Chapter 23
Kahl
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Screams fill the airand my heart plummets. We were forced to abandon the car, drawn towards the woods. Despite Ben’s griping, we were able to remove his bindings so that he could walk with us, his curiosity overruling his rage.
“Tell me she’s okay,” Kinsley begs as we start running, pulled in Saige’s direction.
A series of muffled shouts can be heard before the next bout of screaming can begin again. Any reassurances I might be able to muster up for my brother die in my throat, unable to choke the words out.
We skid to a halt before tumbling over a ledge and I have to snag Kaiden’s arm before he goes over. Twenty feet below us, Saige’s sapphire dragon bares her teeth, stalking closer to Faye and some kid.
“Fuck, fuck, fuck,” Kinsley mutters, rapidly starting to scale the unstable wall to the ravine below, the cold helping numb the pain in his leg. Rocks break loose and frozen chunks of dirt give way in our hasty handholds, trying to get to the bottom in a hurry without breaking a leg.
“Saige!”
She hesitates a few feet away from them as we sprint to close the distance. Kaiden crashes into her side, though I’m not sure what the fuck he actually planned to do with that move. Not like she was about to topple to the ground from the small force, and if he wanted to ride her, gods know he only had to ask and she’d be game. Hissing a strangled roar, she cranes her head, but can’t sink her teeth into him from this angle.
Kaiden keeps a hand on her hide until he’s directly in front of her, glaring up at her face. “The hell do you think you’re doing, huh? Scaring the shit out of me like that? And so what, you could eat a baby? Plenty of people to devour back home. But no, we have to go traipsing through the frozen tits of death! I’d throw your ass over my shoulder if I could.”
He starts cussing and shouting a second later, a small, golden dragon latching onto his leg like a feral dog. Faye flutters forward, trying to get him off, but when she puts a hand on Kaiden to keep him still, Saige turns her rage on the woman fondling her mate.
It’s a chaotic shitshow of epic proportions. I’m rooted to the spot, dumbstruck and forced to watch it play out with morbid fascination.
There’s a ripple in the air as Saige’s form begins to distort, a series of popping and pained whimpers as bones pop out of place far slower than the process should take. She falls to her hands and knees in the snow completely naked, and fuck, winter’s never looked so good.
“Close your damn eyes,” Kinsley snaps at Ben, slapping a hand over the doctor’s eyes.
“Oh thank fuck,” Saige breathes as she gets to her feet, shimmering scales rising to the surface to cover her from toe to chin, tapering off over her cheeks. Throwing herself at Kaiden, she latches onto him like a spider monkey, sliding her palms down the collar of his shirt onto his back and burying her nose in the crook of his neck.
“Holy shit, you’re freezing!” Kaid yelps and almost drops her. But I woefully underestimated her strength, because she barely budges despite him letting go.
Whipping off my coat, I pry her hands off of my brother long enough to stuff her arms through the sleeves. With as plastered to him as she is, there’s no hope of zipping it, though it might be better for her to leech some heat off of him first anyway.
Turning to Faye and the small dragon in her arms, I find Ben already there wrapping his coat around her shoulders and raise an eyebrow in surprise. Faye keeps her eyes downcast while murmuring her thanks and clutching the tiny, growling dragon closer.
