Chapter 10
Chapter
Ten
Ash shook her head and tripped back. Her spine hit the cave wall, hysterical laughter bubbling up her throat as those infernal tingles raced beneath her skin. Even the air hummed, eager to confirm the chilling truth.
Her knees gave out, and she slid to the ground, her entire world tilting. Her whole life—every belief she’d clung to—was swept away with a few words.
“Ash.” He crouched in front of her, and she drew her knees up, hugging them tighter. “It’s nothing to be scared of.”
“Easy for you to say.” Brittle laughter broke free. “I didn’t need to go to the Himalayas for answers, did I? You knew—you knew the entire time.”
“No.” He touched her clenched hands, but not even his immense warmth could shake the chill settling over her. “Not at first.”
Mouth clamped shut, she glared at him through the strands of hair that had fallen over her face.
“I…” He shifted on his haunches, frustration tightening his features. “When I licked the blood from your scraped wrist back at the abbey, that was when I felt the connection—”
“No!” She shoved him hard, and to her shock, he landed on his backside. The absurdity of it almost cracked through her panic. Almost. “This cannot be happening. I’m not this psionic person!”
“Ash.” He surged to his feet, towering over her.
“Don’t.” She threw up her hands like a shield, static snapping in the air, sparks crackling. Dammit. She rubbed her palms against her thighs. “Just finish what you were saying.”
He studied her for a second, then inclined his head. “As long as you promise not to shove me on my ass again. I might not get up next time.”
A startled huff burst free. “It wasn’t intentional. This is all just so overwhelming.”
“I know.” He drew her to her feet. “It’ll be okay. I promise.”
Too aware of him so close—of his naked torso, his warmth—and still reeling from the impossible truth he’d revealed, Ash stepped back. “You were saying?”
His brow furrowed. “At first, I wasn’t sure. Some humans possess psychic abilities.” He dragged his fingers through his hair. “But after what happened with you tasering the she-dragon, and with the rain you called down when you were upset, you fit the description of a Storm Summoner.”
He moved to the treeline and braced a shoulder against a massive trunk, folding his arms. “The only way through this is to understand and learn how to use and control your abilities. We already know your emotions are a trigger. But you must be able to summon lightning or a storm regardless of your emotional state.”
“I don’t command storms. Christ!” She stomped past him, kicking pebbles out of her way. “This only started recently, after I was so hurt…”
And betrayed by someone I trusted. Ash bit her lip, slowing as memories surged. She’d thrown her ring at Paul when he followed her out from the disastrous dinner. She’d yelled at him in her pain, and the rain had started at that moment, pouring only over them.
“And when you’re scared,” Race added softly. “Those villagers…that didn’t end so well, did it?”
“I guess not.” She blew out a shaky breath and spun back to him. “Then I suppose lightning happens when I get mad.”
“Exactly.” He straightened from the trunk and strolled closer, the hard lines of his face softening. “Once you’re stronger, you’ll tap into it even more.”
“No! I don’t want any more. All of this is already messing with my head.” She clenched her prickling fingers.
“I’ll help you. Ash—” His grip clamped around her arm.
The shift in him was instant. Cold. Deadly.
He shoved her toward the cave’s entrance and planted himself between her and the opening. “Run deep into the cave and hide. Now.”
“But—”
“Now,” he growled. His shoulders tensed, peril radiating off him like barbs. “Something’s out there, and it doesn’t smell right. I must take care of it. I don’t want you in its sight.”
Oh, shit.
Ash spun and sprinted, bolting past the firepit, the flames guttering in her wake, then deeper into the darkened tunnel. She crouched in the shadows, her chest heaving, ears straining.
No clash, no roar. Just a silence so heavy it pressed down on her as she waited.
And waited.
No sign of Race.
Every instinct screamed at her to find him. What if he was hurt? About to creep back into the cave, the air shifted, and her skin prickled.
Something—or someone—was inside the cave. Moving carefully.
Race?
But he wouldn’t use stealth just to enter the cave, which meant he was no longer out front.
Her pulse spiked, shrieking in her ears. A rank stench hit her nose, making her eyes water. A wild animal?
Panic roared through her. She bolted deeper into the tunnel. Footsteps sped up behind her.
Hands grabbed her coat, ripping it clean off her shoulders, as she tore through the dark tunnel—
“You can’t run from me,” a rough voice snarled.
Terror clamped around her throat. Fingers locked around her arm.
“Let me go!” Ash tried to tug free, but he dragged her back into the main cavern.
He laughed. Her gaze locked onto a mountain of a man, his tangled blond mane catching the torchlight, his wild, rusty gold eyes bright with delight. His clothes reeked, like he’d wrestled a goat in shit and lost.
“I followed the dragon’s scent I caught in the alley and tracked him down to kill him, but I found something even better—a human,” he said, so casually, it sent ice skittering over her skin. “Since he killed my kin, you now belong to me. The blood claim is mine.”
With his free hand, he yanked at her tunic collar, tearing the fabric clean off her shoulder.
“Unclaimed. Good. Come along, pretty human. We must distance ourselves before your dragon returns. You will fetch a chest of gold for me at the auction house. Perhaps you’ll even catch the king’s attention if I’m lucky.
” He seized her wrists in one giant hand and hauled her toward the exit.
“No—” Ash twisted, yanking against his hold, his stench gagging her, bile burning the back of her throat. “Let me go, you revolting sack of shit!”
“You are payment, human,” he snarled, spittle flying. “That whoreson murdered my brother.”
She shrieked and kicked his shin. His growl split the cavern, and he backhanded her. Pain exploded across her cheek, and she stumbled back, out of his grasp. Her face stung, tears scalding her eyes—
Unadulterated rage tore free, and lightning erupted across her hands. She lunged, grabbed his wrist, and let her power loose. A sizzling bolt of white spread over his arm.
“Cindress!” he spat, reeling back as sparks licked over his flesh, scorching it. He snarled and grabbed both her wrists again, twisting them behind her. “I am a dragon. You think that pitiful flicker can harm me?”
Agony shot through her arms as he tugged her out of the cave and through the trees. The sparks flickered uselessly against his skin, burning her as much as him.
Terror beat like another heartbeat in her chest. Ash let out a blood-curdling scream. “Race!”
A roar split the sky.
Her captor flung her aside. Ash hit the slope, rolling through underbrush before slamming into a tree trunk. Pain blazed down her spine and hips. She groaned, dragging herself up, clutching a low branch for balance—
Her attacker shifted, flesh and bone tearing as a massive rust-colored dragon erupted where the man had been. His long throat glowed with building fire—
The air darkened as something as vast as death itself tore through the canopy of trees.
Another roar split the sky, so loud her ears rang. Branches snapped. Trunks splintered.
Her gaze locked onto an enormous black dragon, silver-tipped spines bristling down its back, as it burst through the trees, shattering limbs, sending bark and leaves raining down.
Race.
He slammed into her abductor. The impact cracked timber like gunfire. Trees toppled under the force as their massive bodies plowed through the undergrowth. Talons raked. Wings thrashed. Their roars were pure brutality.
Then Race’s enormous jaws locked around the other dragon’s throat, tearing through armor-like scales as if they were parchment. Blood sprayed like rain as the Rust thrashed and clawed, scoring deep gashes across Race’s chest.
But the black dragon was unstoppable. With a bone-chilling growl, he snapped the Rust’s neck back and tore the head from his body. Blood gushed as the body hurtled through the bleed-cedars, scattering them like kindling.
Ash screamed and scrambled aside, barely avoiding the avalanche of muscle and bone.
Panting for air, eyes wide, she stared at the flattened, bloody trail left by her attacker’s dragon form. His body and head landed in two separate places before they both morphed into his humanoid form.
“Ash!” Race bellowed, his voice breaking through the sheer horror holding her in its grips.
She dragged her gaze away from the decapitated corpse as he strode toward where she crouched, his chest heaving. Naked, wounded, and covered in blood. Race’s wild gaze locked onto hers.
He hunkered down near her, and Ash pressed her back against the tree trunk. With startling gentleness, he touched her burning cheek. “He hit you.”
Swallowing hard, she shook her head, then nodded, her gaze locked on the smears of blood on his face, his mouth. “I-I’m fine.”
Without a word, he scooped her into his arms, and Ash squeezed her eyes shut as he dematerialized them. The brutal savagery of Race—of his enormous black dragon side—replayed in her head. Wings shredding through trees. Massive jaws crushing bone like twigs. Violence incarnate.
Yet, he hadn’t terrified her.
He had saved her.
And God help her, because all of it comforted her. Without him, she wouldn’t be breathing right now.
He set her down, and she sank onto soft sand. “Give me a second.”
A splash sounded.