For a moment, I was too stunned to move. I watched the shifter become his wolf, and make a break for it. The grey blur darted through the trees running as fast as he could. But it wasn’t enough. There were too many humans waiting. They were on him like a cloud of piranhas on a slabofmeat.
And then Iheardit.
That heart wrenching sound that rose up from the wolf’s lips and disappeared like a ghost into thenightsky.
That howl that cried, “Helpme.”
My body reacted. Wings tight, I shot towards the ground like a black bullet. I saw red. Fury gripped me. My muscles ached for a fight. I wantedblood.
I let out a feral roar that shook the trees and earth. All the humans stopped. Their eyes went wide, their jawsdropped.
I dropped to the ground on my back legs and reared up, standing taller than the trees and flaring out my pitch black wings. Smoke and embers fell from my snout. I bared all my bloodthirsty fangs, and flexed my knife-liketalons.
While the humans were frozen, I made eye contact with the wolf. His yellow eyes were wide and full of terror. His paws were stretched out, held tightly by the humans, and he was utterly defeated. I knew without a doubt that he would have been dead if I hadn’tshowedup.
But thatwasn’tall.
The tiny white-hot flame that kindled in my chest when I first saw him from above burned brighter now. It grew, enveloped my ribs and my heart, pulling me to him with the force of a magnet. It was almost painful not to be closer to him - and seeing him in the humans’ clutches like this was painfulenough.
I thought I would dread this moment, but instead I only felt a wavelike calm, like I was standing deep in a silent ocean. My whole life, I had been waiting to meet him. He was mine, and Iwashis.
He was myfatedmate.
“Drop the wolf,” Icommanded.
My voice was booming loud and rough, hellish and ancient, like the demons that humans were soafraidof.
Except I wasn’t the demon. Thehumanswere.
They seemed too afraidtomove.
I snarled. “I said dropthewolf!”
They dropped the wolf. Without even thinking about my actions, I reached down and picked him up between my claws - gently, so as not tohurthim.
When their precious prize was lost, the humans went from shocked to angry. They picked up their weapons and charged at me. Had I not been so furious, I might have laughed. They were like insects. Their spears and swords barely put a scratch on my toughscales.
Holding the wolf close my chest, I let out another roar. Embers from my fangs fell to the ground, burning up the soil. The humans danced around it, continuing to batter meuselessly.
The wolf said nothing. He must have been inshock.
“Leave now before I kill you all!” Isnapped.
I’d never seen such insolence. These were the first humans I’d ever met that weren’t piss-their-pants afraid of me. It frustrated and infuriated me, on top of how angry Ialreadywas.
The humans didn’t listen. And I knew it wasn’t because they didn’t understand me. Dragonspeech was a powerful, ancient tongue that resonated deep within the minds of those who heard it. Even if we didn’t speak the same words, dragonspeech would always register as a language theyunderstood.
So these insolent humans were just being difficult. No problem. I’d just have tokillthem.
I looked down at my little wolf. “Mind if I makeamess?”
The wolf just blinked his big yellow eyes. In a tiny peep, hesaid, “No?”
“Thanks.”
Keeping the wolf safely close my chest, I whipped around and clubbed the surrounding humans with my thick, powerful tail. They toppled over like grass beneath ascythe.
The remaining humans hesitated at first, but fuelled by their anger at losing the wolf, they came again, relentless. I had no problems taking them out the same way. I had flame, scales, fang and talon. All they had was their useless weapons andwillpower.
