“I’m not a concern right now;youare,” he told her.
Her slender nose wrinkled in annoyance. He had excellent vision, but from here, he couldn’t see the freckles dotting the bridge of her nose. Freckles he knew were all scrunched up in the adorable way they did when she was irritated with him.
In the torchlight, the deep red strands of her auburn hair were the color of blood. The ominous hue made his claws dig in deeper as he resisted the impulse to shift into a wolf.
He would remove her from this cave and that dragon if he did. He’d witnessed one of those fuckers eat his father; he wouldn’t lose her to this thing.
“Why is it being so defensive around her?” Orin pondered. “It should recognize her as an arach. It shouldn’t try tokillher.”
“We have no ideahowthe arach and dragons were connected,” Cole reminded him. “For all we know, it all came from Dragonia, or the throne, and there’s nothing she can do with them.”
“I refuse to believe that.”
“Just because you insist on something doesn’t make it true.”
Orin scowled at him before shifting his attention back to Lexi and the dragon. He’d never admit it to his brother, but Cole had expected something more between her and the dragon too. He didn’t know what he expected, but he hadn’t anticipated it having the same reaction to her as it would to all of them.
“I’m not going to hurt you,” Lexi whispered as she edged closer.
“Don’t,” Cole warned.
She froze, and her eyes darted toward the shadows as they surrounded the dragon. He didn’t like them touching her, but if they could save her life, so be it. If she kept getting closer, he’d have the shadows pull her away from the beast.
The dragon lifted its head so it was eye level with Lexi. Those eyes said it wanted her dead.
Cole was so focused on her that he didn’t hear the shouts from the cave entrance until they rebounded around him. Footsteps slapped against stone, harsh breaths ricocheted off the walls, and Lexi turned toward him as he moved around the corner to see the others running toward them.
“Incoming!” Del shouted.
Cole didn’t know what he meant until a small thud sounded outside the cave and wings settled into place with a loud rustle. Then, the light of the outside world vanished as another dragon stuck its head in the cave.
CHAPTERFOUR
Though it wasa couple of hundred feet away, they were too close to it. If the dragon released its fire, the cave’s rock walls would propel those flames straight into them. Lexi would survive; no one else would.
She couldn’t let that happen. Glancing back at the chained dragon, Lexi ran to Cole and grasped his arm to pull him away when the dragon at the front of the cave pulled its head back.
“Where does this cave go?” Cole demanded of Orin.
“Nowhere. It ends about twenty feet beyond the chained dragon,” Orin replied. “I wanted to limit its escape chances.”
That was a good idea, but now it limited their escape chances. Lexi glanced at the jagged rocks over her head. They were at least twenty feet above her, but would they stay that way if the dragon outside decided to take flight and land on top of the mountain they stood inside?
Of course, the dragon couldn’t squish the mountain, or she didn’t think it could. The dragon in the Gloaming hadn’t crushed the mountain it landed on, but maybe it hadn’t been trying. What if this one tried?
Or what if it landed on top, knocked a lot of the rocks above them free, and crushed them all?
Race cars went slower than her heart, but as she attempted to get some saliva back into her suddenly parched throat, she realized the dragon outside most likely wouldn’t want to kill the chained one. So squishing was probably out, but fire was still in.
As the others gathered around her and Cole, the dragon at the front of the cave stuck its head back in. It snorted once before retreating.
They could always open a portal out of here, but they would have to leave the chained dragon behind and forfeit their chance at answers. They could always try to take the dragon through a portal, but she imagined that would be about as easy as catching a cloud.
“Come out, child. I will not harm you.”
Lexi’s eyes widened as the sweet, feminine voice drifted through the cave. It sounded kind, but its commanding tone refused disobedience. That voice demanded respect and obedience, and there was nowayit came from adragon.
“Who else is out there?” Cole demanded of the others.
