Page 104

Chapter 37

Aldrin takes a stance in front of me, his whip in hand. I feel my magic flow as the beast charges at us. I am not even sure what I am doing, relying heavily on instinct.

Abigail blasts the creature with her magic, making it hit the ground. The half-Dragon shifter gets to his feet, whipping his tail at us, knocking me off my feet. Beside the scales and tail, he looks like a man.

He roars loudly, lunging as I lift my sword. The creature lands on me as my blade slices up through his torso. His mangled face twists in pain. Aldrin kicks him off, my sword ripping from his chest, spraying the snow with blood.

Suddenly, roars echo all around us. They grow louder.

We are surrounded, and the worst part is, we can’t see them.

Looking down at the Dragon slumped on his side, I notice something strange. My sword isn’t enough to kill him. He starts changing, shifting back to a man before my eyes.

I don’t get a chance to figure out what is happening with him—another attacks.

Taking out Aldrin and biting into his arm. Aldrin is quick on his feet and I can tell he is trained by the way he moves his body, making me wonder what it was he did all these years in hiding. We fight them off, holding them back, but despite our numbers, we aren’t a match for Dragons or even half Dragons. I see a big ball of red and orange heading my way, and I instinctively raise my sword. My blade cuts through the flames, and purple light engulfs us. Looking up, I see that the sword is acting as a shield, blocking the fireball aimed at us.

Aldrin then uses his whip with expert dexterity. The whip wraps around another beast’s neck and I don’t hesitate to plunge the sword into its chest. The beast shrieks, falling to the ground as its teeth sink into my leg. I scream out in pain when suddenly they stop advancing, and I figure this one we took down must be the leader. The other three stop their advance staring at the Dragon fallen. The beast screams on the ground as my leg bleeds profusely into the snow, staining it red.

Then, something remarkable happens. The creature shifts back into human form to reveal a man—a man with mocha-colored skin, pitchy black curly hair, and dark reptilian eyes. His scales disappear, and he looks… normal, like any normal shifter man.

The other beasts start attacking again, and we use everything to keep them back. But nothing we do kills them. I notice the other man I stabbed in the chest is now back in human form. He looks familiar, though I can’t understand why. The curly haired dark man that bit me screams loudly above the wind.

“Grab the Fae woman!”

Wait, what? What the hell was going on? I see a few of the humans drop when they try to stop them turning for me. My heart clenches at the sight of my fallen people. I swing my sword at the man who gave the order, slicing him down the chest. He shrieks when the other man tackles Aldrin, punching him in the face. I go to help him when I feel myself get yanked back by my hair.

“You’re coming with me pretty,” he growls, and I throw my head back, connecting with his face, just when we hear the mightiest of roars. I see fire rain down from the sky, to see Silas and Matitus as Dragons above us. Relief floods me although I know I am in some deep shit when I get home. Matitus, the black Dragon, dives down grabbing one of the mutated Dragons and picks him up with his talons, flying high and dropping him.

The ground shakes as the Dragon hits the ground. Shrieks ring out from the other two as Silas drops in front of us blocking them from attacking.

For the first time ever, I see humans run behind him, shielding themselves from the mutated Dragons. They feel safer with Silas and the Dragons they knew than the ones trying to kill us.

A scream leaves my lips when I feel claws bite into my arm, pivoting as I swing my sword. The man’s arm slices off at the wrist, my sword cutting through it, like a hot knife through butter. He screams loudly and I duck just in time as Silas’s tail whips through the air hitting him in the chest and sending him flying.

Silas growls menacingly at me and I can tell just how pissed off he is. Matitus lands on the other side of me on the snow. Everyone is trapped between the two Dragons and their wall of scales.

Aldrin shrieks, and I jump over Matitus’s tail, ripping the man off him who is raining blow after blow down on him. He almost looks frenzied with the way he is punching Aldrin. We hit the snow, and I get to my feet and raise my sword about to use it when Matitus’s voice cuts through the air.

“Dakari?” Matitus says, making me look over my shoulder and I see he has shifted back. The man I am straddling with my sword above his head sits up, looking around my side at the name.

“Matitus is that you?” he asks in a deep hoarse voice, like he hasn’t used it in years. I stand up and the man sits up. It is clear that they know each other. Matitus steps forward and I feel Silas move closer, wrapping his tail around my body like a snake and moving me underneath him between his front legs. He looks down at me, the hot air of his breath warming me slightly under his huge, scaled head.

“Aldrin,” I call to him when Silas grabs his clothes with his sharp teeth lifting him off the ground.

Aldrin’s wife screams, thinking Silas is about to eat him. Instead, he places Aldrin on the ground next to her and she clutches his clothes, shaking him. When his eyes flutter open, I let out the breath I have been holding. His face is swollen from the relentless blows this Dakari inflicted, but otherwise he seems okay.

My eyes snap to Matitus and the man who are each staring at each other like they can’t believe their eyes. Matitus grabs the man crushing him in a hug. The other man pats his back and I see a tear slip down his face.

“Brother!” he says, and I look up at Silas’s golden form, confused. I didn’t know they had siblings.

Abigail climbs over Silas’s big tail that is still trapping me. He growls at her but doesn’t do anything else. I assume she too is also in trouble when he forces us home. I have no doubt he will make everyone turn around. But after what happened, it wouldn’t be smart to continue.

Matitus turns around, his arm wrapped around the man’s shoulder as he squeezes it. Matitus is now completely naked, standing in the snow. Abigail averts her eyes from Matitus, but I notice she openly stares at the other man who is also regarding her with an interested look in his eye.

“Elora, this is my brother Dakari, Dakari this is my mate Elora,” he introduces us.

Silas growls and Dakari looks up at him, clearing his throat and I can see the fear in his eyes as Silas’s reptilian eyes watch him.