This was her fault.
The battle in the sky might be won, but they would fall if they saw what Malcom now held.
Liana’s bruised and bloodied form was being dragged into the ruins of Dinas Emrys. They dropped the dragon female before Malcom, the girl’s red hair matted with blood as it fell over her face.
Malcom’s eyes met her across the clearing. They both knew what this meant. It was possible that Malcom knew she was willing to and ready to die, but he also knew that Gwen would not sacrifice another in the process.
“Gwynefar,” Malcom crooned. She felt the pull of her true name grab her limbs, ready to answer. It made her feel like a marionette doll. “Attack the dragon with the white on his nose.”
Her magic, the green and growing magic, flowed up and out of her. It cracked through the air like a thorn whip. She tried to hide her smile when she was able to direct it at the white dragon about to claw Cameron’s wings. The whip of magic tore through the white dragon’s wing. All of the white dragons had white on their muzzle.
But, a cry made her magic falter. Her eyes fell back to the ruins to see Malcom foot on Liana’s back. His hand was in her hair, bending her back in an impossible angle.
“You and I both know that was not what I wanted. Do as I ask, Gwen, or this precious morsel will find her life short lived.”
Bile rose in Gwen’s throat. She nodded, dreading what she was about to do. Deep inside of her, the dark power crashed back and forth like a stormy ocean. It wanted Malcom’s blood. It wanted to see him dead and to revel over it. But, she reached for the green power that surrounded her. The force slammed into the larger red dragon’s side. He tilted, trying to regain balance, but in that moment a white dragon was able to descend upon him. Another joined and then another. Four dragons fell out of the sky.
Gwen didn’t know whose fate she had just sealed. All she could do was hope that Cameron would forgive her. Liana’s life was at stake. The girl was barely conscious enough to think, let alone use her beast. Even if she could. Malcom and the two other dragons were still standing around them. Liana wouldn’t have a chance.
Only Gwen could fight for her.
“I can’t do this anymore,” Gwen whispered and gathered the dark, vengeful power around her.
Chapter Thirteen
The beast commanded Cameron’s form. It threw fire into the sky, unable to keep the heat of rage contained. The flames licked out and reached for the white dragons that zoomed toward them. He wanted their blood. He wanted to feel the cracking of their scales beneath his sharp teeth.
Beside him, a white dragon darted toward Gareth, claws out to tear at his wings. The massive beast that was his brother gracefully rolled to the side and caught the slightly smaller white dragon in an embrace. Gareth’s teeth clenched down on the white dragon’s neck. Cameron didn’t hear the snap of bone. Instead, the white dragon propelled himself out of Gareth’s grasp.
Blood rained from the sky, dropping from wounds in both dragons. Cameron snarled. His lithe form was fast. It darted behind the white dragon, swinging around to flank him. The white dragon glanced to the side to snarl. Gareth took that moment to strike.
His teeth tore at a thin wing. The white dragon screamed. Cameron’s jaws snapped around the white dragon’s thin wing. Flesh tore beneath his teeth and blood coated his tongue.
He heard the wind of wings behind him, but before he could turn to protect himself, something tore through the air. It was invisible, but crackled with a force he’d seen once before. Gwen’s magic ripped through the white dragon’s wings behind him.
He turned his gaze to the ground below. His world focused in on one spot. Gwen stood below, in the ruins of Dinas Emrys. His mate. She was still alive. There was time.
Relief was a sharp knife that cut through him. It made his form drop through the air as the rage pulled back and exhaustion tried to sink in. Then he saw the second familiar form in the ruins. Liana was thrown before Malcom, her human form a mess of blood. The rage slowly returned, simmering little by little.
Owain roared at him, a command to move before they lost this battle. He watched as his mate raised her eyes to the battle in the sky. Her hand lifted over her grim face and this time her magic lashed out at the dragon beside him. Owain fumbled through the air.
Several white dragon forms descended upon the unbalanced dragon. Cameron beat at the air, trying to make it to the older dragon before the white shapes gripped him. But, he was too far away, too low to the ground. The claws of the white dragons sank into Owain’s scales. His form sank and crashed to the ground.
He could hear the growl of Owain’s anger while he tried to fight off several white forms that pinned his claws and neck. Before he could drop to his rescue, another dragon slammed into his side. The world spun as he rolled through the air. Gareth cried out for his brother, but a white dragon found the massive dragon’s neck. Claws gripped it from behind, cutting off his air.
Why were there so many white dragons? Where had they come from? Three red dragons were no match against them. Especially not when Malcom knew Gwen’s true name. He wished she’d trusted him enough to tell him.
His eyes scanned the skies. Three white dragons rose from the forest. Owain did not rise. A white dragon gripped Gareth’s neck. Another gripped his wings, worrying at the flesh like a dog with a toy. He looked below. Malcom and two more dragons stood around Gwen and Liana.
There were eight white dragons and a witch against three, now two red dragons. This battle was over, Cameron thought.
No. He would not let Malcom win. He would not let him hurt Gwen. He made a promise.
Until his last breath.
A familiar cry split the air. Four more forms dotted the skies. Their dark shapes soared toward Cameron and Gareth. Beside him the massive dragon shook. Two white shapes went flying off. He twisted in the air, jaws snapping at a white dragon neck. Cameron, feeling hopeful for the first time, circled up and back to swipe his claws at the other dragon that bit his brother’s wings.
To the north, several more shapes flew in their direction. Their bodies were unfamiliar, but they did not bear the silvery white scales of his enemy.
Dark power surrounded her. Never before had she dug this deep into it. Never before had she welcomed it into her life. It was her power, a part of her that craved blood and destruction. Malcom’s gaze dropped from the fight above after she spoke. He couldn’t see the power that she held, that she wrapped herself in. He could only see the air wavering around her.
“Do not do anything stupid, Gwynefar.” His voice was wary.
“Then you need to stop making idiotic commands,” she said with a smile.
Her dark power pushed out and wrapped around Malcom’s throat. He gasped, clawing at the invisible tendrils. His two white dragons looked between themselves, clearly confused. Gwen spared a thought to wonder if they had two brain cells to rub together between the two of them. It didn’t matter. They stood in their cloud of confusion while Malcom slowly died.
“This is the least stupid thing I could think of,” she told him. Her voice was surprisingly level.
She was going to die when the two males beside her figured out what was happening. If she could, she would take them with her to save Liana. The female dragon was brave. She’d only wanted to do the right thing for her family and Gwen had cost her. What had they done to her dragon form before she pulled it into her human form? What was left of the brave woman’s beast?
Malcom collapsed to his knees before the other two moved. They launched themselves at Gwen. Now that Malcom couldn’t draw air to speak, she was free. Her dark power wrapped itself around the other two. They crashed to the ground, face first. The dark power crushed them. Stones cracked beneath them as they cried out in pain.
It was stronger, running deeper than she knew.
Above her, a thin dragon form lowered to the ground. A human shape appeared where it should have been, launching into a run. Cameron closed the space between them,
but stuttered to a stop when he saw she had things under control.
“They’re dead,” he whispered. His body wrapped around hers. It enclosed her in warmth. Protection. Her dark power faded. Malcom’s body dropped to the ground, Gwen’s magic snapping back like a hand in a flame.
It was over. Malcom was dead.
She was alive.
Above them, the still fighting white dragons, the ones that hadn’t yet realized their leader was dead, figured out that they were outnumbered. Some turned in the air, banking to get away. Others were caught in the clawed grip of red dragons. The fight was over.
Around her, red dragons touched the ground and their dragon forms folded away to reveal human bodies. A large male stomped towards a sleek looking woman with wine red hair. He was fuming, his body looming over the female. Yet, the female only tilted her head back to meet his eyes.
“What did you think you were doing?” the male growled. “You could have been hurt! You could have put our child at risk!”
“I wasn’t going to sit by and let everyone else get hurt.” She bared her teeth at him as she spoke.
Gwen and Cameron exchanged glances. His trembling hand reached out and his fingers entwined with hers. A breath escaped him and he seemed to deflate.
The huge male’s attention was caught by Cameron’s shaking form. He assessed the smaller male before nodding. Gwen didn’t know what she had missed. All she could think was that she had lived. She was alive.
But, there was a form still laying on the ground. Gwen pulled her fingers from Cameron’s grasp, ignoring his barks of protest. Liana needed help. Drystan scooped his arms beneath the young woman and carefully picked her up. Beside them, a red dragon whose name she did not yet know shifted from foot to foot, worry clearly engraved on his face.
The features that he and Liana shared told Gwen that they might be relatives, siblings even. His hand hovered over Liana’s bloodied arm, wavered, and then snapped back. He was afraid to touch her, to hurt her any more than she already hurt.
“This is my fault,” Gwen confessed. “Let me try to help her. It is the least that I can do.”
“Yes. It is your fault,” the red haired male dragon growled through his clenched jaw. The damnation in his eyes shot her through the heart, a dart that she freely took.
Drystan’s glare on her was hard. It said that he blamed her for this. She accepted the guilt and the shame, feeling it settle heavily on her shoulders. She could live with it as long as Liana lived. Without requesting further permission, she touched the bleeding female dragon’s shoulder.
Her green magic flared to life. Her desperation and need made it glow brighter than she’d ever seen. It was softer than the thorny whip of magic she’d summoned earlier. This was a gentle wave of healing water. It cascaded over the female dragon and Gwen could hear the unconscious sigh of relief slip out from between her lips. Wounds slowly started to knit back together, leaving behind only smears of blood.
“She will live,” Drystan said. “Her continued healing will be a long, uphill battle. I worry more for her dragon than anything else. I don’t know how extensive her wounds were before she gave in to the smaller form.”
Gwen swallowed past the lump in her throat. “I’ll work with her as often as you’ll allow me. I need to help her. I need to help all of you.”
Drystan’s eyes flicked to where Malcom’s body lay on the ground. “I think, in the end, you have helped us.”
Held captive between two dragons that she’d never seen before was a man with a shock of white blonde hair. A white dragon. He snarled at the people around him, still furiously trying to pull his arms from the dragons’ grip. He would sooner tear his arms out of their sockets than get free.
The sleek female dragon approached the white dragon man. Her fist drew back and collided with his square cut jaw. “That’s for my human family, you piece of shit. I can’t believe they let you out after what you did. You deserve to rot in hell.”
“Calm down, Rhiannon,” Drystan barked.
Her narrowed eyes spun toward Drystan. She was clearly not used to taking orders from him. Her cheeks were red with the heat of her anger. Gwen recognized her from the recent upset in Bangor. She was the girl that GOE apparently kidnapped and managed to convince that she was human. It seemed, she’d found her family after all, Gwen thought as the huge man that had been angry with her moved to wrap his arms around her.
“What are we doing with this one?” The dragon male holding the white dragon had an American accent. His brown hair was cut short on the sides and swept back on the top. The cut and the set of his spine gave him an air of authority. The arm that gripped the white dragon was inked with black designs that bled into one another, the lines never ending.
“GOE, or what’s left of the Guardians, is going to want him,” Drystan said.
The American dragon nodded. When had that happened? When had American dragons arrived?
“Can we drop him a few times on the way there?” the other, unfamiliar dragon asked. His long, mahogany hair was held back in a tight bun and a smirk rested at the corner of his mouth, a regular thing if the dimple in his cheek was any indication.
“Thank you,” Rhiannon whispered to the two American dragons. “You didn’t have to lift a finger for us, but you did and I thank you for that.”
“We came on a mission to build a coalition,” the tattooed dragon confessed. His green eyes scanned the battleground, his eyes lingering on Liana’s form in Drystan’s arms. “We’ve been separate entities for too long. If it was going to work, we needed the Welsh dragon war to end.”
“This isn’t over,” the white dragon said between clenched teeth. “Dinas Emrys is our home! It is our right. We have been homeless creatures for centuries. It wasn’t fair that you kept our homeland so selfishly for yourselves.”
“Did you ever think to ask if you could live here?” Gwen’s voice was soft. “The territory is big enough for two families. At least, I think it would be.”
Her words sent a domino effect around the family. Dragons agreed or nodded as they threw in with Gwen’s statement. The rage was taken out of the white dragon’s body, leaving him to simply slump between the American dragons. Not once had it occurred to them to ask for a home.
She glanced toward Malcom’s body again. Their leader had always taken what he wanted. Perhaps, with him gone, the white dragons could learn to become more gentle. They could take a few pages from the red dragons’ book.
Chapter Fourteen
Many of the white dragons that fought for Malcom had died or fled. They were scattered to the wind with no real leader to organize a retaliation. Raphael had been captured and the American dragons had taken immense pleasure in flying him back to the remains of GOE.
The organization was slowly putting itself back together again. Rhiannon managed to warn Everett of the white dragons’ false nature and that had given him time to lock down at least one of the GOE buildings, sparing a handful of agents and officials from the chaos the white dragons had wrought. That action had earned Everett a promotion, one that allowed him to reenact the sham department Malcom had once headed. He would make it real this time.
Rhiannon was put at the head of the new Welsh Dragon Embassy, an ambassador to the Territories that resided by the city. It seemed that the chaos with the white dragons managed to change the opinions of the city’s citizens. They still very much feared dragons, but the Welsh red dragons had defeated the ones that really hurt them. It gave them a second chance.
It gave Gwen a second chance at life, too.
Cameron watched her bask in the square of morning light that the sun cast across their bed. He couldn’t believe that she was in his bed. His breath still caught in his throat when she turned to look at him and a slow smile spread across her lips. She wore one of his white shirts over her breasts, leaving her long legs bare.
The idea of losing her still made his chest tight. It drove his beast near madness. He now understood what Elgar fe
lt when his mate died. He knew why the old dragon had done what he did, but he didn’t forgive him. He only worried about what he would have done if she had died. He, most likely, would have gone down with her.
Instead, she was alive. She had even moved in with him. It seemed that in the heat of the moment, Gwen had acknowledged their connection. She was happy and, he thought, in love.
“I should get going,” she said with no real motivation to get up. “Liana is probably expecting me.”
“Her human form is completely healed,” Cameron reminded her. “She can wait another hour or so.”
Gwen’s lips twisted into a frown, one that he couldn’t stand to see on her face. He closed the space between two of them, his hands moving to gently touch the tops of her knees.
“She’s being healed by the Witch of Caernarfon. She’s fine,” Cameron said.
The truth was, they didn’t know how Liana’s dragon form was doing. She blatantly refused to shift forms. Any insistence that she do so, made her wrap her arms around herself and snarl. Drystan had tried to force the shift out of her, but her screams had enraged Rhys so much that they’d been forced to hold her brother down.
They didn’t know what to do with the female dragon, how to help her heal. From the looks that the American dragon had been giving her, Drystan suggested that she travel home with them to start work as an ambassador.
What they were going to do with Rhys while Liana was away was another question. The man had lived for protecting his baby sister, for helping her to cause destruction on the Territory. With her absent, the male dragon was going to be restless and on edge. The normally jovial dragon was already being a cranky ass to begin with.
The look on Gwen’s face said that she saw through his lie. Liana needed more help, but neither of them were sure that Gwen could offer the kind that she needed. The dragon refused to talk about what happened to her in the forest. At least she refused to blame Gwen for what happened.
His mate carried enough blame on her own shoulders for all that happened, no matter the outcome. It made her sit at Liana’s side every morning, casting her blanket of healing over the dragon. Yet, as he pushed her knees apart, she let him. She gave in to him as his head lowered between her legs. Her hand fisted in his hair.
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