But the dragon was losing.
That also might have to do with the fact that the dragon was emaciated to the point that she looked like skin and bones. As if she’d not eaten in a very, very long time.
Though that’s what all of them looked like in some way, shape, or form.
The silver dragon, the one struggling to get back across, was worse than the rest, though.
I’d just decided to step over to see what I could do when Mace shot out of the cover of the trees, all signs of cloaking gone, and missiled toward the dragon that was struggling.
And it was then that it occurred to me.
That dragon was the other half of his bonded pair, his mate.
Daya.
Mace was only inches away from her when a sudden push had Daya slipping even further over the line.
And that’s when I shouted.
“Help her!”
Dragons from all over dropped down from the sky, and I looked over in awe.
But they all weren’t moving just to save her.
Some were circling the man attempting to recapture her, preparing to move in for the kill.
The problem was that when they got too close to the line, they started getting sucked in, too.
Smart enough to know that I couldn’t go through the throng of dragons, I started running, being careful to hug the edges of the sanctuary boundaries as I went.
The moment I got close enough, Robert, the man from the park who’d tried to take me down, only days prior, was standing there with an intense look of concentration on his face.
And dead human bodies littered all around him.
I watched in horror as he plunged his dagger down into the heart of another human sacrifice, killing her instantly.
Her life blood began to ooze from her and pool around them just as he uttered another word.
A word of power.
“Come!” he bellowed.
I hit him like a ton of bricks, taking him out like a linebacker sacking a quarterback.
One second he was standing, and the next he was on the ground, my fist pounding into his face.
Robert tried to fight back, but the rage I was feeling through my bond with Mace, combined with my own, had me spiraling out of control.
What did snap me back to myself was the knife through my left thigh.
Pain burst through my body as the realization that I wasn’t paying enough attention poured through me.
But my reaction time, as well as recovery time, was a whole lot better than most.
That was a plus to being beaten a lot by various foster parents and street thugs when I was a kid into my teenage years.
Before he could think to remove the dagger from my leg, I yanked it out, and thrust it down into his heart like he’d done to the young woman just moments before.
His eyes widened, and his mouth started to part at the edges.
“I’m one of many,” Robert coughed. “You may have killed me, but you won’t be left alone. Not anymore.” Robert’s grin was filled with blood as his eyes started to go distant.
I looked at Keifer, who appeared at my side.
Keifer had heard Robert’s words.
“Don’t.” Keifer shook his head.
I froze with my hand on his chest.
“If I heal him, we could get more out of him,” I informed him.
Keifer cleared his throat.
“Jean Luc shared his fears with me. I think we know what’s going on.” Keifer’s eyes went to the bodies lying in the grass all around us. “What a fucking mess.”
“I think everyone needs to be enlightened to just what in the hell is going on,” Derek growled from beside us.
I concurred.
“I agree,” I stood up, my leg screaming.
I’m coming
No.
Yes.
I sighed as I saw her start our way, weaving in between dragons who’d collapsed onto the ground in exhaustion the moment they were free of whatever Robert had done to them.
“Let me see,” she ordered, snapping her fingers at me the moment she was within a couple of feet.
“What, do you want me to drop my pants in front of everyone?” I drawled.
She turned her glare at me.
“Yes,” she snapped. “I do.”
Rolling my eyes, I picked up the dagger from Robert’s chest, and used it to cut a hole into my pants, ripping the jean material apart until the wound was exposed.
My entire leg had blood dripping down it, and she gasped the moment she saw it.
“Does it hurt?” she cried, dropping down amongst the bodies and the blood.
Before I could protest her doing it, she placed her hand on my leg, and my own power started to stir to match hers.
This was the last place that I would ever wish to have these kind of reactions, amongst the dead and our friends, but my body reacted to hers. And I had no hope against it.
It just was.
My skin started to tingle as the cells started to repair themselves, and within two minutes, pink scar tissue formed over the wound.