Something caught Elouan’s attention, not necessarily a sound or movement, but something inside his head.Mate!his dragonprojected. Thank the Goddess for the late hour, with all nearby businesses closed. Elouan couldn’t stand for human casualties.
The other dragons sensed Jules, too. Leon leaped for the Harley, taking Elouan and the bike to the ground, while another beta ran down the sidewalk.
Elouan rolled, barely escaping being caught under the bike, throwing every bit of alpha energy into a roar. Leon and the other omega froze. The betas continued their charge toward Jules’s hiding place.
A silent wail filled Elouan’s mind. Jules! He tore off down the street. Please let him get there before those betas.
Jules suddenly calmed, sensing Elouan. He stepped from the alleyway, hands down at his sides, facing the betas like he had the human muggers a few weeks ago.
“Jules! No! Get out of there!” Elouan couldn’t spare any more breath to scream.
Jules took up a stance Elouan had only seen in videos or during one of his brother’s practices: a fighter's stance. What was Jules holding? It looked like a dragon’s claw.
The first beta reached Jules. “No!” Elouan screamed, redoubling his efforts.
Jules spun, lashing out with one foot. The beta flew backward, straight into a lamppost. A knife clattered onto the sidewalk. Jules extended his hand as though making an underhanded pitch. What was he doing?
The second beta ran straight into Jules’s hand. He screamed, backing away. Jules appeared to slap him. The beta reeled away, clutching his face and midsection. Blood poured between his fingers.
The third beta reached for the knife. Elouan plowed into him, knocking him against a brick wall.
“Stop right there!” Leon and an omega stood a few feet away, Leon holding a .38, the other man holding a shotgun. Both mentrained their weapons on Jules. “Back off, Elouan, or I’ll blow this little omega back to Adrakus.”
The bleeding beta moaned, writhing on the ground. “Watch out! He…he—”
The two other betas seemed to have recovered, coming up behind Elouan and Jules, trapping them. Why the hell hadn’t Elouan ever gotten a gun?The arrogant alpha thought he didn’t need one.
Elouan stepped between the guns and Jules. “If you want him, you’ll have to come through me.”
“I can arrange that.” Leon smirked.
“Leon? What the fuck, man? We’re friends!”
“No, we’re not. I only sent you to that cabin to get you out of the way, but it turns out your little omega toy left too.”
What the ever-loving fuck? “All this. Taking me in, acting like my friend, finding me a job. What did you hope to gain? You couldn’t have known I’d meet Jules.”
“No, but we figured you’d make a useful hostage if a mage ever got the portal open.”
A scream came from behind Elouan. It wasn’t Jules, so he charged, taking down Leon and the omega, landing on top of them with his much larger body. His instincts fought with him not to hurt omegas, or a friend, but Leon wasn’t his friend. He’d threatened Elouan’s mate.
Did they know Jules and Elouan were mates?
Elouan punched, knocking Leon’s head back against the asphalt. Leon raised the gun. Elouan punched him again, holding nothing back.
Leon lay still, his chest rising and falling with steady breathing. Elouan turned his attention to the remaining omega, pinning him to the ground. More screams sounded behind him, but his internal warning system told him Jules was fine, but pissed.
The omega under Elouan whimpered. Elouan felt something wet against his thigh at the same time he smelled piss. “Put the gun down. I’m going to let you up. Run as fast as you can away from here. I know what you smell like. If you ever come near me or Jules again, I won’t show mercy. Do we have a deal?”
The omega nodded, eyes wide. He placed the shotgun on the ground.
Elouan rolled away, ready to pounce if needed. The omega scrambled to his feet, running before he’d even straightened his back. Elouan checked on Leon. Still out cold. Elouan threw the shotgun into the darkness. He engaged the safety on the .38, tucked it into his waistband, and turned.
Jules stood over the moaning betas, blood dripping from his…claws? What the hell? “They killed Moira and Radomir. My senses tell me not to harm them, but I want to do to them what they did to my family.”
“We can’t kill them,” Elouan said, trying to be the voice of reason. “Leon’s wife is the chief of police. Right now, we have more than dragons to deal with. They’re not dead, only knocked out. They’ll wake up eventually. We don’t want the human cops after us.”
Jules seemed to vibrate for a moment, his rage coming through whatever connection he shared with Elouan. Then he nodded, claws retracting into his fingertips, and scales over his hands receding—golden scales.
