Glancing over my shoulder, I curse when I see the parents are already falling behind.
Then I turn forward?—
A wall of fire erupts in front of us.
My boots skid hard through the dirt, toes slamming into the caps, as I wrench myself to a halt, the kid crushed against my chest, heat blasting over us.
The red dragon circles back, but a blur of purple shoots from Luc’s shoulder as JC launches into the sky, expanding into her full, monstrous form and giving chase after it.
“Are your Threads back yet?” I shout over to Luc.
“Not enough for a dragon!”
Fuck.
Still holding the kid, I Spinning around, we race and bolt the other way. I grab the mother as we hurtle past, dragging her with us while Luc catches the father and shoves him forward.
“Reya and Darren?”I ask down the bond, lungs burning.
“I have tried to send word, but the draconite is interfering with my ability to communicate with their dragons.”Cal grumbles as my foot catches on a stone.
Goddamn it.
Bracing my core, I manage to keep my feet beneath me, but I’m so focused on keeping the mother upright and the kid locked against me that I don’t see the green dragon until it slams down in front of us with a ground-shaking thud.
The impact reverberates through the ground and up into my knees, forcing me to stumble and loosen my grip on the boy. He slips from my arms, but I shove him behind me, planting myself between him and the dragon.
“Everyone behind me,” I order. “Now!”
Air Threads tear from my hands just as the dragon’s flames blast toward us, the force of it crashing into the shield I’ve dragged around us.
My arms buckle under the pressure, boots skidding through the dirt as the heat forces its way closer, but I grit my teeth, loosening my hold on Cal and letting him bleed through.
Not all the way.
There’s no time to shift. By the time I did, the family behind me would be ash.
But I can take enough of his power to hold the line.
The second my guard drops, Cal's power surges through my veins, pulling every inch of my skin taut. Blood pounds in my ears beneath the sheer pressure of it. It's almost too much to bear, but I widen my stance, lock my jaw, and let it loose.
Channeling everything I have into the shield in front of me, I feel it swell beneath the force, straining to contain it, until it finally gives way and explodes outward in a brutal blast that slams into the green dragon.
The stream of fire dies instantly.
Thrown sideways by the impact, the beast crashes into the ground in a choking heap, claws gouging trenches through the earth as it struggles for air.
Whipping my head around, my pulse beating way too fucking fast, I check on Luc and the family behind me.
The family are white as sheets, but they’re alive.
“Goldie—!” Luc yells, his hand pointing over my shoulder.
I spin around, stomach flipping as two figures in white robes tumble from the green dragon’s back and hit the dirt.
At first I hope they might be injured, but the optimism dies quickly as both figures pull themselves upright and start pacing toward us.
“Draconite affects them the same as us… they can’t use their magic, right?” Luc mutters behind me.
