AllFreeNovel
Share Us
One wolf turned to them and slowed, then another, until they were stumbling over each other and righting themselves to prowl in the direction of the sleigh.
“What’s happening?” Tally murmured to himself.
“We just became the easiest prey,” Rafe told him.
The lichen-deer let out a panicked snort of fear and scrambled forward, dragging the sleigh with it until it was straining against the stake. With the sleigh pulled out from between them and the wolves, there was no more hope that they would turn back to the mammoth.
“Nobody move,” Rafe said, sliding both of his laser daggers from his belt in a motion made fluid by years of practice.
He stepped forward and immediately sensed someone flanking him on his left. His first thought was Tally, disobeying his instructions to stay put. But he was surprised when the nanny-bot spoke up instead.
“Protection mode: activated,” the bot announced, sliding forward and snatching up the nearest wolf before it had a chance to react.
The creatures were enormous, with foam dripping from yellowed teeth nearly the size of Rafe’s daggers. But the bot swung the thing up in the air like a sack of rations and flung it at two more who were standing close by.
The three fell over each other in a heap, but scrambled quickly to their feet, snarling and advancing on the metallic nursemaid.
She charged in again, without the element of surprise this time.
It occurred to Rafe that she knew she couldn’t best the beasts, and was merely providing a distraction in order to protect the baby.
Against all his better knowledge and past experience, he couldn’t help feeling a twinge of admiration for the brave bot, though, of course, it was only following its protocol.
Rafe decided to use the borrowed time to get Jade and Gus back into the sleigh, though he had an awful feeling she wouldn’t go without the nanny-bot.
“No,” Jade screamed before he had a chance.
He turned back and saw that Tally had disobeyed his instructions after all. The stupid boy was running into the fray, his silly sword drawn.
One of the wolves bit down on his arm before the kid had a chance to land a single blow.
Rafe moved to protect him without any hesitation. He had to get there before the boy hit the ground, or it would all be over for him.
He grabbed Tally’s arm and was dragging him away as Nanee-12 brutally shoved the wolf that had bitten him, when Jade yelled again.
Turning back to her, Rafe’s heart sank.
More wolves were approaching from the other direction. They had been ambushed. It was a common pack tactic. He should have known better. This was more than he could handle.
Inside him, the dragon was throwing itself at the bars that separated it from the forefront of his mind, roaring in pain and anger at the delay in saving its mate and son.
A solemn oath echoed in Rafe’s mind.
I shall never use my dragon, except to protect my homeland.
But the woman and child he thought of as his own were all he had. Wherever they went was where he belonged now. They were his homeland.
Rafe closed his eyes and allowed the dragon to leap forward.
His senses expanded instantly, and he could smell the carrion breath of the wolves and hear Tally’s ragged breathing.
He stretched into his full form, dwarfing the sleigh, the people, and the wolves below.
The dragon gloried for an instant in the sensation of expanding its leathery wings.
Then it turned its eyes on the predators threatening its family.
20
