Bastian
When it came to Rowan, I was never far away.
Before she and Craig had sped off, I was already in the kitchen.
I’d seen her hopping into his Jeep. Something didn’t sit right with me, my nerves immediately prickling.
Tense as hell, I turned away from the window and asked Ma and Nina, who stood there with Rowan’s large medical bag from her room.
What the hell was going on? He’d rushed in because of an emergency.
Craig.
If it had been anyone else whisking my mate away for a medical emergency, I would have understood it, but not Craig. He was one of the few older dragons who was still adamant my father had his reasons. Reasons that somehow justified murder—of his own brother, no less.
He was very quickly going to learn that I now had my own, and he was going to be on the receiving fucking end of it when I was finished with Cyrus.
My heart smashed against my rib cage as I sprinted to the nearest vehicle, knowing the keys would be inside, tucked behind the visor. I grabbed the key, fired up the engine, and took off like a bat out of hell. Rowan needed me. I could feel it in my bones.
No part of me trusted Craig to have good intentions, and I was almost mad at Rowan for going with him as I sped down the road, getting closer and closer to the clearing I knew was coming up on my right. I couldn’t truly be upset with her, though.
Craig had known what to do to get her to come with him, no questions asked.
She was a healer, after all.
There was no sign of Craig’s car when I pulled over at the side of the road. I hadn’t seen any vehicles pass me, so I had to assume he’d taken off, farther away from the horde lands. Fucker. He was a goddamn coward, and I’d make sure every horde from here to Canada knew he was a traitor.
After leaping out of the car, I ran with everything I had and then burst into the clearing, semi-shifted, rage fueling every breath and step.
My claws were extended, and I was fairly sure there were scales on my face, the rasp of fangs against my tongue.
Shifting like this was rare, but the idea of Rowan being in danger made it impossible to control my beast. And I didn’t try to.
“Rowan!” I shouted her name so loudly the trees around me vibrated, my call echoing for miles.
I didn’t hear a response, panic flooding me, acid in my veins. But as I shot forward, tearing through the tall grass, I heard it: heavy breathing and… pained groans. But it was too deep to be Rowan’s voice, and a moment later, I found them both.
What the fuck?
Rowan’s stare set directly on Cyrus, my fucking father, who convulsed on the ground, white foam breaching his lips as he twitched and groaned. I had been two minutes behind her at most.
“Rowan!”
She was standing a few feet away from my father, who lay there, her gaze wild and glassy.
My heart broke when her tear-streaked face met mine.
She was white as a sheet, eyes wide with panic as the tears fell rapidly.
I looked between her and Cyrus, still so thrown by the fact that my father had gotten his dirty fucking hands on her.
Craig had led her to my father… and he had to know Cyrus would kill her.
They were both living on borrowed time now.
“I-I…” She struggled to get her words out.
“Are you okay?” I asked, closing the distance between us in a few short strides.
My hands came to rest on her upper arms, my wide eyes raking over her, desperately searching for any sign of injury.
Of course she wasn’t okay. My father had tried to kill her—again.
But making sure she wasn’t bleeding or broken was my first priority.
“I hurt him,” she whispered.
As she spoke, I could hear my father gurgling. Whatever had happened in the few minutes I wasn’t there was clearly lethal, looking like some sort of poison that was shutting down the asshole’s body one system at a time.
“Good.” I pulled Rowan in close, breathing her in.
My heart was still thundering as I took several deep gulps of air, breathing in the scent of her hair, trying to ground myself.
She was here. She was okay. We were both okay. She wasn’t hurt.
In fact, a small part of me was extremely impressed that she had held her own.
Once I managed to get my heart rate under control, I was probably going to be proud as fuck.
My tiny human mate had taken down a grown-ass dragon; not only a grown-ass dragon but an Alpha, someone who’d run a horde for decades and wasn’t afraid to enact whatever form of violence he deemed necessary to get what he wanted.
“You don’t understand, Bastian. I’m a healer. I’m meant to help people, and I just… I didn’t even think twice about it—” she admitted in a broken whisper that cut off with a sob.
My hands stilled on her upper arms at those words. She felt guilty… for defending herself? Oh, fuck, of course she did. Rowan had never killed anyone, even in self-defense.
“You did what you had to,” I tried to soothe her, but she shook her head, tears falling fast.
“I could have done something different. Run away. Made the stuff to be… I killed him!”
I looked between my distraught mate and the piece of shit I used to call my father lying on the ground, the long grass around him crumpled. He was still breathing for the moment, but it didn’t take a genius to figure out that he wasn’t long for this world.
Rowan had an impeccable sense of morality. She wanted to help everyone, and the idea of causing harm was abhorrent to her. It was a big part of why I loved her: that dedication and genuine compassion.
She was softer than me and my clanmates, kind and gentle, which was something we appreciated. When it came to protecting people, she had a spine of steel, but her ability to inflict harm was purposefully minimal. A code of ethics. “Do no harm,” she’d once said.
That was why she had us.
And I was here. I could do this for her. I could carry a weight she had no reason to suffer alone.
“No.” I shook my head, slipping away from her. “No, Rowan.”
I walked up to him… Cyrus. I crouched low, jaw set, eyes unblinking. I turned my father over, looked into those bloodshot eyes as he choked, trying to claw every last breath from the air. It was done. He was done. But this last thing, this last decision, was on me.
“You tried to kill her, planned to kill my clanmates, and murder so many others in your blind pursuit of power.”
I leaned close, getting my mouth close to his ear so only Cyrus would hear me.
“She beat you, old man. That human you thought was so weak, so disposable. She was faster and smarter than you.” A growl rumbled out of me, my voice pitching so low.
“I want you to know that this isn’t mercy.
I’d watch you choke to death happily. This is for her.
Because I choose her. You died alone in a field like a fucking coward. ”
After leaning back, I threw my hand out to the side, telling my claws to extend farther.
I embraced that partial shift and looked my father right in the eyes.
I reared my hand back and swiped across his throat, easily tearing through the soft flesh.
Warmth hit me as his blood splattered, landing across my arm and the earth below him, painting the pale green grass with crimson streaks, but I didn’t care.
It was done.
I dropped my head, breathing in the scent of copper on the wind.
I stood up, leaving his pathetic body where it dropped.
I turned around. Rowan was a few feet away, watching me with wide eyes.
I strode over to her, placed a kiss on her forehead, cupping the back of her head with my hand that was unmarred by my father’s blood.
She shook in my hold, collapsing into my chest as she let her tears flow hard and fast.
If I could take some of the burden off her, I would do it in a heartbeat, with a fucking smile.
“You didn’t kill him, mate. I did.”