Roses and Emeralds: A High School NA Reverse Harem Dark Fantasy Bully Romance (Cruel Princes of Wyvern All-Boys Academy Book 2)

by Rachel Angel

  “I told them often enough about the parasites. I’m glad to see they’re taking that warning to heart.”

  Kate came up to greet them. She quickly looked at Mrs. Morrison, then shot a quizzical glance at Ally.

  “The Morrison’s house was hit. I’m afraid we weren’t in time to save Mr. Morrison.”

  Kate gestured for Tar to set Mrs. Morrison down on a vacant cot.

  “She fainted,” Ally began. “From the, uh… probably from the stress of seeing the monsters.”

  “No,” the younger girl called out. “She got scared when she saw…”

  Tar took the little girl in his arms and tickled the words away. She laughed and giggled and forgot what she’d wanted to say.

  Ally smiled, touched by his tenderness and his surprising way with the young girls, then she turned to Kate who pulled out a bottle from her coat pocket.

  “This was all I could manage to make before the casualties started coming in.” She handed Ally the bottle of the potion.

  “Thank you. I guess it will have to do.”

  “How are things at the border?” Kate said.

  “Hectic. We need to have every on their toes.”

  “Everyone’s on high alert. I saw boys as young as seven heading out with knives and bows and arrows. Anything and everything.”

  “Where’s Bilbo and William?”

  “They’re preparing to go out there.”

  “We’re going to do everything we can to keep the monsters from reaching the town.”

  “I know.”

  “But just in case, try to gather the youngest of the children and bring them to that old underground tunnel.”

  “Most of the tunnels are already heavily damaged, but I think there’s a portion by the water tower that we can hold up in.”

  “Good.”

  Kate looked at Ally for a good long moment. “I never really thought it would come to this. I never thought we’d see so much destruction. The injured just keep coming.”

  Pressing her lips tightly Ally nodded. “I guess none of us did really expected it to be this bad.”

  Kate pulled Ally to her and gave her a tight hug.

  “Make sure someone keeps an eye on them, will you?” Ally said, gesturing to the Morrisons.

  “Those girls?” Kate looked down and noticed the girls’ bound hands.

  “I think Mr. Morrison did a good job of protecting them and I doubt they even saw the monsters, but we don’t know for sure. I know they look innocent enough, but… we just can’t take the chance if they’re infected. It’s just to be on the safe side.”

  “Come on, Ally,” Tar said. “We have to hurry back.”

  “Stay safe,” Kate said.

  “You, too.”

  Ally followed Tar back to behind the shed where he once again shifted back to dragon form and Ally got on board.

  “This is wilder and bigger than we planned for,” Tar said, his tone so unusually sullen, it sent a shiver up Ally’s spine.

  “But we’re going to beat them,” she said, forcing optimism into her words. Aren’t we? she silently added.

  They hurried back to the war zone. “There’s Razor and Jasper,” Ally called out.

  Both were busy, slicing off one beast’s head after the other, so busy that they didn’t see Tar and Ally arrive. Sending flames flying here and there, they killed many monsters.

  As they made their way to join them, Tar and Ally also killed as many as they could. The desert was now dotted with black spots left behind by the dead monsters, but also a lot of red spots from the blood of the humans injured or killed by them.

  Her beautiful homeland was being destroyed and she felt helpless to stop it. Seeing a child soldier get devoured by a monster, she found her courage and determination again. She couldn’t give up. She wouldn’t give up.

  “Where’s Flint?” Ally shouted when they were close enough to Razor and Jasper.

  “The towers,” Jasper said. “These bastards have reached the towers. They’re everywhere.”

  Below them, men and women continued to battle it out, killing one beast after the other. The archers, with their poisoned tips, were also bringing many of them down, taking care to then behead the beasts.

  “This tactic isn’t working,” Ally cried as she looked at the mayhem below. There were simply too many monsters for the humans to deal with.

  She watched as the town’s taxidermist attacked an armed woman who was walking in front of him. He jumped on her back and bit into her neck, sending her falling to the ground. With blood in his now deformed mouth, he looked up at the dragons who flew overhead.

  “The humans,” Ally called out. “Some of them are infected and are turning.”

  Ally reached into her pocket and pulled out a fistful of darts.

  Jasper glanced at her. “Really? What the hell are you going to do with that?”

  She uncapped the bottle of poison that was strapped to her belt, dipped a dart in and aimed it at the taxidermist. He choked, squirmed and the parasitic beast left his body and turned to dust, leaving the human freed to continue the fight.

  Thrilled at how fast her potion worked, she dipped in another dart and another. The humans who’d been infected were quickly released of the parasite that had taken over them, and the parasitic monster shriveled up and died.

  She pulled another fistful of darts from her pocket, and more humans were freed from the monsters.

  But then there were no more darts, and no more potion and still far too many infected humans.

  It’s simply not enough, she realized. No matter what we do, it’s just not enough.

  The beasts were everywhere, and they were taking over.

  Chapter 20

  The battle wore on, and as the sun started to sink beyond the horizon, giving the sky an eerie glow, the humans seemed to be keeping the monsters under control.

  The numbers had suddenly turned around and there were more humans than monster. Two, three and even four humans attacked one sole monster, quickly bringing the beast down and decapitating it.

  It was a wondrous thing to see, the cooperation, the way the people of the town worked together, understanding the other person’s intention without even speaking, as though their common goal brought them added strength.

  “Could it be?” Ally dared to hope, smiling at what she saw. “Could we be winning? I can’t believe it.” She looked to Tar with tears of joy in her eyes. “We did it, Tar. We really did it.”

  Tar smiled. “It’s starting to look that way.”

  Razor suddenly flew in rushing up to them. He’d flown out to beyond the border to assess the situation.

  “Where did you fly off to?” Ally said.

  “The border. I wanted to see how things were going over there.”

  “We’re winning,” Ally told him. “Look.” She gestured down below where the humans were even beginning to relax and breathe more easily.

  “Don’t sit back on your laurels just yet,” Razor said.

  Ally’s heart dropped at the sound of his tone. “What do you mean?”

  “Things aren’t good,” he shouted.

  Ally couldn’t believe him. She refused to believe him. They were winning. She looked down to the battling humans and the falling monsters. They we winning!

  “Are you joking?” she said, annoyed that he could make such a bad joke.

  “No joke,” he said, his eyes dead serious. “There’s a swarm of them coming through the valley and heading this way.”

  “Swarm?” Tar said. “Do you mean…?”

  “Yeah,” Razor said. “These fuckers can fly.”

  “Shit,” Tar spat. “Damn it.”

  “Get ready!” Flint shouted out. “Those flying bastards are coming in fast.”

  Flint, Razor and Jasper flew off to head the new arrivals off. From her perch on Tar’s back she could see the fierce battle. Each dragon took on four, five and even six monsters at a time, slicing them up so that the beasts fell from the sky
and landed on the desert floor below with a monstrous thud.

  “I have to go join them,” Tar said. “But I don’t think you’ll be safe. You’re too vulnerable.”

  “Go,” Ally said. “I’ll be fine.”

  Tar hesitated.

  “You have to go.”

  Tar flew to the other princes. As they approached, Jasper was busy trying to fend off the monster that had latched onto his tail. He whipped his tail with great force and the monster flew off, but then another one zipped by with its razor-sharp claws out, leaving a large gash in Jasper’s chest.

  “No!” Ally cried out.

  Jasper struggled to stay in the air and was no longer able to fight off the monsters. Razor flew in close to help him, but a monster ripped a large gash into his back, sending him tumbling backwards, almost falling to the ground before regaining a bit of control.

  Ally was taken over by a degree of rage and anger that she’d never felt before; not when the guys were bullying her, not when Jasper made that stupid joke about her seducing him. Not even when Drago had cornered her in the shower.

  No, this rage and anger went beyond all of that. It was rage built on the fear for her loved ones.

  Her determination grew. These monsters were not going to win. She stood on Tar’s back and let out a primal scream.

  Startled, Tar halted his approach to Jasper’s side and simply flew in place. “What’s going on?” He called over his shoulder. “Are you all right?”

  She didn’t answer but simply stared at the heavens.

  “Ally?”

  Ally raised her chin higher, pulled off her dark cap, and released her rainbow of hair. She held her arms out on either side of her and felt more powerful than she ever had.

  Her skin tingled and she felt the unrelenting, yet inexplicable urge to remove her clothing. Her skin continued to tingle and itch, and tingle some more.

  She removed her boots and was surprised to see the state of her feet. Scales, like the ones that covered her dragon princes, only smaller, covered her feet.

  Scales then quickly covered her hands and worked their way up her arm, peeling off her shirt as they became a part of her. And the scales on her feet also worked their way up her legs, peeling off her pants.

  Though shocked by the ongoing transformation, there was something that felt so right about what was happening to her, as if this was what she was meant to be. This was who she really was.

  Her back cracked and she let out a cry of pain, but the pain subsided leaving only a prickly feeling to her back as it continued to crack. She hunched over, feeling a sudden weight on her back. She glanced over her shoulder and saw a strange purple stretch of something that looked like leather. She reached over to touch it and felt a tickling sensation on her back.

  The purple leather grew, showing layers of blue, then green, then pink and orange.

  Finally, two large multi-colored wings sprouted from her back. She slowly unfurled them, letting them fill the sky with their splendor.

  The dragon princes, as well as the flying monsters stopped for a moment to look at her; the dragons with awe and admiration; the monsters with fear and uncertainty.

  Tar, seeing the princes’ expression, looked over his shoulder at her. “What the…?”

  Surprised by her own transformation, Ally looked back at the immensity of her wings. Was this what Queen Jade had meant when she’d spoken of Ally’s hidden powers?

  Was this what she’d meant when she’d mentioned her dragon’s blood?

  After a startled moment, a monster swept by to attack her. With its jaw wide open, it’s trajectory brought him right to her, so fast and unexpected, Tar had no time to move.

  Ally, not yet sure how to work her wings, stood on Tar’s back watching the beast come to her. She tried to make her wings move, but they were stiff.

  Jasper, despite his bloody wound, flew up to them. Ally saw him, the look in his eyes, the look of love and remembered his promise to protect her.

  But the monster, she wanted to shout out. Jasper. No. You don’t have to. No, she thought. “Stop, Jasper,” she screamed. “The monster is…”

  He flew in between Ally and the oncoming monster, taking the bite that was meant for her.

  She saw the shock in Jasper’s eyes, and was certain that it reflected the shock she must also have in her eyes. He’d been bitten. Though the bite wound was not as bloody as the wound brought about by the claw to his chest, this wound, as small as it might be, was far deadlier. It meant Jasper was infected. It meant he’d soon have a parasite taking over him, driving him mad and ultimately killing him.

  Another monster swept in to take a shot at biting Ally. He came in from behind, and, were it not for the look of fear in Razor’s eyes as he swept in, his gaze steady over her shoulder, she would never have known.

  She turned to face the monster as he sped closer and closer. Like the first monster it came in close, closer and just when it opened its jaw to bite down on her, it abruptly stopped and clamped its mouth shut.

  But when Razor came to fly between them, the monster didn’t hesitate to bite into him.

  Shocked, Ally screamed and flew off Tar’s back. Her wings lifted her up, and while she struggled a moment to control the direction her new wings took her in, she soon figured it out and was able to fly almost as expertly as the princes.

  “Fight it,” she said as she flew close to Razor, then went on to repeat the message to Jasper. “Don’t let the parasite take hold. Don’t let them take over you.”

  As she watched Razor fight to stay in the air, she tried to understand why the monsters refused to bite her. They seemed afraid to. As a dragon, was she putting off some smell, something they saw as dangerous? Was she now the one who could contaminate them?

  Now freed of her, Tar flew quickly to a small band of monsters, slicing off their heads with one sweep of his sword. Flint also had his hands full, slicing off one head after the other, then burning a few to a crisp with his fiery breath.

  “It’s too much,” Flint said.

  Even from where she was, Ally could see that the battle was wearing Flint out. He hadn’t stop fighting and his fatigue was showing. His movements were slower, and his sword seemed heavier.

  Tar, blowing an incredible flash of flames into the air, screamed his frustration. “We can’t keep up,” he lamented. “There’s too many of them. Every time we think we have them under control, a fresh batch arrive. A fresh, well-rested and hungry batch.”

  Even with Ally joining the fight, killing them with a flick of her diamond and dragon sword, the fight seemed endless.

  “We need reinforcements,” Tar said.

  “There are hundreds of townspeople on their way,” Ally shouted.

  “No offense,” Tar said. “But the humans just aren’t enough. We need real reinforcements.”

  Her gut reaction was to argue with him, to tell him that the people of The Borders were brave, hard fighting warriors, but she knew he was right. Millions of humans could come to fight, and it would still not be enough.

  “More and more humans are becoming infected,” Tar added.

  Ally sliced off the head of an incoming monster and nodded. “What do you propose we do?”

  “Go to the nearest kingdom and get help.”

  “The nearest kingdom is the Dark Forest,” Flint said. “Go!” he shouted.

  Tar looked at Ally, as if asking for permission. She closed her eyes a moment. It was the only way. She opened her eyes and looked into his, then nodded.

  Just then a monster came out of nowhere and flew into Flint, biting him hard in the neck. He fought off the monster, but his wound was bad.

  Still he fought, and Ally joined him, knowing they had to keep trying.

  Razor came to her, his big dragon eyes looking deeply into hers. “I’m fighting it, Ally. I’m fighting the effect of the parasite, but I can feel it. I can feel the change. You know what you’ll have to do, right?”

  She didn’t want to even t
hink about it. “It can take a long while before you’re completely taken over. Look at Queen Jade and Rodan. There’s time, Razor. And I don’t want to have to think about that just now.” She cursed the fact that she’d already used all the potion Kate had made. She should have kept some of it. “Fight these monsters,” she said, “and then we’ll fight to rid you of the parasite.”

  For hours they fought, and still the monsters kept coming.

  Though her wings helped her to move quickly and effortlessly, she still felt the fatigue from the hours of swinging her sword and looking out for the next monster.

  They were relentless.

  Unexpectedly, her wings gave out and she glided to the ground. While her landing was relatively gentle, she’d landed within a band of landbound monsters. Drooling and snarling, they instantly turned to her.

  She didn’t even have the strength to scream and it seemed like her beloved sword now weighed a ton.

  Is this how it ends? she thought. More than half the population of The Borders was infected. Three of her four princes were infected.

  One of the monsters hurried in to bite her on the leg. She looked tiredly at the beast and waited for the parasite to take over.

  And now, she, too, was infected.

  **To Be Continued **

  Ally, Razor, Jasper, Tar, and Flint’s story continues in the final book and conclusion to the Cruel Princes of Wyvern All-Boys Academy Series

  Silver and Starlight

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VXVK2KV

  Thank You for reading

  Roses and Emeralds

  Cruel Princes of Wyvern All-Boys Academy

  Diamonds and Dragons

  https://www.amazon.com/Diamonds-Dragons-Reverse-Fantasy-All-Boys-ebook/dp/B07SFV1PRH/

  Roses and Emeralds

  https://www.amazon.com/Roses-Emeralds-Reverse-Fantasy-All-Boys-ebook/dp/B07TS1BKLT/

  Silver and Starlight

  https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VXVK2KV

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