Page 35 of Waking Her Dragon

Sydney didn't look back. He suddenly realized that she trusted him implicitly. Bracing her glorious but filthy light-blue Converse against the vibrating stone, she threw her palms outward toward the approaching darkness.

Instantly, Garrett channeled a torrent of pure white Dragonfire down the Mating Bond, pouring the raw, kinetic heat of a Dragon King straight into her core. Sydney caught the volatile energy, bending it seamlessly with her own brilliant golden Light, shaping the two elements into a singular, devastating beam of focused Dragon Power.

They struck Leviathan together.

It wasn't a hero saving a damsel or a savior rescuing a captive. It was the first coordinated strike of Fated Mates, a flawless synthesis of Dragon King and Dragon Queen.

The combined white-gold blast collided with Leviathan’s dark lance, vaporizing his Sorcery before slamming directly into his chest. The shockwave exploded through the chamber. Leviathan was violently blasted backward, his dark physical form crackling with destructive light as he skidded across the fracturing obsidian floor.

He wasn't dead. They couldn’t kill him. It would upset the balance of the universe in a way it might never recover. But the Demon Lord’s elegant composure was entirely shattered. Bleeding dark, viscous plasma, he retreated toward the edge of the collapsing mists. He leveled a venomous, hateful glare at them, his parting words seeding a terrifying future.

“You think closing one door changes what is coming?” Leviathan snarled, his voice echoing over the roaring water as he melted into the dark. “The seal is a temporary band-aid, Special One. The Void is already awake.”

The final resonance of their combined Magic settled into the stone. The rewritten seal took hold, locking the primeval threshold from the inside with a resounding and permanent thud. The white and gold veins vanished entirely, leaving only the steady, natural hum of the Dragon Realms behind.

Inside their minds, Han knew the exact millisecond the transition was safe.

“NOW!” the Dragon King roared.

Sydney didn't waste a heartbeat. She lunged across the boundary line, sprinting toward the central pedestal. Beside her, Carrick moved like a thunderbolt, his massive, glowing broadsword appearing in his grip. With a fierce, primal grunt, the Dragon Elder swung the blade, shearing through the thick iron links holding Garrett suspended.

The heavy chains shattered, clattering loudly against the obsidian floor. Without the iron to support him, Garrett’s broken body instantly dropped.

Sydney threw herself forward to catch him… or at least give it a good, old try. He was a massive, six-foot-four Dragon Guardsman, solid muscle even after weeks of starvation, and the sheer momentum almost took them both to the floor. Carrick stepped in instantly, his large hand gripping Garrett's uninjured shoulder to stabilize the weight.

For the first time in an eternity, Garrett’s feet touched the solid ground.

Everything stopped. The entire universe seemed to hold its breath in the quiet cavern. Garrett’s knees buckled immediately, his ruined joints unable to bear his own weight after so much time in the air. He began to slide downward, completely spent.

Sydney tightened her grip, wrapping her arms securely around his chest, anchoring him against her own body. She buried her face in his neck, holding onto him with every ounce of strength she possessed.

Garrett froze. Every muscle in his battered frame went rigid.

Slowly… tentatively… his right arm lifted. His calloused hand pressed into the small of her back, returning the embrace. It wasn't passionate, and it wasn't sexual. It was simply a human being experiencing physical contact that didn't involve a whip, a blade, or an agonizing spell. It was the simple, staggering weight of safety.

Slowly, Garrett let his forehead drop against hers, his lavender eyes closing as he breathed in her scent. “You’re real,” he whispered, his voice cracking with a raw, fragile wonder.

Sydney squeezed him tighter, a single tear slipping down her cheek. “Told you I was coming, Dragon Man.”

There was no time to linger.

While the new natural seal held strong and true, Leviathan's artificial prison was violently rejecting the rewrite. The surrounding cavern began to structurally destabilize; the obsidian walls cracking open and shedding massive shards of stone into the dark. Deep in the distance, Ginnie’s thin, shimmering ribbon of purple Magic began to violently flicker like a dying lightbulb.

“Move!” Carrick roared, sliding his massive shoulder under Garrett’s uninjured side to take the brunt of his weight.

Sydney locked her arm around Garrett’s waist from the other side, and together they dragged the broken Guardsman toward the exit. Whether Leviathan was truly gone or trapped deeper within the collapsing folds of The Abyss remained a terrifying mystery, one that she wasn’t looking back to confirm.

They raced down the glowing stone pathways as the cavern floor buckled beneath their feet. Garrett’s head lolled against Sydney’s shoulder, his breathing growing dangerously shallow as the adrenaline wore off.

“Stay with me, Garrett,” Sydney commanded, her voice fierce despite her shaking legs. “Don't you dare close your eyes.”

Garrett’s eyelids fluttered, a ghostly, raspy syllable escaping his lips. “Bossy.”

A wet sob escaped Sydney’s throat, turning into a startled laugh. “You don't even remember me, and you've already figured that out?”

Deep inside their shared bond, Aodhan let out a low, rumbling vibration of pure amusement. I like her.

Bursting through the final narrow passage, they reached the jagged tear of the threshold. Carrick didn't hesitate. He jumped through first, his crimson and gold Magic flaring on the other side as he anchored Ginnie’s flickering lifeline from the Earth end to widen the opening.