Get in the house,I thought furiously at Mia.
I spun back around to search for Chris, but he was almost on top of me. He was too close to evade, and my blast of flame missed him. I was out of time.
Copper scales glinted in fire, and somehow Ollie was between us.
I would never forget Ollie’s cry of pain, drowning out Chris’s furious bellow. Ollie dropped down too fast for me to catch him, Chris’s fire following him. Ihadto eliminate the threat. Couldn’t check on Ollie, couldn’t be sure he wasalive.
Forgetting all tactics, I flew straight at Chris, roaring my intention. I was going to tear his heart out.
He turned away, dipped his shoulder to me in submission, and fled.
What the fuck? I chased him, but he landed on the grass, wings open and drooping, signalling his capitulation.
I bellowed to the sky, my rage and frustration ringing around the Court in thundering roars. Everything in me urged vengeance. He’d hurt Ollie. But even the searing fury burning through my veins wasn’t enough to allow me to kill an enemy who’d surrendered.
I blasted fire over his head.Get the fuck out.
He shifted and I circled above him as he shuffled his way to the drive, moving so awkwardly that I wondered how seriously he was injured. Terminally, I hoped. He’d hurt Ollie. And I still didn’t know how badly. If he’d done more than hurt him—and my heart stopped at the thought—even Chris’s surrenderwouldn’t stop me. I’d pursue him to the ends of the earth and rip out his liver to eat in front of his eyes.
Chris made it to the gates, and a car engine started, headlights sweeping the road as he accelerated away.
Ollie.Oh, God. I flew back to the house and found him collapsed in the gardens, still in dragon form. Mia was by him, talking to him as I plummeted down with a force that shook the ground. “Ollie,” I said, almost before I’d finished shifting.
He looked at me with golden eyes that were dark with pain yet alert.
Where’s Chris?
“Gone. Where are you hurt?” I was running my eyes over his copper body, looking for wounds as best I could in the faint moonlight. “Can you shift?” There was no way we could get a dragon to hospital.
I think so. I just don’t want to. It’s going to hurt.
“We can help you if you do.” Mia was still speaking when, with an indrawn breath, Ollie shifted.
In human form, he kept his left arm rigid, holding it away from his body and making little pained sounds with every breath he took.
“Let me see.” I was squinting at his arm but couldn’t see a damn thing.
“It’s burned.”
That would explain why he didn’t want to touch it or move it.
“Let’s get into the house and I can have a look. I know a thing or two about burns.” I slid my arm around his waist from his good side and helped him towards the house.
“Mia, could you fetch us some clothes?” I asked over my shoulder. Dragons didn’t get hung up over nudity, but the night was cold.
“Why did Chris give up?” Ollie asked.
My heart was unclenching slightly. If Ollie was talking, he couldn’t betoogravely hurt. Unless he was in shock.
“I don’t know. He conceded.”
“Makes no sense,” Ollie muttered as I manoeuvred him through the doorway and examined him in the bright electric light. His right shoulder and the top of his arm were shiny red and looked exquisitely painful.
“The good news is, it’s only a second-degree burn, which is surprising given how close the two of you were. I wonder if the fact copper has a high melting point has anything to do with it. Your scales aren’t actually copper, of course, but perhaps they have some of copper’s properties.” Realising I was getting distracted, I got back to the point at hand. “The bad news is, it’s a second-degree burn. It’s going to hurt like hell for a few days.”
I took him upstairs. “Why—” he started, as I steered him into the bathroom.
“Best thing for a burn is to keep water on it,” I told him. He sat in the bath as I turned the shower head to extremely gentle and guided the resulting water over his burn. He hissed, then buried his face in his knees. “Sorry,” I said, knowing from experience how painful it was.
