Charred Hope (#3, Heart of Fire) Page 14

  She glanced up at the dragon coasting overhead.

  Did he sense the Protector but not understand what was happening? She wasn’t certain why he wasn’t attacking.

  Dillon, however, was under bombardment. Squawking, roaring and fire all came from behind her as he fought the dragons to get to her. She skirted a hill and paused to look back.

  He was holding his own a little too well. The sight of a dragon going down beneath his claws terrified her. Her Protector radar told her that the dragon was dead, a moment before its body burst into fire.

  At his max with the meddling dragons, the griffin glared in her direction then turned and ran, leaping into the black hole back into the cavern.

  Skylar gave a full body shake and sat for a moment, her hind leg hurting badly. She was panting, her breathing labored from her achy, tight ribs and the effort of shifting. She needed a nap and some food, two things she suspected she wasn’t going to find this night.

  Wounded and beat, Skylar got to her three working feet and began at a limping trot towards Chace. The dragons above left her alone, circling lazily as they followed, and occasionally diving close enough for her to smack a wing.

  Her pace slowed after a mile, the strain of her evening wearing on her. The sand was soft beneath her paws, the desert breeze filled with too many wonderful scents for her to identify. She caught a whiff of Chace’s honey-bonfire smell and shivered, loving its richness even more in animal form.

  Lost in exhausted thought, she didn’t register the clicking of her nails on metal until she’d walked a few feet onto the hidden metal sheets.

  Skylar froze, ears flickering back and forth, and stared at her feet, struggling to register what she was stepping on. With her nocturnal senses, she was able to see how far it extended and also that there was a gap between two sheets that extended for about a meter.

  She sniffed the wind, and the faint scent that returned made her take a few steps back.

  Griffin.

  Skylar hurried off the metal plates, refocusing on her Protector radar. She almost gave a cry of frustration and scolded herself for losing track of such dangerous enemies.

  It wasn’t just Dillon below her, but Freyja, too.

  This isn’t good. If she shifted into a dragon again, would she be healed or would the wounds Dillon caused reappear?

  The dragons were circling above, and she was still a kilometer out from Chace. Did she make a run for it or tiptoe by and hope the two below weren’t lying in wait for her? After a split hesitation, she skirted the metal covering entrances to the caverns below and broke into a trot.

  If she was able to sense them, they were more than capable of identifying her as well. At the sudden thought, she began loping.

  No sooner had she cleared the caverns than the sound of metal grating against stone reached her. Skylar looked over her shoulder. Starlight glimmered off the translucent wings of the silver-white dragon emerging from the depths of the underground cave. For a moment, the ethereal beauty of the large dragon left her mesmerized.

  Until the familiar gaze settled on her.

  Skylar turned and ran, not about to become dinner for the dragon that allegedly killed her mother.

  The dragons far above didn’t seem interested in Freyja, as if they either didn’t know what she’d done, or like she claimed, they didn’t care enough to mess with a stronger dragon.

  Skylar ran, too aware of the danger lurking overhead.

  Freyja took flight and soared above her before diving, tucking her wings to compel her as fast as possible.

  Skylar assessed the shifters she had access to for something a bit bigger, able to withstand the attack of a furious dragon. After a moment, she hunched down on the ground and transformed from the tiny bobcat into something much more likely to cause damage.

  Mason’s lion. The size of a small car, Skylar’s talons were longer than her fingers and her teeth sharp enough to cut through a dragon wing. She waited until Freyja was close enough then launched upwards, clearing the ground by three meters, even with the wounded leg. Skylar slashed at the shimmering wing nearest her and felt it slide through her paws, until she engaged her talons.

  Freyja roared.

  Skylar used her body weight and yanked backwards, dragging the dragon to the ground, the way she’d seen Mason do. Freyja crashed down, bellowing angrily.

  Skylar released her and stood back, snarling and growling at the white dragon. She had no idea whether she could believe Dillon’s words about Freyja killing her mother, but she didn’t doubt Freyja had committed enough evil any way she looked at it, no matter whose lives were involved.

  Freyja shook out her wings. The one Skylar grabbed wouldn’t fold, a sign the thin bones were broken.

  Satisfied, Skylar crouched down and waited for the dragon to make the next move.

  Freyja eyed her, smoke curling out of her nostrils.

  Skylar sensed Dillon before the griffin emerged from the cavern. He alighted behind her, and she shifted to see both of them.

  Come on, dragons! She glanced upwards. They’d started to grow near as soon as Dillon appeared, though more cautious this time.

  Freyja inched closer.

  Skylar snapped at her. She had a better chance of defending herself as a shifter, but the odds were looking bleaker by the moment.

  Dillon’s tail rose up as he prepared to use it to grab her. It snaked towards her. She batted down the first strike then snapped its tip off with the second.

  Griffins taste worse than they smell. Spitting out the bit of tail, she waited for him to attack once more.

  The whip-like appendage snapped towards her, this time headed for one of her feet rather than her neck. Skylar danced away, twisting to avoid the too-smart tail. Smacking it down, she trapped it beneath her large paws. Just as she was about to snap it up in her mouth, the familiar sensation of claws wrapping around her midsection distracted her.

  She was yanked off the ground and hauled into the air at breakneck speed, fast enough that she almost lost consciousness. To make it worse, Freyja was squeezing her hard enough that she wasn’t able to breathe.

  I can’t shift! Skylar watched the ground grow farther away quickly. Unable to catch her breath or maneuver in the dragon’s clutches, she was helpless, unless Freyja dropped her, giving her time to shift.

  The higher they went, the harder it was for her to breathe. The atmosphere was thinning too much. Blackness edged her vision, and she roared in frustration, the bellow ringing off the canyon below. Her body sagged, and tunnel vision formed.

  Skylar fell unconscious.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “You said she’s here?” Chace paced, sensing Skylar nearby without seeing her. He peered into the night sky at the dragons circling the area.

  “Yeah.” Mason’s chest was heaving. “Underground. There are huge … caverns.”

  Chace looked down at his feet with new concern. They’d been scouring the skies and ground for her. Every shifter was able to track her, yet when they went to her location, no one was there. He’d never thought to look for a griffin and dragon underground.

  “Why the fuck did you leave her?” He turned on the half-dressed lion shifter.

  Mason straightened. “She told me to find you. I think she was stalling them.”

  She knows I’m here. Chace yanked off his shirt to shift.

  Skylar was in trouble, if she was with Dillon and Freyja. Too clumsy as a shifter to fight a veteran like Dillon, she was also the most capable of escaping that he knew. She’d find a way, if there were one.

  If not, I’ll fuck that place up to get to you.

  The roar of an angry creature split the quiet, and he froze, eyes on the sky once more.

  “That sounds like a lion,” Gunner said from beside them.

  “Lions don’t fly,” Mason said, following his gaze.

  I’m coming for you, Sky. Chance ripped off his clothes, taking off at a run in the direction of the sound. Shifting forced him onto
all fours, and he scampered forward as his body changed. Within seconds, the pain and reorganization of his insides ceased, and he leapt into the sky.

  His sense of smell found her before his eyes did. She was the only lion in the world that would smell like a combination of peach shampoo and fur.

  Freyja was easy to spot, her white body and wings standing out like the moon far above. Clutched in her talons was a great cat Chace knew to be Skylar. He soared upward, his powerful wings beating hard, his weakness forgotten at the idea of Freyja hurting Skylar. He closed the distance between them quickly. Any question he had about why Skylar hadn’t turned into a dragon and flown away stopped when he saw the limp form of the lioness.

  Rage filled him with dragon fire hotter than any he’d ever experienced. Not only had Freyja manipulated everyone for the past two decades to get to Skylar and her mother, but she was also about to kill Skylar, if she went much higher.

  Chace bellowed a warning to the mastermind behind the slayers and The Field.

  Freyja glanced down then renewed her effort to climb into the heavens. Dragons had no problem handling the thinned atmosphere at higher altitudes, but Skylar would be lucky if all that happened to her was a coma.

  He didn’t know what the dragon was doing. If Skylar’s blood was the key to Freyja ruling the shifters, she was risking a lot by pulling a non-dragon this far into the atmosphere. He guessed she initially meant to knock out Skylar, so the shifter queen couldn’t transform and flee, and then freaked out when she saw Chace pursuing her.

  Chace bellowed once more.

  Freyja ignored him.

  Grimly, he realized that there would be no peaceful way to end this. Carefully planning how to disable Freyja without hurting Skylar, he drew abreast of the white dragon and slowed his speed to match hers.

  She spewed fire at him to try to distract him then darted away, tucking her wings to start a rapid free fall.

  Chace wasn’t about to flinch now, not when Skylar’s life depended on him. He effortlessly adjusted to Freyja’s new course, taking in the grip she had around Skylar. She’d drop Skylar if she were unconscious or dead. He didn’t see her letting go voluntarily.

  Cold wind raced by his ears, chilling his muzzle. He maneuvered closer to Freyja carefully, unwilling to look down at how far he had until he had to unleash his wings. He’d seen Gavin fall like this with Skylar in his arms and not get up; he’d do the same, if it came to it. He was going to end whatever dangerous game Freyja was playing for good.

  When he was close enough to the white dragon, Chace pulled back his lips and bared his long fangs. He gripped Freyja’s body with his claws to keep her steady then sank his teeth deep into her neck.

  Blood sprayed into his mouth at the lethal bite. The human side of him was disgusted, the animal side clamoring for more.

  Freyja screeched and tried to fling him off, tossing her body left and right to destabilize him.

  Chace released her with his mouth, still holding her in place with his talons. Blood splattered him as she began to bleed out. Freyja hemorrhaged blood. It coated his face and neck, the warmth traveling down his chest and forelegs as well.

  Waiting until her struggling grew weaker, he bit her again then unfurled his wings to catch them. The weight of two dragons and a lioness was enough to cause his weakened body strain, and he quickly realized that – while he could slow their fall – he wasn’t going to be able to keep them from hitting the ground.

  Freyja was getting weaker fast. One of her wings drifted away from her body as she began to lose control, sending them somersaulting towards the earth.

  Chace released her neck and clawed at her body, not about to risk losing his grip on the out of control dragon. He maneuvered her around until he was able to reach her leg with his mouth. Without a second thought, he snapped one of the legs holding Skylar in two.

  Freyja’s bellow was softer, fading with her life. She reflexively let go of Skylar.

  Chace shoved away from the dragon and righted himself midair. No longer concerned with Freyja, his sole focus became catching Skylar and preventing them both from hitting the ground. He dived after the falling lioness and swept her heavy frame up with all four legs. Skimming a plateau, he closed his eyes and beat his wings as hard as he could to stop their fall. His muscles burned with effort while he suppressed the urge to roar furiously at being all but thrown out of the sky.

  Their descent slowed then stopped. For a moment, he hung suspended in the air before his wings pushed them upwards.

  Panting, Chace slowed his movement. He had Skylar, but she wasn’t moving. With effort, he circled the spot where Gunner and Mason were waiting. Reaching the ground, he gently released Skylar and landed beside her.

  Mason and Gunner raced to them. The black cat was still, and Chace nudged her, worried.

  “Stop.” Gunner pushed his large muzzle away and bent over to place his ear to Skylar’s nose. “She’s not breathing.”

  Chace paced. His head shot up when the scent of griffin reached him. Alert for any sign of Dillon, he was half-aware of Gunner and Mason discussing what to do with the unconscious lion.

  One of the dragons landed a short distance away, followed by a few more.

  Chace glanced at them, not at all convinced he had any standing among the creatures. The purple one he knew as Hala approached. She gave a small, formal bow, folding one leg beneath her.

  Leery of the dragons that had no qualms about letting Freyja take Skylar, Chace hesitated, and then growled.

  Griffins. He didn’t know if the dragons were able to hear him. He’d never known them to exist, before meeting Skylar’s father, Gavin.

  Hala bowed once more. Seconds later, all of them took flight, moving like a flock towards the direction from which he smelled the griffins.

  A cough came from behind him, followed by a mewling cry.

  He whirled to see the lioness batting at Gunner, who was straightening a leg that was clearly broken.

  “You want it fixed, keep still!” Gunner snapped in return.

  Skylar responded by trying to get to her feet.

  “She’s a bit fucked up,” Mason said, frowning. “You both are.”

  Chace shook his head and moved closer, nudging Skylar back to a sitting position. She growled and batted at him, too, but he pushed her onto her back with his muzzle, enjoying the tickle of her fur against his sensitive nose.

  She grumbled but was still, understanding his message. She gripped his muzzle clumsily with massive paws and licked him.

  He sneezed.

  “That’s just weird,” Gunner said, watching.

  Mason chuckled.

  “I gotta fix that leg, Skylar.”

  Chace shook the paws free of his face and straightened, attention shifting to the direction where he sensed Dillon was. He moved away, determined to end this night with both their enemies neutralized.

  He walked to the top of the small hill they’d taken cover behind earlier when searching for Skylar and paused, attention on the fire just beyond the caverns.

  Farewell, Freyja, he said silently to the dead dragon whose body was lighting up the night.

  Mason – now in his great cat form – sat on his haunches beside him. Chace glanced at him, not trusting anyone associated with Dillon and Freyja but forced to admit that the lion had thus far come in pretty handy.

  Dillon was out there somewhere. Chace doubted the griffin was going to face a team of nocturnal dragons at night, if Chace didn’t bring the fight to him.

  Not going through another mess like The Field, he thought to himself, recalling how badly their first attempt at confronting the griffin leader had ended up. No, tonight, Dillon was going down.

  Chace lifted himself into the air, following the scent of griffins. The dragons ahead of him were doing the same, and dread sank into his stomach.

  The griffins emerging from the cavern outnumbered the dragons by two to one. Pausing to think, Chace altered his direction, heading towards the c
avern where he sensed Dillon, instead of pursuing the other griffins. The dragons could distract the others. Once he took care of their leader, the griffins would fall in line or be slaughtered in place.

  No more lassos. Now that he knew what the hibernation tools were made out of – the blood and hair of Protectors like Skylar - he made a mental note to tell Skylar they were going to use a different means of controlling those members of the shifter society that tried to rebel.

  Fire exploded in the sky as the line of dragons met the griffins.

  With some reluctance, Chace landed beside the hole leading into the cavern. Mason raced to meet him, and Chace tossed his head towards the dragons battling griffins. They’d need all the help they could get, and Mason was more than capable of taking out any winged creature that got too close to the ground.

  The lion sprinted towards the battle while Chace dropped into the dark hole of the cavern, intent on pursuing Dillon. His wings caught him, and he lowered himself to the ground. The cavern was like an echo chamber; it was hard for him to determine the direction of the sounds he heard, but he was able to see Dillon.

  The shifter was in human form, standing with a flashlight at one end of the cavern.

  “Shift, dragon,” Dillon ordered. “Unless you’re going to snap me up right here?”

  Chace growled, tempted to turn the man before him into fried chicken, the way Skylar used to accuse him of doing. If nothing else, he knew he’d win hands down no matter whether the fight was fair or not. If Dillon wanted to give his last words, Chace would humor him.

  Then snap him in two.

  He transformed out of his dragon form. Dillon stayed in place.

  In human form, he lost the sense of how large the caverns were. Fire blazed overhead through the opening as dragons and griffins fought.

  “I thought I’d offer you a deal,” Dillon started.

  Chace raised an eyebrow but managed to keep quiet.

  “You took care of Freyja. I think that leaves room for us to negotiate.”