Chapter 54
Fifty-Four
Dirk
I was closing swiftly when Ella broke free and began to tumble through the air.
No. Not again. Not this time.
We plunged after her, my dragon and I united without a second thought. Mirko was forgotten. In the moment, all that mattered was our mate and saving her. Dealing with him, and Durion’s treason, could wait a bit longer.
Ella was more important to me than that. There could be no doubting that. Whatever it took to save her, I would do it.
Even if that means another week spent being a recovering wimp.
Air whistled over my snout, making my eyes water even through the clear membranous eyelids dragons possessed for just that purpose. I was moving too fast, gravity assisting my dive as I went after my falling mate with a single-minded drive.
I’m coming.
I tried to ignore the gaping hole where her lower stomach had been or the blood covering her. I shunted aside the rage at Durion for hurting the woman I loved, the woman I was going to spend eternity with.
There would be time for all that later. I had to save Ella first.
But I wasn’t going to make it. I had been too far behind. She had broken free before I was close enough to save her, and now the ground was coming up with frightening speed.
She was going to hit the ground, and there wasn’t a thing I could do about it. The angles were simply too great.
“Ella!” I roared, hoping she could hear me. I wanted her to know comfort in her final seconds. To know I was there, as close as I could be, at the end. “Ella, I love you!”
I’m sorry. I failed you in the end. I should have been closer. Faster.
“Dirk!” The shriek echoed across the distance.
“I’m here!” Wind buffeted me violently as I forced myself skinnier, wings tucked even tighter. I wasn’t giving up. Not on Ella. Not ever.
“Dirk! I love you!” she cried, her voice loud and clear like a trumpet in the stillness of morning.
I stared in shock at the transformation. Her shirt pulled tight as her back bulged outward awkwardly, before the fabric finally split under the pressure.
Wings burst from Ella’s back, snapping out wide to try to slow her fall.
I shot forward, shoving my astonishment aside as an opportunity presented itself. I was a missile arrowing below her as she struggled to stop her spin and orient herself, the wings moving her in unfamiliar ways.
Then I was there, scooping her onto my back and hauling for all I could, trying to flatten out my dive before I sent us both into the forest below.
The very tops of the brellwoods scrapped along my belly as I roared in triumph, frustration, agony, and effort all at the same time. My wings screeched from the effort, muscles tearing free as they struggled to fight momentum.
And then I swooped up and away, shedding speed and momentum with a tremendous sigh.
“Hold on,” I told her as we came across a grassy spot. “This is still going to be rough.”
My wings held on for another few seconds before they gave out, the muscles ripped free, torn, and unable to hold myself up. Desperate to shield Ella, I spread wide and hit the ground hard, rocks digging painfully against my scales. Trees snapped my wings around, yanking me to the side.
I rolled so Ella would not be thrown free, but my other wing flopped hard on the ground, digging in, and my mate was tossed aside with a cry anyway.
“Ella!” I shouted, though I no longer feared death, only more injury.
Then, finally, I came to a stop, my snout flat on the ground. I could only watch as the other dragons flew on, oblivious to my glare. They were going to escape today, but that didn’t matter. It was obvious from their flightpath where they were headed.
They were headed northeast. To the home of the fire dragons.
Their time would come. But not today.
I shifted back into my human form, lying deep in the rut my dragon body had dug in the terrain.
“Dirk!” Ella called from over the edge of the rut. “I’m here.”
“Hold on,” I growled, getting wearily to my feet. My legs worked fine. “I’m coming to you.”
“Okay,” she said in a soft tone, and I hurried up the steep slope, ignoring the agony of muscles that needed time to heal.
I fell to my knees at her side.
“Are you okay?” she asked.
“I’m supposed to be the one asking you that,” I chided, looking down at her stomach. It was healing, thankfully. The bleeding had stopped, and it was starting to knit itself back together, though it would take a long time to heal such a huge hole. Thank the orb for dragon healing.
“I think I’ll live,” she said, one of her wings twitching under her.
I stared at them. They were silver but traced with lines of copper and deep amber. I couldn’t stop staring at them. “Beautiful.”
Ella looked away, her cheeks pinking.
“We’ve really got to stop meeting like this,” I said, giving her another once-over to make sure she didn’t have any other injuries. I lifted her shirt sleeve to eyeball a particular cut.
She reached up and removed my hand, holding it in her own. “If we hadn’t met like this, we wouldn’t have each other,” she said, pulling me down closer. “And, Dirk, there’s nothing more I want than to have you.”
I lowered my mouth to hers, letting the press of our lips do the talking for the moment.