But, there wasn’t time to consider that. Isaac surged forward. A plan was unravelling in his mind. He had to protect Quinn first. If he could get the male agent away from his mate, then he could deal with the agent with the gun.
Before he could hit either, a white shape burst from the trees. Quinn cried with delight until the shape bash into the side of her mate. Isaac felt the white dragon hit the bullet wound in his thigh and pain exploded through him. Confusion made his mind spin. He fumbled, claws digging into the ground to keep him steady as he turned toward the white dragon.
The beast facing him wasn’t a white dragon. At least, not like the ones he’d seen in Wales. This thing had been changed, he realized. Isaac’s stomach dropped. This was one of the young dragons GOE had trained for their own use. A thick layer crackled along the dragon’s body, constantly reforming after each movement broke it. Cold eyes pinned Isaac to the spot, dead and empty. Isaac knew it’s only mission was to subdue him. Isaac knew the only way to stop this dragon would be to kill him.
But, he wasn’t the only one who’d been strengthened by GOE’s experiments. Isaac dropped the chameleon magic that wrapped him. His scales darkened to a stormy gray and electricity bounced from scale to scale, fizzling in the air.
His body tensed, ready to leap, when Quinn cried out. Isaac’s heart froze and his head whipped toward her. The male agent grabbed her by her hair and threw his mate to the ground. Before Isaac could launch himself at the agent, the ice dragon struck.
Only, it’s attack didn’t meet its mark. Water filled the air and fell in fat droplets. Kenji reared out of the water below and his claws struck down on the ice dragon. The attacking dragon cried out in pain, his roar shaking the world around him. He threw his head back and Isaac felt the world shift. He didn’t know what was happening until he saw it and by then, it was too late.
The water in the air expanded and solidified into ice. Hail rained down on their heads and the water on Kenji’s skin turned into a layer of ice. The water dragon grimaced and slowed. A small groan escaped him as his body strained beneath the layer of ice. It had to be burning his scales.
Isaac had a decision to make. His mate cried out against the agent’s grip. The ice dragon turned on Kenji, raising his claws to strike. Isaac prayed his mate would forgive him as he leapt toward the ice dragon.
Behind him, he heard the grunt of a male and felt his beast smile with pride. His own claws struck the ice on the ice dragon’s back. Isaac nearly slid off the dragon’s back until he dug his claws in. His wings beat against the air and the two of them fumbled backward. He wouldn’t risk Kenji, not as the water dragon was still half submerged in the water below. It was asking for trouble.
Once the ice dragon was away from Kenji, Isaac let loose the electric energy pent up inside of him. It flared and snapped in the air like lightning. The power snaked out in every direction, inching toward those around him. The agents shouted with alarm. Isaac spared a moment to make sure his mate had gotten away from him.
But the ice dragon took that moment to strike. His teeth clamped down on Isaac’s cheek. The beast shook his head back and forth. Isaac could feel the small tendrils of ice start to snake through the blood in his cheek. He had to get the dragon’s teeth out of him before the ice reached anything vital.
Isaac brought his long, clawed hand up and slashed it down the ice dragon’s snout. The force of the blow pulled the dragon’s teeth from his flesh. Blood blossomed in the air. It quickly formed ice and dropped like pellets. The air itself was cooling, the temperature dropping around the ice dragon. What had they done to him to make him this way?
The dragon’s head snapped back, but he quickly turned his glare back on Isaac. Blood dripped down Isaac’s face and his thigh throbbed with a dull pain. He was already hurting. This fight couldn’t go on much longer. Kenji would be no help. The water dragon was little use in a fight between electricity and ice.
Isaac snarled. This was his only chance. He unleashed the crackling energy inside of him. It reached with long fingers in every direction, the light exploding with heat. It ran through the dragon’s chest and his muscles convulsed. It was not a pretty scene. Isaac told himself he only did it to protect his mate and friend.
He glanced back at the water dragon shedding the thick caps of ice that had been coating his body. The chunks of ice scattered into the water below and shattered on the pavement of the bridge.
“How the hell are we supposed to stop him?” the female agent asked her partner as they watched with wide eyes. Clearly, they hadn’t been prepared for the fight.
The ice dragon fumbled to his feet. His eyes burned with a dangerous conviction. Isaac knew that as long as the beast stood, he would keep coming after him. Isaac felt bad for the beast. It was a weapon, molded by human fear and greed. Whatever they’d done to him to make him this way wasn’t right.
Fear slithered through his heart. This could have been him, he remembered. Isaac was like this dragon. They were both modified to be weapons of GOE. It tore him apart that the organization had done this. It killed him to know this was not the only dragon they’d modified. There were more.
And they were dangerous. Isaac had more up his sleeve. He had gifts he never tried to use, gifts that lingered just beneath the surface. Electricity was his element, his to control. The last blast had been pure force, but if he tried… Isaac didn’t want to. He didn’t want to do that to this beast.
The beast’s eyes took on a clever expression. They rolled toward the humans standing by the truck. Isaac’s heart stopped when that gaze ended on his mate. Isaac’s lips curled away from his sharp teeth and a growl rumbled the skies above him. The ice beast spun on his heel and charged toward Quinn.
But, if he had to protect his mate, he would do anything. Isaac thrust his foot down to the ground and felt the current snake through the ground toward the ice dragon. It connected with the charging beast. Isaac felt the current snake through the beast’s body, charging toward his brain.
Before he could finish the strike, Quinn shoved the female agent beside her. The woman crashed against the truck and Quinn spun with the woman’s gun in her hand. The shot rang out and the beast before her dropped to the ground. The beast’s form skidded to a halt, scales grinding against the pavement.
His mate stood on the other side of the dead best, arms shaking as she met Isaac’s eyes. A bullet in the brain would do it, too, he thought. He was almost tankful he didn’t have to do what he’d been about to do. He didn’t know if he could sleep at night knowing he’d fried the beast’s mind from a distance.
Chapter Nine
Quinn trembled. This time it wasn’t about rain or the chill in the air. This time, it was adrenaline. Her arms shook and the gun fell from her hand. The agents beside her burst into action, but the two dragons ahead of them made them pause. Kenji and Isaac were both bloodied and angry, looking every inch as mean as they could be.
The dragon form in front of her lost its shape and a human face appeared. Quinn felt her heart crack. It couldn’t be. No, this wasn’t right. She kept repeating those words over and over again. It was wrong. She wasn’t seeing clearly.
Quinn fell to her knees in front of the human form on the pavement, forgetting the human agents behind her completely. Her hands shook above the unmoving form. White hair stood out at every angle and long limbs crumpled beneath him.
Yet, it was undoubtedly Casper.
He’d betrayed them, she realized. The newest addition to the family had never been an escapee. He’d always been an implant meant to compromise the family’s safety. Quinn remembered his soft voice and his apologetic nature. It was at odds with the monster she’d seen attack her mate and best friend. In her mind, there was no way they were two and the same, but the evidence was before her.
Casper had been acting. It was why he ran when they tried to free him. He hadn’t run to safety out of fear, but ran back to the facility he called his family and it broke Quinn’s heart.
Her mate dropped to his knees beside her. He threw his arms around her in one, strong hug, even though he was still bleeding and had to have been in no small amount of pain. Quinn clung to his arms as she looked down at the form and fought back tears.
“So now we know what could have happened to me,” Isaac whispered. He let his head fall against hers, his skin too cold. “I don’t want to know what GOE wanted with me or what they did to me unless it will help you stop them.”
Quinn finally looked at her mate. His skin was too pale and his grip on her was weakening by the moment. She should have been more concerned about the agents behind her. She shouldn’t have let her guard down because they took that moment to act.
The female agent swiftly grabbed Isaac’s wrists and pried them away from Quinn. Silver cuffs slapped over his wrists and Quinn felt rage rising inside of her. It vibrated through her body like thunder from the sky and plucked her from the ground. She flew at the female agent and the two tumbled backwards. Quinn was done with the day she’d been having. She was done with lies and secrets and losing her friends.
Her fist connected with the female agent’s jaw and the agent’s head snapped sideways. The solid hit had sent a shock to her brain and she’d be out for a long while. Quinn tensed and turned back toward the truck, but the male agent was gone.
A shout drew her attention and she found the male agent hanging from the tips of Kenji’s claws. Kenji shook the agent and his weapons dropped to the ground in a sizable heap. It gave Quinn time to pat the female agent down and retrieve the key to the silver cuffs on her mate.
“I would appreciate it if you and your people would let us live,” Quinn said conversationally as she slid the key into the lock. “We are people, nothing more, nothing less. Isn’t the American Dream all about living your dreams without the fear of persecution?”
The male agent sneered at her. “Dragons are monsters who need to be policed before they destroy us all. You should know that. You aren’t one of them or else you would have fought with the monster inside you. How can you stand knowing they could tear you limb from limb at any moment?”
The cuffs snapped open and fell away from her mate’s wrists. She made sure he was okay before turning back to look the agent in the eye. “Because I know they won’t do that. The person living next door could just as easily kill me, too, but you don’t see me locking him up and cutting him open to see what makes him tick. Anyone has the capability of hurting another person, on a small scale or a large scale. Just because the dragons stick out, just because they’re different, doesn’t mean they’re any more dangerous than the next idiot on the sidewalk.”
The agent balked at her. Quinn was sure her small speech had fallen on deaf ears. He probably thought she was as brainwashed as Casper had been. She sighed and helped her mate off the pavement. They were going to have to get the bullet out of his leg and, since it’d already healed over, it was going to be a hell of a painful experience.
Kenji reached for the unmoving form that was Casper with his free hand. He would have a story for the council when he returned. Quinn had set out to rescue two dragons, two friends, from the hands of GOE. Now, both were dead and it made her heart clench. One had been a friend all along and the other had been the traitor to cause it all.
It hadn’t been her planning that gave them away. It hadn’t been their announcement of their presence to the world, either. It’d been a dragon they’d all trusted. Quinn only hoped the council would believe them when they shared their story.
“Kenji, put the idiot down and take us home. Please?”
The water dragon regarded the man in his claws before tossing him in the water. The man’s screams filled the air up until he breached the water.
Isaac staggered away from Quinn’s support and found balance on his own. She could see him leaning away from the leg with the bullet still inside the muscle, but other than that he stood tall. There were scars along his cheek, where Casper’s teeth had bit down and tore at his flesh. The scars snaked in an odd pattern and Quinn realized it was because of the ice Casper caused to grow in her mate’s face.
“I can take us,” he insisted.
Quinn saw the look in his eyes, felt it arch from him to her like an electrical current that slammed her core with anticipation and warmth. She knew what he wanted, and Quinn realized she wanted it just as badly. Her lower stomach tightened.
She’d watched her mate get brutalized by a GOE dragon, watched him bleed and fight. She could have lost him today and that terrified her. If Isaac had died, she never would have known what it was like to lay with her mate. She never would have known what her future could have been like.
But, Isaac was alive. He stood before her, in relatively one piece, and the future unfolded before them.
“Besides,” Isaac said. “I’m sick of looking at Kenji’s stupid moustache.”
The water dragon huffed at them, blowing the supposedly stupid moustache at them with heavy droplets of water and ice. They laughed and Isaac pulled Quinn tight to his body.
Chapter Ten
Isaac couldn’t deal with the idea that they could have died today. Kenji could see it, see the tension in Isaac’s muscles as he kept himself from grabbing Quinn and carrying her back to their room. Perhaps that was why the water dragon chose to leave. It could have been good timing, but Isaac didn’t have the brain power to decide.
His hand touched the small of Quinn’s back and he gently pressed her into the room before slamming the door behind them. He didn’t waste any time, didn’t let her speak, before his mouth was over hers. He pulled her into his arms and lifted her feet from the ground. His hands grabbed at her, touched her like she might dissolve in his grip at any moment. Together they crashed into the wall.
Feeling her body sandwiched between his body and something solid settled something inside of him. He felt his urgency abated and his kiss slowed. His hands massaged the flesh of her ass, feeling it anchor him to her. Her hands reached into his curls and gripped him. He growled when she pulled his face back, but the smile on her lips and the heat in his eyes made him pause.
This was his mate. She would be his, for as long as they both lived. And, he would be hers, no matter who she thought she was or where she thought she’d run. He knew that his heart was inside this woman and he knew what else he wanted to be inside this woman.
Without words being exchanged, Quinn knew. Or, maybe she wanted it as much as he did, because her shirt went over her head and her bra fell by the wayside. Her breasts were free before him once more and Isaac could barely contain himself. One arm braced beneath his mate, he reached down and undid the button on his jeans. With the help of her feet, they managed to get the jeans past his hips and freed his cock.
Isaac’s hand slipped between them with the intention of foreplay, but when his fingers slipped past her folds he found her already wet and ready. His eyes shot upward with surprise. She nervously chewed her lip. His eyes followed that lip, the hunger to lean forward and steal it from her almost overwhelming. His finger slid inside of her with ease, so he added another and felt her hips rock into his touch.
“This wet? Already?” Isaac teased.
Quinn could barely nod in response. Her head fell back as she lost herself in his touch. “I’ve wanted… this… for a while now.” Her words were breathy, like she could barely squeeze them out past the pleasure building inside of her.
Isaac smiled. His fingers slipped out of her and she cried out, but he wasted no time in pulling his hips back and lifting his cock to meet the wet sensation of her folds. She moaned as he rubbed the tip of it against her sensitive place and let it slide between her folds.
Her fingers tightened in his hair and the sensation only added to his pleasure. The way she looked at him, with her half-lidded eyes and the sly smile on her lips, drove him wild. He needed to be inside of her. He needed to know she was in one piece, needed to know that she’d always be his.
Isaac slammed home inside her.
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Quinn felt him fill her. It was more than she’d ever taken before. He touched places inside of her that’d never been touched before and it made her mouth fall open with surprise. Before a sound could escape her, Isaac claimed her lip. He pulled it between his teeth and slowly nibbled it while he took his time pulling back.
She missed the feeling of his cock inside her until he drove it home again. Little strokes sent pulses of pleasure through her body and made her toes curl. Isaac pulled back again and thrust hard. Each hard thrust was punctuated by short, quick ones, until Quinn squirmed in his arms. Her nails dragged along his skin, down the back of his scalp to his shoulders.
Isaac leaned into the pain and pushed harder. Her shoulders pinned against the wall, but she didn’t have the mind to care. All she could focus on was the pressure building inside of her. She felt like she might burst any moment. She raked at Isaac’s skin and pulled herself close as her nipples brushed against his bare chest.
Together, they staggered away from the wall. Isaac led them over to the bed, the bullet in his leg forgotten as he was buried deep inside her. This was her mate. The word still felt fresh and new to Quinn. She squeezed her hands, as if to make sure the flesh, the man, beneath her grasp was still real. This was more than she thought possible.
She needed him in ways she never thought she could, loved him in ways she never thought herself capable. She would never stray far from him. She would always return for his company, his intelligence, and this, she thought. She would always return for this.
As if to punctuate her thoughts, he buried himself deep inside her. The bed gave easily, allowed him to bury himself hilt deep so that Quinn cried out as her head fell back. He hit that deep seated place that sent echoes of pleasure through her.
He didn’t bother hiding the scars now covering his cheek. He could have let his hair fall over them, could have ducked his head, but he didn’t. Isaac held her gaze with pride. They’d won that fight together.
The Dragon's Lover (Elemental Dragons Book 2) Page 13
