Smoke rose from Braeden's nostrils. When he exhaled, his fire seared along Steele's entire underside. With a shriek of pain, Steele convulsed in the air—and then he began to drop.
Braeden couldn't think of anything but Alyx now. She'd unleashed the fire in his soul, the eternal flame that was life itself.
And now it burned brightly, hotter than ever before. Hot enough to melt metal. Hot enough to consume the planet, if he’d let it.
But there was only one thing such terrible power was meant for. It wasn’t to conquer the planet. It was to protect everything he loved.
Braeden opened his jaw, releasing the fire that had been burning inside him.
Steele's eyes widened as he realized what was happening. He roared in fury, even as he plummeted to the ground, unable to defend himself.
A heartbeat later, a ball of fire burning as hot as the sun enveloped Steele. For a moment, all Braeden could see was the bright orange-red of the inferno that devoured Steele.
And when the flames at last burned down, Steele was resting on the ground, unmoving.
The shadows that had covered Steele’s body were gone. There were no tendrils of darkness moving over his scales.
Instead, the formerly red scales had turned to the dull gray of ash.
Braeden took a careful step towards him, reaching out with his powers. Steele was still alive. Braeden could feel a small, weak pulse—but there was no answering fire within him. And no shadows.
Steele was unconscious, utterly powerless.
Braeden had won. His mind was finally free again—and Alyx was safe.
Now all he had to do was to drag the unconscious Steele back to Sky Home, so the chimera could figure out what the hell was going on—and then he and Alyx were going to take a vacation.
She deserved to meet her friend again, to apologize for scaring her. She deserved long shopping trips, days on the beach, and as much ice cream as two grown adults could eat in a week.
And as much as he'd dreamed about showering her with riches and building a home for her, right now all he wanted was to hold her in his arms again.
At long last, she was safe. Steele would never, ever be able to harm her again.
At the thought of her long captivity, Braeden's lips pulled back, and his dragon growled. He lowered his head to take a good look at Steele, who still hadn't so much as twitched.
And then, out of nowhere, wisps of shadow appeared.
Surprised, Braeden took a hasty step back. But the darkness didn't even seem to notice him. It swirled around Steele's unconscious body like mist, growing and growing until a huge cloud of shadow surrounded Steele so completely that Braeden could no longer see him.
A second later, the darkness was gone as if it had never been there.
And the body of Steele was gone with it.
All that remained was a handful of blood-red gemstones scattered across the ground, bright as flame.
***
Braeden flew as quickly as he could, ignoring the soreness of his wings.
There was only one thing on his mind now—and that was the need to wrap his arms tightly around Alyx and make sure that she hadn't been harmed.
Even now, he could feel a warm amusement trickling in through the mate bond that told him that she was perfectly fine. Still. Right now he needed to feel her in his arms, skin to skin. It was the only thing that mattered.
By the time he made it to Sky Home, he was utterly out of breath. Still, he didn't waste a single second.
Shifting before his claws had even touched the rock, he raced into the giant council chamber—and there she was, Alyx, gorgeous and unharmed. Her silky black hair fluttered in the wind like a flag as she came running towards him, laughing.
And then, finally, she was in his arms.