Chapter Thirteen
Blake stood on the grass, his eyes turned upward to the blue skies. The war with the Orcs was going to happen. He knew it. Part of him looked forward to it. He was spoiling for a fight, and he knew that the reasons were rooted in his being unhappy about Christy’s refusal to stay. That hurt had only worsened when Max had returned, all smiles and triumph, with Heather.
Blake kicked a loose rock, his mind going back to Christy. She was so damn beautiful, and stubborn. He knew going after her would just end with him returning alone. The last thing he wanted to do was have to sink back into his world in ignominious defeat, so he had not tried that route.
His shoulders tensed as he studied the pattern of the clouds running above him. The Orcs were vast in numbers, and it seemed that their numbers grew all the time, unlike the number of dragons and humans.
Evil. It just got bigger and darker, all the time.
His sigh was part irritation, part weariness. The fight would probably kill him, but so what? He was the last of a line that would be extinct soon anyway. He’d tried to get a human mate and look where that had gotten him. Max had a mate, and all he had was the memory of a woman he didn’t just want to mate with, but to love and live with.
A stubborn, impossible, crazy woman who wanted absolutely nothing to do with him. It would be hard to have a romance with her since she hated him and since she had left him to go back to the world she was from and wanted to be a part of.
His heart hurt. He lifted a hand to his chest and took it away, looking down at his fingers. He truly expected to see blood, but there was none. He turned away, meaning to go back to the castle, but he stopped. Had he just heard…? He listened, but there was no other sound. Must have been the wind. Just as he started forward, a faint but desperate scream came from below the face of the tall cliffs that the castle sat upon.
His wings sprouted from his back as the change took him. Whatever was happening down there, he had to help. That was a human screaming, and he could tell it was a female. He soared higher and then dove downward.
She was up against the rocks and throwing them too. The rocks pelted the approaching Orcs but weren’t slowing them down one bit. His heart nearly burst from his chest when he saw a familiar head of bright hair.
Christy? Here? And holding off Orcs with rocks?
Goddammit!
He swept down, wings beating and fire shooting from his nose and mouth. One hapless Orc caught the brunt of that fire and went down, dead before it had a chance to scream. Christy pried another large rock loose from the pile and hurled it at an Orc who had gotten a little too close. The scent of blood filled the air, and the Orc staggered backward, one hand to its bleeding forehead. The others, less bold now that there was a dragon in their midst, fell back but didn’t retreat fully.
The battle was on, and now it was even more important. That was Christy he was trying to save and he would either die with her or help her escape. Period. He swung into the fray, claws gleaming and teeth snapping at limbs. Christy kicked an Orc in his crotch and then beat at its head with the bloody rock she held. Time stood still. He couldn’t get past the Orcs to get to her, and she could not get to him either. They had to battle their way through it; there was no other way. He blew fire again, singing the Orcs closest to him and sending a few more running for cover.
Christy was screaming, but now there was rage and an instinct for survival echoing in that scream. He grabbed an Orc and tossed it over his shoulder. It hit the edge of the cliff and tumbled away down it. Christy saw a chance and ducked past a grinning creature and raced toward him. Blake, seeing her coming, lifted a wing. Christy had two more rocks, one in each hand, and she threw them just as she reached his side. He grabbed her in his mouth and took flight, only going a short distance, just far enough to set down for a moment. He said, “Get on my back.”
She did, and fast. They took off again just as the Orcs, clearly pissed off now, charged back toward them. He got higher in the sky, letting his massive wings take them away from the Orcs.
He had so many questions, but they would have to wait. He settled down again just below and beside the castle. He changed and asked, “You missed me?”
Christy yanked her hair off her face. Her eyes blazed. She shot out, “Don’t flatter yourself. I missed Heather. I decided to visit my bestie.”
Ouch. He lifted an eyebrow and managed to say, “Oh. Well, you should have been more careful.”
Christy glowered at him. Goddammit, how did she manage to look so beautiful when she was angry? He had to hold his body rigid to keep himself from going to her and planting a kiss right on her full and ripe lips. He went stiff just then, and he turned away, hoping she would not see the erection tenting out of his trousers. “You could at least say thank you.”
She fell in step beside him. She said, “I had it under control.”
“You were fighting off a dozen Orcs with a handful of rocks.” That floored him. She had been fighting off that many Orcs with nothing but rocks. That she had done so was a huge testament to just how brave she was. He peeked over at her face. “And you’re welcome.”
She looked at him and then her shoulders slumped. “Okay, you are right. They were going to kill me. I get it. It was stupid. How was I supposed to know I would come through there and right into a bunch of Orcs? And thank you. Happy now?”
No, he was not happy. He wanted her more than ever. Her sudden arrival back into his life had proven two things. She was just as perfect for him as he had thought she was, and she still wanted absolutely nothing to do with him.
She stopped walking. Her hand caught his arm and flames of a whole different type went running through him. She asked, “How much time’s gone by here since I left?”
He said, “Two weeks. In your world, I guess that’s different.”
It was. For all he knew, in her world she’d lived years since the last time he’d seen her. Had she met someone, fallen in love, gotten married maybe? Had children?
Her fingers were bare, and she didn’t look like her body had changed but that was not a certainty. He asked, “So…so you came back to see Heather, huh?”
“Yup.” She started walking again. His desire only grew when he watched her go. The sight of her ass in those tight jeans was something he could have looked at all day long. Then he remembered the Orcs, and where he had found her. They were definitely in dragon territory. He had to talk to Max, and very soon.
They entered the castle. Heather sat at a table and Christy ran to her. He watched their happy reunion with a heavy heart. Why weren’t the arms she wanted to fling herself into?
