by Jill Haven
His Dragon Warrior
Divine Dragons: Book 3
Jill Haven
Contents
1. Bishop
2. Evan
3. Bishop
4. Evan
5. Bishop
6. Evan
7. Bishop
8. Evan
9. Bishop
10. Evan
11. Bishop
12. Evan
13. Bishop
14. Evan
15. Bishop
16. Evan
17. Bishop
18. Evan
19. Bishop
20. Evan
His Devoted Dragon
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His Dragon Warrior
1
Bishop
The woods were too quiet but I caught nothing suspicious on the breeze, so hoisted my pack higher on my shoulder, continued into the woods, and kept my eyes half-shifted and sharp. Around us, thick-trunked, naked trees interspersed with spindly saplings reached for the sky that had faded toward dove gray, hovering in twilight on the cusp of night. Normally Ace would have taken off ahead of us to scout and Tennyson would have dropped back to cover our getaway, should it become necessary, but the birds were silent as the grave, and that was all wrong. The warmer weather as spring approached had brought back Wood Thrushes in droves and normally they were calling out their goodnights right about now. The leaves on the forest floor rustled and my body tightened with adrenaline.
Someone was out there.
Straining my ears, I smiled, but couldn’t make out anything in particular that was setting off my instincts. In spite of the apparent calm, I knew in my gut we were being tracked. Whoever was after us had to be strong and crafty, or one of the three of us would have picked them out by now. Ace, Ten, and I were anything but new to this cat-and-mouse game. Without speaking to each other, we picked up our pace toward the Redcap stronghold.
Ace spun around to walk backward and grinned at me. The handsome bastard was in fine form today, dressed in black with a short sword strapped to his side. He had his long-on-top blond hair parted to the side and pressed down, with one side shaved.
“Your hair is a mess.” I shook my head. “Why did you do that again?”
He fluttered his eyelashes, and I snorted out a laugh. “It’s in fashion.”
“Shave it. Someone’s going to get ahold of that rat’s nest and yank until they have a hank of hair.”
Ace grinned cheekily and winked. “If they’re able to catch hold of me, they deserve to.” He slapped a hand to his sword at his side and whipped around to jog a few feet ahead of me. He didn’t go far, however, and I think we all sensed the eyes on us. Again, I scanned the area, but all I saw were trees and the beginnings of stars above us.
“It might be an improvement if they do you the favor of removing that travesty.” I chose my words specifically to irritate my brother-in-arms and got the reaction I wanted when Ace flipped me the middle finger. Ten chuckled from a few feet to my rear. He stepped up to my side and we shared a measured look. He had his hand resting on his bow where he had it slung over his shoulder, ready to spin it around to use. “The Redcaps are expecting us, correct? I’d hate to put an arrow in one of them.”
“Yes. I sent word to Vince.”
“Good. He’s gregarious, but touchy about his clan safety.”
I grunted in agreement because, in one, Ten had gotten to the meat of the matter.
“I’ll tell you what I hope,” Ace continued from his spot ahead of us, chatty as usual. He practically waltzed through the forest with his feet light on the leaves. If he had traveled alone, he might not have left enough of a trail to track. He held up his hands in front of him in the shape of a heart. “I want to see the tight ass of that Divine Omega they’ve got. It just looks like it needs a good—”
“Quiet,” I barked.
He sighed and cast a blasé glance over his shoulder. “You’re no fun anymore. Admit it. You thought he was an edible little thing too. I haven’t smelled anything so good since François Meri—”
“Enough.” I had noticed Evan, any alpha with half a working nose would have noticed him, but the last thing I’d do was gab about it with Ace like we were just out of our eggs. “Be professional. We haven’t been on a job for someone who isn’t a Blood Dragon in…”
“Twenty-five years,” Ten supplied helpfully and stepped closer to me. He had his head tilted and his mouth twisted down in a strange little frown as he inhaled deeply. I sniffed, but only smelled my men. He drew his bow from his shoulder and eased himself around to direct his attention behind us with his eyes in the treetops. “Give or take a few years.”
I unsheathed my sword because I trusted his senses. We trained as a group and relied on one another. We’d decided not to bring guns into this when we were planning before we left my base in Winter, West Virginia. Bullets didn’t do much on dragon scale anyway, and the remaining Cloud Dragons would be after us with tooth and claw. Hell, I wouldn’t be shocked if they shifted into their largest size, even though it was strictly banned this close to civilization. Larger weapons existed that we could use easily against a dragon, but Vince had been adamant that he didn’t want to draw human attention to his land. So, here I was with my sword in hand once again.
The cold metal felt good in my grip, like a long-lost friend.
“We haven’t done much for Carlisle, either,” I grumbled and they both nodded, but we were all focusing outward at this point. Small skittering sounds throughout the forest smacked at my ears, loud as drums for their lack of cohesion with the rest of the natural scrabbling animal noises. It was like something was in the way of me hearing properly. There was a sense of anticipation trembling through the forest, nothing real like wind, more a feeling that something was coming to a head, converging on our moment in time. Battle awareness squeezed at my throat.
“There.” Ace nodded toward our right, and at first I didn’t see anything. Vague misty outlines trembled nearly the size of a changed dragon, but my eyes couldn’t hold the image. I felt nauseous as I tried to force my gaze to stay put and focus. My vision wanted to slide past the amorphous shape to the trees around the cloudy bubble. I gritted my teeth and forced my focus to stay put. All at once, the smell of an unfamiliar alpha clawed at my nose, smoky like a tire fire, and my senses snapped alive. The dragon seemed to spring from the background like one of those pictures for children where everything is blurry until suddenly a sailboat appears as if by magic.
The dragon, white-speckled gray with vivid green eyes, gnashed his teeth in our direction, and we scattered apart from each other as he charged and leaped, allowing him to land in the center of our battle circle.
“Gods forsaken sorcerers and their trickery,” I grumbled.
Ace laughed high and long, and full of the same tension I’d been stifling, before he struck with his sword toward the creature’s belly. I swung my sword as hard as I could for his eyes. Ace and I stumbled forward and the dragon was no more, a mirage. A noise off to our left, a fast rustling of leaves, had me shifting that direction and bracing for impact. I took up a wide stance and steadied myself. A dragon tail appeared and I jumped, but not high enough. The tail smacked against my flank and sent me flying into a tree. My shoulders took the brunt of the impact and my bones ached with a deep pain. This was the real dragon.
The blow dazed me. When I got to my feet again, quickly for what had happened, my head ached. Ace and Ten were engaged with a fully changed dragon, less beautiful than the illusion had been, but still white dappled over gray scales—a Cloud Dragon.
Another scuttle of leaves to my left, reminiscent of what had precipitated the first attack
, had me quickly assessing what would be more useful, my fangs or my sword. I dropped my weapon and the bag from my shoulder, kicked off my boots, and let out a roar as I allowed my shift to take me rapidly. Pain sucked at me as my bones morphed too fast and I became the beast that never truly went dormant inside me. I flexed my new, scaled shoulders and coiled the thick muscles of my legs under me as I spun and lunged for the hidden dragon, using all of my senses to locate him. We collided and his shimmer broke, revealing his dragon form. My blood sang with the fight, and I barely felt the twinges of pain from the impact.
My opponent smelled like an alpha, musky and dank, with no trace of the sweetness of an omega. I reared back and tried to sink my fangs into his neck but he twisted and writhed. This dragon was too big to have truly appeared out of thin air, so there was some illusion spell these Cloud Dragons had dredged up to hide themselves like the cowards that they were.
With a roar, I pushed with my hind legs and tried to throw him to his back so I could pin him, but he was a decent enough fighter and was able to roll out of my way. Shouts from Ace and Ten became dragon bellows as well. They attacked their foe together, and I went after mine. We bit and clawed each other, smacking off trees as we wrestled. I dug my sharp rear claws into my opponent’s belly and sank my teeth into his shoulder, tasting the tang of blood. Excitement poured through me and I felt stronger. Claws raked down my side and a sharp flash of pain broke my concentration, but when I darted away to regroup and attack again, I could see something sagging out of the dragon’s stomach—innards and gore. His wings were tight against his back. Baring my teeth, I darted toward him, but he whined and fled, his insides trailing on the ground.
The Cloud Dragon wasn’t very fast, so I was on his back again in moments, ripping and clawing, when a loud bellow of pain from nearby shocked me. I’d known Ace most of my adult life, and it was his dragon voice that was familiar. I let go, and though every instinct in me said I should kill my mark while I had the chance, I knew whatever I’d find on my sentinel brother would be a horrible wound. I let the Cloud Dragon flee, secure in the fact that he was injured enough to track later, if not perish— we’d get him before the night was through if he didn't bleed out first.
As I raced back across the surprising amount of ground my fight had covered, past broken off saplings, Tennyson gave chase to the other dragon. Much as I had, once he ran the dragon off a good distance, he pulled up short and returned to the spot where Ace lay on the ground. He was already shrinking into a man, the swirl of cold air that accompanied the shift back was chilling as it swept over my face. I whuffed out a questioning noise.
“Fucking hell,” he yelled and cradled his thigh high up near his groin. It was a bad spot for a wound but had happily missed his manhood. I usually struggled to get back to my human form with fast speed, but with my heart hammering, I rushed the change as much as I dared. Aching and exhausted, I stumbled forward, naked, to crash to my knees beside Ace. My side ached and my forearm bled, but none of the wounds were deep. I hadn’t even noticed the arm injury before I caught sight of the blood.
“Let me see,” I commanded. Ace took a deep breath, his blond hair gleaming in the silver moonlight overhead. His breath fogged in front of him as the temperature dove with the true onset of night. I removed his hand from his inner thigh, but blood spurted from a wicked gash. Shaking his head, he slapped his hand back over the wound. I quickly found my bag and dug out my spare pants. I tugged them on fast and then went back to him with my belt in my hands.
“You’re not fucking putting a tourniquet on me. It’s not that bad,” Ace said, but his skin was far too pale, noticeable even by moonlight.
“We’ll get you to Vince’s and have you good as new there,” Ten assured him. “We need to do something to give you time to start healing properly. A human would be dead already.”
“Shut up and brace for it.” I looped the belt around Ace’s heavily muscled leg, close to his groin, laced the leather through the buckle and tugged as hard as I could, securing the tourniquet tightly about three inches above his wound. Too bad Dr. Mason Hardwick wasn’t with us tonight. Ace let out a yowl like a strangled cat and cursed me, my mother, my father, and every dragon I’d ever known, except Ten.
“Joke’s on you. I don’t know my parents.”
“Fucking, fuck, Bishop. This isn’t a joke.” Sweat gleamed on Ace’s pallid brow.
Laughing to fight off the first tendrils of real fear—the blood wasn’t slowing as much as I’d have liked—I ran over to my bag and pulled out the rest of my clothes. I dressed as fast as I could before I slipped my boots on. I didn’t bother tying them, just shoved the laces in the top. Ten already had Ace on his feet. I collected my bag and sword, his gear and weapon, and then, mostly supporting Ace’s weight between ourselves, we hustled him toward the path that would lead us directly to Vince’s home.
When we got within earshot of the front entrance, I yelled, “Injured!” Ten and I continued dragging Ace forward. By the time we got to the open gate, Vince and several men were waiting on the lawn with a stretcher. Old-fashioned torchlight broke the night. Vince beamed in his congenial way, as he usually did, and was dressed for a fight with a large axe slung across his back. We hefted Ace onto the stretcher and the Redcaps ran him up to the door of the stronghold, a looming stone building that looked more like an old keep than ever while bathed in moonlight. My instinct was to follow Ace and make sure he got the best care, but as the commander of the Blood Dragon Sentinels—even if we’d been mostly defunct for far too long—I did my duty and greeted Vince with a handshake.
“Hello there! I almost thought you were all boast and no effort. Was that you three we heard in the woods?” Vince’s grin turned mischievous and he tossed his head so that his shaggy, curly brown hair flopped back from his face, but a bunch ended up back in his eyes again. He was worse than Ace.
“Yes.” I quickly relayed the news of our fight with the two dragons, and Vince’s smile grew by the moment.
“You’re kidding? You wounded both of them?” He turned and gave an ear-splitting whistle toward the stronghold and the front door opened. His people came pouring out in droves. I stood impressed as about thirty men and women emerged, all armed and ready for action.
“Tell them where you were,” Vince demanded, all clan leader with his imperious hand wave.
I did my best to explain, but several had left even before I began speaking, intent on the hunt. When I was silent again, the dragons broke off into pairs and ran through the front gate. The few I could still see fanned out into the fields beyond the walls, moving toward the forest. Vince hefted his axe from his back to his hands and took off after his clan members.
“What are you doing?”
“Can’t leave all the glory for them,” he said with a laugh. More of his men came out of the front doors, and I felt like Ten and I were walking against a strong tide as we approached the entrance and tried to get inside to find Ace. We were able to slip around everyone into the stronghold.
Much like our last visit, the cavernous front hall was warm and seemed well-lived in. There was a large fireplace blazing directly across the way. Ace, still on the stretcher, had been laid out on the stone floor by the fire. Someone had thrown a towel over his groin for modesty, not that Ace would have minded, but there were several dragonesses tending to him. If I recalled correctly, two of them were Vince’s wives.
“How is he?” I asked as I strode over.
A woman with long blonde hair, whom I thought might be named Avens, looked up at me with a delicate frown while she helped hold a leather compress against Ace’s thigh. He had his hands fisted at his sides. As I watched, another woman came with a glass bottle of something brown and gelatinous. The foulness must have had healing powers because they lifted the compress, dumped it onto his skin, and pressed the leather home again.
“He’s going to live, sir, but not for lack of trying to take a walk to the afterlife. You ninny.” She slapped Ace’s st
omach hard, and he winced and flinched. She tutted at him. “Hatchlings, the lot of you. This has been the most unnecessary loss of life. If we all just followed the laws…” She shook her head and another woman with long curly tresses and high happy cheeks came over to poke at my shirt sleeve. My blood had seeped through the black fabric, wet and vivid in the firelight. I shook her off.
“See to Ace. I’m fine.”
Thick, enticing sweetness drifted past me on a draft of air. Dragging that warm, honeyed perfume deep into my lungs, I glanced to my left. There, in a small doorway cut into the stone wall, stood Evan. He was everything I had committed to memory, and more. He had a dancer’s build and poise as he lightly rested his hands on the stone doorjamb. The firelight shimmered on his long hair—a brighter gold than I recalled—but the last time I’d seen him he had the strands pulled back in a braid. Tonight he wore his hair down and it hung in soft waves past his shoulders. His wardrobe was still wildly out of step with modern times. His shirt was more of a tunic made from some white material with a soft sheen that cuffed tightly on his wrists and fell partway to his knees.
His head jerked back when we made eye contact, but he smiled and rushed into the room. He frowned a bit when his attention dropped to the bustle surrounding Ace. I relaxed, though, as the women sighed and smiled at one another after they lifted the bandage on his wound. Apparently, his body was doing everything it should.
Evan approached, hands clasped awkwardly in front of him, and he was so visibly unsure of himself that it made me want to put him at ease. Unfortunately, I was the last dragon on earth for that sort of job. I bowed, feeling massive and unwieldy next to his slight frame.
