In a sickening flash, the blade slashed through flesh, bone, and sinew, separating the first wing from Drayce’s body. The dragon roared in pain, and Caelan’s scream echoed him. Agony seared through Caelan as if he’d lost one of his own limbs. Bile rose in his throat and he wanted to close his eyes, to look away, but he owed it to Drayce to watch.
Lightning slammed into the ground and a tree burst into flaming splinters. People screamed and scattered away from the fire. The blade-wielding bastard hesitated, his wide eyes shooting over to Masaru, who was bellowing for him to finish it.
“Cael! Cael! You’ve got to hold it together!” Rayne was shouting in his ear. It was only then that he realized Kaes and Tula were sneaking from his grasp. The God of Storms was fueling the fury in the heavens above, while the Goddess of Life had set her sights on the gathering of Takahashi dragons in black. She didn’t really care about Drayce or the dragons, but they had angered Caelan, and that made them an easy target. An acceptable target.
Caelan screamed again as fresh pain lanced through his brain at his attempts to rein in the gods. He swayed. The world was getting blacker and fuzzy. He pushed through, blinking. His vision cleared just as the scythe slashed through Drayce a second time, removing the second wing.
Drayce howled in pain and Caelan tried to join him. He choked suddenly and coughed, sending a mouthful of blood spewing from him to splatter on the stones. He swayed and so many hands clamped on him. There was the sound of panicked voices and his grandfather ordering that he be taken to the car.
No, he needed Drayce. He needed to get to Drayce first.
Caelan shoved off the hands holding him up and stumbled forward a few steps before falling to his knees. The gods were raging, blurring his vision, making the entire world shift around him. Lightning hammered the compound and people were screaming. Good. Let them scream.
A new hand grabbed him and Caelan blinked, surprised to find Haru helping him to his feet. “Come on, Cousin. Let’s get your dragon and bring him home.”
With Haru’s help, they wove as one through the panicked crowd to where Drayce lay naked in his human form on the blood-soaked gravel. Two gaping wounds stretched down his back on either side of his spine, and he looked frighteningly pale.
Haru took off his own white robe and carefully draped it over Drayce. Dark-red blood instantly soaked it. Caelan kneeled on the ground and touched Drayce’s cheek with a shaking hand.
“Drayce,” he sobbed, terrified the trauma had also taken his life.
Slowly, Drayce’s eyelids fluttered and green eyes focused on him. “Cael?”
“I’m here. We’re going to take you somewhere safe,” he promised. Some part of him wondered if he could even take Drayce to his grandfather’s clan since he was now a Phantom. Would this act start a war between the two clans? But Caelan couldn’t bring himself to care too much. His only worry was healing Drayce.
His best friend lifted a hand and touched Caelan’s bottom lip, coming away with a smear of blood. “You’re hurt.”
“No, I’m okay. I promise.”
Drayce dropped his hand heavily. One corner of his mouth twitched as if lifting into a smile. “I’m free now.”
“No, you’re not. You belong to me. You’ll always belong to me…if you still want me.”
“All I ever wanted,” Drayce whispered before losing his hold on consciousness.
Nori grabbed him, pulling him to his feet. For a moment, Caelan tried to fight his grandfather off until he saw that Eno and Adrian were carefully lifting Drayce. Yes, they needed to get out of here. He swayed on his feet, and he was suddenly sandwiched between Haru and Nori.
“Drayce is going to be okay,” Nori murmured gently in his ear. “We’ll take him to our home, get him healed. He’s safe now. We’ll protect you all. You can stop fighting the gods.”
Caelan hadn’t even realized he was still trying to hold them back. He coughed and more blood came up. The world was floating. He just needed to close his eyes for a second.
The blackness took him.
Caelan woke to a dimly lit room, his head pounding and his mouth tasting of cotton and old blood. A groan escaped him as he rolled over and attempted to order his thoughts. But it all returned when he spotted Rayne sitting on the floor, half draped over a bed that held an unconscious Drayce.
“Rayne,” he gasped, half falling out of the twin-sized bed to kneel next to his advisor. His glasses were missing and his hair was a mess, but he clung to Drayce’s hand as though their lives depended on it. How long had he been healing the dragon? How long had Caelan been out?