In that instant, I think he finally believed me. His eyes flickered, his grim tension flagged for a brief second. He suddenly knew I’d been telling him the truth all along. That he’d put his best friend in harm’s way, and Greg died. Thathe’d murdered my mate, my beloved, and our unborn child for nothing.Nothing.
And that he’d never escape me.
No matter how far he flew.
Austin shifted.
As did I.
His strong wings beat the night air, his tail mere inches from my snapping teeth. I shot a heavy burst of flames at his backside, heard him scream in pain. Only a dragon can kill a dragon. Only a dragon’s fires were hot enough, deadly enough, to burn through a dragon’s thick hide and armored scales.
If I died in the process, Austin would also die.
I only hoped Lindsey, and our child, would live.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Lindsey
“Holy shit.”
I stared up and into the sky, seeing the distinctive flames of dragons.Brody!They circled around one another, diving, evading, flaming, each trying to outmaneuver the other. I had no doubt, no doubt at all, that was Brody up there, fighting Rivers. Fighting to kill, fighting to live.
Fighting for me.
I screamed, straining against my rope. I felt my flesh rip, tear, fresh agony and blood from my wrists as I fought to escape them. If I tore my hands from my arms, then I might escape. Fly. Help Brody kill Austin.
I glanced down at the bomb vest around my torso.I don’t know who’s winning up there. Maybe Brody, maybe Austin. Maybe they’ll kill each other. I can’t sit here and watch my love perish.
“I’m sorry, little one,” I murmured, tears burning my eyes. “If this doesn’t work, we’re both gone. If there’s an afterlife, perhaps we’ll see each other one day. Right now, your daddy needs me. I have to take the chance that I’m faster than an explosion.”
I shut my eyes. I controlled my breathing. I focused only on one thing – shifting into my dragon. To change my fragile, human body into an armor-plated creature that can withstand C-4. I sent a brief prayer up to any higher power that might look after dragons.
I shifted.
The world exploded into flame.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
Brody
The explosion far below, the flames lighting the night, caught my attention.Lindsey! No! Oh my God, no!
“She’s dead,” Rivers shrieked, laughing, banking below me with his wings wide. “She shifted and got blown to bits. You fucker, you shouldn’t have messed with me.”
My heart died in my chest. Without Lindsey, I became a mindless beast without a heart, without a soul. I no longer cared if I lived or died. I had nothing at all to live for. Not now. Not without her. Our child. Darkness seized me within its grip. Evil crept into the hollow where my soul once resided.
I soared, watching Austin bank and roll under me, his shadow highlighted by the flames that spread thousands of feet below. I saw his throat. His vulnerable belly. His balls that I’d soon bite off and spit into the wind. I listened to his vile laughter, his taunts.
No more.
Time to die, sucker.
I slashed my wings against the night air, rising hard and fast, my jaws wide. He turned fast, diving, evading me at the last second. My jaws snapped shut on air, not his throat. Hisspade tail lashed me across my eyes, half-blinding me for crucial seconds.
“You can’t win, Brody,” Rivers called, dancing past me, his wings enslaving the night. “I’m better than you.”
I growled low in my throat. Lunging upward, I fought for height, for altitude, to gain on him with greater speed, greater strength, and greater fury. I’ll kill him for what he did to Lindsey. I’ll kill him even if he killed me. Austin Rivers destroyed my life.
