Meyer didn’t disagree, but he didn’t blame Emory.The dragon wanted revenge, and now that he didn’t have to be as careful, he rushed forward.He narrowly avoided a spell that exploded on his left, and he didn’t even slow down.
Now that they weren’t trying to be stealthy, the mages could fully use their magic.Meyer heard someone clap, and the night turned to day.There was no sun in the sky, but it was so bright that Meyer had to blink several times.
There was a house in the distance.Emory was headed straight toward it, but the mages were being more careful.Apparently, Emory was willing to die to get his hands on Carlyle, and while Meyer respected that, he didn’t want to lose anyone tonight.
The house’s door slammed open, and Carlyle strode through.Simon was behind him, looking a bit shaky as he carried a bunch of objects.Carlyle reached back and grabbed one of them before throwing it in Emory’s direction.
Meyer winced when it touched the ground and exploded.“I’m going to shift,” he told Tyne.
Tyne nodded.“Stay close.”
“It’s my job.”
Meyer wanted to kiss Tyne, but now wasn’t the time.He shifted and stretched his wings, using one of them to knock Penley away from a purple-lit object before it exploded.Bennett, who was in his dragon form and had been focused on another one of the objects, growled at Penley.Penley looked sheepish, but he took the time to pat Meyer’s wing and thank him.
Meyer didn’t need to be thanked.He just needed the mages to be careful.
Most of the objects Carlyle had spelled seemed made to explode, but not all of them.Some made the ground crack and shake under their feet as they walked toward the house.Others threw pointy objects at them.Luckily, Meyer’s dragon skin was thick, and Tyne knew how to defend himself.He was better at offensive spells, but he was doing a good job.Meyer still didn’t think he’d be able to relax until they were back in the castle, though.He didn’t want Tyne to be in danger, but that was where he was headed.
Toward the heart of the danger.
Tyne was focused on Carlyle.Meyer understood why, but it scared him.He needed his mage to be okay by the time this was over.He also needed Tyne to focus on everything that was happening because not doing so was putting them in danger.Meyer had to pull him away from purple objects and flying spells several times because Tyne was staring at Carlyle.
Meyer huffed and bumped his head against Tyne’s shoulder.Tyne turned to look at him, and when he pressed his hand against Meyer’s snout, Meyer thought that he’d finally realized he needed to be more careful.Instead, his words turned Meyer’s blood to ice.
“He’s still wounded,” Tyne said over the sound of the explosions.“I need to take advantage of that.Stay here.”
He started moving forward.There was no way Meyer would allow Tyne to go anywhere on his own, so he did the same just in time to see Carlyle throw something at them.He didn’t know what it was.It wasn’t purple like the objects hit by Ansley’s spell.It sailed toward them, and Meyer only had a few seconds to think about what he should do.
It was an easy choice.He placed himself between Tyne and the object, hoping it would be enough to protect his mage from whatever was coming at them.
* * * *
IT TOOK A SECOND FORTyne to understand what was happening.When he did, he launched himself forward, his heart racing as he wondered how hurt Meyer was.He’d been about to do something stupid, and Meyer had saved him.Tyne would never forgive himself if his dragon paid the price for that.
He got his hands on Meyer’s side just as Meyer moved.Thankfully, thanks to Keylon’s spell, there was enough light that Tyne could see what he was doing.That meant there was also enough light for him to check over Meyer.
“Are you hurt?”he asked, moving around Meyer.His dragon was massive, so it would take him a few minutes to go over his entire body.
Meyer shook his head and huffed.He turned his head and narrowed his eyes at Tyne, who didn’t have to ask to know what Meyer was thinking.
Meyer wasn’t wrong.Tyne knew better than to do anything alone, especially in this fight.Even if leaving the other mages behind to get to Carlyle was an option, he couldn’t do the same with Meyer.Where one of them went, so did the other.It was how their bond worked.
“You’re sure?”Tyne asked.
Meyer nodded, then turned back to the direction in which Carlyle had thrown his spell.Tyne did the same just in time to see a dragon throwing themselves at Carlyle.
Emory.
Emory took Carlyle down.It must have hurt, but Tyne couldn’t care less.Carlyle deserved to be hurt.
Emory didn’t, though.It was Tyne’s job, dammit.He was the one who was supposed to get to Carlyle first.He was the one who was supposed to kill him.He hadn’t wanted any of the other mages to have to make that decision, but he especially hadn’t wanted Emory to do so.Emory had loved Carlyle, and beyond the fact that the feelings he had for Carlyle might give him pause, it also wasn’t fair to him.No one should ever have to kill someone they’d loved.
Even though that someone was a cruel asshole who’d deliberately taken their magic and had hurt them for years.
He moved forward.He didn’t have a plan in mind, but he wanted to help.Of course, that was the moment in which Meyer extended a wing and blocked him from getting anywhere near Carlyle.
Tyne gently slapped the delicate bone in the upper part of the wing.“Let me pass.”
