by Reus, Katie
Before she could get up, or react really, Hunter swooped down from the sky, a tiny warrior spitting fire at the hissing, fanged vampires.
One caught fire immediately, its head bursting into flames. The other screamed and ran—which only seemed to excite Hunter more.
He looked at her, chirped loudly, then raced after the vamps into the woods, bursts of purple and orange fire lighting up the darkness.
* * *
Mikael released another stream of fire, determined to destroy Ozias once and for all. This bastard had taken his family from him, his parents, locked his brother in a Hell realm for thousands of years. And he had tried to kill Avery.
He would pay with his life.
Pain shot through the underside of his wing, something slicing through the soft tissue.
He reared back, magic bursting through him as his body involuntarily underwent the transformation. He turned from dragon to human, skin replacing scales in moments.
Breathing hard, he crouched down, his hands digging into the dirt beneath him.
“I’m going to kill you today.” Ozias stalked toward him. “Just like I killed your parents. Then I’m going to kill your pretty little human. Or maybe I’ll turn her into a vampire and keep her as a pet. She has very soft-looking skin and a pretty mouth.” The male’s voice dripped with lust as he stalked forward, acting like a conquering king.
But he was nothing. He was simply another problem to be eliminated.
“Are you wondering what’s wrong with your body right now? Why you’re internally screaming in pain?” Ozias smiled, pure evil looking back at Mikael. “It’s an ancient concoction I’ve only made stronger in the last few years.”
A heavy weight settled on him, telling him to lie down, to give up.
Mikael forced his legs to obey him, forced himself to stand up as he called on the deepest vestiges of his dragon, every single bit of magic he possessed, even as the poison coursed through his body, surging through his veins, his blood, trying to destroy him.
He refused to give in, refused to let this monster take Avery from him. From the world. He let out a scream of rage as his wings extended from his back, the burst of magic eating away at some of the poison.
He couldn’t shift fully, couldn’t get a word out to even respond to Ozias.
But he could fight with everything he had. He was vaguely aware of Avery and Hunter in the distance, but kept all his focus on the threat, the one true problem.
A dark grin spread across Mikael’s face as Ozias stared in fear at his wings.
He couldn’t lift very high off the ground, but would not give himself away. Would not wince at his internal pain. Instead he lifted up and flew straight toward Ozias. His fist caught the male right in his face, bone crunching as he flew backward.
Mikael barely felt the impact on his fist, just joy at knocking the male down.
Ozias jumped up, tossed a glowing green fireball at him. Mikael dodged, but poison was making him sluggish, slowing him down too much. The fire clipped his left wing—the agony of a thousand angry hornets stinging his scales made him stumble.
But he attacked again, this time with fire and his fists.
He knew he was attacking on a physical, primal level, but he let all his rage and anger out as he punched the male again.
And again and again.
Ozias’s fingertips glowed with magic but each time he would have released a fireball, Mikael ducked or punched him. He kept their fighting ring close, refusing to let the Dark Mage unleash himself fully.
Ozias slammed his fist into Mikael’s gut, then a blade flashed under the moonlight, slicing into his shoulder.
He slammed his foot into Ozias’s stomach, sending him sprawling onto the ground. He needed to get the male down and remove his head from his body.
Ozias jumped up, his eyes bright red as he threw another wild ball of green fire at him.
Mikael ducked and swiveled, avoiding a direct hit.
The Dark Mage threw another ball of fire.
He swiveled again but it grazed his left leg. Fire shot up his calf and the back of his thigh, the angry buzzing hornets back.
He rushed the male, breathing fire out of his mouth as he did. Brute force was the only thing that would win now. No finesse, no beauty to this battle. Just raw, primal death.
His fire was weakening even as he sprayed it, covering Ozias— Suddenly a sharp blue fire like he’d never experienced burst from his mouth and fingertips. He had no idea what was happening, but didn’t care. He saw the fear in Ozias’s face. The red in his eyes dimmed as he took a step back, then another, trying to run.
Even as the poison ate away at Mikael, made him sluggish, ready to collapse to his knees, he stumbled forward, the fire erupting from him wild and raw and beautiful.
A stream slammed into Ozias’s arm and the male screamed as he fell backward, his arm disintegrating as blood poured from the open wound.
Ozias kept screaming and tried to reach into his cloak with his only hand. He withdrew something, then lifted a vial high into the air.
Mikael vaguely heard a scream in the distance. Avery or Hunter, he didn’t know.
He couldn’t afford to look away and Ozias didn’t either, never took his gaze off Mikael.
“Say hello to your parents,” Ozias shouted as he started to throw the container of green liquid at him.
Suddenly the male’s eyes widened, and—a sharp blade erupted from the middle of his chest.
As he fell forward, Mikael saw Avery standing behind Ozias, trembling as she stared at the falling male. Ozias tried to turn toward her even as he fell.
Protectiveness Mikael had only ever known with her erupted in him once again, pushing back the fatigue and the poison as he let loose another stream of raging blue fire. It wouldn’t stop as it devoured Ozias, engulfing him at first, his screams filling the air but quickly silenced as he turned to ash.
His ashes scattered on the wind as Mikael fell to his knees. Avery was alive. Safe now.
When he opened his eyes again, Avery was in front of him cupping his cheeks, her green eyes wide, the scent of her fear sharp. “Stay awake,” she ordered. “You better stay awake! Oh God, Mikael, please don’t die. No, no, no! You can’t leave.”
“Avery,” he managed to rasp out. Just Avery. He loved her. He needed to tell her. Had to tell her. He had been showing her every day since he met her how he felt, but he needed to give her the words. Needed to say them before he died.
She looked up at something in the distance and screamed, “Hunter!”
Darkness edged his vision, pulling Mikael under even as he tried to hold on to her hand, tried to hold on to Avery. He didn’t want to die. Didn’t want to leave her.
But the pain and darkness were too much.
* * *
“Oh no,” Avery muttered as she tried to lift Mikael. But he was dead weight.
Fear, sharp and stinging, punctured through her as Hunter landed next to them. There were no more vampires following him so she guessed the dragonling had destroyed every single one of them. “I need you to get Mikael home. Home!” she shouted, unable to control the volume of her voice. Because nothing mattered if he died.
Hunter nudged Mikael, making sad whining sounds as he tried to get him to wake up.
She crouched down with him and lifted Mikael up by the shoulders. “That’s right, he’s hurt. You need to help. Get him home. To King,” she added. “Take him to King.”
Hunter crouched as low as he could and was very still as Avery managed to drag Mikael onto Hunter’s back. She tried to get on with him, but it was quickly clear that combined, they were too heavy for Hunter to go very fast. So she slid off and took Hunter’s big face in her hands. “You keep him safe,” she said. “Please save him.”
Hunter chirped at her and actually nodded.
“Get him home. You go home to King!”
Then she pointed south, in the direction he needed to go. It wasn’t perfect but she knew he coul
d fly pretty far, at least according to King. And she really hoped that someone from King’s pack would see them and know what to do if Hunter couldn’t make it back to the city.
“Please get him help,” she rasped out, her throat tight with emotion. He’d fought to the death for her, had put himself in danger and might die because of it. She loved him so much, wished she’d told him. Wished she hadn’t been such a damn coward. And now…she might never get the chance.
Hunter chirped as he took off, not looking back as he flew a little awkwardly through the sky, but the beat of his wings was determined.
In that moment she was going to hope against hope that he made it home, that he got Mikael to safety and to a healer. She had no idea what that monster had done to him but it had been enough to bring the dragon down. One of the strongest males she knew.
In the silence, she looked around at the charred grass and small crater where Ozias had once stood. The long knife she’d picked up from a dead vampire and stabbed Ozias with was gone, incinerated, but a small vial with the green liquid still lay there, somehow not destroyed even after Mikael had completely obliterated the vampire-mage.
She picked it up and put it in her pocket before she turned in the direction of one of the homes far off in the distance and started limping away as fast as she could.
Hopefully she would be able to get help for herself and make it back to New Orleans sooner than later. She would find her way back to Mikael no matter what. Even if she had to walk the whole way.
Chapter 39
King burst out of the mansion’s front doors when he heard his name being shouted. As he raced into the front yard, he saw Hunter on the grass and that weird tension that had been sitting in his chest since his dragonling had disappeared eased just a bit.
Hunter didn’t approach him, however, just kept jumping and loudly chirping. It took a millisecond for King to see the body draped over the dragonling.
“Hell,” he growled as he reached Hunter and a bloody, naked Mikael. He could see the rise and fall of Mikael’s chest but his skin had gone a pale, pale gray.
He put his hand on Mikael’s forehead. Cold. Dammit. Dragons and other supernaturals ran a lot hotter than humans, but especially dragons.
King turned, barked out an order to his nearest packmate. “Call Dallas. Tell her mate to fly her directly to Greer’s healing center. Now.” Then he stripped off his clothes, tossed them down. “Hunter, follow me,” he said, even as he shifted to wolf and raced off along the driveway. He could get to Greer’s a lot faster in his wolf form than by driving.
He glanced up once to see Hunter following close behind.
His heart raced as he hurried down street after street, heading toward the Irish Channel District. And he tried very hard not to focus on wondering where the hell Avery was.
Because there was no way in hell Mikael would have left her if he’d had a choice. No way Avery would have left him either.
* * *
Mikael heard voices, familiar ones.
His brothers.
And…someone else. A female, though he couldn’t place who she was. Her voice was commanding but soft. But she wasn’t Avery.
Avery! He needed to get to her.
Ice coated his veins as he tried to open his eyes.
“What the hell is happening?” Zephyr’s worried voice.
“He’s fighting the poison.” The commanding, female voice. “And if you don’t back up I’m going to have to ask you to leave.”
A warmth spread through him and it felt…so good. So soothing. He was growing tired, but he couldn’t sleep. Couldn’t rest for even a moment.
Had to move. Had to shift. He tried to move his limbs. Or he thought he did. He could hear a growling sound, realized it was coming from him.
“Avery,” he murmured before darkness swept him under again.
* * *
Mikael wasn’t sure how much time had passed, but he was aware that it had.
He hadn’t been in Hibernation. No… Where was he? Why did he feel cold? He could smell his brothers. Even Zephyr.
Wait, Zephyr was dead.
Had Mikael died? No…Zephyr was alive. That was right. He’d come back and— Avery!
He jerked upward, his eyes flying open.
All three of his brothers stood by a big bay window, quietly talking, but they stopped and stared before striding to the bed.
Zephyr spoke first, reaching for him. “My brother. You’re alive.”
“Avery,” he managed to get out through his parched throat.
Cas hurried out the door. “I need Greer! And water!”
Mikael shifted slightly, forcing his legs to obey as he got off the bed. The room was all soft blues and greens, a healing center of some sort, he thought as he managed to stand upright.
“Damn it, Mikael, get in bed.” Ivyn tried to move toward him but Mikael growled, baring his canines. “King has his packmates out searching for Avery. And Prima and Arthur are out there too. We were waiting until you woke up to search.”
“We need the healer faster,” Zephyr snapped, his body vibrating with tension.
Mikael ignored them and stumbled toward the door. Or tried to. He made it to the wall by the door and held on to it.
A wave of nausea swept through him.
“You need to get back in bed.” Zephyr stood in front of him, his mouth pulled into a thin line. “So many people are out looking for your female now.” He reached out a hand, but Mikael swatted him away.
“Touch me again and lose your hand,” he growled. He just needed to get outside, needed to shift. He needed to get to Avery.
As he made it to the door, Reaper strode in with a glass of water. He didn’t question what Reaper was doing here, simply took the water and gulped it down in seconds.
“Like your brothers said, we’ve got people—wolves, dragons and witches—out searching for your Avery,” Reaper said quietly. “So now you need to get your ass back in bed.”
“If it was Greer out there, what would you do?” He was breathing hard, drawing in breath after breath as he clutched onto the wall. Fuck. Every part of him hurt.
Reaper paused for all of a second before he slid a hand under Mikael’s arm and propped him up. “Come on.”
He was aware of his brothers cursing behind them but he did not care. “Where’s Hunter?”
“Downstairs. He’s agitated. He brought you in and you both passed out pretty quickly. How much do you remember?”
“I don’t remember him bringing me in. But we killed Ozias. Avery and I.”
Reaper jerked in surprise and he heard his brothers exclaim behind him.
“Yeah, he’s gone.” And never coming back. But where was Avery? Another burst of panic blasted through him. He had to get to her.
Zephyr moved in on his other side as they reached a set of stairs and wrapped his arm around Mikael as well, helping him.
He just needed to shift to his dragon form. Once he did that, he’d be able to move better. The magic of the change always helped heal him.
“I think your little friend is waiting to fly with you. He was injured as well, though we can’t figure out how. One of his wings was slashed up. It looks like from claw marks. Greer has healed him completely now as well,” Reaper told him as he pushed open the front door to the healing center. “You were both out for about twenty hours.”
Twenty hours? Where was Avery? Why had no one found her yet? Goddess no. That was too long.
As he stepped outside with the two men propping him up, Hunter flew across the yard, chirping wildly at him. He turned and looked at the sky, then looked back at Mikael expectantly.
He couldn’t tell what time it was. Maybe two in the morning, given the position of the moon. And if he’d been out twenty hours… He needed to get to Avery.
“I can stand,” he said to Reaper and Zephyr, who slowly eased back. Then he reached out and patted Hunter’s head. “Good boy. We’re going now. We’re going to get her.” There was
no way Hunter would have left Avery behind unless he hadn’t had a choice.
Satisfied and definitely understanding him, the little dragon backed up as Mikael strode away from the others toward the middle of the yard. Though strode away was probably a bit of a stretch. He more or less stumbled until he fell on his hands and knees but he did not care. He let his dragon take over, the magic rolling through him with a wild swiftness. Pain and pleasure intermixed as a kaleidoscope of colors sparked everywhere, scales replacing skin, his beast side taking over fully.
As he blinked down at Hunter, the little dragonling zoomed up into the air and pointed north. Mikael inhaled deeply, trying to sense her on the wind. He didn’t bother to see if his brothers followed, he simply took to the air, following the dragonling.
Moments later he heard the steady flap of multiple wings behind him, and when he glanced over his shoulder saw that his brothers and Reaper were following. Good. If he needed backup, he would take it. Anything to get his Avery back. But he remembered her stabbing Ozias and there hadn’t been any other vampires he could remember either. Maybe Hunter had killed them.
He just knew that she’d been alive, shouting at him to not die, when he’d passed out.
She cared for him more than she wanted to admit. He knew she did.
Now he simply had to find her.
Chapter 40
Avery inhaled the cool country air, still feeling groggy and disoriented as she pulled out of the driveway in her borrowed car.
She’d found an empty house with a fairly thick layer of dust covering everything, which told her the house had been abandoned. Probably a result of The Fall. Which was why she didn’t feel too guilty about breaking that window today. Er, yesterday.
She’d passed out on one of the couches from sheer mental exhaustion and slept almost an entire day. It was still dark out, but close to sunrise and now…now she needed to get home.
Needed to find Mikael and Hunter. She had to tell Mikael she loved him and that she’d been a fool to fight it. He had to be safe by now. Hunter would have made it back and Mikael would likely be with a healer. He’d be fine. He had to be. She fought a sob that wanted to rise in her throat. Oh God, what if… No. No, no, no. If she gave in to that, into the what-if game, she would lose focus. Right now she simply had to get home, to Mikael.
