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“If you don’t see it,” he growled. “What makes you think I can? It’s not like you’re new here. We share a brain, a soul, a set of eyes.”
“Okay, Big Guy,”I snarled right back."I know you're pissed. It's not like things are going the way I planned either. We need to figure out where we are, where Violet is, and…"
“And how the hell we get from here to there and how we get back. Yeah, I got that. We share a brain, remember?”
Refusing to give in to the Dragon King's frustrated taunts, I started looking for Violet. Maybe she was there, and I just didn't see her – or feel her – or hear her heart beating in sync with mine.
The way I saw it, both of us had been caught in a wave of nasty Magic, it only stood to reason that we’d both gone in the same direction, right?
(Yeah, I was grasping at straws. It’s part of my process. Don’t get sassy.)
Crossing to the closest side of the cavern, I reached up as far as I could before slowly running my hands down the rock wall. Up and down, moving forward at a snail's pace, I could feel Esau's frustration and anger growing with every swipe of my hand until he finally spat,“What, in the name of King Arthur’s Excalibur, are you doing?”
“I thought you knew everything. Aren’t you the Amazing Kreskin? Can’t you read my mind? After all, we share a brain. Figure it out. WhatamI doing? Twiddling my thumbs? Playing tiddlywinks? What the hell would you be doing if you were out here, and I was in there?”
Fists flying out to the sides, my temper getting the better of me, I snarled,“Wouldn’t you be looking for Vi? Trying to find our Mate? Wouldn’t you need to know that she’s okay? If not find her right this minute, figure a way out so you can find her? What would you…?”
“I would do exactly what you’re doing,”he acquiesced, exhaustedly exhaling with such force that my mind’s eye filled with smoke.“You’re right. I’m wrong. I lost my cool. I’m…”
“Sorry?”I forced a chuckle I truly didn’t feel.“I believe the word you were lookin’ for was sorry.”
“Don’t push it, Young’un.”
“I hear ya’. That’s as good as I’m gonna get. If it makes ya’ feel any better, I’m sorry, too.”Huffing out a breath as I ran my fingers through my hair, I added,“This whole Mate thing has me…”
“All tied up in your underwear,”Esau snorted.“Yeah, I know. I can feel it and I don’t blame you one little bit.”Exhaling another plume of smoke, this one clearing my mind better than anything else ever could, he went on,“Violet’s the real deal and we need to get you back to her sooner rather than later. Now, let’s find the bastard who brought us here, kick his ass, save your girl, and get the hell outta Dodge.”
“You got it,” I vowed aloud, Esau’s brilliant bronze scales shimmering over my arms. “Let’s get the hell outta…”
“To your left!”Esau roared.
But it was too late.
I was already flying upward. For the tiniest of moments, I felt like a marionette and was sorry for what those little wooden characters must’ve endured.
With Esau’s words still ringing in my mind, my back was slammed into the ceiling and every last breath forced from my lungs as thick, black, leathery tentacles wrapped tightly around my arms, legs, and waist. Stuck like a rat in a trap, staring down at the floor, I roared, “Show yourself, you spineless bastard! Stop with the fuckin’ parlor tricks and come out and face me like a man!”
Long tense seconds ticked by. The overwhelming scent of rotten eggs combined with the sharp, bitter reek of ammonia filled the cavern. Eyes watering and my throat closing, it felt like I was drowning in a vat of fertilizer. Panting through gritted teeth, refusing to inhale any more than I absolutely had to, my eyes were narrowed to the thinnest of slits when a shadow appeared in the farthest corner.
The grating squeal of rock shifting over rock shook the walls as an opening I hadn’t yet found got bigger and taller. The shadow grew longer and wider as it slithered into the light.
Then I heard it - the pounding of thunderous hooves on stone and the thud of meaty fists hitting rock. Whatever was coming thought it could intimidate me. Wanted me to be scared, to cower, to shake like a little boy scared of the dark.
Fuck that. Mick Archer cowers forno one!
Vibrating with unspent rage and Magic, the anticipation of seeing the one who’d dared to endanger my Mate became a living, seething entity within me. Never had I been so furious. Never had I seen red or had I let the bloodlust of Esau’s Warrior Dragon take hold – but then again, never had anyone dared to threaten Violet.
(Well, more than Bernie, but she’s just a little, tubby, loveable bag of hot air.)
“Steady,”Esau warned.“I know that scent. I know…”
“You know nothing!”The nasally whine shot through the cavern a split-second before the unmistakable, unbelievable, unimaginable sight of an honest to the Goddess Minotaur came into view.
(For real, I thought they were just an old wives’ tale. Something parents told naughty little kids to make them behave.)
At least eleven feet tall, shoulders so wide they barely fit through the recently opened mouth of the cave it was the very pointed tips of the very long and ostentatiously curved horns jutting from his head thatalmostgave me pause. Sure, Esau had battle horns and ridge horns and huge skeletal talons that jutted from the ends of his wings, but I wasn’t in his flying form or his Warrior form. I was just Mick. Impressive, as that might be, in my present form, I was basically a Magical human, and I knew that just wouldnotdo.
If I was to save Violet, I had to live, and being skewered might impede my progress. I had to get down, Shift, and kick some Minotaur ass. I had to keep my cool. I had to…
