“We will kill you before you touch her.” Rhett snarled.
“Iwillmurder you if you try to take my mate,” I roared, fighting the shift. I could take Roak in a fight, but he always had others with him. He had five green dragons accompanying him. While they weren’t overpowered, in numbers, dragons were fierce. I didn’t want to cause more pain to those who fought the humans tonight.
“I wanted to come to your little academy and speak on something,” Roak said, raising his voice as he addressed everyone here. “This wolf shifter, Grayson, has been injected with our dragon DNA. His village has joined us, so they will be blessed by our Dragon God as well!”
Murmurs broke out around us, and some students spoke with excitement at the possibility of climbing the hierarchy that way. Some only cared about power, and those were beings I didn’t want fighting beside us.
“Thanks to our dragon DNA, this wolf shifter can turn into a dragon!” Roak spread his arms as disbelief crossed the student body.
“Why are you experimenting with supernaturals?” I growled.
“The dragons and drakes are the superior race. You know this, Rowan. I raised you as a son.” His smile widened.
A streak of shame bloomed across my chest as I scowled at him. The dragon elder was repelling, and anyone who didn’t see it was turning a blind eye. They were just as bad. I nursed my hate for the man like a wound. “Your word is built on lies.”
Delirium blazed in Roak’s bloodshot eyes, and his cruel mouth twisted into a smirk. “Come now, the least you can do for your betrayal is to share your mate with your family.”
“Never going to happen.”
“You know she’s the best chance at keeping the drake population alive. We’ve really dwindled since you’ve gone. I’m disappointed your seed hasn’t taken root inside her yet.” He sighed. “But she’s not the only reason we came. Grayson, shift.”
Grayson shrugged before black goo overtook his body, twisting into the form of a dragon. He took a much smaller form than a regular dragon, but he shifted nonetheless. However, deep in my bones, I didn’t believe dragon DNA to be the reason. It had to be linked to the dark magic performed from the bond being broken.
I’d heard of Norman bitching about how some supernaturals were swapping DNA injections, but he told me it ended in death every time.
Gasps from others around us rang out in surprise.
“My goal is to make all of you supernaturals into our superior race. We will all become dragons, and we will have no need for the hierarchy at that point. No one will be lesser again!” he shouted, and some students murmured agreements while others stayed silent.
“Stop trying to recruit from my academy.” I stepped forward.
He held his hands up in mock surrender. “We’re leaving. But remember that we will be back for her, Rowan. You will give her up willingly.”
“Not going to happen,ever,”Rhett growled, his tail flicking behind him.
Roak smiled as his gaze swept over my students. “If any decide to join me, I will spare your life and will give you the DNA of a dragon. Decide now. We are leaving.”
About a quarter of the students moved forward, but none of my staff did. For that, I was grateful. Betrayal simmered in my veins. Perhaps we needed to educate the students further about the dangers of the dragons.
Those students stood by the dragons with smug looks on their faces.
“Grayson, go back to Blezen.” Roak told him, and his dragon form seeped into a black mass on the ground before dissipating. His cold eyes pierced me as he waved his hand up. “I’ll be back for our mate.” He shifted into his dragon form, but I shifted as well, unable to hold back my fury.
“The hell you will,” Alister shouted as fire poured out of my throat at Roak and the other dragons, but my fire also blazed into the students that had chosen to stand with them.
The dragons didn’t lift a claw to protect them, and they were killed immediately—by the fire of a firedrake for their betrayal. I couldn’t say it was my intention, but I also wasn’t very unhappy that they were dead.
A few of the green dragons lost a few scales from my hit as they threw themselves in front of Roak. They took to the sky in obvious distress, and a roar tore from my chest as they fled the academy. It was a wonder they could fly missing so many scales.
Tabitha snatched a couple of the green dragon scales as well as Norman’s and worked with them to bring back the wards at a higher strength.
“We can’t let her fall into their clutches, especially if Grayson’s with them,” Rhett growled, and Alister hissed up at the sky.
I let out a frustrated sigh as smoke blew over the area. We would never let them take her.
FIFTY
Wren
