Page 38 of To Match A Dragon's Fire

Blood drained from my face, spilling through my fingers as I gripped my gunshot wound.

This was all a bad dream.

I’d fallen asleep somewhere. I’d wake up soon on the side of the road and kick myself for dozing off. I closed my eyes and opened them, but reality was still the same.

“Tell that cunt to go home,” the voice on the radio cackled. “No one wants her here.”

He might as well have stabbed me in the heart. Again.

A shadow above blocked out the sun. Despite the chills racking my body, the desert heat intensified.

Hot wind blew in a vortex as a loud roar shook the earth, peppering the hunters in the field with dirt and dust.

I held tighter to my side as I looked up.

Black and red scales, the color of the blood oozing through my fingers, flashed above as the underbelly of some massive beast took over the sky.

It was too big to see in one glance, especially this close. I caught the gleam of a claw that seemed dipped in gold as it reached toward me.

I’ve officially lost my mind.

The world went black as darkness swallowed me whole.

12

Kieran

Losing Control

“Run,”my dragon’s voice rolled off his tongue in a hard, growling rumble that promised death.

Smoke billowed from his nostrils as his wings beat against the hot desert air, kicking up a storm of dust and wind.

The human males scattered, pissing themselves as they obeyed.

It wasn’t the first time they’d caught sight of me in dragon form, but it was the first I’d turned my ire on them. The town was safe from my beast while they whispered rumors of the monster who’d taken the old Thurman Ranch.

But they’d just declared war.

The sight of her lying on the road with her fiery red hair splayed around her deathly pale face shouldn’t have affected me as strongly as it did.

The scent of her warm blood—her lifeforce—sizzling as it dripped onto the asphalt enraged my beast like nothing had before.

We swore vengeance on these human vermin, vowing to make them suffer worse than the end of the world would bring.

But first…

Gently, oh so carefully, my beast landed.

Still, the ground shook from the force of his massive legs stepping on the earth.

A low whine came from his throat as he lowered his snout to her body. Hot breath chuffed around her face, blowing strands of her hair up.

Ember’s feminine scent was fading.

Pure panic and adrenaline flooded my beast as he raised his maw. His vision bled red as he searched for those who’d harm her.

We need to get her to safety.I pulled him back, not feeling all that much in control either as I mirrored the worry of my beast.

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