I’m speaking fast now, words tumbling over each other. My dragon is roaring inside me, demanding release. My skin feels too tight. My bones ache with the need to shift.
“Fine! Yes. Do it!” she growls, looking angry. Her eyes are narrowed.
I step back, giving myself room.
Then I shift.
The transformation tears through me in an instant. My dragon surges to the surface with a roar that shakes the house.
41
Wren
Grim shifts and the roof tears away like paper. Half the wall comes down in a shower of debris that rains down around us. I throw my arms up instinctively, trying to shield myself, but I don’t need to.
Grim sweeps his wing over Falkor and me, creating a protective shelter. Chunks of ceiling bounce off the leathery membrane above our heads.
I almost forget all about the mind-bond thing when his dragon crashes into my consciousness like a tidal wave, filling every corner of my thoughts. There’s no keeping him out this time. No mental wall strong enough to hold him back.
The bond snaps into place with such force that I gasp, going down onto my knees.
Mine.
Wren mine.
His voice roars through my head. It’s not words exactly. More like emotions and images and raw, primal instinct, all compressed into something I can somehow understand.
He’s frantic. The need to protect us consumes him so completely that I feel it as if it’s my own emotion.
And beneath that, there’s rage. Pure, molten fury at the males outside who dare to threaten us. He wants to attack. Wants to incinerate every single one of them until nothing but ash remains.
He wants to kill.
“No!” I scream. “Take Falkor and me away from here,” I command. “Do it now!”
I’m not sure who he grabs first, but in the next second, a massive talon closes around me with surprising gentleness. I should be used to this by now, but I’m not. My stomach lurches as I’m lifted off my feet. Through the chaos, I see another talon wrapped around Falkor.
Then we’re shooting upward through the destroyed roof.
The acceleration is brutal. My head snaps back. The ground falls away so fast that my vision swims.
Gunfire erupts below us.
The crack of automatic weapons fills the air. The bullets strike in dull thuds and metallic pings as they hit Grim’s scales.
Terror floods through me. I might be angry with Grim, but that doesn’t mean I want anything to happen to him.
Grim angles his body, twisting mid-flight so that his bulk is between us and the Mainland Security forces. There’s more gunfire. I’m not sure if any more bullets find their target. I hope not. Grim doesn’t make a sound, doesn’t so much as slow down. He just keeps climbing, keeps putting distance between us and the danger below.
The world becomes a blur of speed and motion. The house shrinks below us. The security vehicles look like toys. The men firing at us become tiny dots.
And then they’re gone.
We’re so high, moving so fast, that I can’t do anything but hold on to consciousness by a thread.
Everything starts to fade, and it goes black. I’m not sure how much time passes before I come to, but we’re far above the clouds.
The world is nothing but endless white below us and brilliant blue above. The sun is so bright it hurts my eyes. The air is thin and cold, stealing the breath from my lungs.
