by Chant, Zoe
Perhaps that was part of the reason why he’d felt sympathy for Ilara, despite himself. She was fighting to give something to her children – fighting for what her father had tried to give to her.
We will make sure our mate and her child always know how much we value them, his dragon rumbled. We will always make sure they are safe –
At that thought, Garrett felt a sudden slice of pain carve its way through his heart, so severe that for a moment he forgot to beat his wings, and faltered in the air.
Our mate!!
As he struggled to right himself, his human brain still reeling in confusion and pain, his dragon was already alert, howling the same two words.
Our mate! Our mate!
Garrett brought himself back under control, dipping his wings and catching the mountain air currents once again.
Our mate? Is Georgia all right??
His dragon didn’t answer him. The only thing it did was howl, fighting him for control of their body. Garrett could feel its furious animal instincts descending, taking over his rational brain.
Something is wrong, he finally managed to force his dragon to tell him. Someone is trying to hurt our mate. We must go to her! We must make them bleed!
Garrett banked sharply in the air, before pulling a tight turn. The dragon’s senses were on fire, screaming at him that Georgia was in danger and needed his help. The familiar red mist of rage descended across his vision. Usually, he would try to pull back and reassert his human side, but now, Garrett let his dragon have free rein.
Who has her? he demanded of it as they sped through the sky. He thought fleetingly of the agents who would be waiting for him, but then flung them from his mind. If Georgia truly was in danger, then nothing else in the world mattered.
It does not matter, his dragon roared back. Our claws will spill their blood, no matter who they are!
Garrett had to agree with the dragon about that – no matter who they were, if anyone had dared to touch a hair on either Georgia or Logan’s heads there would be hell to pay.
Let our instincts guide you, his dragon said. They will take us to our mate – and to the ones who have dared to try to take her from us.
Garrett was happy to let his human brain take a backseat if the dragon’s instincts would guide them to Georgia. Fury tore through him.
Who would do this? Who would dare?!
But even as he asked himself the question, he knew there was only one real answer.
Barston.
And Crane, most likely, too.
Perhaps they had somehow found out that Ilara had told them about what Barston had done to her father. In that case, Georgia would be the perfect bargaining chip, even if she hadn’t been his mate. Barston must have known Garrett would never allow a civilian – especially a human one – to come to harm because of a shifter argument.
Garrett tried to figure out what Barston’s plans might be, but with his dragon’s fury clouding his mind, he couldn’t think more than a few steps ahead: 1. Find Georgia and ensure she is safe. 2. Kill whoever tried to take her from us. 3. ?????
Perhaps even ‘a few steps ahead’ was being generous at this point.
Whatever the case, Garrett wasn’t consciously directing where he was flying. The dragon was guiding them past the mountain and over the dense forest below, as if following some secret signal that it alone could detect.
Perhaps it’s the mated bond itself, Garrett thought. Calling out between our hearts. Connecting us. Guiding us.
It made as much sense as anything else. Garrett had never spoken much about mated bonds with his father, beyond the fact that they existed, and that the dragon who found his mate was a lucky one indeed.
Georgia, I hope you can hear me, he thought. And know that I’m coming for you. I won’t let anyone harm you. I’ll kill them first.
Garrett sped on, dipping low over the trees as the silent signal that called to his heart grew stronger. He was getting close. He just had to –
A sudden dark presence loomed over him, and Garrett only just managed to swerve out of the way to avoid the slashing strike of claws from above. He’d been so focused on finding Georgia that he’d only just noticed the creature that dove down upon him in time, which was now screeching with rage at the failure of its surprise attack.
No, not creature – shifter.
It was most definitely a shifter, Garrett realized as he swooped away, roaring in fury, feeling the heat of fire building in his dragon’s belly.
The thing now wheeling around through the sky before him looked like a dragon, but Garrett could see instantly that it wasn’t. While he and other dragons had four legs with their wings extending from their backs, wyverns had only two back legs – their wings spread from the shoulders, and they had no front feet at all.
And aside from that, there was one very important difference: where Garrett and all other dragons breathed fire, a wyvern breathed a deadly venom, which would instantly deaden anything it touched.
Including dragons, Garrett thought grimly. Wyvern venom was one of the main ingredients in dragonsbane, since it was one of only a few substances known that could actually hurt a dragon. And Garrett was still feeling the after-effects of the dragonsbane-coated bullet he had taken to the shoulder three years earlier.
Wyverns were very rare, though – rarer even than griffins and hippogriffs, who were sometimes considered the rarest of the rare. What the hell was one doing here?
And what the hell does it want? Garrett thought, bracing himself for evasion as the wyvern beat its wings and swept toward him, clearly readying itself for another strike. Garrett saw tendrils of green winding their way up from between its lips as it prepared to spit its venom.
Garrett didn’t intend to give it the chance.
Roaring, he twisted in the sky, folding his wings close to his body and letting out a jet of fire as he did so. He saw the stream of bright green below him as the wyvern let fly with its venom, but he sailed over it, and it shot past him and onto the treetops below. Garrett chanced a glance down and saw the trees it had landed on were already wilting, their great boughs disintegrating as the venom carved through them.
Something to keep in mind, he thought as he turned another barrel roll, before banking sharply and swiping at the wyvern with his claws.
Perhaps the wyvern was surprised by his quick maneuvers, because it only just managed to evade him, and Garrett felt his claws shear off several of its dark green scales.
He had to figure out a strategy, and quickly – the fact that someone had Georgia captive was still at the forefront of his mind, and he couldn’t let this fucking wyvern slow him down. But nor could he lead it to Georgia, either – a wyvern’s venom was deadly enough for dragons, he couldn’t imagine what it would do to a human.
A fight at close quarters would get things done faster. He didn’t have time to circle this thing and slowly wear it down, shooting flames at it when he could before swooping in and slashing at it with his claws. He needed it dead now.
Getting in close would mean he probably wouldn’t be able to use his fire, but it also meant the wyvern would have trouble with its venom. One thing he knew about wyverns was that they were immune to their own venom – as long as it was in their belly. If it dripped onto their scales, they were as vulnerable as anything else.
Like a dragon and its fire, Garrett thought. Dragonfire was the only kind of heat that could harm a dragon’s scales, but inside its belly, it was fine.
Roaring in fury, Garrett filled his wings with air, surging forward. The wyvern twisted in the air, trying to evade him, but it was too slow.
They slammed into each other, and Garrett felt every bone in his body shudder at the impact. Even his teeth – sharp as sabers in this form – shook in his head. The wyvern let out a piercing, terrifying scream, completely different from a dragon’s roar, as Garrett’s claws bit into its body, shredding its scales.
The element of surprise was quick to wear off, however, and the wyvern
quickly recovered itself, flapping its wings to try to gain the upper hand, and stabbing at Garrett’s belly with the long claws of its back legs, leaving long gashes behind them.
Garrett roared in pain, feeling his own scales being sheared off. The wyvern was obviously an experienced fighter. It had underestimated him before, but now it seemed to have his measure. And it clearly wasn’t afraid to fight dirty.
One major advantage wyverns had over dragons was wingspan. The fact that their wings were larger and sprouted from their shoulders meant they were connected to their pectoral muscles, putting far more power behind every beat of their wings.
Garrett could feel that power now as, snarling and scrabbling at him with its claws, the wyvern beat its wings, pushing them both through the air. Garrett fought back, beating his own wings, and burying his claws deep in the wyvern’s side. He could feel its blood dripping over his hindfeet and falling into the forest below, but the wyvern was determined. It didn’t let up, forcing them both down.
Too late Garrett realized his mistake. Despite the fact he was clearly injuring the wyvern with his teeth and talons, the wyvern was holding on to him just as tightly, spinning them in the air with every mighty beat of its wings.
Arching his neck and snapping his jaws, Garrett buried his teeth in the wyvern’s shoulder, doing anything he could to slow it down, but it was no good. He realized a moment before he felt the scrape of stone against his side what the wyvern was doing: it was trying to push him against the mountainside.
Boulders and razor-sharp bits of rock scraped over his body, catching at the delicate membrane of his wings. Garrett grunted in pain, struggling against the wyvern as it dragged him along the mountainside, their two enormous bodies carving a huge furrow through the snow and felling any trees that got in their way.
Garrett could feel his scales being scraped away. He was leaving a bloody trail over the pristine mountain snow, and he knew that unless he stopped this his wings would be irreparably damaged – or at least, damaged for long enough that he wouldn’t be able to fly to Georgia. The dragon’s body, graceful and streamlined in the air, was huge and lumbering on land. And it definitely wasn’t designed to maneuver through a thick forest.
Desperately, he used all four of his legs to push at the wyvern, forcing it back, before tearing at its shoulder again with his jaws.
The wyvern was anxious enough to avoid another bite to the same shoulder that it let up a moment, its grip weakening for nothing more than a second, but it was all the time Garrett needed.
Wriggling out of the wyvern’s grip, Garrett pushed himself away from the mountainside, his injured wings straining to lift him up. He had to struggle to get far enough away from the wyvern to send a jet of fire in its direction – though he was consoled by the fact the wyvern only just managed to dodge out of the way, its shoulder muscle clearly badly injured.
I have to finish this, Garrett thought desperately. I have to get to Georgia.
Turning in the air, feeling his body protesting at every movement, Garrett sped forward once more. The wyvern shot venom at him, and this time, Garrett didn’t manage to dodge it entirely. He felt it melting the scales of his left hindleg, searing it with pain before the entire limb went numb.
Shit. Not good.
This was quickly becoming not a fight, but a test to see whose strength would fail them first. The wyvern seemed determined to win – but in the end, Garrett knew that his willpower would win out. He was fighting for the most important thing in the world, the thing a shifter lived for: his mate.
And not even ten wyverns were going to keep him from failing Georgia and Logan.
And Freddy, he reminded himself, as he pushed himself to forget his damaged, aching wings, the bleeding gashes in his side, and his numb, useless back leg.
This time when they clashed, their movements were slow and sluggish. Garrett could feel the wyvern’s fatigue every time it struggled, in every slow and painful strike it made against him. His teeth and claws were stained red with blood, and the wyvern’s were the same – but it was clear now that he was winning. With the mated bond to sustain him, Garrett knew he could keep this up as long as he needed to.
As long as it takes me to get to Georgia, he thought.
Furious, Garrett roared, his teeth tearing at the wyvern’s wing. A massive rent opened up in the membrane and the creature fluttered, clearly having trouble staying airborne.
I don’t have to kill it, or even beat it into submission, Garrett thought. If I can just keep it from flying, then I can leave it where it falls and go to find Georgia.
He could return later with the other shifter agents once he’d gotten Georgia to safety. That was all he needed to do.
The wyvern, however, had other ideas.
With the same piercing shriek as before, it twisted its neck, burying its jaws in Garrett’s neck. The pain was terrible, but Garrett did his best to ignore it, focusing his attention on the wyvern’s wings.
At least, until he felt the venom beginning to flow from the creature’s mouth.
Shock coursed through him. As close as they were, locked together in the sky, the wyvern was risking contact with its own venom. That could be just as lethal to it as it was to Garrett!
But whatever the risks, the wyvern had apparently decided they were worth it. Garrett felt the same tearing, writhing pain as before shoot up his neck and down into his shoulder, before all his muscles went dead.
If I can’t move, I can’t fight.
Garrett twisted in the wyvern’s grip, but it was too late. He could already feel the venom coursing through his body, leaving nothing but numb, useless flesh in its wake. Soon, it would reach his wings, and then…
Garrett realized that if that happened, both of them would fall to earth. The wyvern’s wings were badly damaged, but even if they hadn’t been, Garrett doubted it could keep them both in the air.
It was a chance in a million, but he had to take it. If he didn’t, he didn’t know how much longer he could last against the deadly venom in his bloodstream.
Growling and grunting as his muscles refused to respond, Garrett forced the wyvern back toward the earth. Heaving in breath, he made his wings work through sheer force of will. Slowly and painfully, but to work nonetheless.
The wyvern struggled as they skimmed the treetops, finally releasing its teeth from his neck, but Garrett ignored it.
Just a little more… please…
With an almighty CRASH, the two of them burst through the canopy of the trees, ploughing into the rock and snow below. The area they had crashed into was a steep slope, and together they tumbled over and over, crashing into rocks, hurtling over the ground.
Garrett had a moment of disorientation as they flew over a ledge – and then, finally, it was over. Garrett felt himself slam into the thick, powdery wall of a massive snowdrift, rattling his teeth in his head and leaving him feeling dazed – but at least their fall had been halted.
For a moment, Garrett didn’t dare to believe it was real. He waited for the wyvern to hover over him, finish him off with a blast of venom.
But nothing happened.
Sitting up in the snow, every part of him in pain, Garrett twisted his long neck, looking around. The wyvern was nowhere in sight.
Garrett couldn’t believe it could have picked itself up and run away in the moment he’d taken to lie in the snow – not as injured as it was.
It took Garrett a moment of frantic searching before he saw it: a human body lying in the snow.
The wyvern had clearly fallen unconscious and reverted to its human form. Looking at it now, Garrett was not in the slightest bit surprised to see who it was.
Jared Crane.
He should have known that he and Barston were the ones behind this. Of course, he’d suspected it during the fight, but having it confirmed before his very eyes filled him with renewed rage nonetheless.
Barston will pay! We will see his blood before this day is out!
His dra
gon howled out its fury, but Garrett could feel how weak and injured its body was. Experimentally, he tried to lift a wing, and found his muscles simply wouldn’t respond to him. The wyvern’s venom had rendered them useless. He could feel that his dragon’s quick healing, aided by the urgency of the mated bond, had already started to repair some of the damage, but it just wasn’t fast enough.
He could still walk – he was sure of that. But his massive dragon’s body would be no good for moving quickly through such dense forest.
No choice, then.
He tried to ignore the searing pain that wracked through him as he shifted, but it was no good. Garrett heard his own cry of pain, moving from a dragon’s roar to a human’s comparatively weak shout.
Panting, Garrett waited on his hands and knees in the snow until the black spots in front of his eyes receded, and then he stumbled over to where Jared lay on his side in the snow.
Being a mythic shifter, Garrett kept his clothes and everything in his pockets with him when he shifted – and he pulled his handcuffs out of his back pocket and slapped them onto Jared’s wrists, yanking his arms behind his back. They wouldn’t do much if Jared woke up and found himself strong enough to shift, but if he was too weak, then they’d definitely restrain his human form.
Stumbling upright, Garrett tried to find that same signal he’d been following before Jared’s wyvern had shown up.
There. I feel it. This way.
His heart picked up the signal again instantly, and, gathering all his strength and ignoring the pain that dragged at every limb, Garrett started through the forest, following it.
I’m coming, Georgia. I swear it.
Chapter 11
Georgia sat, staring down at her hands.
She’d clamped them onto her knees in an effort to stop them from shaking, but she wasn’t certain it was doing any good. Every person in this room must have known how frightened she was. Vaguely, she wondered if shifters were like dogs, and they could smell fear.