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“We’re trapped,” Mack pants.
Limbs crack in the woods behind us as the hound closes in. I glance around, desperate for a way to escape, and spot something dark shooting from the sky straight toward us.
Valerian! The figure’s wings flare out as he slows his descent to land. As I make out the leathery gray wings and green markings, disappointment fills me.
Not Valerian.
Pushing aside my emotions, I insert myself in front of Mack as the dragon shifter prowls toward us. I scan his face for signs his predatory nature has taken over completely.
Yellow, bestial eyes watch Mack, their pupils slit down the middle. Other than his wings, he’s managed to halt his transformation to full dragon.
“Stop right there!” I yell as the others all huddle behind me. Besides Mack and the sprite now attached to my head, three shadows—two girls and a boy—are trapped on the cliff.
Slowly, he drags his intense gaze off Mack. Recognition flares in those eerie dragon eyes—too slow for comfort, but he may be our only hope.
“You’re both coming with me,” he orders, holding his large hands out in front of him. “I’m taking you both to safety.”
“No.” I jerk my head toward the woods. “Not until you fly everyone to the other side first.”
His nostrils flare, and I see him fighting his inner dragon as his attention keeps gravitating to Mack.
Mack steps forward. “Please, Asher. Take them first and then come back for us. I swear, once we’re all safely on the other side, you can have me.”
Instead of talking sense into him, the sound of her voice seems to elicit a crazed excitement inside dragon boy, and I prepare myself to fight the giant idiot. Right now, he’s the only thing standing between the other students and the approaching hellhound.
Somewhere deep inside, he must know Mack would never forgive him if he let the other students get hurt, because he releases a frustrated snarl before backing down.
“Okay, I’ll help them.” His voice is gravelly, but at least it sounds like him now, some of the magic from the hunt wearing off.
He flicks another longing gaze at my friend. Then he swoops the first two shadows into his brawny arms, one student literally lodged on either side like footballs, and shoots across the canyon. I hardly take a breath before he’s back.
I scour the star-encrusted sky. “Where’s the Winter Prince?”
“Eclipsa is fighting him off. He can’t be around you yet. Not until the magic of the hunt wears off. That’s why I’m here.”
“Surely if you can control it, so can he?”
The dragon shifter blinks at me, as if talking while trying to control himself is too much. “Don’t let him near you right now, Summer.”
He wraps Mack and the final girl into his arms. His wings flare as he prepares to rocket them into the sky.
“No,” Mack protests, trying to wiggle from his grasp. “Take Summer first and then return for me.”
But I can see by the intensity of his stare that there’s no more holding him back from her, which fits right into my plan anyway.
They streak across the canyon to the other side. I watch, relief pouring through me.
“Hurry up, lizard breath,” Ruby mutters, pacing anxiously on top of my head.
“The Winter Prince will be here soon,” I say. I don’t care what Asher says, Valerian won’t hurt me.
Ruby tugs on a strand of my hair, hard. “Don’t be such a naive human! What do you think will happen with that thing between you and him you pretend isn’t real?”
After Inara publicly implied the soulbond was a mistake, I let my friends believe that was the truth.
But the look in Ruby’s eyes says there’s no hiding the truth, so I don’t bother trying.
“He can control it,” I insist.
