The cave entrance was a large gash in the side of the mountain, a dark, yawning mouth.

  Kira stepped up beside him and her light, cool fragrance replaced the odor. He breathed deep and savored the freshness of her. What would it be like to have her in his life? To have her wipe away the darkness closing in on him?

  “Well, are we going in, Sarkany?”

  Her voice snapped him back. The way she used his surname, with a coloring of disdain, grated on him. He scrubbed a hand through his hair. Damn, she was a distraction. He was a renowned knight of the Order, and he never let himself be distracted on the hunt. “Follow me.”

  She looked like she wanted to argue, but surprised him by nodding. Inside, the cave was cold and dank, water dripping down the walls.

  Kira glanced around. “I’ve only been in one lair before. Mostly I’ve caught my wilds outside, while they’re attacking.” She angled her head. “The Order says it’s better not to enter their lairs.”

  “They’re right. It’s not pretty,” he warned.

  She squared her shoulders. “I can handle it.”

  They continued into the mountain. Soon the tunnel narrowed and the light from the outside faded, leaving dark shadows that hid a multitude of secrets.

  His dragon eyes readily adjusted to the gloom. The cave was tight and his arm brushed against Kira with every step. Electricity sparked across his skin and he sensed she felt it, too. Dragons were highly sexual creatures and he knew when a woman wanted him.

  He sighed. It didn’t change the fact she hated him. He didn’t blame her. He’d executed her brother and destroyed her family. It didn’t matter that Marek had gone wild—Rordan was still the one who’d ended the young man’s life. It haunted him to know he’d done that to her.

  For the thousandth time he wondered if he was the merciless killer people thought him to be. By his age, knights had usually mated, had someone to anchor them. He loved his parents but didn’t share any of his dark burden with them. Instead, he kept the darkness inside him.

  Where it fed his dragon, driving him toward the slippery edge of turning wild.

  He released a tense breath and forged ahead. The tunnel got tighter, the walls closing in on them, and he let Kira take the lead. Wanted to avoid an argument.

  The cool air grew warmer. The deeper they went, the more heated and humid the atmosphere. Sweat beaded on his skin and his shirt grew damp.

  Kira’s impassioned plea that she could have saved Marek still disturbed Rordan. What if she was right? Marek had been newly turned; maybe he could have been saved. It had never happened before; all the legends said that once dragons crossed the line, they couldn’t go back.

  But it didn’t stop Rordan’s insides twisting as he wondered if he should have given the young man a chance. Or all the thousands of other wild dragons he’d killed over the years.

  And what about the boy they hunted now? He was much younger than Marek. Could the gentle boy Rordan had tutored the past three years be saved?

  He stepped around a boulder and kept his gaze on Kira. He tried to focus on the long braid hanging down the middle of her back, and not the tight buttocks hugged by black leather.

  “Sarkany, look.”

  Oh, he was looking. He brushed his forearm across his sweaty forehead and glanced over her shoulder. The cave widened again, opening up into an enormous cavern. As they stepped inside, he took in the burning torches haphazardly attached to the rock walls, then the soaring ceiling lost in the darkness above.

  “God, it’s like a sauna in here.” Kira stripped off her coat and wrapped it around her hips.

  When she undid another button on her shirt and exposed more smooth skin, Rordan looked and hungered. When she caught him staring, she drew her brows together.

  She hates you, remember. He looked a second longer before he turned away to probe the shadows. He didn’t see the wild. “Do you sense him?”

  “No.”

  Nor did Rordan. It worried him. The wild couldn’t be far away. He scrutinized the lair and didn’t like that there was only one way in and one way out.

  A glimmer of gold caught his eye. He strode over to it, already knew what it was. In a sheltered alcove, a pile of gold objects, coins, chalices and jewelry lay heaped together on the dirt floor. Ander’s hoard.

  When dragons went wild, they hungered after everything and anything. They hoarded riches, ate voraciously and lusted after women.

  “Oh, God.”

  Kira’s choked voice had Rordan following the direction of her horrified gaze. When he saw a woman’s mutilated, naked body not far from the gold pile, rage rushed through him. “Turn away.”

  She shook her head. “I…I have to—”

  “Damn you, turn away.” He didn’t want her to see this. He knew she was a knight, knew she’d killed before, but what had been done to the woman was beyond depraved. Grabbing Kira’s sho
ulders, he forced her to turn.

  Her cheeks were ashen. When he pulled her to him, she went willingly and pressed her face into his shirt.

  “It’s okay. Get your breath back.” His arm tightened around her. “It never gets easy.” He studied the body. Just a girl really. She faced him, her limbs twisted at odd angles, her blond hair tangled and bloody.

  “H-he raped her.” Kira’s hands clutched at Rordan’s shirt. “He tortured her.”

  “Yes.” Rordan kept his tone blank. “Our dragon blood enhances our desires, but when a dragon goes wild, it gets worse. They lust for everything.” She knew all this, but he had to try to explain himself. Explain why he did this job. “Since they’re immortal, they can keep killing forever. Unless we stop them.”

  Unable to help himself, he slid his hand up into her hair, touched the silky strands.

  She jerked away. “I don’t need to be comforted.”

  And especially not by him, he guessed. She no doubt hated herself for taking even a moment’s comfort from her brother’s killer.

  “I’m a knight. I have to see this.” She stiffened her spine and turned to face the body.

  He watched her flinch and press a hand to her mouth. But she forced herself look at the destruction the wild had caused. Rordan felt a rush of pride. She was tough, that was for sure.

  She shot a glance over her shoulder, frowned at the cave entrance. “Something’s coming.”

  He knew she was a water dragon, which meant she had an acute sense of hearing. He didn’t hear anything, but he didn’t doubt her. Suddenly the ground rumbled beneath them. Small rocks rained down from overhead.

  Kira threw an arm up to deflect the rocks. “Earthquake?”

  “No.” He pulled her close again, despite her resistance, and shielded her with his body. “Ander is an earth dragon.”

  “Great,” she muttered. “You could have mentioned that before we headed into the belly of a mountain.”

  Rordan eyed the walls as they shook with violent force. With their magic, earth dragons could command the earth and rocks at will. Earthquakes and landslides were a favorite tactic of theirs. “Come on, we need to get out of here.”

  They ran for the entrance. As they neared, a man stepped into the cave.

  Except Rordan knew it was no man.

  “Rordan. Now this really isn’t a surprise.”

  Rordan stared at what had once been his squire. Ander still had the tall, slim body of a boy nearing manhood, but now much of his skin was covered in dark brown scales. His face was grotesque, one-half covered in scales, the other in skin. Half man, half beast.

  The human side of Ander’s face was still smooth-skinned and reminded Rordan of the better times. When the boy had asked eager questions, worked hard at his training, looked at Rordan with respect and awe.

  Rordan’s throat tightened. Now all he saw in the boy’s eyes was contempt.

  “Have you come to slay me?” Ander stepped farther into the cave, a smirk on his distorted lips. “Has the great Savage Dragon come to end my existence?”

  “You already know the answer to that.” Instinct had Rordan pushing Kira behind him. Of course the stubborn woman simply stepped back up beside him with a fierce scowl.

  “I’m here to help, Sarkany. Not hide.”

  One day she was going to call him by his given name. He’d make sure of it.

  He looked back at Ander, searched for answers in the boy’s feral brown eyes—eyes that gave away his element. A dragon’s eye color—and a wild dragon’s scales—were dictated by their element.

  “Why?” Rordan demanded. He had to know. “Why did you go wild?”

  Ander snickered. “I was nothing before. Now I’m strong, powerful.”

  “You were a future knight of the Order of the Dragon.”

  “I was weak. I was never fast enough, strong enough or smart enough.” Ander’s mouth twisted into a sneer. “The other squires at the Order Academy picked on me. Told me I’d never be a knight.”

  Rordan knew there was truth in the words. Ander was slim and gentle, not the most suited to life as a knight, and the other squires were tough on the boy. He’d thought it might help toughen Ander, but now he felt a flash of guilt. He should have done something.

  “Now my magic flows through me like an avalanche.” Ander threw his arms up. “I’m immortal and I can do anything.”

  The seductive lure of power and immortality. The reason so many traveled the dark path to the beast. Dragons weren’t immortal, unless they turned or found their one true dragonmate—the perfect match to their elemental magic.

  But after so many years of mixing with humans, the bloodlines had become diluted. True dragonmates were rare. Many mated with other dragons or humans and lived happy, regular lives. But those unions didn’t yield the dragonmeld—the explosive union of two matched dragons. A sharing and strengthening of each mate’s magic.

  The ground beneath them shuddered. Rordan widened his stance and stared hard at Ander. His error in judgment had led them to this. A dead girl lying in a cave, a tender boy twisted into a monster. Looking at Ander, he saw the face of Kira’s brother.

  Rordan closed his eyes for a moment, then opened them. “Summon your weapon.” His words were a whisper, but he knew Kira heard him.

  He called on his own magic and summoned his staff. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Kira holding a large crossbow, aiming it at Ander. The bolt in the bow glowed blue in the dim cave—a water bolt. The weapon of a water dragon.

  All dragons were dangerous, but certain combinations of elements could harm or feed each other. Wood parted earth, so Rordan had a deadly advantage over Ander. Water nourished wood, which meant Kira could nourish a wood dragon like him and strengthen his magic.

  He didn’t think she would, though. The experience was intimate and he doubted she’d bring herself to help him that way. Hopefully he wouldn’t need her to.

  One other thought ran through his head. Earth absorbed water. That meant Ander could be lethal to Kira.

  “Two against one?” Ander’s tone was amused. “Your girlfriend’s quite a babe, Rordan. I bet she tastes good. I’ll enjoy sampling her after I’ve killed you.”

  Rordan growled. The thought of this creature touching Kira had his beast raising its head and looking for a target. “Let’s get this over with.”

  Chapter Four

  Ander’s wicked laughter echoed through the cavern. “So eager to kill me?”

  Rordan gripped his staff. It was worn smooth by years of use and he was eager to use it. He didn’t care if this kill drove him wild. He’d do anything to protect Kira.

  The wild clapped his hands together and his weapon materialized in them—the deadly Dragon’s Fist. It was a long chain with two weighted balls at the ends, each filled with earth.

  Before he’d gone wild, the boy hadn’t perfected his use of the difficult weapon, but as he started to swing it, it seemed he’d learned a lot in the weeks he’d been wild.

  There was a whistle of air. A blue bolt whizzed past Rordan. At the last minute, Ander dodged and the bolt drove into the rock wall with explosive force. Where Ander’s head had been.

  Fire exploded behind the young man’s eyes. “You’ll pay for that, bitch.”

  He swung the Dragon’s Fist faster, then lashed out at Kira.

  Rordan leaped in front of her, thrusting out his staff. The chain hit and wrapped around it. He tugged the weapon with all his strength. Ander jerked forward and fell to his knees.

  In a swift move, Rordan moved behind his foe and yanked the staff up under his jaw, on the side that was still smooth flesh. He pressed his mouth to the boy’s human ear. “I thought you’d learned some patience when you trained with me. It’s a dragon’s most valuable skill.”

  “I’m going to kill you.” Ander’s words were a growl. “Or maybe I’ll beat you to a pulp and make you watch while I plow myself between her legs.”

  Rordan shoved the sharpened point of the staff into An
der’s neck until a thin trickle of blood ran down his throat. The boy bucked wildly, trying to get free.

  “It hurts, doesn’t it? Wood’s a poison to your dragon.” With his superior strength, he held Ander in place with ease. He sighed. “I guess I was wrong—you didn’t learn any patience. Or we wouldn’t be here at all.”

  Ander sagged against him. “I just wanted to be like you.”

  The quiet comment sounded so like the boy Rordan had known, it made him hesitate. “You would have been a knight. I wouldn’t have given up on you.”

  The boy’s head fell forward, the sharp staff pushing further into his skin. “I didn’t think I was good enough to be your squire.”

  “Ander…” The dragon in Rordan warned him this creature wasn’t Ander anymore. He stared at the reptilian scales covering the boy’s arms, saw the ridge of scales sticking upright, trailing down the boy’s spine and under his shirt.

  Ander had crossed the line, started down the long, dark road to becoming the beast. He had to die. It was the ancient law.

  Rordan looked at Kira. Her crossbow was trained on Ander, aimed straight at his head. Her hands were as steady as the rock walls around them, but her eyes shimmered with emotion.

  This woman hated him for not giving her brother a chance. Could he find some redemption if he saved this boy? Could he avoid the dark chasm yawning before him?

  If he saved this boy, would she forgive him?

  Rordan made a swift decision and relaxed his grip on the staff. “Let me help you. You can still be a knight.”

  Ander swiveled to look over his shoulder, shock rounding his eyes. “You really mean that?”

  “Sarkany?” Kira sounded uncertain.

  He silenced her with a sharp glance. Turning back to Ander, he nodded. “Yes.”

  “Then you’re a bigger fool than I thought.” Ander jumped to his feet, knocking Rordan back. “What makes you think I want a short existence serving you and the Order?”

  The earth around them vibrated. A deep growl rumbled through the cavern. Boulders fell from the roof and tumbled down the walls.