Then Luke grabbed me andthrewme off him.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Kara
Ididn’t have a chance to scream in frustration.
Luke tackled me to the ground, stretching his body taunt above mine just in time to catch the dragon’s talons before they could grab his waist. He might have dodged the attack, but the sheer force and size of the creature lifted him into the air anyway—Luke clinging to the claws as he rose.
“Luke!” I screamed.
He didn’t let go.
In one smooth motion, he unsheathed his sword and sliced the dragon’s massive front limb clean off. The beast let out a deafening squawk. Luke landed hard on his feet, already turning to find me. I bent down and grabbed the fallen weapon he’d given me earlier.
I’d admit it—fighting a dragon while half-naked wasn’t ideal. But a mortal could only do what a mortal could do. Andapparently, what I could do was run straight toward Luke in nothing but a shirt.
The glare he gave me spoke volumes.
See? All that anger had to be his pent-up frustration. He kept gettingmeoff with no relief for himself. If I could, I’d give him so much pleasure he wouldn’t know what to do with it. Honestly, a genuine smile from him now and then would be nice too.
“What are you doing?” Luke roared.“Hide.”
I glanced down, startled to find my pants were back on—fully intact. Luke must have used powers.
Still, I wasn’t about to stand on the sidelines while a dragon tried to take his head off. This one differed from the decaying beasts Harvest had sent. Bigger. Smarter. It might even be larger than Payne.
When Luke sliced into its arm, the creature roared and darted into the sky—only to slam down on the other side of the river a few seconds later.
I ducked into the grass as the dragon transformed into the very entity I loathed to see.
Harvest.
He grinned at Luke before shifting his eyes to me.
“Amusing, isn’t it?”
I didn’t know what was funny, but I knew he’d enlighten me.
“He’ll tremble in rage at the mere idea of someone hurting you,” Harvest went on, “and yet, he’s going to let you fade.”
My heart felt bruised by the truth.
I stood just as Luke said, “You’ve grown braver—showing your face again before you and I are mortal.”
“When have I ever come for you?”
Something in Harvest’s tone set off a warning bell in my head. That odd glint on his face made my skin crawl.
And then Luke was running—toward me—his face contorted into something I rarely saw.
Fear.
There was a rustling sound behind me. A cloak. My arm rose instinctively, dagger already in my grip. Every instinct I had flared to life as I turned.
Being the Grim Reaper’s daughter had taught me a thing or two.
My blade caught the tip of a sword as the concealment cloak slipped from her shoulders.
