Page 16 of Dragon’s Rebel

She’d slowed it down, though—one leg was dragging, and dark blood dripped onto the roof.

But there were more.

Thorne!she called out silently, praying he could hear her even though she hadn’t felt herself exit the dampening field. Get your scaly ass down here! I’m coming out hot!

Guards and hellhounds were spreading across the roof, surrounding her. The only thing keeping them from rushing her was the Colt, and she had a limited amount of ammo for that. She pulled an ordinary gun from her ankle holster. She couldn’t waste the magical ammo on the security guards.

But even so, she couldn’t hold them off for more than a few minutes. They were closing in, and she couldn’t shoot in enough directions to keep them contained.

And then suddenly there was a rush of wind, and a shadow as if a storm cloud was bearing down on them. A gout of fire raked the rooftop from an invisible source, sending the men and hellhounds scattering before it.

“Thorne!” Rebel screamed.

She had to get out in the open, out to the helipad where he could get to her. But there were too many hellhounds.

The hellhounds knew that too. They spread out between her and the helipad, keeping under cover. Every time she tried to move out, someone shot at her. They were keeping her pinned between the HVAC units, where Thorne couldn’t reach her.

Rebel yelled again for Thorne, but there was no reply in her mind. Was he coming around for another pass? Was he hovering, ready to swoop down and grab her?

If she ran out into the middle of the helipad, would he be there for her?

She couldn’t risk it. If he wasn’t there, they’d shoot her down where she stood.

Rebel shot at a hellhound and ducked behind a large vent opening. Her winch and cable were only twenty feet away now. She peered out from behind her cover, and then ducked back. Another hellhound on her left. She shot, grazing its shoulder. The magic bullet singed its hide—she could smell the burning flesh. It howled.

She took two steps and dove for her winch, hitting the rewind button so the hook came flying up from the office below. She took a couple more quick shots to buy herself a few seconds, and then hooked the cable into her harness.

Two more shots, and she scrambled over the edge.

Just as she was pushing away from the building, there was an enormous ‘thud’ that shook the entire roof. Thorne landed in the middle of the helipad and roared.

Rebel saw muzzle flashes and blue light erupt all over the roof as the guards shot at Thorne, bullets and magical missiles pinging off his dragon hide. He roared again, this time with pain and fury.

They were hurting him. Rebel had the irrational urge to run to him, to try to help somehow. Luckily, it was too late for her to stop her fall and do something that stupid and suicidal.

She dropped into the darkness, the cable unspooling as it slid through her gloved hands. The wall of the building flashed past and she arced back towards it, ready to catch herself on bent legs and push off again.

There was a flash of movement above her, and a hellhound leaped off the roof edge, lunging through the air at her.

Oh, hell. Rebel hit the switch on the cable and stopped her descent with a teeth-rattling jolt. The wall rushed toward her, and she kicked off at an angle to get out of the hellhound’s path.

He missed her, but he caught her wire, his magically sharp claws severing right through it. Rebel plunged toward the ground, closing her eyes.

She’d always known her luck would run out one day.

The fall seemed to take forever.

Suddenly she was jerked to a spine-cracking stop in mid-air, as a thick rope the width of a tree trunk snaked around her torso, knocking the breath out of her lungs. There was another jerk, and she was moving again—but in the other direction. Up.

She looked again, and realized the “rope” was covered in tiny scales and punctuated with wicked barbs, one of which was inches from her face. She was flying through the night, wrapped in the dragon’s tail.