Chapter 31
Chapter Thirty-One
The Docks of the Giant’s Capital
Stone towers pierced the horizon, reaching into a sky brushed with gold.
Dockworkers bustled across the pier, hauling crates the size of their treehouse back home while ships of all shapes and sizes bobbed in the harbor.
Everything was impossibly large. Even the ropes securing the ships looked thick enough to tether a leviathan.
Phoenix stood beside Alice, watching the surreal bustle with wide eyes. Behind them, Zohar leaned against a stone pylon, arms crossed, head tilted. Bálint and Adaline whispered quietly behind her, the wind tugging strands of Adaline’s braid loose.
Ahead, King Drago and Orion exchanged words with Koorgan, the King of the Giants, who had shrunk down to their size but was still a giant of a man. His laughter boomed like thunder, shaking the docks as he clapped Orion on the back hard enough to rock him forward a step.
But Phoenix wasn’t listening.
A strange weight pressed against her chest. Heavy. Wrong.
Her smile faded.
She turned, lifting her head and closing her eyes. She listened.
Spring…?
A breath. A whisper.
Then—a whimper.
Agony.
Fear.
Pain.
Her twin’s cry.
Her eyes flew open, glowing with sudden alarm. “Spring,” she gasped, already moving. “She’s in trouble.”
“Phoenix?” Alice stepped forward, confused.
But Phoenix didn’t answer.
Her dragon surged upward—a wave of flame and fury.
A flash of light consumed her.
Her clothes vanished, replaced by black scales and fire, wings unfurling like living banners of flame. In the space of a heartbeat, the girl was gone.
And in her place—a dragon with burning eyes and wings ablaze.
Gasps rang out around the dock. Someone screamed. Children pointed. A startled horse reared.
Phoenix launched into the sky with a roar that rippled across the city.
Zohar reacted instantly.
“Adaline—” he began.
But she was already turning into mist, her body dispersing into golden vapor as she streaked into the sky after Phoenix.
Bálint roared as he shifted mid-stride, his scales erupting in a cascade of purple and gold shards. Alice sprinted forward and vaulted onto his back, gripping his shoulders as he surged upward with a mighty beat of his wings.
Within seconds, they were gone—chasing fire across the sky.
“Was it something I said?” Koorgan asked, frowning as his gaze followed the flaming dragon.
Orion’s smile faded. “Phoenix doesn’t just fly off like that. One of the Dragonlings is in danger.”
Koorgan threw back his head and roared out a command. The sound carried across the capital like a battle horn.
From the shadows, a black steed appeared—its hooves cracking lightning against the stones. Thunder rippled in its wake.
Drago squinted. “Is that—?”
Orion narrowed his eyes. “That’s one of Nali’s lightning steeds.”
Koorgan grinned and swung onto its back. “Won it off Ashure last week in a game called poker. I’ll return it to Nali… eventually.”
Drago let out a long-suffering sigh, then shifted in a flash of black scales edged with gold, his massive dragon form spiraling into the sky.
Orion vaulted behind Koorgan. “Let’s go rescue Drago before he gets in trouble,” he muttered.
Phoenix soared, the world blurring around her. Through their twin bond, she reached again.
Spring.
Phoenix—we need help. Roam’s been drugged—they’re trying to take us—
Phoenix’s chest tightened. Her jaw clenched.
Hold on, she responded. I’m coming. I can feel you—I’m almost there. Don’t give up.
Phoenix jerked as her sister’s piercing scream struck her as if it was her own.
Pain surged through their connection.
Spring’s voice fractured. He’s got me! He’s pulling—
The link snapped.
Phoenix roared, the sound shaking birds from trees miles away. She tucked her wings and dove.
The scorched remains of a wagon came into view. Smoke still curled from the blackened shell.
There were figures below.
A man was dragging a girl with blood-slicked clothing from a hole in the ground.
Phoenix’s eyes blazed with the power of a supernova about to explode.
She landed with a wagon-shattering impact, fire bursting from her wings in a wide, sweeping arc that flung the marauders from their feet. Screams rang out as their weapons clattered away.
Smoke and ash swirled as she stepped forward, shifting mid-stride, fire receding as her humanoid form emerged—radiant, seething, unstoppable.
Power glowed through her skin, her hair floating around her like a halo of black flame.
A crossbow bolt flashed through the air towards her.
She didn’t flinch.
One hand rose.
The bolt disintegrated into ash.
Her booted feet stepped across scorched dirt. Stone melted beneath her. Sand turned to glass.
The men stared, frozen in fear.
“Leave. Now,” she ordered in a voice that sounded as ethereal as she looked.
Spring’s kidnapper staggered upright, dragging Spring to her feet and jerking her back against him. A knife gleamed against her throat.
Phoenix stopped.
One step away from annihilating them all.
“You move,” the man snarled, “and we gut the girl. Hear that? Anyone else moves—we gut the cat. And you? You, little fire demon? We’ll sell your ashes.”
He sneered.
Phoenix’s eyes narrowed. The swirling colors inside them deepened—nebulae of rage and starlight.
“You will harm no one,” she said, her voice no longer human. It echoed with the weight of galaxies.
Heat cracked the air around her.
Her body began to shift.
Fire exploded. Wings of light and ash unfurled.
Where a girl had stood, a fiery phoenix with the head of a dragon now towered—radiant, terrible, magnificent. Flames crowned her skull. Fire crackled at her talons. The earth shook beneath her feet.
The man screamed and slashed wildly—only to watch his blade melt like wax in the sun.
Arrows turned to cinders mid-flight. Nets burned before they could fly. Bolts hissed into glass puddles at her feet.
A second later—the others arrived.
Zohar and Bálint dropped from the sky like thunderstones, landing behind her. Their dragons unfurled—scaled, gleaming, growling.
Alice’s hands crackled with energy, golden magic dancing across her arms.
Adaline re-formed beside them, her body glowing like dawn mist touched by the sun.
They stood together, backs straight, eyes burning.
An army of fire, air, power, and purpose.
The marauders shrank back.
Phoenix raised her wings high, flames licking the clouds.
“This is your last warning,” she said, her voice a storm.
“Leave her. Leave them—and run.”
The ground split behind her.
The air shimmered.
The Guardian Protector had emerged.
A groan ripped from his throat as consciousness clawed its way up through the thick, muddy haze of the sedative. Everything was heavy—his limbs, his breath, his thoughts. Like trying to swim through wet cement.
But something pierced the fog.
A whisper.
A whimper.
Spring.
Pain.
Fear.
She’s in trouble.
The world tilted, sharper now.
His cat stirred sluggishly inside him.
C’mon, he begged, his fingers twitching against the cool dirt. Get up. She needs us. Please—we have to protect her.
A flicker of movement.
A twitch of an ear. The echo of a growl.
Then—a scream.
Spring’s scream.
That tore it.
His cat jerked awake, hissing with fury, clawing its way up through him like a storm. Their instincts fused.
Protect. Mate. Fight.
Roam’s back arched as energy surged through his muscles, raw and unfiltered. He gasped and rolled to his side, breath coming in shallow bursts.
Above him, he could hear her.
Spring, crying out in pain.
Too many footsteps. Too many enemies. Too many to fight head-on.
Think, he told himself, dragging in a breath. Think fast. What would Spring do?
He pushed a shaking hand through his hair.
Nothing.
Then—
His fingers brushed against something in his pocket.
Soft.
Spongy.
The mushroom.
His lips curled. A slow, sharp grin spread across his face.
Oh, they wanted to sell a rare cat to the Pirate King?
Let’s give them a rare cat.
His cat chuffed, delighted. Yes. Yes. Good plan. Big plan. BIG cat. Spring like this idea. Yes, she would!
Roam pushed himself upright. His legs trembled, but held. Every breath he took, he burned away the fog clouding his mind.
He crawled toward the tunnel’s entrance, dragging his aching body forward inch by inch until his head broke into the light.
The world outside was chaos.
Spring was on her knees, blood streaking her shoulder, her eyes wide with fear and fury. Flames crackled across the ground where Phoenix’s attack had scorched the dirt. Marauders scrambled in confusion.
Then she saw him.
Her eyes flew wide. “Roam!” she cried. “No—run! Hide!”
Three of the men spun toward him.
Roam’s eyes didn’t leave Spring’s.
“I will always protect you,” he said softly.
And then—he lifted the shimmering sliver of mushroom to his lips…
With a wink, he bit down.
The taste exploded like wild thunder across his tongue.
Magic. Heat. Transformation.
His bones cracked. His skin rippled as his cat roared in triumph.
He dropped to all fours in the tunnel.
The ground shuddered beneath his growing weight.
A low, guttural rumble echoed as he pressed against the tunnel walls.
The marauders froze.
Seconds later, the earth split open.
A massive white-and-black paw burst from the soil, flinging rocks and burning debris in every direction. Another paw followed, driving deep into the cracked terrain as if it were paper.
Men screamed.
They do more than scream, his cat hissed, wiggling his nose as the putrid smell of urine filled the air.
Spring gasped, stumbling back as the dirt erupted around her.
And then—rising from the tunnel like a god from the deep—
Roam’s head emerged, each fang gleaming like polished ivory.
His eyes glowed an electric blue, filled with fire and fury.
His fur rippled, streaked with dark ash and smoke.
His deep, menacing growl rivaled an earthquake.
With each breath he released, heat rolled across the ground, stirring dust devils that rose in the air.
The marauders bolted, tripping over each other in terror, yelling about monsters and demons.
Roam let out a deafening roar—a sound so powerful, it rattled the trees and sent shockwaves rolling across the clearing.
Spring stood frozen, her mouth parted, bloodied and shaking, her eyes brimming with tears.
“Roam…” she whispered.
He turned his enormous head toward her, slow and steady, lowering it until his glowing gaze met hers.
She was safe.
And anything that tried to hurt her now…
Would face more than the Guardian Protector. They would face the Dragonlings—which included a very protective, possessive, and giant Sarafin Prince.