by Amelia Jade
“Asher?” Zeke asked in a bleary voice. “Do you have any idea what time it is? What are you doing outside?”
“I need your help,” he said bluntly. “I messed up, and I messed up bad. And now someone else is going to pay the price for what I did. I can’t let that happen.”
Zeke frowned, his eyes still somewhat unfocused. “What are you talking about?”
Asher hesitated for just a moment. Quinn was still lying limp in his talons. She hadn’t responded to anything since he had seen her fall unconscious. She looked pale and weak, and he tried not to listen to her ragged breathing.
The other cadet must have heard it though, because he looked out the window and down.
“What is that in your talons?” Zeke asked carefully.
“Please,” Asher said, imploring the other man to help him. “I can’t do this alone. I’ll explain everything, I promise. But right now, she’s in bad shape. She needs to be cleaned up and healed. I don’t know what else to do.”
Zeke looked unsure. “Owens, man. You’re a good person. But I don’t know the first thing about healing someone. Especially what I think it is you have down there, if my nose is telling the truth.”
“It is,” he rumbled. “But Dominick might know. Can you get him?”
The fire dragon looked unhappy, but he nodded and rushed from the room. Asher would have woken Dominick first, but the electro dragon had chosen a room without a window in it. So he needed Zeke’s help as well.
The third cadet returned fairly quickly. “What the hell have you done, Owens?” he hissed.
“Fucked up,” Asher said bluntly. “I need your help to ensure nobody dies because of my mistake.”
Dom looked out the window, and Asher could see his nose testing the air. The blond-haired cadet looked up at him, then over at Zeke, who just shrugged.
“Fuck me,” Dom said and reached out violently with one hand, ripping the screen from its moorings and then throwing himself from the window. He landed in a crouch on the ground.
“Put her down on there,” Dom said, pointing at the nearest stone circle. “I’m not an expert, but I’ll see what I can do.”
Asher’s wings screamed at being used once more, but he used them to counter for the one leg he was unable to stand on, since he was using it to hold Quinn within its long curved talons. Reaching the circle, he gently opened them as Dom and Zeke eased her down into a prone position.
“Her leg doesn’t look good, Owens,” Dom said as he looked at it. “She’s in really bad shape. I’m not sure there’s much I can do.”
“Shit, Asher,” Zeke said as they looked at her leg. “What the hell happened to her?”
“Gryphon.” He uttered the single word with such utter disdain that the other two shifters glanced at him and then each other for a moment.
“I hate gryphons,” Zeke muttered. “I hope you showed him the error of his ways.”
“He won’t be making that mistake again,” Asher said, his voice flat and emotionless.
“Who won’t be making that mistake again?”
Asher whirled, still in his dragon form. Rhynne walked out through the double doors of the Academy, and headed toward them. He gently spread his wings, obscuring her view of what was behind him.
“Nothing,” he said firmly. “Just discussing tactics on how we can better ourselves for tomorrow,” he said.
“Right,” Rhynne said with a snort. “That’s way more believable than whatever it is you’re trying to hide behind you. Up late at night, wasting valuable sleeping time, to discuss how to be better? Do I look like a moron to you, Owens?”
He bristled at the way she made sarcasm drip from the use of his last name. When the others used it, it was just a nickname. But when Rhynne used it, she did so to mock him.
“Move aside,” she commanded, stepping forward.
He steeled himself. “No.”
The Top Scale instructor stopped abruptly, her eyes looking at him with something akin to shock.
“I said move aside, cadet. That is an order.”
Asher took a deep breath, trying to remain calm. “I’m sorry, but I can’t do that.”
Anger flared in Rhynne’s eyes, a reddish tint that reflected her fire dragon heritage. “Are you challenging me, Asher?”
He swallowed hard at the sudden switch to his first name. Things suddenly became more personal. More intimate, and all the more deadly.
“I would prefer not to, Rhynne Nova,” he said formally. “But I cannot let you by.”
“What could be so important to you?” she asked. Then the wind changed, and he saw her eyes widen with realization. “Human!” she hissed, and in a flash of flame and smoke a large red dragon almost the size of Asher—but vastly more skilled—appeared.
“Move, Asher. You know the laws. She can’t be here.”
“She can if she has papers,” he said firmly, still not moving.
“If she had papers, she wouldn’t be here in the middle of the night in secrecy,” Rhynne growled. “Now move aside, or I will make you.”
“I cannot do this,” he said regretfully. “Please do not force me.”
There was a snap, the crackle of fire, and then suddenly Zeke’s ruby-colored dragon was standing there to his right. “Please, Rhynne,” he said politely. “Go back inside.”
The red dragon laughed. “You think the two of you could stop me? Please. Let’s do this. I’ve taken better cadets to task than the two of you. It would be my pleasure to do it again.”
A crackle of live electricity sparked out through the night in a bluish-white glow, and a third dragon, this one a deep sparkling sapphire, emerged from behind Asher.
“But all three of us?” Dominick said, standing next to his fellow cadets. “There are better things to spend our energies on, don’t you think?”
Rhynne looked at the three of them. “This is mutiny,” she growled. “Daxxton will see all three of you kicked out. You’ll never get another chance again.”
“While the cadets may be acting out of turn, Miss Nova, I would invite you to please not speak for me and my actions again,” a deep voice said from above them.
Asher spun as a magnificent gold dragon descended from the sky, landing behind them near where Quinn lay. Her still form sent chills through Asher.
“Now, someone explain to me what is going on,” he ordered as he shifted back to his human form in a whirl of smoke tinged with intense red flames. “Who is this human female?”
Though he saw the others resume their human forms, Asher, still in his dragon form, spoke for everyone. “She is my mate. A gryphon took her, inflicted this wound on her, and I brought her here, seeking help.” He deflated as the weight of the situation came crashing down on him. “I don’t know what else to do,” he said softly. “I’m not a healer, and she’s lost a lot of blood.”
Daxxton strode forward, ripped the leg of Quinn’s pants open wide and examined the wound. He looked up at Asher.
“There is only one way to save her, Asher Owens.”
The frost dragon didn’t hesitate. “Whatever it takes, I will do it.”
The Wing Commander looked up at him, his eyes tinted strangely with gold. “I believe you,” he said solemnly. “The only way to heal her is to bond with her.”
Asher reared back slightly. “Bond with her? With a human? How? I didn’t think that was possible for dragons.”
Daxxton stood. “It is. It has happened before, in several rare cases.” His eyes unfocused briefly. “But you will have to do something else first.”
“Anything.”
“You will have to freeze the infection away.”
Asher frowned. “With what?”
He couldn’t mean…
“Your breath, Asher. You must focus it, like you did the other day. Take your own from red flame to white flame, but with the ice. It can be done, and it must be done.”
“I can barely control the Frostfire as it is,” Asher said in disbelief. “How am I supposed
to make it burn colder?”
“You must feel it here,” Daxxton said, stepping past Quinn and reaching up to tap Asher on his dragon chest. “You must know it here,” he said, touching his own head, and then gesturing at Asher’s. “And you must control it here,” he said, tapping the back of Asher’s throat as the white dragon lowered his head.
“It must work together, as one. Feel the tingle, and harness it, condense it, and believe that it can be done. For her, Asher. If she means that much to you, you must do it for her.”
Quinn meant the world to him. But what Daxxton was telling him he had to do was impossible! Asher could barely summon his own breath weapon as it was. It only seemed to happen under emotional duress.
At least I have that going for me now. Extreme duress is a rather polite way to describe the situation.
He grimaced, looking around, trying frantically to come up with another plan. There had to be another way. His eyes widened and his head snapped back around to focus on Daxxton.
“Can’t you do it?” he asked with a sliver of hope. “You’re a gold dragon. Frostfire is one of the weapons you can use.”
“I could,” Daxxton said with a slow nod. “But then I would have to be the one to bond with her. Which is not what any of us wants.”
Asher shook his head in anger. “I don’t get it. Why?”
Daxxton looked at him apologetically. “After you burn the infection out, you must take one of your scales and apply it over the wound to seal it. It will adhere to her skin and your ice.”
Suddenly Asher understood.
“But my scale won’t adhere to your ice.”
The gold dragon nodded slowly. “If I could, Asher Owens, I would. But alas, in this case, I cannot. It must be you who does this. And you must do it soon. She is very weak.”
If Asher had been in his human form, he would have run his hands through his hair to try and relieve some stress. Instead, his wings fluttered in agitation as he dropped his head near Quinn, nuzzling her gently.
Forgive me. He sent the single thought out as his scales brushed her soft skin. He inhaled sharply. Eyes closed, he felt for the spot in his heart that had become hers, and he drew on that.
Love filled him in a wordless rush as the memories he had of Quinn flooded his brain, combining with images of their potential future if he acted swiftly to save her.
In his mind, he tapped the knowledge that this could be done. It had been done before, and any dragon was capable of doing it. All he had to do was do it.
Confidence washed over him as he stood tall, believing in himself that he could do it. That he would do it. Not to prove that he could, not to show off to the others. But for Quinn. He would do it because she deserved it. Because he wanted her to live. And most of all, because he wasn’t going to let her die because of his mistake.
The power in the back of his throat flared to life, the temperature dropping as he prepared to exhale. He stoked it some more, a fire so cold that it threatened to burn his insides as it dropped in temperature.
“QUINN!” he roared and opened his mouth.
A blast of ice the width of a human arm shot from his mouth and impacted upon her wounded leg. The intense cold sent everyone but Daxxton scrambling away. The Gold Dragon knelt by her side, and Asher could have sworn he saw the man’s eyes lighten, as if the Frost Dragon element of his soul was rising to the surface. His skin lightened as well, protecting him from the cold the same way Asher’s was.
Quinn’s eyes flew open and she screamed, the sound bursting out into the night as she continued to let loose.
Asher’s flame ran out and he collapsed, having used his last energy reserves to power the blast. His eyes drooped, but he managed to turn them onto her leg. The wound was covered in a sheen of ice, so he couldn’t see what had happened below.
“Now Asher!” Daxxton yelled. “You must bond with her now!”
He nodded, his big head ponderously moving up and down. His tail curled around and he selected a scale a little larger than the wound, and—using his razor-sharp talons—peeled it from his skin. The pain was nothing more than a dull ache by this point.
“Place it over the wound. Do it before the ice melts. You must contain it!”
Asher nodded, and with another prayer of hope, he pressed the hard scale to her flesh.
Chapter Fourteen
Quinn
Cold.
Pain.
LIFE!
Quinn opened her eyes as the sensations overwhelmed her. She couldn’t stop herself. She screamed. The burning cold pain was too intense for her to do anything else. It only increased in intensity as the flash of white shot from Asher’s mouth and made contact with her. She wanted to writhe, to move away from it. Anything to make the pain stop. But it was too powerful; she couldn’t force her body to do anything as her motor responses shut down in response to the blazing agony.
A distant voice sounded as the dragon above her slumped to the side.
The pain in her leg faded away suddenly, numbed by the ice that she saw was covering it.
“Now Asher! You must bond with her now!”
Who was speaking? What did they mean by bond with her? She didn’t understand. Her head twisted slightly and her eyes focused on the dragon, who hooked its tail around and used a talon to peel a scale from it.
Why would the dragon—she realized belatedly it was Asher—why would Asher rip a scale off himself?
Her eyes went wide as he took the scale and pressed it to her skin. The ridged material bonded instantly, and Quinn screamed once more as the pain of it reached out and slapped her.
Then something happened inside her head, and Quinn lost all control. There was…something there. She looked around frantically, sitting up suddenly as control returned to her.
“Who’s there?” she screamed. “What are you doing?” Her eyes darted around everyone that was nearby, none of whom she recognized.
“Stop it! Get out of my head! Go away!” she screamed, pouring her pain and emotion into an all-out attack, somehow trying to figure out what was going on.
She was panicking, but it didn’t matter.
Beside her, Asher roared as the dragon thrashed about, and something hit Quinn so strongly she thought someone had punched her. But nobody was near her, and it wasn’t until she realized it that it became clear it was in her head.
She rolled around on the stones, agony and insanity warring inside her head as she tried to figure out what was going on.
Beside her, the magnificent dragon roared, clawing at its head before unleashing a blast of something—she wasn’t sure what it was—into the sky in an impressive display of power. She vaguely saw the dragon’s head roll around, still spewing whatever it was. Other people dove out of the way as the dragon made a wailing sound.
Quinn felt the sound as it impacted over her brain. She fought back with everything she could, trying to beat it back, to get it out of her head. She writhed back and forth on the ground, the movement sending new waves of agony into her body, pain that she channeled directly through her mind and against what it was inside of her.
The fight went back and forth, and beside her the dragon continued to shake and paw at the ground, its talons raking up huge furrows or dislodging massive stones from the circle as it went insane.
“Asher!” a voice bellowed over the din the two of them were making. “She is losing control, and is forcing the same from you. You must control it. Let your dragon free; let its power flow though you!”
Quinn screamed again as fresh pain filled her body and the dragon beside her roared its echoing call.
Then suddenly, something extremely powerful appeared, flowing through her defenses and entering her mind as if she were nothing. It couldn’t stop the pain in her leg, but it helped by diverting some of it to herself.
Immediately Quinn calmed, slumping to her side as the thoughts, emotions, and sensations began to subside.
The presence was still there, but they were no lon
ger fighting. It was like they were allied.
Mates.
The thought wasn’t hers, but it came through loud and clear anyway. It was almost more of an emotional feeling than an actual word.
“What is going on?” she asked.
Beside her, the brilliant white dragon rolled over to look at her. And then, just like that, Quinn could see it. There, in her mind, was the presence of the majestic animal. The being that lived inside of someone and gave it the power. She could see it. Sitting on a mountainside, smiling and content as it spread its wings, the white membranes blocking not only the view, but the pain from her leg, and the jumble of thoughts that had been streaming into her mind.
The physical dragon next to her calmed as well, and their eyes met.
“Is that…is that you?” she asked, knowing somehow that he would understand what she was referring to.
“Yes,” he said softly.
“It’s beautiful,” she whispered as the image in her mind began to fade into white.
There was a pulse of something in her brain. Awe. Wonder. Amazement.
It took her a moment to realize it hadn’t come from her.
“I can feel you,” she said slowly, her eyes tracking across Asher’s face. “In my mind. Your emotions.”
The big dragon stepped back slightly and white fog rose up swiftly, obscuring it. A blast of cold air charged with icy particles washed over her, but she didn’t feel any cold. That was weird. She always felt the cold when he shifted. It was like having a big freezer opened up as she walked by. But this time all she felt was the wind wash over her, and the impact of the miniature icicles themselves. But the cold? Nothing.
Then Asher was there, striding out of the rapidly fading mist as he knelt at her side.
“How are you doing that?” she asked as tenderness, care, and compassion all came flowing through her mind as he looked into her eyes.
A smile blossomed on his face. “We’re bonded,” he said, pulsing happiness out and through her.
An answering look appeared on her face as she felt it, though it faded as questions bubbled up in her. She looked at the other man hovering nearby.