Roak shot me a cruel smile. “If I wanted to take down the wards, I would call my backup. Now, why are you and your council of lower supernaturals taking down the hierarchy?”
“Because we're all on the same team. We have no need to be segregated further.” I lifted my head up and stared him down. Grayson formed out of a puddle of goo next to him.
“Yes, well clearly not everything is going your way. Is it?” Roak’s gaze snapped to Wren, whose chest puffed out under his gaze.
“It's not going your way either,” she snapped at him, and his brows rose as Grayson chuckled.
“I love what the dark magic has done to you. I've been watching you, my rejected mate.” Grayson’s voice had grown darker, more disembodied than normal.
“Yes, and unlike my shadow demon mate, Ihateit when you watch me.” She rolled her eyes with a huff, and Damien stifled a chuckle.
“She’s kind of hot like this,” he mumbled to Kian, who blushed feverishly.
The smile on Grayson's face faded into a grimace. “Once you allow the dark magic to spread, you'll come crawling back to me.”
“I'll come crawling to nobody.” She narrowed her eyes at him before sweeping over Damien, Kian, and me. “Except maybe for my mates.”
I stiffened as a black curtain of hate lowered over Roak’s eyes before he trained that stare at me. “I trust you got my note about the supernatural relic being found by the humans?”
“What about it?”
He smiled wide, and the hate dissipated. “Looks like you and I might want to join forces to take down the humans.”
Scales formed over my arms before Wren slipped her hand out of mine and gripped my arm tightly.
I turned to look at her, and the scales receded. “I refuse an alliance with the dragons. You stand for too much that we stand against.”
“I'm tired of this shit. Just kill him,” Grayson snapped, going for the wards, but Roak raised a hand that stopped him in his tracks.
They locked gazes. Both of them predatory, both refusing to back down.
Scales grew over Roak’s arms, and Grayson's arms turned black and dripped goo before he stepped back and bowed his head.
“Very well, but you're going to have to choose one of these days,” Grayson told him.
Roak’s gaze met mine, and a flicker of regret flashed in them. “Not today. Rowan will side with us. I raised him, after all.”
My fury sparked again before Wren tightened her grip and stepped in front of me, pressing a few kisses to my chest. “Don't let them get to you.”
“Fledgling, thank you,” I murmured, my heart slamming in my chest.
A startled, painful gasp slipped past her lips as she whirled back around, her back hitting my chest as she stared at Grayson, snarling.
“Wren, sweetheart, breathe.” Kian took a hesitant step toward her.
Her entire arm with the dark magic grew darker as Grayson’s frown turned into a smirk. The dark magical energy within her seemed to swell and reach out toward Grayson.
Damien snarled, his shadows whipping around all of us.
“Stop,” Blair said in a soft voice before turning and walking away. “Wren will be fine now.”
The tension in Wren’s body lifted as a blue butterfly flapped its wings and landed on her nose. She held up her arm, and the blackness subsided back into her veins as she watched the butterfly fly back into the Bestial Forest.
“This discussion isn’t over, Rowan. Iwillhave you back on our side,” Roak said, oblivious to whatever was happening between Wren and Grayson.
“You can go to hell!”
“We'll see you soon.” Disappointment overtook his expression before he shifted into his dragon form and launched himself into the sky.
