His Burning Heart: Real Men of Wildridge

by Kyle, Celia

  The scales lining his long neck rippled and tickled. He didn’t like this. The bad feeling in his gut had grown as they drew closer, and he kept thinking back to Tessa’s words. If it were up to him, he’d order everyone to turn back and regroup later. But this was not his team to command, and dragons did not question their superiors when it was time for action.

  Charlie roared loudly, his way of ordering them to dive. Moving as a single entity, the team tucked their wings against their sides and hurtled downward so fast that the hot, gritty wind made his eyes water.

  As they neared the large rooftop, they spread their wings and caught the air to keep them from slamming into the building. Swirled in formation, they corkscrewed their way lower and prepared to land on the roof, as planned.

  But the building’s rooftop wavered in the desert heat, almost seeming like it was breathing. Of course, that was impossible, but the quizzical look he received from Grizz confirmed he wasn’t seeing things. A closer look confirmed the roof had swollen so much that it looked like a bubble ready to burst.

  A surge of adrenaline spiked in his system, and Dyrk realized too late what was happening. Before he could call to the rest to retreat, a blossom of heat, pressure, and shrapnel burst out right in their faces as the desert compound blew to pieces and Dyrk’s world was swallowed by fire and smoke.

  Chapter Eight

  Tessa was usually more of a go-with-the-flow kind of girl who prided herself on staying cool and collected, unruffled by the waves of action around her. Her deep and abiding love for all living things—plant, animal, human, shifter, anything in between—allowed her to think the best of everyone and every situation.

  It was easy to be patient when she had received so many signs from the universe that things would work out. Good omens were everywhere, if one paid attention—rainbows, pretty sunrises, a lucky penny on the ground. Anything that made her smile, even for a moment, she took as proof that the world was a hospitable, serendipitous place. It had worked out pretty well for her so far.

  And being somewhat detached from events in her life helped even things out. Rolling with the punches came naturally to her. She took things as they came, slowly, cautiously, surely.

  Of course, that wasn’t without its issues. People tended to interpret her floaty, daydreamy nature as proof that she was ditzy or naive. Stupid assumption because Tessa knew she was whip-smart, and she’d stop at nothing to protect and defend those she cared about.

  After her brief visit to Grandma Alice, she’d run out to her car and simply wallowed in self-pity for a while. It would pass, but at that moment, she needed to lick her wounds. At some point she found herself driving around neighborhoods, totally zoned out while her brain worked.

  It took less than an hour for her to come up with a plan—one she knew would go against all the rules set up for humans like her. But she was no “mere human.” Tessa Sinclair was in control of her own dang destiny, and she wasn’t about to sit there and pout when her team—not to mention her man—needed her.

  When they’d been searching the internet for the compound in the desert earlier, she’d randomly entered the coordinates into the map feature on her phone to get a better look. The map was still live when she opened the app, and that was another sign from the universe, as far as she was concerned. If her team wouldn’t take her with them, she’d just have to get there on her own. What she’d do when she arrived, she had no clue, but nothing would stop her now.

  A plume of dust filled her rearview mirror as her crappy little car hurtled down the dirt track leading to the compound, air conditioning blasting but still not keeping up with the oppressive heat. Sweat tricked down her back, thankfully being absorbed by the waistband of her cotton peasant skirt before dribbling down her butt crack. That was the worst.

  The sun glared off the eternity of sand, making it hard to scan the skies for dragons, but just as she closed in on the compound’s coordinates, she spotted holes being punched out of some low-lying clouds. Vapor trails followed invisible creatures and she knew she’d arrived just in time.

  Joy filled her heart when the dragons let their invisibility magic fall away and she spotted Dyrk. Strange that she’d recognize him so easily when she’d only seen him in his dragon form once or twice since starting at Wildridge. There was Charlie, flanking one side of the team. And on the other side, a dragon she didn’t recognize flew in formation with the rest.

  Before she could begin to figure out who it might be, the dragons dove as one toward the camouflaged compound. Then the world exploded.

  Literally.

  The blast blinded her for a moment, and she threw an arm over her eyes as she shrieked and jammed her foot on the brake. The rear end slewed back and forth on the loose dirt, finally rocking to a stop in a tan cloud of dust. As she waited for it to settle, she replayed the last three seconds in her head and started crying.

  The image of seven dragons being engulfed in a massive bubble of expanding flames would forever be etched in her mind. As hardy as dragons were, not even the most powerful in the world could have survived such a powerful explosion. Which meant Dyrk was…

  Suddenly, Tessa couldn’t breathe. Her chest hitched and she gasped for air as she fumbled to open her door. Scrambling from the car, she started to run for the inferno, her grief and panic taking control of her brain, but chunks of debris came whizzing out of the air at her. Darting right, she took cover in a nook created by two huge boulders and then screamed at the universe.

  He was gone. They’d barely had a chance to start their relationship and now he was gone.

  Before she had a chance to sink deep into despair, a shadow skimmed past overhead. Then another, and another, and another. Poking her head out of her hiding spot, she shielded her eyes as she looked into the sky. Five very large, very dark dragons circled the fire, teeth bared in what looked like the most terrifying grins ever.

  Tears burned in her eyes at the realization that she’d been right all along, and she took no comfort in that. Her heart splintered into little pieces as she crouched behind the boulders, tears streaking down her cheeks. All the beautiful visions for the future that had floated to her like shiny bubbles. It was all over. Her dreams, dashed. Her hopes, slashed. The man of her dreams had been snatched away, right out of her loving arms.

  Slumping back into her hiding spot, Tessa folded her body up like a lawn chair with her face buried against her knees. Sobs racked through her frame, and her eyes were shut tightly against the puffs of grainy dust scouring her face. What was she supposed to do now? Aside from the more existential question of how she was supposed to move on with her life without Dyrk, the more pragmatic issue of escaping five dragons who undoubtedly would prefer to see her dead had her stumped. Her little beater couldn’t outpace a dragonfly, much less a dragon.

  Tessa jammed a finger in her ear and wiggled it around to clear the high-pitch squeal that was growing louder. It didn’t help. That’s when she realized it wasn’t just in her head. Another sound mixed with the squealing—a sort of familiar thump-thump-thump.

  Sniffing back her tears, she took the chance to peek around the side of a boulder for a better view. A burst of bright blue light illuminated the sky, washing the desert in a pale, eerie glow. Tessa’s heart raced as her mind recognized the source of the thumping sound.

  Wings. Great, leathery, gigantic dragon wings, beating back hard against the wind.

  “Oh my god,” Tessa gasped.

  A huge blue bubble rose into the air above the compound, and within that bubble, Tessa could make out the dragons of Wildridge Security. All of them, including Dyrk, safe from harm in their big blue bubble. She’d never seen anything like it before, and didn’t care how it was made, just that it was working.

  A choked sob-laugh combo croaked from Tessa’s throat. They were safe! He was alive! Relief washed over her, but it was short lived. The five big, dark green dragons screamed with rage and dove on the team, talons extended and fangs gnashing.

&nbs
p; Dyrk was first to break out of the bubble to engage with the super-dragons, swooping and spinning with such elegance and grace that it took her breath away. He was quickly joined by the rest of the team.

  Bursts of bright fire lit up the sky as the two squadrons of dragons met in battle. Even though the super-dragons were outnumbered by the Wildridge team, they held their own far too well for Tessa’s comfort. The difference between the two groups was painfully clear. The Wildridge dragons looked normal, or as normal as dragons could look to a human, while the super-dragons were all half again as large. What the hell had they been eating to get so big?

  But one of the super-dragons seemed larger than the others, and that was the one Charlie and the other dragon were chasing. It all clicked in place inside her head in that moment. The stranger had to be Klent Ellwood, Charlie’s old friend. And the dragon they were trying to blast out of the sky must be their old bestie, Xavier Manchester.

  Even with two incredibly skilled dragons on his tail, Xavier managed to beat them back with dynamic twists and spirals, plus the occasional gout of flame. Same with the other dragons, who seemed all but untouchable.

  Dyrk and two others were ganged up on one of the supers, but even their three-on-one plan of attack failed. Tessa’s heart sank as she watched helplessly from the ground. The Wildridge team was getting beaten up pretty good, despite their best efforts, and they were starting to tire. The supers were more than anyone had bargained for.

  Apparently noticing their leader under attack, three super-dragons broke off and targeted Charlie and Klent, giving Xavier the chance to slip away relatively unscathed. Thankfully, Dyrk and Grizz tore after him like he was the devil himself.

  Tessa’s fingernails dug at the impossibly hard boulder, her heart thundering in her chest in fear. She hardly remembered to breathe. She was stricken with terror for the love she had only just begun to feel And then, something horrible happened.

  As he fled the onslaught from Dyrk and Grizz, Xavier turned and belched a gigantic lick of bright blue flame behind him. Instinctively, Tessa screamed a warning to Dyrk, but it was too late. The flame hit him and sent him tumbling toward Earth. Tessa screamed again as she watched the body of the dragon she adored fall. Her heart broke again because no one could survive a fall like that.

  No one.

  * * *

  He was dead, right? He had to be dead. There were no other explanations for the angel running toward him as he shifted back into his human form. She was crying out his name in a voice that wrenched his heart. It would have been a fitting sight to go out on, if he intended on giving up so easily. Which he most certainly didn’t.

  An eye-blink before the initial blast had gone off, Charlie and Klent had enshrouded the entire team in a big, protective bubble. The temperature inside the bubble had barely risen a few degrees, even as yellow flame engulfed them. But when Xavier had hit him with a blast of his blue flame, Dyrk’s life had flashed before his eyes.

  All at once, he was a fledgling splashing around in the city pool where he’d learned how to swim while boiling the water around him. Then he was hugging his parents, then graduating from Othercross University, and then sitting across from Charlie for the interview that would change his life.

  In the grand scheme of things, he’d attained what every self-respecting dragon wanted. He’d lived a full, productive, rewarding life and made all the right moves. Then he’d fallen in love with a hippie and been iced to death by a super-powered dragon shifter mastermind of an elaborate and illegal genetic experimentation lab—you know, every dragon’s white picket fence dream.

  But the sharp agony that screamed in his veins confirmed he was very much still alive. And the very real Tessa was here, in the middle of a war zone, running toward him, hundreds of times more vulnerable than any of the dragons out here.

  Adrenaline entered his system like a tidal wave just as she reached him and launched herself into his arms. He hissed and bit his tongue to keep from screaming in pain.

  “Shit,” he hissed, grimacing as she pulled back to study his face.

  “You’re alive!” she cried, the tears washing two clean trails down her cheeks through the dust of the desert.

  Dyrk couldn’t reply. It was all he could do to keep himself from screaming. Noticing his discomfort, Tessa finally saw the misty blue ice enveloping his right leg. She reached out a tentative hand to touch it, but he grabbed her wrist before she could.

  “Don’t…touch. Might…hurt…you.”

  She jerked her hand back like she’d touched a hot stove. Then she screamed and ducked her head, the sharp talons of a super-dragon ruffling her hair as it swooped over their heads. Elektra was in hot pursuit and sank her own claws into his hide for that little stunt. Back away hard, she kicked up a cloud of alkaline dust as she dragged the dragon backward by his hindquarters until Dyrk and Tessa were out of sight.

  “Come on, we need to get you to cover!” Tessa screamed as she put one of his arms around her shoulder. He gritted his teeth as he used his good leg to push himself along with her.

  The agony in his leg was nothing compared to his need to get back into battle. If he didn’t, the rest of the team didn’t stand a chance. But there was little he could do with a frozen body part weighing him down. Hell, he could barely hobble along, much less fight dragons twice as strong as he was on a good day.

  Tessa helped him crouch behind a smoldering hunk of concrete that had landed nearby after the explosion. It only offered a little protection, but it would have to do because the skies were alive with rage and fire.

  “Are you…hurt?” he grunted as he tried to get a look at his icy leg.

  She pulled her face up to meet her gaze, filling him with a wonderful sense of peace, even with the excruciating pain in his leg.

  “No, I’m fine,” she said, using her gentle yoga voice. He knew it was to soothe him, and to his surprise, it was working. Enough to distract him, anyway.

  “Best not to look at that right now,” she said with a soft smile, holding his gaze until the chaos around them faded. “You don’t need that kind of negative energy.”

  He snorted and covered one of her hands with his own. “Does this count as a blocked chakra?”

  Her chest hitched—in a sob or a chuckle, he couldn’t be sure—and tears brightened her eyes. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she pulled him into a fierce, passionate kiss that tasted sweeter than honey.

  When they broke apart, he pulled her down against his dust-covered, naked side and held her closely while the battle raged overhead. As they watched the supers kicking Wildridge ass, he feared that kiss might indeed be their last.

  “It’s all going to be okay. Right?” she breathed, her cup eternally half-full. Dyrk didn’t have the heart to dash her hopes, at least not yet, so he remained silent and hugged her tighter.

  Overhead, Charlie had caught up with Xavier again. The pair had locked claws with each other before Xavier broke free and raked Charlie’s belly so fast even Grizz looked intimidated. That didn’t stop him and Elektra from darting in to block him from doing it again, but almost immediately, Elektra was hit with a gout of fire from a super-dragon. Xavier tried to attack Charlie again, only to be thwarted by a viciously snapping Klent.

  Thrett zigzagged through the air, trying to keep his two pursuers from catching up to him but with no support in sight. Ragan wrestled with a dragon whose body was covered with ugly, smoking spikes, and he wasn’t winning.

  “Tessa,” Dyrk said slowly, swallowing hard.

  He turned to her, wanting to express his love as well as his regret for taking so damn long to figure it out. Now was the moment to tell her how she’d transformed him from an uptight loner to… Well, he was still uptight, but now that he had her, the little shit that used to bother him didn’t seem so annoying anymore. He needed to say the words, just once, before they died together in the middle of the desert.

  But before he could, an enemy dragon landed on the hunk of rubble they were h
iding behind. In one slow movement, Dyrk and Tessa tilted their heads back as far as they would go to stare into the blazing yellow reptilian eyes. The dragon’s jaws opened and swelled with flames—

  Then something wholly unexpected happened. A mountain of scales and teeth clamped down on the super-dragon’s neck, choking him on his own fireball. The new dragon jerked her head and together they crashed to the ground with the force of an earthquake.

  “Who was that?” Tessa cried, her eyes as wide as his felt.

  Dyrk could only shake his head. He’d never seen their savior before in his life. When he returned his attention to the sky, he realized the new dragon hadn’t come to the party stag. She’d brought several of her friends, and they sounded pissed.

  Their screeches filled the sky above the battlefield before they descended from the clouds like Valkyries. The female who’d taken out their bad guy rose from behind the rubble without a scratch on her, though blood dripped thickly from her gaping maw, and joined her friends.

  A familiar form finally caught his eye. Allon! And was that his mate Chelle behind him? Dyrk still had no idea where the others came from, but any friends of Allon and Chelle’s were friends of his. Especially now.

  The Wildridge dragons fell in behind the new force and presented an impressive front to Xavier and his small army, a few of whom looked positively nervous in the face of their own, newly expanded squad. Xavier tried blasting them with his freezing blue flame, but they easily avoided it, earning them a bellow of rage.

  A hush fell over the scene as both sides hovered over the wreckage of the compound with only the sound of flapping wings reaching his ears. Almost more than anything, Dyrk wanted to shift and join the rest of his team, but his need to protect Tessa overrode any desire for vengeance. He would remain by her side to the very end, whatever may come.