Chapter Twenty-Two
Emma screamed.
Jack fired.
Heat seared Cassie’s skin. Move.Move. Her legs refused to obey her brain.
Pain seared across her forearms. Tiny blisters formed.
Emma groaned, slumped to the ground.
Cassie’s knees gave way. Horror clutched her throat, her chest. Using her dress, she smothered flames dancing along her friend’s left leg.
Jack cursed. Yanked at his T-shirt. Stifled the flames on Emma’s clothes, scooped up her friend and retreated into the house. He moved so fast, Cassie gaped. The last thing she saw was the tattoo dragon on Jack’s back. The tattoo reared, fury etched into its snarl.
Another roar almost deafened her. The red dragon struggled toward her. Terror held her in position.
Naked Manu didn’t blink as yet more flames poured from the jade dragon. He swung his sword, a strange power rippling through the air. Her skin prickled. She gasped, her throat parched, her skin throbbing from the heat.
The air dried. Smoke poured from June’s nostrils.
Cassie tensed for the flames. A roar filled the air, filled her head, filled her ears, deafening her to everything else.
The red dragon kept coming. Sharp teeth glittered. Terror, the like of which she’d never known, rendered her legs useless. A sob escaped.
This was the end.
She was gonna die.
In that instant, she realized how much she wanted to live. She gulped and gathered her strength to leap to either side, before the jade dragon crisped her.Emma.
A faint croak escaped Cassie. Was Emma all right?
Heat sizzled in the air. A roar sounded. A gurgle. Drops of what sounded like rain, felt like wet rain pelted the ground. Splattered her body.
Silence fell.
A pregnant hush.
Cassie dragged in huge breaths, trying to fill her starving lungs.
Time slowed.
Black-and-red filled her vision. Sweat beaded on her brow. Her heart tried to burrow from her chest, the fierce clamp around her ribs squeezing her to the point of dizziness. She blinked. Once. Twice. Three times. Black-and-red scales. A mean growl vibrated through the air, but not directed at her. Not her? The dragon was standing guard. Protecting her?
Cassie swayed a fraction before she forced her limbs to function. She shuffled to the right and peeked from behind her dragon sentinel.
Manu stood in front of the jade dragon, sword grasped in his right hand. The blade glittered, even in the faint light. What looked like blood splattered Manu’s body and his head drooped. She couldn’t see his face, but she could see the sagging dragon tattoo depicted on his back. His head bowed too and were those tears?
Cassie took another unsteady step.
She gasped, biting her lip to stifle her horror.
A dragon head lay on the ground.
The jade dragon—June—was dead.
She took off her glasses, wiped the lenses on her clothes, replaced them. Nope. Not imagining things. This was scary real.
