The pain in his arm must register fast enough that it saves him.
His eyes fly wide and he retracts his hand so quickly that the air shrieks around him, the same screeching sound as when the dragons first arrived.
My claws scrape across the top of his fingers as he darts backward, and I imagine I’ve removed scales but not much else before he backpedals in a rush of wind.
A moment later, Rumble appears in a blur, leaping past me on my right, crashing into the retreating dragon. Rumble leaps, catches the edge of the man’s wing in his powerful jaws, and snatches him from the air.
I spin to the dragons behind me, ready to help Anarchy and Strife, only to pull up short.
While Strife has pinned one of the dragons to the ground about ten paces away—a dragon who appears to be on the verge of unconsciousness—Anarchy is fighting the remaining three.
She moves like a graceful reed, using every part of her body to block and then retaliate against every strike they throw her way.
It’s like watching her dance.
She’s barely breaking a sweat. Her pale-lilac hair flies about her head as she moves fluidly from one spot to the next, spinning and ducking, only to land hard hits to her opponents’ lower backs, necks, ribs, one after the other, as if she controls the very air around her.
It's fucking mesmerizing.
And then, to my surprise, she leaps, her body transforming midair into the shape of a panther once more.
A cry of surprise leaves my lips.
She can shift!
This must be the unexpected thing she was about to tell me about when the dragons arrived.
Her teeth sink into her opponent’s shoulder before she shifts back into her dark elf form, leaping away from his unconscious body before he’s even hit the sand.
She spins and catches the next man around his neck, forcing him to bend backward at the waist and, before he can right himself, she once again sinks her teeth into his neck—this time while she’s in her elf form. Like the first man, it’s the quickestgraze, but he plummets to the sand, his eyes closed and his legs folded awkwardly beneath him.
Within seconds, she’s bitten the remaining dragon, laying his unconscious body neatly down onto the white sand.
“Goodnight, sweet dragon,” she whispers before she lifts her gaze to mine and gives me a smile. “Out like a light.”
I wonder if she’s making a joke. Dragon shifters are powerful creatures of light magic. In fact, they’re on par with angels.
She gestures to the men lying on the ground around her. “I’ve left them alive for you to interrogate them when they wake up. But they’ll sleep for a few hours first.”
“Oh, my fucking dark saints.” I can’t seem to do anything but stare at her. She’s barely broken a sweat. “Youhaveto teach me how to fight like that.”
I’m not too proud to admit that I need her skills. The woman who raised me taught me how to fight dirty. Basic survival moves that rely heavily on my claws. She didn’t teach me how to fight in a way that could result in complete domination of my opponents.
I need that.
Ineededthat when I was fighting my father.
Anarchy slaps the sand off her hands and arms and steps over the unconscious man lying between us. “Anytime, Darkness.”
Her focus quickly turns to Lucian, then flickers to the keeper. Both are holding their own, but a little help can’t hurt.
“Strife and I will help Lucian,” she says, indicating the panther who has returned to her side.
“I’ll get the keeper.” I’m preparing to break into a sprint toward him when Anarchy’s eyes widen.
“Darkness!” she shouts. “Look out!”
She dives toward me, a desperate expression flooding her face at the same time a shadow descends over me.
