The Dragon Shifter’s Duty

by Mandy M. Roth

  “Woman,” he started, but was unable to finish, his emotions were that strong. It would be his luck to finally score in the mate department, only to get one who was totally and completely bullheaded.

  You love her regardless.

  It was true, he did love her and wasn’t ashamed to admit as much to himself. He’d been unable to recognize what he felt for her years ago, but he wouldn’t be that stupid again. He’d also have to learn to sleep with one eye open if for no other reason than to make sure his mate didn’t attract any more trouble.

  She was a magnet for it and had been since a young age.

  “You’re being weirdly quiet. You’re annoyed with me,” she said, her voice sounding small.

  With a sigh, Ezra glanced at her. “No, Sweet Pea. I’m just damn happy you’re alive and I want to keep you that way.”

  She gave a sexy little smile and wiggled slightly. It was good to see she’d not lost her sense of humor with everything she’d been through.

  She pointed to something in front of him and he turned in time to see a bad guy coming out of a side room. The man glanced slowly in Ezra’s direction and then opened his mouth to shout a warning to the others. With his free hand, Ezra drew the knife in his boot and threw it at the man, scoring a direct hit to the man’s throat.

  The only sound coming from him was the gurgling of him choking to death on his own blood. Perfect.

  Holland leaned in and went to her tiptoes. “That asshole had it coming too, Newt.”

  He snorted.

  Her expression grew somber. “We should get to Donnie now. He wasn’t in great shape the last time I saw him.”

  Ezra could only imagine what condition the man was in now. If this group of men had ties to Felix, and his guess was they did, then the guards working here would take every opportunity they could to torture a supernatural male. For one, they were sick fucks. For two, supernatural males tended to heal fast enough to not leave too many bruises on the day of the auctions.

  If the rest of the detail were also supernatural, it would give Felix and other buyers a decent stockpile of alpha males—high-ticket item among those looking for breeders or fighters.

  Ezra had only intended to get in, get Holland, and get the hell out of the factory. He didn’t plan on having to rescue another, and he didn’t want to risk his mate’s life to do so, but he’d promised to get Donnie out.

  Now you’re stuck protecting the bastard’s team, too, he thought, smart enough to keep his opinion to himself.

  Holland wouldn’t be pleased if he didn’t lend a hand. He’d known her since she was just a child. She was the type of woman who was fine with an evil asshole being killed in front of her, but who wouldn’t tolerate littering.

  And she wouldn’t tolerate Ezra leaving other men to be captured, no matter if it was all to keep her safe or not.

  “Shit.”

  She squeezed his hand. “What is it?”

  He twisted, bent, and kissed her cheek. “Sweet Pea, I need you to listen to me very carefully. Donnie’s team is closing in, and they’re getting ready to breach the building. It’s a trap.”

  She looked confused. “But you got in without problems.”

  He nodded. “I’m one man. A single soldier. A solo operative. They’re a team. These people here are expecting a team. They weren’t planning on me.”

  She gasped. “We have to help them.”

  “No. I have to help them. You have to hide until I’m done. Got it?”

  She opened her mouth to no doubt protest, and he pressed a finger to her full lips, silencing her. It didn’t matter how valid her argument would have been. There was no way he was permitting her to be in harm’s way. He couldn’t handle it if she was hurt, or worse, killed.

  “No arguing, Holland. Not about this. Not about your safety. It means everything to me.” He kissed her again. “You mean everything to me. I won’t risk you.”

  She gave a slight nod and then tugged on his shoulders, pulling him lower, kissing him. She put her forehead to his lips when she was done. “Be careful, Newt. Oh, and be on the lookout for large armadillos. They’re way faster and stronger than you’d think they’d be.”

  He drew back from her and assessed the area, looking for the best place to put her. He’d passed a small room that he’d smelled medical supplies in when he’d walked past it on his way to her earlier. It would have to do for now. “Come on.”

  He assured the room was clear and safe before he drew his mate into it and grabbed a chair. “When I go, put this against the door handle. Got it?”

  She nodded. “Got it.”

  Ezra was about to leave her to go in search of Donnie, when he realized his woman had been far too compliant. She’d been full of questions when she was little. Even when he’d met her again at the club, she’d had more spirit than she was currently displaying. Something was off.

  He had a pretty good idea just what that something was. “You’re going to totally ignore me and leave this room the minute I walk away, aren’t you?”

  “Yep,” she said, not bothering to lie to him. “Totally going to do just that. Wasn’t even going to make it that long, probably. It’s not in me to stand around when I could be helping. And I don’t like small spaces so I’m not about to get shut in that room.”

  Looking up, he silently cursed finally finding his mate after thousands of years only to have the one woman who didn’t listen worth a damn. “Holland.”

  “Ezra.”

  He grimaced and then bent, giving her a chaste kiss. He wouldn’t let her get hurt. He’d promised to protect her, even if that meant from herself. “Remember that I love you.”

  “You love me?” she asked, shock on her face.

  With that, he spun quickly, rushed out of the room and grabbed hold of one of the metal shelving units in the hallway. Using only one hand, Ezra ripped it free from its brackets on the wall and thrust it against the door, blocking the exit. He took a few more steps and grabbed another of the shelves, repeating the action. He did one more for good measure.

  That should hold her.

  Holland pounded on the metal, but couldn’t budge them. “Asshole!”

  “That is a bad word. We’ve been over this, Sweet Pea,” he said back to her, knowing she was good and pissed.

  She was also safe, and that was all that mattered. He’d make it up to her later, in bed. For now, he was going to help the others and then he’d worry about smoothing over Holland’s hurt feelings.

  Her growls and curses echoed down the hall, and Ezra knew he wasn’t the only one hearing them. Every guy in the place had to hear them. Like clockwork, two men rounded the corner, weapons drawn; their focus on the room Holland had just been in. As they spotted Ezra, they raised their weapons.

  He was faster and grabbed his sidearm, putting two rounds in each man’s head. They dropped, and two more appeared behind them. These two were smarter than the others and came out firing. Ezra never moved as he repeated the steps, bullets whizzing past him. The men fell to the floor, no longer a threat to anyone.

  He shook his head.

  The idiots couldn’t hit the broadside of a barn.

  Ezra stepped over them and continued onward, making his way deeper into the factory. There was an open doorway that looked to lead into a large room with old machines. He was almost to it when the building shook. Fire and debris rained down on him.

  His concern went instantly to Holland. She was his woman. It was his duty to protect her and he’d left her in harm’s way.

  Spinning, he went to rush back to where he’d left her only to find her standing there, looking pissed. His gaze went to what used to be the shelves against the door of the room he’d left her in. There was nothing more than twisted, burning metal there. The temperature required to burn metal was great.

  Holland’s long dark hair blew in a breeze that didn’t exist, and Ezra had about half a second to realize she’d had something to do with the explosion before she had a ball of fire i
n her hand. From the look on her face and the way she was holding the fire, she wasn’t just pissed—she was out for blood.

  “Sweet Pea, I’m sorry I put you in the room, but it was for your own—”

  “Get down,” shouted Holland.

  He obeyed just as gunfire erupted behind him. Ezra’s heart slammed in his chest at the idea that his ducking placed Holland in the line of fire. Drawing upon the limited magiks his line of dragons possessed, his clothing vanished as his body morphed almost fully into dragon form, in what would appear to be the blink of an eye to most.

  He was larger than the hallway in shifted form, and the force with which he’d changed left his shoulders bursting through the walls to each side of him. Had he done a full shift, he’d have had to contend with huge wings too and even more size.

  The bullets struck his scaled back from behind, while the ball of fire hit his front. The bullets weren’t armor-piercing rounds, so they didn’t penetrate his scales. They did pack a punch, but he didn’t care.

  Turning, he set his sights on the man who had fired. The man fell backward, his eyes wide, his head shaking as he looked at Ezra in partial-dragon form. Ezra knew that his kind was rare and that he was extremely large, and he wasn’t even fully shifted. He also knew from the smell of it, the guy on the floor had wet himself with fear.

  Ezra stormed toward him, his shoulders digging large holes in the walls as he did. The man tried, but failed, to get to his feet in time to run. Drawing in a deep breath, Ezra took the last few paces and then exhaled, releasing fire as he did. It shot out the nostrils of his dragon, igniting the man on the floor, and instantly burning him to a crisp.

  The dragon wanted to eat him, but Ezra managed to rein him in. It was already going to be bad enough having to explain himself to Holland. He didn’t need to add letting her watch his other half eat a guy to the list of shit he had going.

  It was long enough as it was.

  Pivoting, he drew on his magik once more, returning to human form, his clothing and weapons all where they’d been prior to his shift. He met Holland’s gaze, expecting fear to show.

  She looked pissed. Not scared.

  A hand went to her hip, and she narrowed her eyes on him. “Newt, how dare you lock me away in a room.”

  He gulped. “I wanted you safe.”

  She continued to glare at him, and he had to admit that she had an angry stare that could scare the hair off a dog. “I don’t like being shut in small spaces.”

  He glanced past her at the mess of mangled metal and fire that was still burning. “So I see. Care to tell me how it is you did that?”

  She raked her gaze over him slowly. “Don’t talk to me. I’m mad at you.”

  “Sweet Pea.”

  With a growl, she stormed past him, and he made an attempt to grab her arm. Her skin was so hot to the touch that it actually burned his fingertips. He drew his hand back fast and hissed. “Ouch. Holland. Stop!”

  “I’m too mad at you to stop. I’m tired. I’m hungry. I smell horrible. I need a shower. I’m getting Donnie, and then I’m going to burn this place to the ground,” she snapped.

  He hurried behind her. “Calm down, Sweet Pea. No need to get crazy over this.”

  She froze and then turned her head slowly to face him. The look in her eyes let him know he’d said the wrong thing. He just couldn’t figure out what the right thing was.

  “Did you just call me crazy?” she asked, her voice eerily calm, her movements very slow and deliberate.

  Oh shit.

  Think of something great to say.

  Something that will make her forgive you.

  He blurted out the first thing that came to mind. “You look great, and you don’t smell that bad, considering.”

  Her nostrils flared. “I don’t smell that bad?”

  Ezra replayed the words in his head, trying to figure out why she didn’t look less murderous. He’d given her a compliment. Didn’t women love those?

  “What should I say here? I feel like I should know this one,” he said.

  He waited, half-expecting Holland to shoot fire from her nose now too. She looked that pissed with him. The calmer she became, the more he was pretty sure he was about to be murdered by his own mate.

  Women were very complicated.

  She smiled. It looked forced.

  Ezra lifted his hands in the air, desperately wanting an actual white flag to sway before her. “I give up, Sweet Pea. I shut you in a room to keep you safe. I know now that was a bad decision.”

  “Oh, now you can see the decision wasn’t the best one?” she asked, her voice barely above a whisper.

  “Uh, why are you being quiet now when five minutes ago you blew the place up and I’m guessing everyone heard?”

  “Ezra.”

  He tensed.

  “We are never having sex again. You do realize that, right?”

  His dragon and his dick took notice of her comment. He wanted in her more than anything in the world. Hearing she wasn’t open to the idea didn’t sit well with him. “Wait. What? Why?”

  Ignoring him, Holland walked at a fast pace in the direction he could hear the enemy. He tried to pull her back, but she proved harder to move than she should have been. He pushed around her and walked backward, keeping his hands up. “Sweet Pea, I can see that you’re angry.”

  “Can you smell it, too?” she asked snidely and he realized one of the areas he’d more than likely screwed up.

  “You smell perfect.”

  She cast him an annoyed look.

  “Did you catch the bit about me being in love with you?” he asked, hoping to score points with her.

  Her jaw set. “You catch the bit about no sex?”

  He’d paid attention to that one, yes, but he didn’t comment. Instead, he smiled. “You’re beautiful.”

  “You’re in the way.”

  He turned, his intent to lead. Suddenly, the wall next to them blew inwards. Instinct took over and Ezra spun, shielding Holland with his body, protecting her from debris. As he straightened, he waved away the cloud of dirt and smoke surrounding him. He came face-to-face with the end of a military-issued rifle. As he stared down the barrel of it, he found himself looking at a man he knew from dealings in the past. The Fae hadn’t changed at all—even his faithful pet was still by his side.

  “Russell?” Ezra asked. “What the hell are you doing here?”

  Russell lowered his weapon. “Shit, Ezra, I thought you were the enemy for a second. Wait, are you pretending to be one? Did I just blow your cover? Want me to shoot you in the leg or something? I could make it look good.”

  Holland pushed up next to Ezra. “Echo!”

  She went right for the wolf hybrid, bending and rubbing behind the dog’s ears. The dog licked her cheek, looking very happy to see her.

  Russell grunted. “Hello, Holland. Good to see you’re alive, Holland. Me? I’m doing great, thanks for asking, Holland.”

  She eyed him. “Took you long enough to get here. Some super security guy you are. And it’s good to see you’re alive too.”

  Ezra snorted, realizing Russell must have been part of Holland’s private contractor security team. He almost felt bad for Russell. Holland wasn’t a woman you wanted pissed off at you.

  As he was learning.

  Echo broke away from Holland and took off down the hall and into the large open room of the factory. Russell ran behind him, and Ezra kept Holland close to him as they followed.

  Two bad guys appeared, each armed to the teeth. Russell lifted his weapon to fire and Ezra went to shield Holland only to find his mate with a ball of fire in her hand.

  She whipped it at the men and they burst into flames. Their screams died quickly as their burned corpses fell to the ground.

  Turning, Russell gave Holland a wide-eyed stare. “Holy shit. I’m so glad you turned down my advances.”

  Ezra growled. “You made a move on my woman?”

  Russell gasped. “She’s your woman?
”

  Nodding, Ezra made a move to go at the Fae, but Holland yanked on him, stopping his progress.

  “Swing your dicks around later, boys,” she said, drawing glances from both men. “We need to get to Donnie.”

  She took off, rushing in the direction Echo had gone in. Ezra hurried after her with Russell by his side.

  Russell laughed as they ran. “Your woman is fucking hot as hell, and I mean that in more ways than one.”

  As they came around the corner, Ezra spotted Echo there with his teeth sunk deep into a man’s leg. Holland had another man backed into a corner as she held a ball of flames.

  There was a guy missing a hand lying on the floor, not moving.

  A large shifter male was there, suspended from the ceiling by a chain. The man was in bad shape.

  “Donnan,” yelled Russell, rushing toward the man. He lifted his hands and magik shot forth, lifting the shifter’s body and breaking it free from the chains.

  Ezra ran and grabbed the shifter, catching him before he’d have fallen.

  Russell was there, too, helping to support the man. “Shit. This is bad.”

  “Is Donnie alive?” asked Holland, keeping a guard backed into a corner.

  Ezra sighed. “He is. He needs medical attention, but I think he’ll live.”

  Holland glanced over her shoulder at Ezra, and the man she’d had in the corner withdrew a knife. Ezra wouldn’t make it in time, and he knew it.

  Fear slammed into him and he yelled her name just as there was a flash of fur before her. He blinked and realized Echo was there, chomping down on the throat of the man who had been about to stab Holland.

  The wolf-hybrid released the man and looked back at Holland, who let her fireball fade away. Echo pressed against her leg in a loving manner and she bent, rubbing him behind the ears.

  “That is a good boy, eating the bad man.”

  Russell groaned. “That woman is going to make my dog soft.”

  As blood dripped freely from Echo’s jaws, Ezra laughed. “Probably not something you need to worry about. That thing is a trained killer.”

  “With her, he’s a giant teddy bear,” said Russell. “Donnan, you weigh a ton.”

  The shifter lifted his head, coming to. He looked at Ezra first, seeming confused before his gaze moved to Holland. “You’re okay?”