AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“He’s not going to hurt me, Chief, but you have to leave. He does not want you here.” My gaze returned to the creature, seeing his chest ignite. The firelava rushed towards his throat. He was preparing to fire. “Stand down, Tharion. He is not going to fight you.”
“Braxton, stop this at once. He has killed men before. Come with me!”
“No,” I challenged, getting a horrified look from the giant. “I know you are trying to protect me, but I am telling you,hewon’t hurt me. You don’t know me yet, and I guess something happened between you and my father, but I need you to trust me, Chief. I am safe.”
Embers sparkled urgently between us and I knew there was no time left.
“Go!”
Cursing under his breath, Kingston spun on his heel and rushed out of the lair, trusting me. When my gaze returned to the Demon Dragon, I lifted my hands in a sign of peace.
“He’s gone. It’s just you and me now. He’s gone,” I assured, breathing in relief when the firelava subsided and his gaze turned to me.
Tharion’s form suddenly collapsed onto his side, unable to hold himself up—his arm curling into his chest. As my attention shifted, I finally noticed the set of slashes on his skin, and the blood that pooled under him from the wounds.
“I’m here… You called me, and I came to you,” I assured in a soothing voice, inching my way towards him.
Flaming red eyes bore into mine, watching my every movement while I halted next to him, reaching for his arm. My gaze urgently searched the rest of his form, finding the other wound on his right thigh. Thankfully, it seemed like the lacerations were already knitting together and no longer hemorrhaging, but the considerable loss of blood had left him weak.
Azazel had hurt him.
“Thank you for saving me,” I offered, looking up at him. While he observed me, I placed both hands over the injury on his arm, gently pushing the skin together and willing it to mend. “I know you would never hurt me. You are just… misunderstood.”
Softly, I caressed his chest, amazed at the way his skin throbbed with the power that lived inside him. My hands glided smoothly over his black scales, admiring the metal-like quality they possessed, and I continued to walk along the length of his form, until my touch reached his jaw. His intense stare remained on me, and all I could think was that he was absolutely stunning, and there was no way to describe how it felt to be there with him.
Leaning closer, he dipped his head as though for me to stroke his forehead, and I grinned, more than willing to concede.
The instant my palm pressed against his hard skin, blue light burst from my Dragon ring—just like the first time—lighting the entire cave. Compelled by an overwhelming urge, I pressed my forehead to Tharion’s, and a new wave of energy rushed through my entire being. Except, it wasn’t going into me, it was leaving my body.
His eyes changed from red to blue for a fraction of a second. So quickly that I barely caught it, but as they flickered back to red, I felt it.
He’d chosen me.
His form lifted from the ground abruptly, and he stood once more, but the pain I’d sensed from him before was gone. My startled gaze snapped to his arm and thigh, seeing only the shadows of the slices he’d once had. They had healed?
No.
I had healed him.
Heart slamming against my chest, I saw his large wing lower to the ground, inviting me to mount him. I gripped one of the scales on his side to climb on him, but I stumbled back, feeling weakened from the exchange of energy. Ribbed fingers wrapped around my torso, and Tharion lifted me onto his body.
Warmth engulfed my legs when I straddled his neck, exuding from the firelava force just under his skin. I settled on the natural saddle his scales formed, gripping onto his hair the moment his wings lifted us into the air.
“Fuck yeah!!” I yelled as we shot out of the honeycombs like a bullet, spinning in the air, and leaving an astonished Kingston behind us.
* * *
The sound of flickering fire reached me in the middle of the night, waking me from sleep while the faint smell of smoke filtered into my nose. My parents yelled in the distance.
An explosion reverberated through the house, and the smolder fully reached my room. When the wooden planks on the door began to glow orange and red, wafts of smoke rushing through them, my eyes widened.
Jumping to the foot of the bed, I pulled my boots on, and watched, terrified, as the flames incinerated my door.
“Mom!” I screamed, my eyes stinging from the smoke. “Dad!”
Carefully, I crawled to the now open doorway, and stood, trying to run out of there.
I couldn’t. The entire house was aflame on the other side.
