In a flash, the scene changed.My Mate was front and center– and she was mad.No, she wasfurious.She was looking for her momma, searching, refusing to accept the bullshit stories being spewed by her worthless father.
“That’s my girl.Take no shit.Take no prisoners.”
Throwing her head back, her eyes met mine.The final missing piece of my soul clicked into place.She really was mine, and I was hers, and there was nothing I wanted more than to be by her side.
I suddenly didn’t matter a hill of beans what she was or who she was related to–it only mattered that she was mine.
“He killed her.”Her voice slashed through my mind.“He killed my mother.”
“NO!”I frantically shook my head.“She’s not dead, Sweetheart.We can…”
An unholy roar tore through the web of reality.Bernadette couldn’t hear anything I was saying.It would all have to wait.Not one damned thing was as important as saving my Mate.
"Get ready.We need to be on two legs,"Lou snapped.
That was all the warning I got before King Anluan took a nosedive toward the fiery redhead who was putting out enough Magic to light Copacabana Beach in Rio de Janeiro on New Year’s Eve.Back feet slamming into the hot sand, we were about two hundred feet from Bernadette as Lou flooded every cell of my being with intense and unrelenting Magic.
From several stories high to eleven-and-a-half feet of scale-covered brawn in an instant, I was once again in awe at the sudden transformation the Old Man could perform.No matter how long I lived or how many times I Shifted, I would always and forever be amazed at the Power of the Universe and the Ancient Dragon King with whom I shared my soul.
The impact of the helmet of the Grand Master of the Knights of Culloden appearing upon the head of Lou’s Warrior Dragon was nothing short of mind-blowing.Then, a row of thick, stunted battle horns lined the apex of his skull, pushed through the iron rings of the mail coif protecting his skull, split off at the top of his spine, and ran down both his arms.
With the tips curled back into his spine, the Dragon King’s smaller, compact wings became deadly buzzsaw blades.The long, hooked talons formed toxic teeth lining the edge, ready to spin and twirl as they cut down the enemy.Claws jutting from his hands and feet were barbed like the end of a fishhook, expressly designed to tear and shred the flesh of our foes.
Opening and closing his snubbed snout, flashing his fangs, I chuckled deviously as Lou let the mythical vapors of Dragonkin flow from his snout.Then the Dragon King filled the air with uncontained plumes of smoke and ash– a miniature depiction of the monstrous rage boiling within us, and I forced every ounce of my hereditary Mysticism towards the Dragon with whom I shared my soul.
One step forward, and Lou ordered,“Take control, Lad.This is your battle to win.Let’s get your Mate.”
Once again in control, I reveled in the raw power, the utter strength, and the unstoppable feeling of near-omnipotence racing through my body and soul.Taking off at full speed, I sped over the sand, my thoughts consumed with getting to Bernadette before she was lost to the Hellmouth.
She was in my sights.I was almost there.Pouring on the speed, I stretched out my huge, scaled-covered paws and opened my mouth to call to her…
And that was when the ground fell out from under my feet.
Plunging toward the darkness, I opened the floodgates of my Magic and called on Lou to Shift back into our Winged Warrior, but it never came to that.With my next breath, the ground rushed back up to meet the soles of my feet and damn near knocked me on my ass, as a blast of heat that would’ve melted the flesh from my bones had I not been wearing the scales of my Dragon King, burped from the Hellmouth that was quickly opening all the way.
Blowing away as much of the acrid mist as possible, I searched for Bernadette.My heart raced.Where was she?How could she have survived?Had I lost her before I’d gotten the chance to hold her in my arms?
Before I found her, the Hellmouth gave another monstrous blech and spat out more Demons, Ghouls, Ghosts, and Evil Beings than I had the time or inclination to classify.I had to get to Bernadette.I had to…
“Where is my mother?Tell me what you did to my mother?!”
It was her.No, I’d never heard her voice before, but just as sure as God with a capital G made little green apples, I knew the voice I heard belonged to my Mate, and she wasn’t taking any shit from…
Before I could finish my thought or ask Lou who Bernadette was yelling at, brilliant lavender Magical fireworks exploded overhead.One right after another, too many to count, thecrackle, pop,andhissaccompanied sharp, high-pitched whizzes and deep, chest-thumping bangs.Light so bright it outshone the dense, blood-red hue of the mushroom cloud, the pyrotechnics coalesced into one huge mass and let out a thunderousBOOM.
High-pitched whizzing cut through the cacophonous chaos of Hell’s Denizens as they celebrated their escape, stopping them in their tracks.All heads snapped back, gawking at the light show, a split second before thousands of glittering streams of Enchanted light fell to the ground.
Sizzling and popping as the tips of those Magical bars snapped into place, the Demons and Ghouls stopped motionless.The scent of three-day-old fish was everywhere.They were confused.
“We’re trapped!”A furious howl announced.
“Damn straight you’re trapped!You’re not messing with a newbie here, Heathen!”Came the sassy retort full of sweet Texas drawl and enough Magic to slip right past Lou’s scales and slide down my spine in all the best ways.
Bernadette was perfect.
"Hear that, Old Man?That’s my Mate, my woman!”
“Yes.She’s perfect.Now, go get her before one of these assholes decides to revolt.”
