Page 7 of We Hunt the Night

I glance behind me and see the other first-years, and I search for Wini, but I don’t see her in the crowd. It’s too much chaos and too many of them are getting closer. I drop my hand on my dagger just in case, just as a roar makes me clamp my hands over my ears, and I fall to my knees as my ears ring with utter pain. The roar is so loud it shakes the very ground under my knees, and leaves fall from the sky, along with the newly falling snow, until the ground is covered in the black leaves.

A dragon lands on top of the trees, branches cracking under its clawed feet. It’s a huge, monstrous silver beast of a dragon, and it’s nothing short of massive. It stretches its neck, roaring again into the night sky, so loud it must even shake the stars. Silver scales, the very color of the moon above, cover every inch of its body as it lowers its head. Its eyes are so silver they almost look white, and it breathes fire within a second—and no one can run away. I scream as I jump to the left, narrowly avoiding the line of blazing hot fire that I feel drift up every inch of me.

My dress sets aflame, and I pat it, rolling to put the fire out as the smell hits me. The smell of burning people. I lift my head, my ears still ringing, and see something I will never forget. People burning in gowns and suits, students who just wanted to learn. I stare for far too long, breathing in far too much smoke and death, trying not to pass out as the world spins.

Sickness rises in my throat as I climb to my feet in a daze and run right into the forest, as far away from the burning people as I can, and the dragon leaps into the sky once again, only to dive and begin to burn a path right through the forest. I choke on the smoke as I run past the trees, disappearing off the path and intothe thick woods. I slam straight into a tree, smacking myself in the face, and I drop, falling onto the damp ground.

Another roar echoes through the trees, further away this time, and it’s the only reason I manage to get up. I climb onto my knees and come face to face with a bear. The bear isn’t a normal size, it’s black-furred and the size of a car. It swings a paw at me, catching my dress as I stumble away, the fabric ripping as I get to my feet. The bear snarls behind me, but I don’t dare look back as I take off, jumping over a fallen log before finding a clear path through the forest.

Aster, where are you?I listen for the noise in the forest, but the dragon roars block out any howls I might have been able to hear. I can only hear the dragon. The deeper I get in the forest, the fainter the smell of fire and smoke becomes until it’s easier to breathe, until I know I’m alone and slow down.

Touching my chest, feeling my racing heart, I try to focus. I can’t see anything but trees and bushes, and it’s silent here. I glance up, but the tall trees have hidden the sky, and I can’t make out anything in the darkness. I can’t even see the top of the trees. Moonlight shines through the trees to the left, and I walk to it until it’s shining over me. I walk slower, my legs hurting, and I glance down, seeing burns on my thighs and dozens of cuts all over me. I know shock has a hold on my senses, because I’m not in pain like I should be right about now.

What am I going to do? How could Aster find me in this chaos when we have never met? I don’t know how long I walk until I come out to a clearing in the forest, where the moonlight has illuminated a stone circle on the ground. I can’t see what it is. Most of it is covered in thick moss and glowing red mushrooms.

Something makes me look to the skies, a feeling someone is watching me, and I’m right. A familiar roar echoes from the skies above again, and when I look up, it’s not just one dragonnow—there’s four. All of them are the same color, all silver and beautiful as the moonlight dances across their wings. Moonlit death. I’m going to die.

Three of them fly straight down and land around me, thumping onto the stone one by one and shaking it so hard I nearly fall over. The biggest dragon stays in the sky, gliding in a circle around us. I don’t know which dragon to look at first. The one right next to me, so close his hot breath is warming my side, has no eyes. They look like they have been scratched out, with big scar lines down the tissue instead. Claw marks are everywhere on his scales. Not a single one looks untouched. The dragon roars at me, spit cascading all over my dress and hair.

“Don’t eat me!” I put my hands up, stepping backwards. The other two, whose eyes are bright silver, watch me so closely as bright orange fire rumbles in their mouths. Something instinctual tells me that these aren’t Kane, but he is likely to kill me anyway. He doesn’t remember me, and even if he did, he owes me nothing from our childhood.

I turn my head up as the wind blows against my dress—not the wind but the force from dragon wings. The final dragon descends from the sky as chunky snowflakes fall between us. I’ve always loved the snow—fitting I’ll die on the first snowing night of the year. I reach up to catch a single snowflake that will die in my hand, just like I’m going to die in dragon fire.

The dragon lands with a thump, and I stumble back, pulling the dagger out of the sheath. I will fight to the end. I have to. They aren’t going to listen and what else can I do? A woman with a dagger against four dragons might not win, but I will damn well make them bleed. The blade runs straight across my palm. I look down as the world slows, and a drop of my blood falls in the air. Slowly, it drops right onto the ground—onto a bloodstone. A bright, blood red light blasts out of the ground in lines, and my eyes widen as it slams into the dragons, cutting through theirbodies like blades. I see my hair turning silver, the very colour changing as it flickers around my face. They each roar as I feel like my soul is ripped apart into four, and I will never be the same again.

Chapter 6

My body hurts as I wake up, as the world fades back into light and fire? Wait, fire? I can almost feel it against my skin, in my blood and bones. The world tastes like smoke, and my chest hurts. I roll my tongue around my dry mouth, coughing on the smoke in the air for a long few seconds until I get it under control. I can hear shouting—men I don’t know are shouting loud enough to wake the entire forest. Wait, it’s the hunt. I was hunting for my bonded, and then…I’m not sure. Then what? My head hurts and every inch of my skin feels like it’s been dragged through a bush. I don’t know them, but they are arguing like I’m not here at all, and all I can focus on is that I’m in pain. I breathe through the pain, one breath at a time. My ribs hurt the most, so breathing is difficult. I can feel the burns on my hip and my lower legs.

“How the fuck would I know there was an old bloodstone this far out?” one of them shouts. “This isn’t my fault.”

“No, it’s hers!” another male roars and then snarls like a caged animal. “I suggest we get rid of her before this becomes permanent. She fucking bonded to us!”

A smack and thump echoes to my left, shaking the ground as I try to focus my vision. My hair is back to its normal colour,falling over my face. “Don’t be a fool. She dies—so do we! Don’t be selfish for once in your forsaken life, Vale!”

“She’s waking up,” Kane states, his tone clipped and cold but recognizable. I should be relieved to hear him here, but he isn’t the boy I remember. He is a dragon shifter changeling, and he just wanted me dead. My body feels sore, so sore, and I’m confused. What just happened? I remember the dragons around me, I remember cutting my hand and the ground glowing. Wait…it wasn’t just glowing. It was a bloodstone. Goddess above, this can’t be real. This can’t be happening to me.

I roll onto my back and lift my hands above me, looking for the mark I saw on my father’s and mother’s palms. The bonding mark. My palms are stinging before my vision completely focuses, but there isn’t one mark like there was for my parents—there are four runes on my palms. The black runes look like dragons with their tails entwined, circling around a flame. Two on each hand. Not one. Not two. Not three…but four. I’ve bonded to four dragons, and I’ve somehow survived it.

A shadow hangs over me, a man with glasses and dark hair. He is pale, a contrast to his enormous, thickly muscled body, charming looks and black hair. The locks hover over the tips of his glasses, and behind them, his eyes are the deepest blue. “I’m Mazikeen Lycidas and you’re my bonded. Take my hand—it’s going to be okay.”

“For fuck’s sake, no, it isn’t. Don’t lie to her!” I turn to see a man with thick silver hair being held back by a brown-haired man, who’s wearing gloves as he pushes the man back a few steps. All of them are dragons. The silver-haired man is angry. His eyes are nearly black as he catches me looking at him. “You’re dead for doing this, witch!”

Mazikeen crouches down, touching my arm, and a buzz shoots through my skin. “Hey, don’t look at him. Just at me.” He smiles, a playful grin that I don’t return. “Your Juniper Daygan?”I push his hand off me, hating how it felt strange to have him touch me, before climbing to my feet. Mazikeen doesn’t seem bothered by me pushing him away. “Well, I know of you from Kane.” He points at Kane, who is leaning against a tree in the shadows, his face hidden from me. “The rude one is Valeron Drexan, but we call him Vale. The other dragon holding Vale back is Black Ashveil.”

“You can’t be happy about this, Black,” Vale snarls, pushing him back and storming up to me. He shoves Mazikeen back a few steps, and my heart freezes as he stops right in front of me. “We are bonded to this…weak, clueless witch! We are fucking doomed.”

I flinch as he shouts into my face. “I didn’t mean to?—”

“That’s your excuse? Pathetic.” His lip curls. “I hate witches, especially ones like you. You might have me bonded with a hex, but you mean nothing to me. I won’t fight for you. I won’t ever do shit for you.”

My cheeks burn. “But the war?—”

“Is a witch war.” Vale shakes his head, a laugh bursting out of him at whatever he sees on my face. “And news flash—we love the war. It kills a fuck ton of witches every day, and that’s fewer for us to deal with.”

“That’s enough.” Kane’s voice cuts through the air. Vale surprisingly steps back away from me, joining Black and Mazikeen.

I feel Kane coming closer before I turn to face him. Even as a kid, he looked like a storm when he was mad. That storm has only grown into a hurricane, and I can’t help but feel scared as he stops in front of me, his short silver hair glimmering in the moonlight. I put my hands up. “Whatever I did, it was an accident. You scared me and I was going to die. The dagger was meant to be my last defense, not a bond.”

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