Knock Down Dragon Out

by Krystal Shannan

  “Hunting and fighting isn’t the right way here. We must change our ways. We must learn,” Kann wrapped up what was left of the loaf of bread. He left the kitchen and returned to sit opposite Saul near the wood stove. His shoulder had also stopped bleeding. The wounds had closed, and the scars would be minimal.

  “The weapons the humans use are strange and dangerous.” Tor pulled himself into a more upright position on the couch. “We will not be successful here if we don’t help each other. How can we protect our future mates and children without a tribe?”

  Col raised an eyebrow at the tiger shifter’s comment. He hadn’t considered that far into the future. More mates. Children.

  Would the children be shifters? Or would they be like Naomi? Human?

  “Do you think we will be the last of our kind?” Col asked, keeping his tone low.

  The other males met his gaze with silence. Obviously, they hadn’t considered that possibility yet. Neither had he, until just now.

  “You don’t think our children will be shifters?” Kann asked, rubbing his chin thoughtfully. “I’d never considered that. Not that it matters. You found a soul mate. That means Fate’s magick can find us soul mates as well. We will be patient. If our children are not shifters, then that is what Fate wishes.”

  “Listen,” Tor said.

  Col turned his attention to the tiger shifter. “What?”

  “The wind,” the tiger responded.

  He turned back to the window. The snow had slowed. It hadn’t quit, but it was enough to see a difference between the earth and the sky. If it continued to die down, soon it would be a still landscape and he’d be able to use his excellent vision and sense of smell to track.

  “Wait a few more minutes. See if it quits completely.” Saul rose from the floor. He crossed the room to stand next to Col at the window. “If it does, we can shift and track from the ground, while you fly overhead.”

  His body vibrated with the need to move. To fly. To seek his mate. His dragon thrashed and fought for control. Fire burned in his veins. He would scorch the entire countryside if it helped him find Naomi.

  He did as the lion shifter suggested. They’d cover more ground together than he could alone. “Thank you.” Col’s voice was gruff.

  “I bled for your mate,” Tor said, totally serious, “I think that qualifies us as family. My brothers would be so jealous if they knew I could call a dragon brother.”

  Col’s heart clenched. He’d never had a brother. He and his sister had been the only children of his parents. Tor’s claim moved a part of him deep inside. His sister had died. Tor’s brothers were gone, most likely dead.

  They were truly alone in this new world. No one would understand them better. No one would be able to watch their backs better. They did need each other. Now, he needed them. Naomi needed them.

  “We are Tribe.” Col’s tone firmed. “Family.”

  Tor and Kann stood, moving to the door as well. “Family,” they said together.

  “Let us go get your mate, Son of Li’Vhram.” Tor extended his arm.

  Col clasped his wrist and nodded.

  It was time. He couldn’t wait any longer.

  He released Tor and opened the door. The air was bitter, but the snow had calmed. The night was still and cold, lit by the familiar green and pink colored lights in the sky. Naomi had already told him it was a phenomenon called Aurora Borealis.

  “I still haven’t gotten used to the magick that flows through this sky at night,” Kann grumbled. “It feels as though Fate herself is watching me.”

  “It is not magick.” They continued to walk together down the steps into knee-high snow. “Naomi said they are just lights caused by the magnetic poles of the planet.”

  “The what?” Tor said.

  “Do not ask me about their science. I merely repeat what Naomi said,” Col answered.

  The others nodded in agreement.

  A moment later, Col stood facing two lions and a tiger. Kann and Saul were on the bigger side for an average Reylean lion shifter. Their shoulders were at chest height. Their fangs, upper and lower, extended past their lips. The manes around their neck and shoulders made them look twice as big as they really were.

  Tor’s tiger had the same oversized fang teeth, but no mane. Nearly every shifter on Reylea had them. Claws and fangs were the key to survival.

  Without them, death would come quickly.

  Instead of the lions’ tawny golden coat, Tor’s tiger was bright orange with a white undercoat and black stripes that helped him blend into the jungles of Reylea. Here, he was like a beacon. He wasn’t as tall as the lions, but just as muscled and perhaps a few feet longer.

  The big cats growled low and stretched their massive bodies. They waited for him. They were Tribe, family now, but they’d silently put him in place as their leader. At least for now.

  Col shifted and let out a loud trumpeting cry into the now-clear night air. His dragon roared and then he swung his head down toward the cats. His body was enormous comparatively, but they were still formidable enemies—allies now.

  Sefa would die today.

  Col had been flying for several hours. The scent trail was getting stronger. The female dragon wasn’t hiding, and he could pick out Naomi’s light floral scented soap on the edge of the wind.

  They were heading due south toward the high snowcapped peaks. Better hiding for a dragon. Flight negated the difficult terrain, but it would be problematic for his companions below.

  He banked and turned, scanning the ground hundreds of feet below him. The three cats were still moving at a breakneck pace, churning through the snow and up over the foothills below him.

  With allies, Naomi would be protected on the ground while he ended Sefa once and for all.

  The Aurora Borealis floated and twisted around him as he flew. It’d been strange when he’d encountered it the first night. Naomi had assured him it was harmless and merely a light in the sky, like a flame without heat.

  Sefa’s scent was stronger now, but still, nothing. No movement in the sky or on the ground except for the three cat shifters. Further and further they traveled. The air became thinner and clearer. The cats below had slowed a little. To his surprise they were doing an excellent job of keeping up with his pace. He wasn’t flying at full speed, but he wasn’t lazing along either.

  A darkness shadow above him caught his eye, however not fast enough to evade Sefa’s dive. She was using his own move against him. Again.

  Her shoulder caught his back just above his wing base.

  Col roared and fell from the sky. One of his wings still worked, but it wasn’t enough to stay airborne. The aggressive move had left Sefa in a free fall also. He watched with arrogant satisfaction as she struggled to slow her descent only a short distance from him.

  They would both hit soon.

  The ground was rising fast, but nevertheless he would survive the impact. Likely, they both would. The snow cushioned his fall more than he’d counted for, allowing him to recover his feet.

  Col lunged to where the female dragon lay sprawled and dazed.

  The three cat shifters were circling but hadn’t attacked, leaving justice for him to dispense.

  She had murdered his family.

  She had stolen his mate.

  She would die.

  Right.

  Now.

  He spewed flames to blind her and used his strong back legs to launch himself at her. Their bodies slammed together. Her claws sought his belly, but he was faster.

  They rolled down a hill, through several groves of trees. Biting and slashing. The wounds Sefa inflicted were shallow and of no account.

  Col ripped into her, tearing spikes from her back with his jaws. Her blood was sweet in his mouth. His claws shredded her wings.

  She wouldn’t be able to escape or limp away this time.

  His jaws clamped down on one of her forelegs and he didn’t release her until the bones crunched between his teeth. She screamed, and h
is dragon howled for more.

  End her.

  She rolled away from him and he leaped again, giving her only seconds of a reprieve before breaking another of her legs. Sefa was immobile now. Bleeding and staining the white ground red.

  He stood on her neck, holding her down and tore a long gash from her neck to her tail with his back claw. Blood sprayed into his face. Her cries fed his need for vengeance more than justice.

  Col’s dragon reared back to strike her neck and finish her when she shifted to her two-legged form. Into a woman.

  Surprised, his dragon took a step back.

  Sefa was clothed in a red tunic that quickly became soaked with blood from her numerous wounds. Then she spoke, her voice filled with bitterness and arrogance. “You may have won, Son of Li'Vhram, but you will suffer eternally.” Her eyes flashed with anger and satisfaction.

  Col held back the death strike and shifted to stand next to her.

  What did she mean?

  “If your mate isn’t dead yet, she will be before you can find her. I crushed her and threw her at the top of that mountain. You will feel nothing but emptiness and pain for the rest of your long life. You will know I took your mate from you just like your father took away my mother. That my family took everything…” Her breathing slowed. Blood dripped from her mouth. Sefa coughed and spit out more. “You h-have n-nothing…because of me.” Her eyes glazed over and the life in them disappeared completely. Red spread out on the white snow like a crimson cloak.

  He was standing in her blood. Could feel the sticky warmth of it as it melted through the snow at his clawed feet. That’s what the attack had been about? His entire family had died because Sefa’s mother had gone mad. Execution had been the only option to protect the tribe. Now Sefa had died for her part in murdering his entire family. For taking Naomi. Killing his mate, but could she be alive? The smallest sprout of hope blossomed in his heart. Sefa had not watched Naomi die.

  She could still be alive.

  The mountain. She said she threw her to the mountain.

  Col turned. The peak in the distance was huge. Higher than any mountain he’d seen in Reylea. It was sharp and jagged, and his mate was there.

  Alive or dead. He would find her.

  16

  Naomi struggled to breathe.

  In and out. You can do this.

  The wind still whipped around her, but the snowstorm had cleared. She peeked an eye open and wished she hadn’t. Her stomach crawled up into her mouth and threatened to leap to its death at the bottom of the mountain.

  Holy fucking shit.

  The entire Denali snowcapped range lay before her.

  No. No. No.

  Shadows of white peaks and colored snow reflecting the northern lights. Except she couldn’t see Mt. Denali. All the ridges around her seemed to be below her.

  Her oxygen starved brain finally caught up. Because you’re fucking on top of Mt. Denali!

  She wasn’t on the peak—more like stuck on a ridge on the side. Tucked into a cranny with nowhere to go. It was light enough with the stars and the Aurora Borealis in the sky to see there wasn’t a way up or down from the little ledge of jagged rock she was sitting on.

  A fucking mountain. It had to be the top of a fucking mountain.

  It was good it was dark. Naomi couldn’t see quite how far down it was. Only a guess. It helped keep her fear from completely shutting her brain down, not that it didn’t have its fingers poised right on the buttons that would completely paralyze her. It did. She could feel the claws tapping in her brain, waiting, watching. She could freak out at any moment. Completely lose it.

  But she hadn’t yet.

  Still, her body was tight, and she could barely draw in tiny breaths. The mountain was high, higher than she’d ever been before. Her head still hurt. Her skin hurt. Everything hurt.

  Pain like someone had stabbed her, wrapped itself around her chest. Even the small puffs of air she managed hurt. She rubbed the back of her head and felt warm wet liquid. She was bleeding. She’d hit her head.

  Her shirt was wet too. She touched her side and then lifted her fingers to her lips. More blood.

  Her skin still felt like it was on fire, like she was burning from the inside out. It was similar to the feeling she had after Col had first bitten her, but that fever had burned off in a day and she’d been fine. This one felt as though it would consume her completely.

  “Col,” she called, disappointed that her voice was barely louder than a whisper, and as hoarse as an old woman who’d smoked her whole life.

  She tried again and got a little more out the second time. “Col!” Naomi managed to give a decent scream the third time. Her voice echoed off the peaks and a rumble like thunder sounded above her.

  Fucking shit.

  Bits and pieces of snow fell from above her onto her head. She held her breath and waited for more. The thunder faded and nothing else happened.

  She brushed the snow from her curls and coughed. Pain flared, and she whimpered. Her ribs were cracked. They had to be. Or broken.

  No more screaming. Got it.

  How was she supposed to get down from here? Would Col even come looking this far? They were hundreds of miles from the cabin where she’d been staying just north of McKinley Park. Damn dragon.

  She would feel better if she could just stand up and get a better look at where she was. It was so hard to see in the dark.

  She put her hands on the rock face behind her and carefully pushed herself up until she was standing. Her legs ached and hurt, but nothing seemed to be broken. Naomi wobbled and caught herself.

  Her heart climbed into her throat to join her stomach and she closed her eyes. Now was not the time to have a panic attack. Well, it is. You’re at the top of a fucking mountain, but if you want to live…you won’t.

  There had to be a way down the mountain. Other than falling off the ledge, that was. She pulled in a slow breath and tried to get past the lightheadedness and nausea and pain. God, the pain was so bad. It reminded her of that time she’d had a full body sunburn when she was fifteen and had dragged her best friend to the beach. Her poor skin had actually peeled that summer.

  Naomi felt along the ledge with her foot and inched her way to the right. No luck. The ledge she’d been sitting on was getting narrower and narrower. The edge was now right behind her foot. She turned her head, pressing her cheek to the cold granite wall.

  Baby steps.

  A few minutes later, she made it back to the wider part of the ledge, and then continued past it to see if it changed on the other side. Instead of getting narrower it just stopped.

  Another wall of granite blocked her view and her ability to continue moving. She turned around and slid her back slowly down the wall in the corner, since it was the widest. Naomi could stretch her legs out in front of her here and they didn’t hang out into the open air.

  After a moment of sitting and dragging in one breath after another. The altitude, plus her panic wasn’t doing her any favors. She turned on her side and lay down. The stone was cold at first, but within a few moments her body heat had warmed it. If only she had a blanket to keep off the cold bite of the arctic wind, or at least a pillow to ease the loud throbbing in her head.

  “Yeah, cause a blanket and pillow would really fix everything, Naomi.” She mocked herself quietly. “What you really need is a damn dragon.”

  The three males shifted back to their two-legged forms and approached Col.

  “We can still find her. Her scent is in the wind.” Kann turned and pointed south toward the mountain range. “Sefa said she dropped her there.”

  Col quelled the beast in his chest. His dragon couldn’t help him right now. It’d be several hours before his wing had healed enough to carry him again. “I cannot fly. Sefa injured one of my wings.”

  “I’ll carry you until it mends.” Saul shifted back to his lion form and went to Col’s side, then bent his forelegs down.

  Col took hold of the thick mane, put
a foot on the bent foreleg and swung himself up onto the lion’s back. He crouched down and bent his legs, hugging to Saul’s sides. “Thank you.” He looked over at Tor and Kann.

  They nodded and shifted back into their cat forms.

  Saul started slowly, allowing Col to adjust to the feel of his lion’s stride, then ran faster and faster. His legs ate up the snowy ground and the mountains grew closer.

  Naomi’s scent grew stronger.

  They climbed up and down the lowland hills, each higher than the last.

  Saul breathed hard beneath Col’s body. The great lion’s sides heaved with exertion, and yet he continued on.

  For him. For his mate.

  They were working as a united team. A Tribe.

  He pointed at the top of a rise just to their left. Naomi’s scent was even stronger.

  The three cats veered to the left, following his prompting as a single unit. The sky was black and filled with stars and swaths of colors. The low light made traveling easier than if it was pitch dark, but Col still wished for the light of the sun. His long-distance vision was being wasted in the darkness.

  Tor dropped to his belly at the top of the next hill.

  The two lions slowed to a crawl and moved slowly on their bellies until they were even with Tor at the edge of the ridge.

  Col strained in the dark to see, but he couldn’t make out anything.

  Then the scent hit him full on.

  Wolves.

  The next question was—wolves from earth or wolves from Reylea?

  Tor shifted into a man to speak. “Stay here, I’m going to get a little closer. If they are Reylean, we can’t chance going down this ridge. Last time we saw a group of wolves, there were at least ten.”

  “Be careful.” Col breathed out the warning without hesitation, surprised to find that he actually cared a great deal about what happened to the other man.

  The tiger nodded, shifted back into animal form and slunk into the darkness. In the dark, his coloring gave him the ability to move across the snow like a shadow, his stripes blending into the trees and low growing brush.

  Minutes stretched.