A burning beam crashes where he stood moments before. The velvet bed erupts into flames. Silk drapes ignite, and the entire penthouse becomes a pyre.
I launch after him, diving from the window, my wings spreading wide, red, and gleaming. Bone splits and reforms as my full dragon form emerges, spine lengthening, ribs expanding, tail lashing free. Heat vents from my lungs as fire trails behind me.
Fly high, Kelan instructs, and we twist, arching toward the clouds.
Behind us, the others roar in rage, and then the enemydragons leap from the shattered windows.
Tael shifts with a bellow, bronze scales glinting and fangs snapping. Brax and Loriek follow, their roars rising in unison. Their bodies twist mid-air, human forms transforming into monstrous power. Wings flare and flames sear the sky as tails whip behind them.
Their wings beat like war drums, sending shockwaves across the rooftop. Glass shatters in neighboring towers. Car alarms sound below as people scatter, unaware of the battle above that is cloaked with dragon magic.
Between clouds and skyscrapers, the sky becomes a battlefield.
Darial’s golden flame scorches the sky as he collides with Tael. Their bodies slam together with a thunderclap that rattles nearby buildings. Talons rake across scales, screeching like blades on iron. Kelan banks left, shielding Aura with his body, his massive black wings moving them with precision. I pursue the female.
Lythian dives like a predator, her silver scales glittering. She is enormous, older than the rest of us, her wings edged with scars, and horns sweeping back like crescent blades. Power radiates from her. Her claws slice through my flank, but I twist and send fire into her face. She howls, reeling back as her wings falter.
I roar and ram into her midsection, our bodies spiraling downward. Her tail wraps around my throat, constricting. I snap at her neck, my teeth scraping her silver scales, tasting her metallic ashy blood.
She howls, recoiling as her wings fail.
Darial and Tael tumble past us in a blazing tangle, locked jaw to shoulder. Tael’s claws rake along Darial’s foreleg, and bone flashes white beneath torn golden scales. Darialanswers with a blast of white-hot fire that scorches Tael’s bronze wing membrane clean through. The dragon screams as he lists hard to the right, barely correcting before crashing into a rooftop antenna that splinters under his weight.
Loriek streaks toward Kelan from above, jaws wide. Brax isn’t far behind.
Kelan senses him at the last moment and rolls mid-air, tucking Aura beneath his chest. Loriek’s teeth sink into Kelan’s shoulder. Black scales shatter under the force, and blood pours over Kelan’s side.
Kelan responds with fury, slamming backward into Loriek and driving him into Brax and both of them through a glass skybridge. The structure collapses, sending steel and glass into the street below. Kelan bursts free from the debris, roaring, with Loriek tumbling behind him.
Aura, in Kelan’s arms, stretches one glowing hand past his chest.
A blast of magical energy lashes toward Lythian, catching her in the shoulder.
The magic burns, striking Lythian and detonating in golden light. The silver dragon screams as scales fracture along her wing joint. She tumbles sideways, shrieking.
Her injured wing folds incorrectly, and she spirals, barely catching an updraft before crashing into a nearby rooftop. The concrete collapses beneath her and she tumbles sideways, shrieking. The others follow, rallying to protect her.
They vanish into the clouds, wounded, and howling.
Leave them, Kelan barks.We’ll take our revenge another day.
Even as he speaks, blood runs down his flank. His wingbeat falters, then steadies.
I spit fire in fury, every muscle ready to disobey, butwhen I notice Aura’s wounded wrists, desperation replaces my anger. I must focus on tending to my mate. There is nothing more important.
Her magic flickers weakly around us, supporting our flight with warmth that steadies Kelan’s wounded wing and eases the pain in my flank. Even exhausted, she does her best to help us.
We fly high and fast as the city lights blur below. We don’t land until we have crossed three boroughs and are nearly undetectable by magic.
Kelan lands on another of our buildings, one without our names displayed in bright lights, collapsing to his knees with Aura in his arms. I land next, roaring in pain, blood dripping from my side. Darial crashes into the garden planters, his wing crumpled and one arm bent at a severe angle.
Aura scrambles from Kelan’s arms and crawls to Darial. “Your arm—”
He grits his teeth, suppressing a cry of pain.
“Let me,” she says, voice breaking.
Magic floods her palms. She presses them to his wound, and light pulses around her. Flesh and bone mend in seconds. He gasps, clenching and unclenching his fingers.
