Burn (Dragon Souls) (44 page)

Had her Second known of what his brother planned?

She growled viciously.

White-faced, Viktor shrank back.

Backing up steadily, Jakob’s hands raised, palms facing outward. “I did not know. I suspected he was in something deep, but I would have stopped him.” Head lowering in submission, his deep voice quavered. “Please. He is fool, but he is all I have left of my kin.”

Family ties did not matter to the beast.

Maksim would burn. Freeze. Be torn into bloody shreds. The Dragoness would accept no less.

Aware words would be of no use, Viktor courageously rushed forward to tug frantically on Jakob’s arm, urging him out of the way to leave Maksim to his fate.

“We must get Council Mon Mikhail,” Viktor babbled. “He will listen. I think. He will know how to help. He is strong enough to stop–”

Rearing back, Marina felt the hot churn broiling her throat, and instinctively snapped her jaws wide to release a torrid blue flame that scorched the earth and rolled towards Maksim.

Jakob dove right.

Viktor dropped and rolled.

A swirl of brilliant light, Maksim shifted, but was clipped by the blast, and sent tumbling off the precipice verge.

Flat on his belly, Jakob stared in horror. “
Marina! No!”

Skidding to a stop at the edge of the gully, Marina hooked her claws into the ledge. She craned her elongated neck over to peer down into the mist.

Caught in her peripheral vision, she became vaguely aware of Viktor flying in the direction of the Red Citadel.

Faster than sight, Maksim soared into the sky, knocking Marina’s shoulder and sending her sprawling.

He banked hard and sped inland.

Rolling onto her paws, wings snapping open, Marina crouched then sprung fearlessly into the abyss. Freefalling. The world rotated like a gyroscope, with her as the spin axis. Volcano, jungle, abyss, sky, volcano, jungle, abyss, sky. Cold wind and salty mist enveloped her body. The sheer walls of the valley were solid smudges of maroon, and the abyss rushed up to swallow her whole. Strangely, her wings felt like another pair of arms that had skin stretched between the jointed fingers. She could feel the bones moving in sync, feel the way air tugged and pushed on the membranes.

The winds caught hold, lifted her up... and tossed her about, shook her roughly then sent her into a spine-twisting whirl that made her dizzy, because, implausibly, flying well took a tremendous amount of dexterity attained through months of training.

She flexed her wing forelimbs, and pulled out of it. Marina stubbornly fought the air tides to correct her trajectory and fly straight. The fundamentals were innate, and when she angled her wings down, the air rushed over, exerted force, and she lifted.

After another false start – a heart-stopping vertical drop where she forgot she actually had wings that flapped – she sliced through the air seeking for her quarry.

Hands bracketing his mouth, Jakob yelled at her to return.

She barely heard him over the wind, and the beat of her own heart and wings.

A peppery scent drifted past.

Instinct took over then she was belly down, soaring towards her prey.

Breaking in mid-air, Maksim somersaulted and spewed ice in her face.

Blue splinters coming at her.

Eyes snapping closed, Marina yelped, and dropped in altitude. Jagged icicles bounced off her hide. Slivers speared the sensitive flesh under her scales. It hurt. Her skin prickled, but she shook of the biting cold that would have disabled a fire breather.

She plunged after him as he straightened his tail, tucked his wings, and dived.

Locked on his trail, she mimicked, followed.

There was no comprehension of where she was. The screams of the people below were lost as she closed the distance.

Maksim rolled onto his back, ready to spit more ice. He jerked. Two tons of enraged Dragoness was on his ass.

Eyes wild with the thrill of catching her prey, Marina latched on.

Claws cut past pearly scale, sank into flesh and hooked in. Teeth bit into the leathery skin of a corded neck, and a bladed-tail looped over another, thicker limb.

Locked together they spiralled and plummeted.

The battling Dragons crashed head first into the demolished bazaar, destroying carts, stalls, and scattering the few merchants that dared remain to protect their wares during the pillaging.

Earth erupted either side of their mass in twin waves of wet soil, and when they stopped, a tapered groove twenty-
shaku
wide was left in their wake.

With a masculine snort, Maksim pushed the dazed Dragoness off.

He gained his paws snarling.

Rocking onto her belly, Marina lowered her snout and hissed.

Maksim snapped his jaws, blowing cold air over her horns until they frosted at the tips.

Marina shook off the icicles and lunged aiming for this throat. She missed, her fangs grazing his tough hide, but her claws sunk deep and gouged bloody furrows in his side.

He roared in agony, violently bucking to shake her loose.

His tail lashed and scraped her side.

Pain exploded from the cut. Instead of backing off, her beast went mad, digging her claws and fangs deeper, wanting blood, needing to feel this Dragon bleed dry of life.

Something warm and strong coiled around her sore hind leg, and yanked. She was dragged back, lifted, slammed into the ground, and then rolled over with a rough flick. Cross-eyed, she watched the deadly point of a tail sail towards her eyeball, recognized the inimitable shape of the knifelike spike, and felt an absurd kind of happiness detonate within her breast.

Another blocked the fatal blow, wrapping around it, wrenching it brutally until she swore she heard something snap.

Roaring, Dragon King Koen Raad reared back.

A silver Dragon crashed into Marina. They mashed together and skidded through the mud. Covering her protectively, the silver-scaled Dragon spread his wings and snarled with single-minded ferocity.

Scared to the point of incoherency, Viktor released Koen Raad’s tail. Jakob had successfully shoved his cousin from harm’s way, and he was moments from being roasted alive by an enraged Phoenix.

He retreated, edging toward the Dragon Lord protecting the High Princess. He bared his fangs and growled viciously despite his Dragon’s smaller stature.

A sapphire Dragon landed.

Heaving flanks brushing, seething, Daniil and Koen advanced on the lesser Dragons. Their energy intensified into roiling black clouds of anger.

Mikhail descended into the gulf between them. His tail thrashed and cracked like a whip, forcing distance between the ranks. ‘
Hold
.’ His mental voice boomed throughout their minds. ‘
Enough
.’

‘
Move
.’ Koen’s snarl was barely intelligible.

Rather than submit, Mikhail snapped his jaws. His spiked tail gouged a deep furrow in the soil. ‘
Back away
.’

‘
That wild one is out of control
.’ Daniil's voice was more controlled, but even he sounded furious. ‘
They know not to come here, know not to attack in our territory. The dragoness is mad. She must be put down
.’

‘
Viktor has spoken to me of this female
.’ Smoke billowed from Mikhail’s nose. His eyes flashed with worry. There was protectiveness, a hesitation that was pronounced in his manner. ‘
Council Mon Leonid has come from AshMount to speak with us
.’

Daniil eased back in confusion.

‘
I will see to the female’s care,’
Mikhail finished firmly. ‘
Be gone
.
Leonid waits in the throne room. I will join you later
.’

Unnoticed, Maksim scrambled up from the crook he hid in then took silently to the skies.

Horns angled forward, Koen Raad crouched in preparation of a pounce. ‘
This is our duty, Council Mon
.’

‘
Think you that I, one who lost his Treasure, do not know what you feel? That you crave violence soothe the beast?’
Mikhail snorted, contemptuous. ‘
You would take your pain out on this creature
?’

Blood cooling, Daniil appeared suitably ashamed.

Prowling, hackles raised, Koen advanced. All bloodthirsty, and bunched muscles as he prepared to go for the older Phoenix’s throat.

Flattened under the silver male, Marina trembled. Fury leeched from her body at the sight of her mate. The otherness purred, and the overpowering wildness of its spirit dimmed. Her original shape anchored this new terrible form into existence.

With this knowledge came the understanding of how to expand past it, and contain it. She pushed past the scales, fangs, and claws to become a swirl of brilliant, kaleidoscope light.

When she looked down, she was naked on all fours. Her bloodied fingers burrowed into the muck, and her bruised skin was covered in filth. Cold wind buffeted her bare ass and made her nipples harden. Her mouth was full of ash. It tasted bitter. Her chest constricted, her lungs convulsed, and she vomited flecks of glowing ember. The cinders tasted worse than the ash. They burned her throat coming up too, and when her stomach grumbled and dropped, she made an absurd vow to never again to defecate. Ever. Her ankle throbbed, and she was sure there was fur and gristle between her teeth.

Blinking slowly, Marina had a moment of blind panic.

What if she hadn’t transformed into a Dragon? What if she had buckled under the pressure of Aver resulting in a psychotic break? What if she had spent the day running around the market place totally human, buck-naked, growling, and attacking people?

Dropping her head back, her rounded eyes met the shocked ones of the Dragon covering her. “Am I crazy, Jak?”

Jakob held absolutely still. He was paranoid the slightest movement of his extended wings or curled tail would hurt her.

‘
No
,’ he replied at length.

It was said in a tone so humdrum it surprised even him, because there was nothing trite about the moment. The exchange was not profound, nor was their behavior stately, and the history books would just have to deal with being underwhelmed when this legend was retold.

Ground shaking footsteps drew closer. Heavy breath blew over his horns. Jakob lifted his snout to stare at the Dragon King looming above.

E
veryone froze.

They struggled to believe, but not Koen. The instant her transformation occurred his beast calmed, emoting smug approval, as if it expected his mate to return from the dead.

The world righted itself.

Debris from the destroyed souk crushed beneath his feet as he moved.

He wanted to feel relief – joy at his beloved’s return. All he mustered in this form was a sense of impatience.

With a hard glance at the male covering her, Koen acknowledged Jakob saved him from destroying his own life. ‘
Lord Jakob of House Lin. Each year may you ask a boon of me
.’

He closed his claws around Marina’s shaking body and launched into the inky, star-cluttered sky.

Riding the thermal air currents, skimming beneath wispy clouds yet above jungles, volcanoes and lagoons, he took her to his lair. A haven. A secret place he knew was safe, and unmolested by wild ones of his kind. Laying her out in the cool enclosure of the cave situated on the beachfront of an islet, Koen reclined, and simply watched her watch him.

Hair wind-tousled, diamond face grubby, and naked, moon-kissed skin smeared with mud and blood, she was beautiful.

Alive.

She is alive.

He would never forget the hell of living without her. He would remember each moment with her was rare and precious.

Keeping his emotions under control proved difficult. He wanted to force her over and shove inside her, but that would not be polite, so he waited, watched, and desired her intensely with each love-soaked beat of his great heart.

Frustration burned brightly in her eyes. Her beast was too close to the surface, heightening her responses. Toes curling, Marina’s hands clenched rhythmically on her upper thighs, and her oversensitive flesh goose pimpled.

“Shift.”

He found it amusing when they first met she only wanted the Dragon. Now she demanded the man.

He would deny her nothing.

Keeping his beast at the fore, he shrank into his smaller shape.

Their eyes locked.

Desire crackled between them like bolts of lightning, sizzling, exhilarating implosions of sensation born from a mere look.

Teeth snagging her lip, Marina crawled, slinking until she draped over his kneeling form, arms encircling his shoulders, thighs parting to bracket his. Groin to groin and breast to chest, she smiled wickedly. Her silken hair brushed under his chin as she sniffed his throat. Becoming increasingly interested in the jumping vein at his neck, a contented purr rumbled from her throat.

Aroused by the sound his body tensed.

Lips parted against his heated skin. She nibbled then bit him hard, a deeper, darker growl breaking free from her chest.

Shifting forward with unmatched speed, his arms crossed Marina’s back to break her fall when he pinned her. Confident his hold was secure, she could not squirm loose and flee, Koen ran his nose down the slender length of her throat.

Her legs lifted to cradle his hips as she gyrated against him, panting in anticipation. “Please.”

His erection glided through her cream, paused to slowly draw circles on her clit, then dropped to press firmly against the nucleus of her heat.

His eyeballs rolled into the back of his head.

Pink flesh was drenched, ready for him.

A thrust of his hips and he would be sliding home.

The hard points of her nipples rasped against his chest, and her hot mouth sucked a trail across his shoulder. She dug her heels into the meat of his ass, had the gall to kick him, as if encouraging a stud.

“
Now,
Koen.”

He snarled. Primal instinct forced him to take control and assert dominance.

She was strong, but he was stronger.