“I am, and none of you are a match for me.” The firedrake blew a breath of fire at Simmons, burning him in the side. The firedrake moved forward and threw a punch into Simmons’ face, knocking him to the ground hard.
I gasped. I hadn’t seen the pure strength of a drake in their human form. At least not at full capacity, and something told me from the sound of Simmons′ bones crushing from that punch that he definitely used the majority of his strength on it.
“That was rude.” Damien tilted his head. “I’m sick and tired of people thinking that they have a shot at taking my mate from me.” He threw his head back with a chuckle, and the firedrake ended up suspended in the air by Damien’s telekinesis before his shadows lurched forward.
His shadows sliced the firedrake’s arms off from the shoulder, and the firedrake roared as his scales started to form on his skin, but Damien’s telekinetic hold on him wouldn’t let him shift, something I never thought was possible.
“I’m going to open you up and choke you with your intestines for thinking you could touch my little bird,” Damien growled, and his shadow tore into his lower belly until his intestines slipped out.
My stomach churned, and a few other students gagged.
Damien’s telekinesis moved the intestines around the firedrake’s neck and tightened. The panic on the firedrake’s face was evident, and Lachlan turned to shield me from witnessing it. I buried my face in his chest as Damien’s horrible growl resounded, followed by a disgusting squish.
I turned around to see that Norman had his hand through the firedrake’s chest, holding his heart that was now a block of ice.
“Why did you kill him?” Damien growled.
Rowan stormed through the archway, and his shoulders relaxed as his burning gaze landed on me. “Students, get out of here.” Our fellow classmates whispered as they rushed out of the training yard, and Rowan marched directly to me. Lachlan let me go as Rowan engulfed me in his arms and breathed my scent. “How did he get in?” he asked as he calmed himself.
“He said a student at the gate let him in because he said that he knew you,” Simmons told him in a pained voice, getting up from the ground and limping toward us. “Bastard caught me off guard.”
“What the fuck is up with our security?” Lachlan muttered.
Thorn phased in with Kian. “What happened?” They came to stand by us, each of them placing a hand on my shoulders.
“A firedrake came for Wren. If Damien hadn’t been here and didn’t act fast enough, I don’t want to think about what could have happened,” Lachlan said as Rowan let out a small whimper.
I wrapped my arms around him tight.
First Grayson, and then this. A nefarious feeling formed in my gut.
FORTY-FIVE
Rowan
“YouneedWren.”Blairpinched the bridge of her nose and her glowing white eyes pierced through me. “Now.”
As if on cue, the door to my office opened and Wren stepped in. “I can feel your need for me through the bond,” she whispered, and Blair’s smugness was prominent.
I nodded, clenching my jaw so tight, I cracked a molar, but I could feel the healing taking effect already.
She came over and sat on my lap. As soon as I breathed in her bearberry scent, I calmed. I slid my hands up her shirt and settled on the soft flesh of her stomach. She whimpered and placed her hands over mine. “How are you?”
“Not good,” I grunted.
“I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault, fledgling.”
“I know, but I wish that I could do more for you.”
“You are doing everything you can,” Blair said with a light voice, and I held back a snort. I’d never heard her talk so kindly to someone like that. “I’m glad you came in when you did. I had a vision, and it’s not good. Also, Tabitha found this next to the wards.” Blair reached into her robe and pulled out a letter. She handed it to Rowan.
He opened it, and we looked at it at the same time. It was a map of the human territory with red Xs on areas where supernaturals were being held hostage according to the scribble at the bottom. The scent that wafted from it reminded me of Nate.
“I believe it is from that fire fae, and I do not believe that he dropped it on purpose from the vision that I saw. Supernaturals are indeed being held captive by the humans, and they are not being treated right. Some of the supernaturals go by choice, only to be betrayed when they get to the human territory.” She hesitated.
I swallowed a lump in my throat, wondering if maybe Lachlan’s sister could be in one of those places.
