97. Savage
Chapter 97
Savage
“ O h no,” Minnie says as we freeze.
I pick my baby girl up as we run back the way we came. She’s stiff in my arms, rigid with that Godzilla-sized power in her body. It smells like a bushfire. It smells like my Aurelia.
We pass through a shower of rubble, my regina putting up one of her shields like a giant beach umbrella, making the tiny rocks and dust slide down around us. Overhead, a dragon bursts out of the castle like a circus cannon.
“Who is that?” Yeti cries. “That’s not Xander, but?—”
But she is huge and black like Xander, and where Xander’s scales are tinged with blue, hers are tinged with gold.
She roars, fire from her open mouth lighting up the night sky as she circles around, looking for her prey.
Another dragon bursts from the castle, this one I know to be Flores Drakos from the pictures Xander’s shown me. Deep green like an emerald overcast with shadow, the dragon king barrels after his wife, smashing right into her in a full body punch.
But Lady Drakos is not swayed so easily.
Finally free in her true form, they tussle in mid-air as another two dragons join the mix, one a deep red, the other one smaller and green like spearmint chewing gum.
“I bet that’s Francesca.” Aurelia points to the chewing gum one. “And that’s got to be Ragnar.” So the red one is Selena’s bastard husband. We’d been trying to get at him for ages, but he’d been a hard one to catch out with all his security.
“What’s that saying about bringing a knife to a gunfight?” Minnie says, gaping at the sky of overgrown lizards breathing angry fire.
“They still have soft bits, Minnie,” I say defensively, squinting as I try to get a look at Ragnar’s underside. His dick and balls have to be hidden in there somewhere, right? I’d never really tried to find Xander’s in this form.
“Their eyes, yeah,” Minnie says, not understanding me at all. “It’s just their big old fire-breathing mouths that get in the way.”
My regina glances around and I know who she’s looking for. Meanwhile, the three dragons surround the black one and Flores Drakos lands a solid kick to her underside. She roars, stumbling a little in mid-air.
“They’re going to kill her,” Aurelia says through clenched teeth. “What do we do?”
“Who?” I ask.
“That’s Lady Drakos,” answers Scythe.
Suddenly, I’m angry too. “No! We have to help her!”
Something high on the castle walls amongst the rubble lets out an angry, screeching sound. Two more dragons burst into view, spewing fire at one another. I’d recognise Xander anywhere, dark as midnight, big as a monster, and the other one…
“Fabian,” Scythe growls, nodding at the foresty-green dragon.
“Many enemies,” Marduk says. “I’m taking my regina inside.”
Minnie ignores his tug on her elbow and catches Lia’s eye. “Between the three of us, we can take that red one down.”
Lia nods. “Do it, Min. I’ll hide you.”
The little tigress pulls her mates towards the shelter of the castle before they disappear into one of my regina’s shields. I imagine the three tigers with their hands up, making angry faces at Ragnar, who’s snapping his big jaws at Lady Drakos’s neck.
A moment later, Ragnar shudders and falls back, looking around in panic as something he can’t see takes control of his wings.
“Lyle!” my regina says like a military commander. “Take Francesca.”
Lyle steadies himself before raising his hands and aiming at the slender chewing gum dragon who’s flapping around Flores like a fly.
“Xander can take care of himself, but Flores is pretty strong.” My regina looks at me and Scythe. “I’ve made one of them faint before.”
Without another word, she shifts into her phoenix form. “Hold on to me.”
We both hesitate, glancing at the heavy clouds above us. Normally, I’d be right up for this type of thing. I mean, imagine sinking my fangs into a dragon’s soft eyeballs or belly? But I won’t have control in the sky and it’s my regina at risk here.
My chompy sweetie rounds on us, a light in her blue eyes I’ve never seen before. She shifts back into human form to hiss in a low, dangerous voice, “I never did tell you who tore my leg right off my body with no warning, did I? Who lay me down on a hospital bed and put his hands on my bare leg?”
Scythe and I go dead silent.
“It was Flores fucking Drakos.”
That does it.
Me and my brother descend into our animuses before we realise it. My wolf takes over, my canines growing as I rumble in lethal rage.
Aurelia shifts back into phoenix form and tucks in her new leg, launching into the sky. Scythe lunges first and I leap after him. As she takes our weight, Aurelia falters for a short moment in mid-air, but her phoenix strength kicks in, and almost straight away, we’re flying right up to the two pummelling dragons.
Lady Drakos is not holding back. I watch in awe as she, exactly like Xander without his headphones, fights like she was made for it. It’s easy to follow, brutal movements, and the trained fighter in me doesn’t blink, watching eagerly as they dance with claws and teeth drawing blood. A light spray of rain makes the air cooler as we watch and I swing my feet in mid-air, my muscles wanting to get in on the action.
On our other side another dragon fight is taking place, just as brutal, with the feeling of old enemies finally coming to a head.
“Wheel around and drop me on Fabian,” Scythe says.
“What?” comes Aurelia’s surprised voice.
Scythe’s voice is filled with raw command. “Savage, climb up, take my spot. Aurelia, do as I say.”
Hand over hand, I climb up my brother’s body until I reach my regina’s pretty leg. Aurelia obediently wheels around, surging towards the two warring dragons as I wrap a hand around her leg and Scythe slides down my body, latching onto my bare ankles just in time.
Aurelia lets out a warning cry, smooth and golden as we approach Xander and his golden eyes flick towards us.
I can’t imagine what the fuck we look like to him, I’ll probably never hear the end of it after this, but everything is wiped from my mind as Xander’s claws dig into Fabian’s chest and force him to rotate so that Xander is under him like a kid on monkey bars, leaving Fabian’s back exposed.
Aurelia flies over the pair of them and Scythe lets me go.
My brother lands on Fabian’s back in a practiced crouch before scuttling up his back like a crab, keeping low.
Aurelia makes a wide arc, letting us get a good view of Scythe, ready to dive in case he falls. But Scythe’s feet are steady even as Fabian bucks, trying to wrench Xander off him. Xander’s teeth appear, snipping at Fabian’s leathery neck. The older dragon roars in Xander’s face, and Xander roars right back.
It’s then that Scythe reaches Fabian’s head, the dragon’s eyes going wide as Scythe’s power penetrates through his chest and into his heart and blood vessels.
Xander takes the opportunity to snap at Fabian’s muzzle, his teeth sinking into Fabian’s lower jaw. Scythe unsheathes a dagger and leaps over Fabian’s head with the knife raised high over his head?—
And buries it right into the dragon’s eye socket.
Fabian roars as blood spurts and Xander rips a chunk out of his uncle’s jaw. The three of them thrash in mid-air and Scythe loses his balance, slipping right off Fabian’s head.
Aurelia shrieks and shoots towards them, but Xander’s power whips out and Scythe is slapped back into Fabian’s nose, where Scythe whacks his knife into the flesh there.
Scythe roars into the face of the dragon who’d once hurt him, his face red, the veins in his neck bulging, right before blood explodes out of Fabian’s eye socket and the dragon goes limp as a dead fish.
Xander plucks Scythe off Fabian with his teeth before the green dragon’s wings upturn and go crashing, lifeless to the grass. It seems to take forever, but when he does land, it’s with a mighty thump that shakes the earth.
Aurelia speeds for Scythe, my legs swinging back almost horizontally, but my brother is already scuttling down Xander’s back and seating himself there, waving us on.
Together, we head back towards Lady Drakos, who’s still tangled with her husband.
Lyle and the Devi pack still have the chewing gum dragon and Ragnar thrashing against themselves in mid-air.
But while we were focusing on the fight in the sky, we’d forgotten one thing. Suddenly, Ragnar rights himself, pulling free of his invisible bonds and angling his maw straight for Xander.
Marduk lets out a shout of warning and I look down to see wolves spilling out of the castle like ants, two of them knocking Lyle right off his feet.