by Amelia Jade
Marie crumpled into his arms. He gathered her up, grateful for the Outsider’s patience. Every moment he could get with her was one he would treasure for the rest of his life. Which was going to be the next few minutes at best.
“Go,” he whispered at last. “Get in the car and drive out of here. We’ll deal with this.”
He kissed her again, hard, a fiery thing that drove the breath from his mate.
“Garath.”
The warning in Cowl’s voice was all he got. There was no more time to talk to Marie. No chance to tell her the depths of his love, or to explain how she was his mate. There wasn’t even time for a goodbye.
He pushed her away from him, the last memory of his mate one of shock as she stumbled back into the car. Garath couldn’t dwell on that, though. Cowl wouldn’t have spoken unless the Outsider was moving to attack.
Acid flowed out from his skin, coating it in the hardened liquid armor that was the trademark of an onyx dragon. Like before, blades protruded along his limbs, though with the Outsider he doubted they would do much harm. They had become defensive weapons only now.
Beside him Cowl was also preparing for battle. He didn’t get a chance to see more than a glimpse of ice forming before he launched himself forward. Although he’d started his turn a fraction of a second after Cowl spoke, the Outsider had already covered more than half the distance between them. Garath had no choice but to charge out and meet it. If he didn’t, Marie would never escape.
Pouring all his pain, his rage, and his fear for Marie into one noise, he howled and launched himself at the Outsider, hoping to gather its attention. The alien swung one of its arms at him, the club-like appendage on the end hurtling toward his side. Realizing he wouldn’t be able to dodge, Garath slammed his fists together as he ran and called upon his dragon powers.
Acid gathered and pooled and as he spread his fists, a rope of acid hanging between them. He twisted to face the oncoming blow, wrapping the acid around the club while deftly avoiding the blow itself. He slammed into the Outsider’s chest and rebounded, setting his feet as quickly as he could.
He snarled at the Outsider. “Eat shit.”
Hauling on the acid line with all his mighty dragon strength, Garath flipped the Outsider up and over him, bringing it down into the dried-out remnants of a pig sty. The alien attacker hit the ground and bounced to its feet faster than Garath could react. It made no noise, the eerie silence as it attacked just as unsettling as everything else about the creature.
Uh-oh. It was the only thought he had before the Outsider jerked on the rope, pulling him in close. Garath flung his hands up to protect his head, but again the Outsider fooled him. It drove one of its legs up into his chest, cracking several ribs and sending him flying back through the air. He hit the ground hard, rolling several times.
Getting to his feet woozily, he pointed a finger at the Outsider. “Now you’re going to pay.”
The matte-black creature shuffle-humped its way toward him in the stomach-churning manner that he’d been warned about. The sheer wrongness about it made him feel sick watching it, but there was no time to think about it. He had a few seconds before it was in range.
“GET DOWN!”
He dropped without thinking as Cowl stepped up behind the Outsider and unleashed a storm of ice-darts nearly six inches long. The white weapons shattered against the Outsider’s armor, the ones that missed whizzing by over Garath’s head. They didn’t seem to be penetrating, but they came fast and furious, a nonstop storm of them. The impacts forced it off balance though, and the creature turned to face Cowl. It lifted one arm, and for the first time Garath saw its shapeshifting abilities.
Strands of black armor shot out from the arm-like appendage and then dipped back upon themselves, a nauseating display that made him want to vomit. It happened swiftly, living strands of armor widening until the forearm was wide enough to act as a shield, held vertical in front of the Outsider.
It advanced on Cowl.
“HEY! UGLY!” Garath raised both hands above his head, summoning as much power as he could.
The Outsider didn’t turn to face him, but something told Garath it was looking at him anyway, still slowly advancing toward Cowl, the rain of ice-darts unabated.
“I hope you can swim,” he whispered, dropping to his knees and burying both fists into the ground.
Acid spat and hissed as it burrowed deep into the ground and out toward the Outsider. Garath poured it on as the very earth itself began to dissolve, forming a sludgy, mud-like slurry. The ground turned black as it shot toward the alien. Recognizing the danger, it ran at Cowl, trying to escape.
“Oh no you don’t,” Cowl said with a grin. He too fell to the ground, and an ice wall exploded up from within the earth a second later, blocking the Outsider’s path.
Garath knew the wall wouldn’t stand up over time, but if there was one thing the Outsider didn’t have, it was time. It was trapped, and the ground under it started to dissolve away. There was no way out.
He grinned victoriously. They had it.
The Outsider’s clubbed fists reshaped themselves, and a second later it did something Garath would have sworn it couldn’t a moment earlier. It started to climb the wall. Cowl must have noticed this too, because the wall started to dissolve back into the ground. But it was too late. The Outsider brought its knees up, bunched it together, and pushed off the wall, somersaulting over the acid pool and landing close to Garath.
“Oh now, that’s just not fair.”
He rose as well, facing the creature. Cowl was too far away; there was nothing he could do. It was up to him. Extending his hands away from his body, Garath willed the acid that was his birthright as an onyx dragon into the shape of two swords.
It was time to end this.
The pair closed, the Outsider growing matching swords from its own hands as well, the armor reshaping itself.
“Of course they had to be bigger,” he muttered as the size of the other creature’s weapons became apparent.
Blows rained down as the two combatants attacked. Chunks of black armor began to litter the field, both of them scoring wounds. The Outsider was strong, and it forced him back step by step, proving as he’d suspected—that Garath wasn’t strong enough to defeat it.
He’d heard rumors that only a mated dragon could defeat the Outsiders, the bond between them and their mate acting as some sort of turbo-charger against the lifeforce-sucking aliens.
Garath had sacrificed his chance for that by sending his mate to safety. Now all he could do was delay until she was far enough away. I love you, Marie. I hope you find love again. You deserve it.
BEEP! BEEP!
He glanced over his shoulder to see the gray vehicle Liam had brought to the barn come careening down the road, Marie behind the wheel.
Garath leapt to the side an instant before it struck the Outsider, sending the creature pinwheeling through the air.
“Marie, what are you doing here!” he gasped, every breath painful thanks to his broken ribs.
“I’m sorry.” She ran at him, flinging her arms around his neck. “I just couldn’t leave without telling you.”
His swords dissipated as she reached him. Garath picked her up, ignoring the stabs of pain from his numerous wounds. This was his mate, he would never not pick her up. “Tell me what?”
She giggled and kissed his ruined face everywhere. “That I love you, and only you. I’m sorry I didn’t say it earlier, I was scared. It’s so fast, and you’re so perfect and I thought—”
“You thought it was too good to be true.”
“Exactly.” She rested her head on his shoulder. “It’s getting up.”
He held on to her for as long as he dared, then kissed her. “Marie, when this is over, I will tell you anything and everything. No more secrets, no more lies. I don’t want you scared of me.”
“I’m not scared. Not anymore.” She leaned around his bulk. “Of you at least. What about that though? Can you kill it?
I don’t want to lose you, Garath. Not after I just found you.”
He grinned, feeling refreshed and invigorated by her presence. “I think I understand now,” he told her.
“Understand what?”
Garath turned to face the Outsider as it shuffle-humped toward him again.
“Why the others are willing to fight. To risk their lives.”
“You do?”
“Yes. They do it for their mates, yes. But they do it for something else as well.”
“What’s that?”
Garath took a step forward, a smile forming on his face as confidence in his decision grew. “They do it for love. So that the entire world will have as much of a chance as possible of finding what we have. What I have with you.”
He stepped forward again.
“Now it’s my turn to fight,” he continued, placing one foot in front of the other.
His steps came faster and faster, until he broke out into a run. “For love,” he whispered, taking a deep breath.
“FOR MARIE!” Garath’s battle call rang out across the field, picking up pieces of dirt, rock, broken barn and more, twisting them around into a hurricane that picked up the Outsider and tossed it backward.
He never slowed his run. The swords and acid armor returned, and this time Garath let them infuse his body. He’d never sucked in this much power before, but it felt good. Right. He was finally doing the right thing, confronting his demons and accepting them.
Ten feet from the downed form of the Outsider he leapt in the air, swords pointed downward. The armored creature rolled aside, coming to its feet in a flurry of strikes. The two went back and forth. Garath opened a long cut under the right side of the head-like bulge on top of the body. It immediately started to heal, but it was deep, and for the first time he finally saw the telltale sign of purple, the goo-like substance that seemed to resemble the creature’s blood pouring forth.
Garath saw his opening, and he took it. The creature sliced at him with its left arm and he blocked it, leaving himself wide open for a strike from the right. It came as expected. Both Cowl and Marie shrieked as it sliced into him, but Garath wasn’t worried.
He gave himself over completely to his powers, letting the acid flow through him right down to the core of his being. The sword-appendage bit into his side.
And went right through him as Garath’s body turned to acid, the sword swinging unimpeded, the acid parting and rejoining around it.
“Gotcha,” he whispered, his voice watery but strong.
He brought both arms up and stabbed the swords into the already-open cut. Black blades burst out the top of its skull, covered in purple blood. The Outsider shrieked.
Garath flicked his swords out to the sides, and the alien’s head split in half, spilling the suddenly limp body to the ground in a fountain of purple goo.
It was done. It was over. He’d done it.
Marie rushed up to his side as he returned to human form, taking a knee.
“Are you all right?”
The world swam in front of him, showing him twice as many Maries as he knew to be present. Two of her could have an advantage, he thought.
Then he passed out, weak from his effort and the fight.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Marie
Helicopters arrived overhead, bearing what looked suspiciously like a painted dragon scale on the door. Soldiers clad in futuristic-looking armored suits jumped out from fifteen feet above the ground, followed a moment later by large men who could only be dragons, judging by how they landed easily on one knee from so high up.
“Relax,” Cowl said. “They’re friendly.”
After the fight was over Cowl had helped her drag Garath’s snoring body a better distance away from the Outsider’s corpse. While they waited for her sleeping beauty to awaken from his much-needed slumber, Cowl had told her all about the aliens and their portal under the mountains.
Garath sat up suddenly beside her. “Whazzit?” He rubbed his eyes blearily.
“It’s fine,” she told him, leaning in close and nuzzling her head against his. “It’s all over now. You did it. My hero.”
She could feel him swell at the words.
“You mean that?”
“Of course I do.” She kissed him to emphasize her point, keeping it to a more chaste moment with everyone around.
One of the choppers finally touched down and she saw Colonel Mara emerge. The officer saw them and strode over immediately, her blond-haired protector right behind her, looking around warily.
She pointed at Garath. “Is he okay?”
“Yeah, just tuckered out. Poor guy worked so hard, he needed a nap.” Marie rolled her eyes. She’d thought he’d passed out, but nope, he’d started snoring right away! “I guess he’s awake now though.”
A ghost of a smile touched Colonel Mara’s lips.
“I’m right here, you know,” Garath complained.
“Hush.” She kissed him gently. “The grown-ups are talking. It’s nap time for you.”
The growl shook her body gently with the vibrations. He stopped abruptly and leaned back to look up at the colonel. “We have a problem.”
“We do? It looks pretty dead to me,” Colonel Mara observed.
“It is. So is Liam. That’s not the problem.”
“So what is?”
“Liam let the Outsider suck him dry.” Garath shook his head, and Marie felt his confusion. “More than that, he searched him out.”
Cowl spoke up. “Did you say he was a silver dragon too?”
“He was. Even I saw that,” Marie said. “So why was he purple?”
Colonel Mara rocked back. “Purple?” she asked quietly. “Are you positive?”
The three of them glanced at each other, then back up at the colonel. “Yes,” they said in unison.
“Have any of you ever heard of a purple dragon before?”
Marie couldn’t figure out why the colonel was so upset. She was almost begging for them to say yes to her question.
“No,” Garath replied. Cowl and the colonel’s mate also shook their heads negative.
Garath shrugged. “Why does it matter?”
Colonel Mara looked around at them all. “Am I the only one here who is terrified right now? You want to know what’s wrong? Here’s what’s wrong!” She walked over to the Outsider’s corpse and stomped on its chest.
Marie looked away as purple goo came gushing out of where its head used to be.
“You have a dragon that used to be silver. Now it’s purple. The same dragon you say let himself be killed in order to power up an Outsider. An Outsider, by the way, who happens to bleed purple. Anyone else making the connection yet?”
Marie got it right away. “You’re saying he was one of them?” She frowned. “He did look bad. Skinny and rough, like a drug addict I guess. Nothing like what he was when I last saw him.”
Garath nodded. “He had changed, somehow. But I don’t think he was an Outsider.”
“Maybe not,” Colonel Mara said. “But what if he’d been infected by them? What if the Outsiders have found a way to merge themselves with humans or shifters?”
Marie had no response for that. Neither did Cowl.
“We’d be in big trouble,” Garath said at last.
“No shit. Okay, let’s get back to the base. Everyone on a helicopter. We’re leaving before any police show up. Kallore, you know what to do.”
Marie was swept up in Garath’s arms, while others bagged up the two corpses left behind.
Then Kallore spread his arms wide, fire erupting from his hands. The hard-eyed dragon then proceeded to methodically burn the place down, erasing any evidence of what had truly happened there.
Moments later the helicopters lifted off and she let her mind wander, snuggling up into her man’s embrace. Her man. The man she loved. Marie grinned, giddy and excited.
She’d never been so happy before.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Marie
“Can we go home yet?”
She was complaining. Marie knew it, and hated herself for it, but she was sick and tired of being cooped up on the base. Fort Banner was big, but it was still feeling claustrophobic to live in a military setting. If she’d wanted that, Marie would have signed up for the forces themselves.
“Now now,” Garath rumbled from next to her, propping himself up on one massive arm.
The actions pulled the sheets off of her, and his eyes took in her naked body, shamelessly traveling up and down her curves.
“Seriously? Again?” she giggled, still warm from the session they’d just finished not five minutes earlier. Moving herself around, she propped herself up against the wall into a reclined sitting position.
“It helps pass the time.” A thick hand twice as large as hers caressed her shoulder, then her arm before eventually moving to the nearer of her breasts.
“It’s going to leave me pregnant,” she muttered.
“So?”
She sat fully upright, looking down at Garath. “So we’re not even married.”
“What does that have to do with anything? You are my mate. If you want a child, then we shall have a child. Anyone who says anything otherwise will have to answer to me.”
“Oh Garath. My big, lovable protector.”
“What did I say wrong?”
She grinned, kissing the top of his head before ruffling his hair. He hated that. “You didn’t say anything wrong. You’re just missing the point. It’s not that I care what others say. It’s me who cares. I don’t want to have a child without being married.
“Let’s get married then.”
“Just like that?”
He nodded. “Just like that. You’re mine, Marie. I’m not giving you up to anyone. If you want to get married, then let’s get married. I would happily become your husband without second thought.”
“You make it sound so easy.” She looked away bitterly, remembering her last attempt at marriage.
“It is easy, Marie.” Garath sat up and put a muscular arm around her shoulders. “Your experience is not normal. When you have two people who truly love each other, getting married is easy.”
