Dance of the Dragon

by Kira Nyte

  “Get out, Taryn!” Cade barked.

  “What’s happening?” Gabriella shrieked inside his head.

  Taryn snatched her around the waist, hoisted her up the stairs—

  The force that hit him square in the back launched him several feet through the air. He roared as Gabriella slipped from his arm and crashed into a wall. Cade was barreling up the stairs as Taryn landed on his back. He scrambled to his feet and lunged toward Gabriella.

  Wisps of purple and gray shot up the stairs, wrapped around Gabriella’s ankles, and yanked. She screamed, her eyes dazed from the impact with the wall, but maintained enough awareness to claw at the floor and resist the magical ropes.

  Amelia ducked under Cade’s reaching arm.

  Taryn grabbed hold of Gabriella’s wrists.

  The magic holding her hostage grew stronger until a Baroqueth stepped onto the stairs and smiled victoriously.

  “Well, well. Here be dragons,” he mocked, and gave a sharp tug on the magical bindings around Gabriella’s ankles.

  “Taryn!”

  “I won’t let them take you.”

  “God, please. Help me!”

  Her terror lanced a new level of fierceness in him. He glanced at Amelia, who nodded once, their silent plan and understanding clear. He gave Cade a quick look, one his leader caught in his half-transformed dragon-human state.

  “How many trophies shall we find? One? Two? Three? Or more?” the Baroqueth continued in a sing-song fashion.

  “Rhymes are definitely appropriate for you,” Taryn growled.

  “Hmm, let’s see what you’re crying when I rip her from your hands. Because”—another sharp tug threatened his grip as Gabriella’s legs crested the stairs—“you can’t overpower me here, dragon.”

  Amelia straddled the smoky ropes of magic. When she held up her arms, a sizzling, smoky ball of blue revolved in each palm. “He may not, but I certainly can.”

  Amelia cut her arms down, unleashing two blades of blue that severed the bindings holding Gabriella. Taryn kept his footing as Gabriella flew into his arms.

  A second Baroqueth joined his buddy, his eyes widening at Amelia’s display of magic. Cade presented a projection of his true form to their enemies.

  Then he unleashed fire from his mouth that split around Amelia and rolled down the stairs, engulfing the two slayers, who began to scream in high-pitched agony.

  Taryn waited long enough to see Cade grab Amelia before he sprinted toward the back of the house, releasing his riled dragon as he ran. His house crumbled around his bulk, the walls cracking and turning to powder.

  “Taryn? Taryn, what?” Her mental voice sounded dazed enough to make him fear how hard her head had struck the wall.

  “Just breathe, Gabriella. Don’t forget to breathe.”

  “What is going—”

  His wings stretched, cutting through the second story of his home. The roof began to cave in as he pulled Gabriella into his chest with one taloned hand and launched them both into the sky.

  Gabriella screamed as he lifted them higher and higher, trying to get away from the dozens of onlookers watching the impossible before their eyes. In broad daylight. He chanced a glance behind him, glad to see Cade with Amelia held close to his chest. He hoped the destruction in the courtyard bode well for Syn and Gabe’s successful escape with Briella.

  On the street, the cops were as slack-jawed as the rest of the onlookers in the growing crowd.

  Only one person caught his attention.

  A woman. One he recognized.

  The woman stood, arms folded, staring up at them with eyes so dark they seemed to consume the daylight. She didn’t move from her position just inside his gate or seem the least bit fazed by the crumbling house not far from her.

  He grunted to get Cade’s attention over Gabriella’s screams and motioned for him to look back.

  Cade angled his head.

  Taryn swore his leader’s body tensed in pure shock. His wings faltered mid-flap, sending him off kilter until he regained his equilibrium.

  What on earth?

  Gabriella’s panic forced him to forget about Cade’s puzzling reaction.

  “Angel, you’re safe. Just remember to breathe. Breathe, love. This is who you are. This is in your blood.”

  “I-I’m hanging! By your claws!”

  “And I won’t drop you. I promise. Even Amelia is paragliding dragon-style behind us.”

  Gabriella snorted, though the sound was a mixture of whimper and something utterly high pitched. “And you joke about it!”

  “Got you to stop screaming and breathe. Take a moment. Look around you. Feel the freedom. Enjoy the view.”

  He tried to keep his tone light despite the concern that throbbed in the back of his head. Over twenty years he’d spent in New Orleans, destroyed in one minute. Somehow, he knew in his soul that the woman at his gate, the woman who’d tried to kill Briella a month ago, had tripped his wards. And he suspected she used Janice as her way in.

  Was Janice now teaming up with the Baroqueth? Not that she would make a great ally.

  “You doing okay, angel?”

  Gabriella didn’t answer. He craned his neck and blinked down at the limp figure in his claws. She was so small compared to his dragon form, and looked so delicate against his red scales and black talons.

  Delicate and passed out.

  Well, hell.

  This was going to be a first flight for the record books.

  Chapter Twenty-Two

  “Ma’am, you need to come away from the building.”

  Malla ignored the first responders trying to usher her through the gate to the street beyond. Ignored them until one put a hand on her. She zapped him, the thrust of magic sending him flying into a truck parked in the driveway.

  She couldn’t shake the frustration. Couldn’t shed the trepidation.

  She didn’t move until the dragons were out of sight, leaving a murmuring crowd gathered in the streets, police officers, firefighters, city officials, and other no-namers converging on the destroyed house. Flames licked up from the roof and through the cracks in the outer walls left by the dragons.

  She waited far longer than she should have for the four men she rallied to attack to emerge from the rubble. Some thread inside her hoped they would appear, that the quiet essence of life was only muffled by the magic around the house.

  Another set of hands grabbed her biceps. Through the rush of thoughts, fear, and anger, she heard someone talking about arrest.

  “No.”

  She snapped her fingers, freezing the scene around her. The dragon magic consuming the house continued to burn, but all other activity ceased. She steeled herself for the outcome she dreaded as she moved toward the house, kicking aside chunks of stone and wood. Her men had blasted through the front door, leaving a gaping hole. She waited outside as they attacked. She caught bits and pieces of what had happened. Syn had escaped with Briella and another dragon through the back first.

  Taryn escaped with his lifemate second.

  Malla tried to clear her head of the images that plagued her as she came upon the evidence of her latest failure. The charred bodies of two men, one still burning, slouched in the corner of the stairwell landing.

  She scrunched her nose at the pungent smell of burning skin and waved her hand to snuff out the flames. No reason for them to continue burning.

  The house creaked, dust and splintered planks of wood falling around her as she negotiated her way through the ruins. It didn’t take her long to discover the equally burned bodies of the second pair of soldiers in the kitchen. With a hiss, she threw her arm wide, sending a wave of power to erase all evidence of their demise. No bodies, no evidence, no extra damage control.

  Except she wasn’t sure she’d be able to control the present damage alone.

  While her time freeze continued to hold, she prowled the house for any clue that might help her in her quest. Hopefully the fleeing dragons had left something important behind.<
br />
  But as she searched, she quickly realized that, haste or not, the dragons were ever careful.

  She’d been taught they held no power in this world, yet their fire burned with magic.

  She was taught they kept their dragonstones close at all times, yet she had been unsuccessful in finding one.

  She was taught that they were enemies and harvesting their power was the only hope the Baroqueth had.

  Malla stepped out into the courtyard and wove through the debris that littered the large space. She stopped beside a long pool and dragged her fingertips through the surface of the cold water. The temperature did nothing to lessen the heat that seared her skin and through her veins. A heat that stirred a dangerous hunger to life.

  She lifted her head to the sky. The dragons were long gone. Back to The Hollow, if she was to guess. It would be the safest place for them at this point.

  Of all the things she was taught about the dragons, her father failed to cover one topic. It was a forbidden idea, one that held treason and betrayal. It was impossible.

  Malla pressed a hand over her chest and felt the heart hammering against her sternum.

  Impossible.

  Forbidden.

  Instant death for her.

  And yet, she’d been taught to recognize the signs. Taught about the connection. Taught about the bond.

  Taught everything that slammed into her with more force than all the magic she could muster in one hit when the biggest dragon twisted his long neck and looked back at her.

  Their eyes had met. She felt the connection instantly. With it, her entire body flushed and burned and hungered.

  Her father could never know. It would mean her death.

  Resentment hardened her as the natural physical reactions fought for dominance.

  “You’ve caused me to fail again. And I do not fail,” Malla told the sky. “I will not fail. I cannot fail.” She lowered her hand from her chest. “Because if I fail, I fail myself. That cannot happen.”

  Chapter Twenty-Three

  Gabby groaned, her back and neck stiff when she floated to the surface of her dreamless sleep. Sleep, she was certain, that wasn’t natural. Time slipped by. She lay where she was, eyes closed, trying to shake off enough fatigue to recall the moments before she remembered nothing.

  The memories returned, mercilessly pelting her mind. The fire. The crumbling house. The men with the magical ropes tied to her ankles.

  Flying.

  In claws.

  She had been in Taryn’s claws. In a dragon’s claws.

  Gabby shot upright with a gasp. Darkness surrounded her, except for occasional slivers of golden light.

  “Taryn? Where are you?”

  “With you, angel.”

  Gabby looked around, but saw nothing more than shadows.

  “Where? Where are we? Are we safe?”

  “Yes.”

  The world around her shifted. She scrambled in attempt to find a corner to hide in when golden light poured down over her.

  She threw her hands up to protect her eyes and waited for them to adjust to the light before she turned around.

  Her eyes widened and her lips parted.

  The enormous fiery orb with the black vertical slit watched her closely from a head covered in burnished red scales. Small scales around the eye and along the snout grew larger and thicker as they traveled along the snake-like neck resting on the ground. A crest as gorgeous as it was dangerous with black tips that were probably sharp like talons stretched up from his head.

  Gabby swallowed a lump in her throat as she slowly turned to take the entire dragon in. Huge. Beautiful.

  Real.

  A little scary.

  Spines lined his back, flanked by wings that were only now settling into a resting position tucked against his body. She guessed he’d spread one over her sleeping body like a canopy. Four legs and a tail remained curled around her in a protective circle.

  “I think you would have destroyed Amelia’s house,” she said, awe lacing her voice. The dragon huffed, smoke flowing from his large nostrils.

  “Now look who’s joking.” Dragon Taryn pressed up on his feet and stretched, spreading his wings. One extended so far it brushed the rocky wall of…

  Gabby tilted her head up and followed the steep incline of a mountain peak.

  “Where are we?”

  His body blocked the view on the other side, but the grass beneath her was thick and soft and as green as emeralds.

  “Home, angel.”

  Gabby stared in fascination as the dragon shrank, melting from mythical creature to clothed human man. Taryn tipped his head one way, then the other, cracking bones as a smile spread across his mouth.

  “Holy shit,” Gabby muttered. “You really are a dragon.”

  Taryn laughed. “Why would I lie about something like that?” He stepped up to her and picked a leaf from her hair. “I’m not sure if Amelia cast a sleeping spell on you or if you had a panic attack. Things took a bit of a chaotic turn. How are you feeling?”

  “I’m not sure yet. I woke up on the ground.” Gabby managed a grin as she rubbed her side. Emerald grass or not, ground was ground and certainly not comfortable to sleep on. “Looks like the sun is starting to set. How long have I been out?”

  Taryn pressed his bottom lip out and shrugged. “A few hours, which is what makes me believe Amelia cast a sleeping spell.” He tilted his head up toward the sky. Gabby couldn’t resist trailing her gaze down his throat and chest to the belted waist of his dark jeans. Damn, the man was so beautiful. She had definitely liked waking up next to him. “Which, under the circumstances, might have been the best choice.” He lowered his smoldering gaze back to her. “Until I have a harness made so you can learn how to ride properly, that is.”

  “Ride. As in climb on top of you and giddy-up?”

  Taryn’s smile darkened. “Now, angel. I’m not a horse. And I don’t think giddy-up would be the term you use when you ride me.” He leaned closer as her face heated. Yeah, she screwed that up. In a low, husky voice, he added, “I’d much rather you be screaming in pleasure than upping my giddy.”

  Gabby snorted and slapped his shoulder. Taryn laughed, holding out a hand.

  “You didn’t just say that,” Gabby groaned, laying her hand in his.

  “I think I did, and you obviously found it humorous because your eyes are sparkling. So”—he drew her closer—“I think another one of my jobs is complete. Come here. Let me show you something.”

  Gabby followed Taryn across what she now realized was an enclosed yard to where the rock wall lowered to about her height. He guided her to stand on jutting rocks close to the ground until she could see beyond the wall.

  The gasp that escaped her was powerful enough to make her sway. She grabbed the jagged wall, leaned forward, and peered down.

  “We’re not at the bottom of the mountain?” she said weakly. A fall from this height would kill her from the fear alone before she hit the ground. As she peeled her gaze from the shocking height and looked out, that stab of fear shifted to sheer wonder. “Oh my God.”

  Taryn braced his elbows on the uneven ledge and folded his hands as he smiled out at the view. “Pretty spectacular, isn’t it?”

  She tried to respond, but words were lost. Nothing she could say could describe the majestic world before her. Mountains peaked all around them, but the land of the valley below was filled with vibrant color and magical birdsong. She tipped her head to listen to the distant swoosh of what sounded like a waterfall and caught a glimpse of the fiery sun’s reflection on a shifting stream obscured by trees filled with silvery-orange leaves. The hills that stretched from the base of the mountain were thick with high grasses and multi-colored flowers.

  At the edge of the forest, she caught the subtle movement of a silver-white creature.

  She pointed. “What’s that?”

  “Best way to describe it is a stag. We use the term cervus, old Latin.” Taryn narrowed his eyes, his focus
intensifying on the creature. Gabby watched in awe as it stepped from the tree line, lifted its head in their direction, and stamped one hoof on the ground. Its snow-white antlers were long and thin. A frosty blue haze curled around them. “They graze throughout the forest. Their antlers hold magic to aid when other animals are suffering. A healing antidote, if you will. They’re rare, but resilient. That’s one of the older stags.”

  “How can you tell? It doesn’t look old.”

  Taryn flicked a finger out and dipped his head. “His antlers. The younger the stag, the brighter the magic. The hues of blue change over time, but the power they hold with age increases. He’s close to a hundred and fifty years old. And he’s been hanging around these parts since he was young.”

  Gabby couldn’t take her eyes off the creature as it stepped closer to the mountain. The high grass and flowers were a brilliant contrast to its snow-white pelt. Its long tail, with a puff of hair at the end like a lion’s, swished back and forth.

  “You communicate with it,” she said.

  “I, and all the dragons, communicate with everything in this land, love. This is not Earth. This is The Hollow, and everything here is interwoven with magic.”

  Gabby gauged Taryn’s expression. She had no reason to doubt him. Everything he’d told her thus far had been true. There was honesty in his eyes and promise in his words. Everything she desperately needed to heal her broken soul, he provided, selflessly and without hesitation.

  And her heart beat for him. It beat with purpose and desire and life.

  All for him.

  He tilted his head and met her gaze. “I’ll show you more tomorrow. Even a world of magic has dangers in the darkness.”

  Warmth and a sense of rightness filled her when he brushed his knuckles along her cheek. She pressed into his touch and closed her eyes, absorbing his strength and energy in that tender caress. So many facets to him and each one intriguing.

  “Come on. Let me get you something to eat and show you around the house.”

  A house, apparently, wasn’t a one- or two-story abode in The Hollow. Taryn led her to where the wall began to reach up the mountainside. He scraped his talons in a strange pattern over a scratched piece of stone. When he pressed his palm flat on the rock, it shuddered. Pebbles plinked down to the grass as faint lines became visible in the wall.