Page 6 of Ashborne: Defiance

The dragon huffed. ‘Calm, Firebird. I kill him.’

It turned back to face Vane, swelling, wings lifting and fangs bared—to protect me?

My breath stopped. “Wait. No. He’s not—”

A roar shattered the silence of the evening forest. I flinched, my ears ringing. A second creature—painted gold by the sunlight above the trees—dove into the shadows to land on all fours between Vane and the dragon who’d spoken to me, the earth shaking so nearby trees swayed at the impact.

Its head was low, ears pinned back—and mouth wide open to reveal foot-long fangs.

The dragon who’d saved me growled and smoke rose in plumes from its nostrils as it snarled and lunged.

I scrambled back to put the tree between me and these monsters, when Vane’s voice rose over the chaos.

“Kham! Watch out for the girl—”

Both dragons froze. And so did I.

The moment hung like a raindrop, quivering on the tip of a leaf.

The silence in the wake of those ear-shattering roars was eerie. My pulse pounded in my ears.

Panicked, I looked back and forth between the two terrifying creatures, whose ears suddenly pricked forward, their wings trembling, and nostrils flared as their deep breaths huffed into the evening air.

Had Vane stopped these towering creatures with a simple word?

I snapped my head to gape at him, stunned and awed. He stood tall, hands at his sides, but open for action, his broad shoulders heaving. But no expression on his face, bar a fierce intensity.

He never took his eyes off the golden dragon that had landed in front of him, but slowly raised one hand, palm flat, toward me.

“Don’t… move…” he breathed. “Just—”

‘Mate,’ that warm, impossible voice breathed in my head. ‘He is Mate.’

3. Divine Will

SOUNDTRACK: Heartbeat Against Mine by Silk & Shadows

~ VOSKI ~

I’d been so furious, so distracted by catching Grace and searching her for weapons, I’d broken my own rules and ignored my surroundings. The only warning was a prickling at the back of my neck, before I was ripped away.

There was barely a second to register the feral dragon’s snaking neck and fangs hooking my belt and leathers—thank God for dragonhide—before I was tossed into the air, so high my legs scraped the upper branches of the old trees. Then, I plummeted straight back to earth as the dragon growled and pinned its ears, then lunged after me.

The landing was awkward, but I could thank seven years of training with Kham, and early falls from his back, for the instinct to roll and distribute the impact.

I made it straight to my feet and whirled to face the dragonfury, but I was helpless. Winded, and spine screaming as I lifted my hands and dropped my chin in submission.

To my surprise, Grace’s frantic voice rose first. “Wait. No. You can’t—”

‘Don’t move!’ Kham snapped in my head as he shattered the evening quiet with a roar that would have made the herd Primarch proud, and dropped to the earth so close, his tail almost took my head off.

The earth shook, and I staggered, but took the first full breath since I’d been ripped away from Grace.

It took less than a blink to see that the danger had not passed.

Kham planted himself in front of me, wings high and mouth open, baring his fangs, his scales glowing as he prepared his flame.

Facing him, a massive, feral red dragon whose scales were so richly hued, they looked near-black in the shadows, growled so deeply the air vibrated. Warning smoke rose from its nostrils.