Page 47 of A Hunter Turned
The next moment, another, even bigger dragon appeared in the sky, confirming Archer’s supposition. Its powerful wings flapped, holding him steady in front of the smaller one as he bellowed in three sharp bursts that sounded like a trumpet.
Travis’s sister had woken up, and apparently, not in a good mood. Another spray of fire lit up the dark as Sophia protested her brother’s attempts to bring her down. “What can we do?”
Archer shook his head. There was nothing theycoulddo. This was all on Travis. As they watched, the smaller dragon wobbled, listing to the right as if her wings, having been cramped in stone for so long, were no longer strong enough to hold her aloft.
“She’s going to crash,” Jamie said. The gasps ricocheting through the collected crowd suggested that she wasn’t the only one who thought so. Gripping her necklace and wishing its protective properties could be extended to others, mutating to accommodate their needs, they all watched powerlessly, breaths held, as one of Sophia’s wings folded and she began to fall.
Travis let out another trumpeting bellow as he dove for his sister, his big body colliding with her smaller one in the air sending both of them rolling into free fall.
With her heart in her throat, Jamie began to mumble, “Come on, come on, pull up,” but neither Travis nor his sister seemed able to recover. Trees snapped loudly as, together, those big bodies hit the canopy, and the next time the earth shook, the force behind it was enough to shatter the windows in several cabins and knock people off their feet.
Archer scrambled to his knees beside her. “Are you okay? I have to check on Cady and my folks.”
Nodding, she told him, “Go, go. I’ll check on people here.”
Regaining her feet, Jamie began assisting others to rise, calming those that were frantic, checking for injuries, offering first-aid where needed, and hugging some of the younger ones who were crying.
“You wear the mantel effortlessly,” someone said from behind her sometime later.
Turning, she spotted the healer, Marguerite. The woman nodded. “An alpha’s mate must be strong. As a vampire, your strength was never in question, but she must also be compassionate, and tonight I’ve witnessed it first-hand.” Nodding towards the milling pack members, she added, “As have they. If they had any lingering doubts, you may be assured that tonight, you have proved yourself worthy.”
∞∞∞
With her heart seemingly in her throat and her stomach in knots of anxiety, Morgan raced toward the crash site.They'd hit so hard, so unbelievably hard. What would she find when she reached them? Both of them now encased in stone so they could heal? Or had the impact killed them outright?
Dragon shifters, similar to vampires, had a certain level of immorality but they weren't invulnerable. If the head had been severed when they crashed, no amount of crusting would save them.
God, she'd been so happy for Travis when the rock encasing Sophia had begun to crumble. In her head, she'd imagined a gentle hatching like a chick emerging from its shell. She'd also imagined that when Sophia emerged she'd be in human form. Morgan had been wrong on both counts. The emergence had been violent, shaking the ground, and then a dragon had exploded out, sending debris in all directions like shrapnel. The blood currently dripping from a cut on her cheek could attest to that.
Skidding to a halt, Morgan nearly hit her knees at the sight before her.No, no, no!Travis, still in his dragon form, lay unmoving on his back, his wings crumpled beneath him while a naked Sophia, in human form, cried as she called her brother’s name in an attempt to wake him, her trembling hands smoothing over his fierce face.
Sensing Morgan’s presence, Sophia’s head snapped around, her teeth bared with aggression. “Stay away from him!”
As the woman slowly stood, placing her body between Morgan and Travis in an attempt to protect her brother, Morgan raised her hands before her, palms out. “I’m not going to hurt him. I love him. Travis is my mate.”
“You lie!” Sophia hissed. “My brother would never mate a Born.”
Shit. They had known that their mating would come as a surprise to Sophia once she woke, had even planned how they’d broach the subject, but in all those scenarios, Travis had been awake to do the explaining.
“I’m not lying,” and because it bore repeating, “I love him, and he loves me. I don’t know if you were able to hear while you were encased, but I’m Morgan.”
Sophia’s forehead crinkled with uncertainty and then morphed once more with ferocity at the sound of an approaching vehicle.
“That’s just the pack coming to check on us,” Morgan assured her.
“Pack?”
“The wolves your brother lives with.”
“Again, you lie! My brother lives alone!”
Morgan was trying to remain calm, but she wasreallygetting sick of being called a liar. “Look, you’ve been asleep a long time. Things have changed.”
As several pack members emerged into the newly created clearing, Jeremiah in the lead, Sophia’s eyes morphed into those of her dragon. Fearing she might unleash her dragon once more and hurt the pack, Morgan held up her hand to stay them and motioned them back. “No one here is going to hurt you or him,” she said calmly. “We’re all friends here. We just want to help. Please. Let us help him.”
Sophia looked uncertain, her eyes flicking between Morgan and the pack members holding their position a few yards back. Returning that reptilian gaze to Morgan, she snarled, “If you cause him harm, vampire, I will kill you.”
“Understood.”
