Page 111 of Wings of Shadow
A roar.
Not human. Not even close.
It shakes the air around me, primal and unrestrained, a thunderous force of fury and power. The sound rips through the stillness, filling the room with ancient terror. My heart skips a beat, my breath catching in my throat.
Because I recognize it. I know it in my soul.
“Kai?” The name slips from my lips, barely a whisper.
Could it be him?
Has he come for me?
The thought strikes me like lightning—sharp, bright, painful—and it sends a jolt of hope through my chest, fierce and terrifying.
46
KAISNER
Chaos erupts as Nikolaas and I tear through the defenses, magic and gunfire alike ricocheting off our scales. My eyes scan the buildings, frantic, searching for any sign of Clarissa.
Then, as though answering an unspoken prayer, I hear her voice in my mind.
“Kai? Is that you?”
Relief floods me, so overwhelming it’s almost painful. “I’m here, baby girl,” I project, hoping she can grasp the depth of my love, my determination. “Nikolaas is with me. We’re getting you out.”
Through our bond, I sense her—her location. A windowless room at the heart of the compound. With a roar, I change direction, plowing through walls and guards in my desperation to reach her.
Nikolaas provides cover, his bursts of flame keeping the bulk of the Mahindra forces at bay. But I can’t focus on anything but her.
Smoke billows in the distance—sharp, acrid, tinged with the scent of burning metal and something more sinister—scorched magic. I can smell blood beneath it. I can hear the crackle of wards being shattered under brute force.
The Mahindra compound looms ahead like a festering wound in the middle of the forest, hidden beneath layers of illusion and glamour. But those spells are useless now.
I slice through the sky with my wings stretched wide, each beat sending shockwaves that ripple down through the trees. Below, Mahindra’s guards scatter as roaches, their magic useless against the fury I bring. They weren’t expecting a dragon. Certainly not two.
Nikolaas flies ahead, his golden scales gleaming. He dives with deadly precision, strafing the perimeter in calculated bursts of fire—targeting weapon caches, guard towers, anything that could slow us down. This was supposed to be a strike-and-rescue. Distraction, not destruction.
But then I see it—how his fire lingers, how he doubles back to obliterate a watchtower that was already crumbling. Power surges from him, relentless, uncontrollable, growing hotter by the minute.
Nik’s not just destroying. He’s incinerating.
He’s off plan.
I snarl low in my throat.
He lands with a roar and launches himself through the eastern wall of the compound, tearing through an entire barracks with the force of his impact. Stone, steel, bodies—all of it erupts into a blaze of fire. His dragon is free. Unbound.
So, this is it. The Draken Curse. The whispered flaw that could lead to his fall.
I can’t worry about that now. Clarissa’s heartbeat pulses through our bond—weak but steady. Still here. Still alive. And close.
I zero in, cutting through the smoke like a blade. The compound is a maze of hidden rooms and corridors, but I’ve studied the plans. I know exactly where they’d keep her.
I find the building. The last one still standing.
With a snarl, I beat my wings and dive.
