Page 95 of Ronen
“Your family destroyed many!”
“My father came here, to this town, and he was murdered here. By your hand! I will have my revenge! One son is already dying. The other will make a fine pet or bring me a pretty penny. I don’t really care which. After I kill you.”
Dad smiled then, but there was nothing warm about it. It was stony, deadly, and just seeing it on my father’s face made my own blood run cold. This was a side of him I had only heard about, in whispers when I was eavesdropping where I shouldn’t have been. In rumors around town, from people who speculated about his past.
This was the face of a killer.
“I didn’t kill your father,” Dad’s voice was detached and hard, his tone one I had never heard him use, “but I am going to kill you. How dare you think you can take what’s mine.” He shook his dark head, a rueful smirk curling his lips. “For what? To avenge something that happened when you were a child, andyou know nothing of. You don’t get to come into my house, take what belongs to me, and walk away.”
“I’m going to eat you for dinner,” Dimitrios hissed, before he turned his cold, flat eyes on me and Matty. “And then I’m going to eat your offspring.”
He shifted then, so fast I didn’t even have time to register it. My head tilted up, as I stared at the massive cobra as it hovered over my dad. Taller than him, broader than him, its head hooded and wide. It swayed back and forth, moving closer and closer, while my dad stood his ground, glaring daggers at the snake.
In the seconds it had taken the snake to shift, Dad had pulled two lethal looking knives from somewhere, holding one in each hand.
I didn’t know what to do. Did I drop Matty, shift again, and take on this snake? I had a better chance against the cobra than Dad did.
Before I could make a decision, Papa’s voice rang out loud over the infernal rattling, his British accent crisp on each word.
“He didn’t kill your father,” he shouted, catching the snake's attention. Its head swiveled toward Papa, where he emerged from the darkness in a corner of the building. “I did! Just like I’m going to kill you!”
Papa shifted, his honey badger wriggling out of his discarded clothes and racing towards the snake, tearing at it with sharp teeth and claws. The snake went down, coiling, and I lost sight of Papa. They were moving too fast, Papa’s badger screaming as it continued its attack on the large snake.
The wolves were still howling, the cat was screaming, the rattlers still rattling, and then over the din of it all I heard it.
The whoosh whoosh of wings.
Looking up into the night sky, I cursed the my shitty night vision.
An unholy scream, like nothing I had ever heard before, ripped through the air, and I could just barely make out the shadowy outline of a dragon.
Notadragon.Mydragon.
My mate.
My love.
Fire spewed from his mouth, lighting up the sky, before he dipped down low. A stream of flames in a steady line took care of the rattlers in one swoop. The rattling cut off so abruptly the silence was nerve wracking.
The dragon flew past, then made a quick loop, coming back.
“Sebastian!” Dad yelled, “Get out of his way! Ronen, get your brother back!”
Papa’s badger left the snake, scurrying to Dad, who scooped him up and ran.
The dragon screamed again, clearly enraged, so forceful the building shook.
The cobra was down on the ground, bleeding from many wounds, but not dead yet. He was trying to slowly slither away.
Pulling Matty back inside the doorway, we both wobbled under his weight, but I held onto his shirt in a death grip.
The dragon scorched the earth with smoke and flames, hitting the snake dead on and turning it nearly to ash in a few seconds. The heat from the flame singed my naked skin, the air rushing by blew my hair back from my face.
It took me a few minutes to realize it was over.
“Was that…a dragon?” Matty whispered, “Or am I dead?”
Grinning like a loon, I tightened my grip on Matty, readjusting his arm across my shoulders.
