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The coyote’s lashing paws scraped across my arm, drawing blood through the sleeve of my jacket. It landed and whipped around with a gnash of its teeth. The flare of anger inside me grew hotter, and not just for myself. Back in the shifter village, two coyotes had savaged Kylie while their wolfish leader had attacked me. I had no doubt at all that this asshole was one ofthem.
I clasped hold of that fiery fury and wrenched it free. My body burst from its clothes, expanding into dragonform.
The coyote flinched back with a startled whine as I loomed over it. Fire bubbled up my throat. I opened my mouth to fry the attempted murderer back to kingdomcome—
—and Nate charged between me and the coyote. The grizzly was only half as tall as my dragon’s body, but he managed to block my aimcompletely.
I swung my sinewy neck, determined to take a snap at my attacker. Nate growled from deep in his chest and tackled the coyote first. They rolled, biting and swiping. I clenched my jaw, knowing I couldn’t bring out the flames without roasting my bear alphatoo.
Damn it. Why couldn’t he let me handle one thing bymyself?
I swung around to check on the other guys, my scaled shoulders brushing the cave wall. There wasn’t much room for me to maneuver inhere.
The wolverine was just making a dash between West and Marco. Marco cut it off at the last second, battering its eyes with both paws and heaving it onto its side. West leapt over with a snap of histeeth.
Aaron dove down, placing a threatening set of talons over the wolverine’s neck. He meant to trap it in the hopes it would shift back into human state so they could question it, I had to guess. But the wolverine wasn’t willing to face thatconsequence.
With a grunt, it wrenched its head up, stabbing the eagle’s claws through its neck. Blood gushed out. Its furred body slumped. Aaron gave a cry and flappedaway.
Nate pounded the coyote’s head against the ground with one thick paw. The nimbler animal shuddered and scrambled away. I lunged toward it, smoke curling through mymouth.
My dragon’s gaze locked with the coyote’s. A totally human panic flashed through its eyes. I hesitated, wondering if there was some way I could restrain it without killing it. Before I could think of one, the coyote hurled itself over the edge of the chasm. It plummeted out of sight after itsally.
I stared at the gap, hot breath rasping in my throat. My hold over my dragon form trembled. I let myself collapse back into my humanbody.
The frigid air closed in around me again with a prickling ache. I scrambled for my jacket, the only thing I’d managed to cast off before I’d gotten far into the shift. The rest of the clothes I’d been wearing were shredded. I tugged the jacket around me, wincing as it brushed over the scratches on my arm. My shifter body would heal them quickly, but notthatfast.
The guys were all shifting back too. My eyes caught on a blotch like a scar on West’s leanly muscled chest that glowed with a faint reddish light. Then my gaze dropped to the limp body of a middle-aged man with a wiry beard that lay where the wolverine had died. Blood pooled around his head andshoulders.
Marco nudged the corpse’s leg with his foot and grimaced. “So much for getting some answers out of theseassholes.”
My mind leapt back to the coyote flinging itself to its death. My stomach clenched. “They decided it was better to die than be caught. The rogues are pretty dedicated to their cause, aren’t they?” Their cause, which was seeing me and any other dragon shifters that might be leftdead.
Another thought struck me with a deeper horror. “They must have something to protect, then, right? There must be other rogues out there with other plans. Why else would it matter if we questionedthem?”
“They could have been too ashamed of what they’ve gotten themselves involved with to want to face the consequences,” Aaron said. “But you’re probably right. We can’t assume the rogue threat is finished.” He glanced around. “I hope that’s the last we see of them on this mountain,though.”
“There weren’t very many that survived the ambush,” West said, already pulling his shirt over the strange scar I’d noticed. “What I want to know is where they camefrom. It looked like they practically fell from theceiling.”
I stepped closer to the wall, peering up at it. Aaron picked up the fallen flashlight and pointed it where I was staring. A slice of deeper shadow cut into the rock just below theceiling.
“There’s a ledge up there,” I said. “They got up there somehow. Trying to stage another last ditch ambush.” I guessed we were just lucky I’d melted all the guns this group had during their firstattack.
“Somehow,” West repeated. “Yeah, I wonder about that. Maybe the same ‘somehow’ that created the trap in thefloor?”
“It doesn’t matter now,” Nate said firmly. “What matters is getting to the power Ren’s mother pointed us to, and then getting Ren out of here before anyone else comes afterus.”
He strode over to me, his head high as if he saw himself as some kind of knight in shining armor. The anger I’d felt earlier flickered backup.
“Getting usallout,” I said. “I don’t need special treatment. And Ireallydon’t need to be treated like aweakling.”
Nate blinked “What are you talkingabout?”
I waved my hand toward the chasm. “You were so busy trying to ‘protect’ me a few minutes ago that you got in my way when I was about to blast that coyote tobits.”
His expression tensed. “It’s our job as your matesto—”
“No,” I said, cutting him off. There was no room for argument here. Either he accepted my point or he didn’t. “From what I’ve heard, it’s your job to stand beside me. Not in front of me, like I’m some wimp who needs to be sheltered. I can shift now. I can shift into a freaking dragon.” I pointed to the bite mark on his arm. “If you hadn’t run in there, you wouldn’t have had to get hurt. I could have handled itbetterthan youdid.”
