She didn’t know which would be worse, being burned or eaten alive, and she wasn’t eager to find out. They stared at each other before it bared razor-sharp teeth half the size of her.
Shit. Shit. Shit. SHIT!
It took everything she had not to bolt out of the room, but these creatures, and the Lord, would never let her escape. And she couldn’t let the Lord or Malakai see her fleeing like a coward. Still, her knees knocked together, and her heart bruised her ribs with its incessant pounding.
“Easy,” the Lord soothed.
Lexi’s gaze lifted to him. She couldn’t see Malakai or Cole, but from his position on the dais, she could see the Lord smiling down at her.
She hated him.
“Come, dear,” the Lord continued and beckoned her forward. “They won’t harm you.”
She didn’t find his words reassuring. She knew what the Lord and his dragons had done to Tove and countless other victims. The human realm would never be the same after the destruction they unleashed on it.
However, she couldn’t continue to stand here, staring into the eyes of a displeased dragon. Lexi started forward but stopped when the dragon’s head inched closer.
She braced herself for those monstrous teeth to chomp her. It was all she could do as she certainly couldn’t stop it from happening.
She wasn't ready to die, and she couldn’t stand the idea of Cole watching it happen, but she didn’t have a choice.
“Stand down,” the Lord commanded.
The dragon’s head swung toward him before coming back to her. Its sigh caused its hot breath to wash over her again; it settled its head on the ground.
She’d expected its breath to smell like rotten meat; instead, it smelled like the fires her dad would have when she was a kid. She used to sit around those fires with her dad and Sahira. They would tell ghost stories and make smores.
That seemed like a lifetime ago, but it was only three short years. And now, she was standing in a field of dragons who smelled of those fires, and theywerethe stories they told to scare each other.
“Stay where you are,” the Lord said.
Lexi didn’t move.
“I told you to stay where you were!” the Lord shouted.
For a few seconds, Lexi was confused as she hadn’t moved a muscle. Then Cole emerged around the back of the dragon. Nearly as monstrous as the creatures surrounding her, she almost didn’t recognize him.
Caught somewhere between lycan and man, he half transformed as he walked. The bright silver of his eyes glowed. His face extended into a muzzle before retracting again. Hair spread across the backs of his hands and retreated.
The changes happened so fast she could barely register them before they faded again. Despite the wrath emanating from him and his obvious lack of control, Lexi didn’t have any fear of him.
She only fearedforhim.
A few of the dragons turned toward him, and smoke spiraled from their nostrils. By disobeying a direct order from the Lord, he put himself in the middle of these monsters.
He was in a pit of snakes, and those snakesdespisedhim. Not only had one of them killed his father, but he’d killed one of them in return. The dragons edged closer as they prepared to devour him.
“No,” Lexi whispered.
Her paralysis broke, and she staggered toward him as one of the dragons lowered its head until it nearly touched Cole’s back. He didn’t acknowledge its presence as his focus remained on her.
When Cole’s hand clasped her elbow, a strangled sound passed her lips before she compressed them. No matter what happened, she wouldnotcry in this place.
“The lycans came back for me,” she whispered. “You were barely gone before they returned. I wasn’t expecting it.”
“It’s okay,” he said in a guttural voice she barely recognized as it was more animal than man.
Despite the horribleness of this situation, a sense of calm descended as she grasped his hand on her arm. At least if they were going to die, it would be together.
