Brown turns on his heel, screaming at something behind him.I look in that direction and freeze in disbelief.A reptilian humanoid, a walking lizardat least twelve feet tall, stomps down the very center of our once peaceful street.He’s wearing metallic armor that looks more suited to an art gallery than a battlefield.He’s twice Rygar’s size, with shoulders wider than most cars and thighs thicker than the giant oak in my parent’s back yard.A thick, powerful tail sweeps the ground behind him.Wings half again as tall rise from his back like dark shadows, the edges capped with sharp metal tips on top and bottom.
He shoves a parked car aside like he’s tossing a pebble.?
That’swhat Rygar was fighting out in space?That’s the monster in command of the ship that shot BILL and followed them to Earth??That’swhat’s hunting my husband?
The Draco flicks one giant clawed finger toward Special Agent Brown, who is still screaming.His body bursts like a water balloon.The bricked front of the flower shop he was using for cover explodes into dust behind him.
I didn’t like the guy, but no one should explode like that.My stomach churns and I choke back my body’s revulsion.I don’t have time to be sick.?
Special Agent Johnson bellows with rage, charging straight at his enemy.?
With a dark, cackling laugh I will never forget, the Draco lifts his opposite arm and fires a small rocket at the insignificant human.?
Johnson drops to the ground.The rocket flies over his head and keeps going.And going.?
Like seeing a horror film in slow motion, I watch the rocket hit Deputy Rhoades’ car.The car explodes, flying into the air, the deputy inside screaming into his radio as the car flips and comes crashing down.The roof buckles, then collapses with the deputy still inside.?
A secondary blast engulfs the car in flames, and I pray the deputy was unconscious or dead before the fire could get to him.?
I’ve about had it with this guy.??
The thought shocks me until I realize the words are mine, but the sentiment isn’t coming from me.The fearlessness, the resignation, is not mine, it belongs to my mate.
No wonder I’m not panicking like a normal human would.I’m somehow emotionally anchored by Rygar’s battle hardened calm.His cold fury.?
Rygar steps into the center of the street and faces his enemy.The reptilian overlord, that’s what he feels like to Rygar, like this lizard thinks he’s some kind of king, shouts at my mate in a garbled mess of sound I don’t understand.?
Opposite me, on the other side of the street, Saffron and Pepper barricaded themselves behind the steel tables the Williams family used for their displays.Silas’s grandkids and another agent in a black suit are with them.I recognize him from the joust.He was one of the assholes shooting at us.They’re all armed.Four Wolven litter the ground around them.?
I shout a warning as another Wolven drops down on top of them from the building’s roof.?
The agent reaches for his pistol.The gun fires before he’s ready and he shoots himself in the foot.Saffron rolls her eyes and takes the creature down with a headshot from what looks like a .45 revolver.
Nice.?
The agent huddles against the side of the building, some kind of radio or phone in front of him.He shouts loud enough even I can hear him.“This is Davis.David Davis.Contact confirmed.I repeat, contact confirmed.Two agents down.We need back-up.Send back-up.”He raises his pistol and takes aim at the Draco moving down the street.He fires.?
The gun clicks over, empty.?
“This is Davis.We need back-up!”He continues to mumble as I glance back over my shoulder to where Sheriff Benson and Smiley are shooting into the unmoving body of yet another Wolven.?
Rygar and the Draco are having a full-blown conversation as they approach one another.I don’t know what Rygar is doing, but I can feel his intention as clearly as if the thought were my own.?
Whoever this reptilian asshole is, he’s about to die.For my mate, this battle is personal.?Rygar is not going to stop.He’s not going to run.He’s protecting… me!No!
“BILL, how many people has this Draco killed?”?
B.I.L.L.:?Millions.His armies have invaded multiple worlds and destroyed planets.Rygar and his team were tasked with bringing him to justice.We have been chasing him for years.His armies murdered thousands of my kind.Rygar has waited a very long time to bring an end to his evil empire.?
“One bad guy did all that?”?
B.I.L.L.:?He is not a bad guy.He is Alpha Draconian royalty from an ancient bloodline.He is a prince, very close to immortal and extremely powerful.He is lord and king over hundreds of worlds.?
“And he chased Rygar all the way to Earth?Doesn’t he have bigger fish to fry?”?
B.I.L.L.:?Rygar Ironclad defeated his son in battle.The Ironclad are our finest warriors, gifted by the Galactic Federation with special Arcturian alloys in their armor and weapons.The nanotechnology transferred to you during the Empyrean Ritual not only allows you to communicate telepathically and use our technology, it also bestows upon you the rights and honor granted your mate.The name is not one bestowed by birth, but purpose.The Ironclad, first and foremost, are defenders of worlds.This is why Rygar never took a mate.?
Why didn’t he tell me?I’m nothing.No one.Rygar is a real-life superhero.Apparently, his only weakness isme.
