“Nice people,” Austin offered.
“They’re monsters.They turn into animals.”
Austin laughed.“What are you talking about?”
“You know.You being here isn’t a coincidence, is it?”Tate glanced at Caleb again, but his attention quickly went back to Austin.“Are you one of them?”
Austin shook his head.“Look, we’ve already called the police.They’ll be here soon to take you in, and maybe you can talk to a doctor.”
But Tate wasn’t going to go easily.He moved quickly for a human, throwing himself sideways and grabbing a vase.He threw the vase at West, who had to duck out of the way.At the same time, Austin moved toward Caleb as if to protect him.Caleb appreciated the gesture, but it left the door wide open for Tate to run through.
“Go after him!”Caleb yelled at Austin when Tate did just that.
Thankfully, Austin didn’t hesitate.He stopped coming toward Caleb and turned, rushing out along with West, slipping in the water from the now-broken vase.Caleb might not be able to help them fight, but he wasn’t going to let them go on their own, so he ran after them and made sure not to fall on his face in the process.
He burst through the back door and into the alley in time to see Austin shift.He hadn’t expected it, but at the same time, he wasn’t surprised.Austin had had to watch Tate attack Caleb.That couldn’t have been easy, but it was only one reason for which he despised Eric Tate.If Caleb was capable of hating someone, he definitely hated Tate.
Tate screamed.He looked terrified, which worried Caleb because they had no way of knowing how he would react.Unfortunately for Caleb, Tate’s reaction was to reach for him, maybe to use him as a shield or a hostage.Caleb tried to get back into the shop so he could close the door between them, but he banged against it instead, hurting his arm.For a second, he thought that Tate would grab him, but he never got the opportunity.
Tate flew backward.For a second, Caleb didn’t understand what was happening because the movement hadn’t been natural.He quickly noticed Austin’s tail wrapped around Tate’s waist, though.
Austin was impressive in his human form and even more so in his dragon form.Caleb wished he could see better, but examining Austin’s dragon form would have to wait until they had another opportunity.Still, he yearned to touch the glinting red scales and to see how they felt under his fingertips.
A loud crunch made him wince and distracted him from his staring.Tate screamed, and this time, it was in pain.If Caleb had to guess, Austin had just broken the man’s spine, or at the very least, a few ribs.
The screaming was bound to get someone’s attention, but thankfully, it didn’t last long.Caleb watched in horror as Austin brought Tate closer to his face and chomped down on him.
One bite.That was all it took.Tate stopped screaming, and Austin dropped what remained of his body.Caleb’s stomach churned as he stared down at it.He suspected that the only reason he wasn’t running for the bushes to throw up was that he’d been too nervous to eat dinner.
He supposed that was one way of stopping Tate.
Caleb didn’t care about Tate, but he did care about Austin.He rushed forward to check in on him, hoping Tate hadn’t had the opportunity to hurt him.He noticed West doing the same, but stopping before reaching Austin, possibly to give Caleb more space.That was fine with Caleb, who wrapped his arms around one trunk-like leg as soon as he reached Austin.
“Are you okay?”he asked.
Austin cocked his massive head and tilted it down to look at Caleb.There was a question in his eyes that Caleb could answer easily.He pressed both of his hands on Austin’s cheeks and grinned.“As long as you’re okay, I don’t care about what just happened,” he murmured before kissing Austin’s snout.“You did what was right.You stopped the arsonist.”
And now, they could be sure that he would never hurt anyone ever again.
