FORTY-NINE
CAZ
Simpson is bleeding.
I spot the blood gushing from his nose as soon as I round the corner. His back is pinned to the wall, and a burly man in brown is pressing a knife to his throat.
Rowan withdraws his gun and points it ahead just as I turn my attention to the cluster of men standing in the middle of the tavern.
A sigh escapes me. And here I thought there was real danger. Turns out, it’s only Devlin and his Rippies.
“Just say the word, Caz, and I’ll blow his fucking head off,” Rowan rumbles, standing next to me.
“Blow my head off?” Devlin snaps, taking a large step forward.
I narrow my eyes at him. “You take another step, and I won’t just blow your head off. I’ll cut it off with a guillotine and feed it to my wolves.”
Devlin stops, his jaw setting as he stares at me.
“Why are you in my territory?” I demand.
“Are you really going to stand there and act like you don’t know what’s going on?” Devlin clenches his fists at his sides, his face reddening.
I start to speak, but the doors of the tavern burst open, and someone comes pummeling in. “I heard their stupid bikes!” Killian shouts as he storms forward, punching the first Rippie he sees. He goes for another, punching him square in the face too.
Devlin turns toward the chaos while Rowan says, “Fuck it,” and launches himself into the fight to land his own punches.
While they’re fighting, Devlin roars and runs toward me with a dagger out and a fist raised. He aims his fist at my face, but I catch it, gripping it with one hand while shoving him backwards with my other.
Glass shatters and wood splinters. I can’t help drawing in a breath when I realize Devlin has crashed through the window and flown completely out of the tavern.
“Oh shit!” Rowan kicks one of the Rippies off him. “What just happened?”
I lift my hand, and once again, my palm is red. Veins pulse and glow beneath my skin as that familiar heat builds. I clench my fist and swallow, looking up to where Devlin landed.
He’s pressed against a vehicle that now has a dent from the impact. As he tries standing, I walk past the fighting men to meet him outside, but the fight only follows. Now the men are outside the tavern, throwing punches, shouting, and swinging knives.
“What the bloody trench did you just do to me?” Devlin wheezes, forcing himself to his feet. He raises a hand in front of him and aimlessly swings his dagger. Blood drips from the corner of his mouth and the side of his head.
“You came into my territory starting a fight,” I shout. “The last time we spoke, we agreed to form an alliance, did we not?”
“That was before you set my entire territory on fire !”
“What?” I frown as he finally stands up straight, spitting before wiping the blood from his mouth with the back of his arm.
“You did it to spite me! It was a power move, wasn’t it?” he growls. “Manipulate and lie to me because I’m a young, new monarch then force me out of my own land so we have nothing.”
“Devlin, I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, but?—”
My words come to an immediate halt when I feel a prickling sensation on the back of my neck. My skin crawls, and a familiar screech tears through the air.
All the blood in my body runs cold, but that doesn’t stop my senses from heightening.
Something is wrong.
No. Something is coming .
All the men stop fighting as the screeching pierces the air again. I look up as an oversized shadow hovers amongst the clouds. The sound of wings flapping in the wind is all I can hear as the village falls to a deafening silence. Each flap grows slower, slower , proving that whatever it is, is close to landing.
My fingers twitch for the gun at my waist, but I have a feeling a gun will do nothing to stop whatever that thing is.
When the clouds split apart, I finally see it. The very thing that has tormented me in my nightmares.
Devlin sucks in a sharp. “Is that a?—”
“A fucking dragon ,” I breathe.