Page 16 of Eminently Elf
“His Majesty has no time to argue,” Costas growled. Once they were at the doorway, Chrysander could hear Zane yelling into the communication devices in the ears of Damian and Costas.
“We need to run,” Damian ordered.
“What’s going on?” Chrysander asked as he sprinted after his brother.
“I want all the checkpoints between Drago and the roof cleared immediately,” Damian shouted over Zane, using Chrysander’s security name.
Costas slapped his hand onto the button of the elevator once they got the large bank of them. Seconds later it arrived, and his guards hustled Chrysander inside.
“Would someone like to tell me what the fuck is going on?” Chrysander demanded once the doors closed.
“Elf jumped out the window of your office. He’s in dragon form on the roof and won’t let anyone near him,” Damian informed him gravely.
Shock wiped every thought from Chrysander’s brain. Unconsciously he echoed Costas’s question of a few moments before. “He did what?”
“Zane can’t get him to shift back,” Costas added quietly.
The elevator pinged and Chrysander numbly followed Damian out. He couldn’t imagine what would cause his normally placid mate to hurl himself out of a building and refuse to leave his dragon form. They were across the courtyard from the building that housed his offices, which seemed a million miles away when Ellery needed him. Once they stepped out of the door, Chrysander lifted his gaze to the sky and could barely see one white wing surrounded by a bevy of black dragons above him.
Racing across the pavers, Chrysander got inside the Draconis building. Shouts hit his ears as dukes were being called up from their posts to deal with whatever was happening with Ellery. Damian bypassed it all and loaded Chrysander into another waiting elevator. It took almost forever to get to the rooftop. Fire seared the air as Ellery flew up, then slammed down again. Zane had his hands up, desperately pleading with His Majesty while Tiri stood a few feet away, surrounded by dukes protecting him from the agitated beast.
Chrysander strode forward to get Ellery’s attention, and Damian put a hand on his arm. “Be careful, dammit. He might hurt you.”
“He’s mine,” was all Chrysander responded. His brother’s eyes were full of fear, but he didn’t stop walking toward Ellery.
Ellery continued to lift his wings and plummet back down again even when Chrysander was only within a few feet of him.
“Ell,” he said calmly, hoping to reassure Ellery, so he would be able to shift.
The gold-dusted white dragon belched out more fire and wouldn’t let Chrysander get anywhere near him. He grew more agitated and growled through his fangs. Chrysander had no clue what the fuck was going on, but he wasn’t going to tolerate Ellery in distress.
“Get Dra’Kaedan here now,” he ordered his brother once he noted the helicopters in the distance. Whatever was wrong, they could attend to it at D’Vaire where Ellery’s whatever-this-was wouldn’t be fodder for the newscasters.
Moments later, Dra’Kaedan shimmered into view a few feet from Chrysander with a frowning Brogan at his side.
“Take us to D’Vaire,” Chrysander demanded.
“I need your dukes to step away, or they’ll all come with us,” Dra’Kaedan replied.
Damian, Costas, and Zane quickly forced everyone but the royal family from a large circle that Dra’Kaedan could teleport from. The Grand Warlock cast the spell as soon as the area was clear. They popped into King Aleksander’s backyard, and D’Vaires started pouring from the large mansion.
“What’s wrong with him?” Dra’Kaedan asked. “He’s moving so fast, I can’t figure out where or if he’s hurt.”
“Ellery, shift back,” Chrysander ordered, but Ellery only grew more restless. He rose up a few feet and smashed into the dirt hard enough that all the men and women outside winced.
“What the fuck is going on?” Zane demanded as Ellery repeated his self-abuse.
“Tell me what happened.”
“Chrys, I have no idea. One second we were talking and the next he dove out of the window.”
“I can’t get close enough to him to figure out if he’s okay physically,” Dra’Kaedan griped again as he threw a thick golden wave toward Ellery. “At least I can heal him. If he doesn’t calm down, he’s going to really hurt himself.”
“I think his dragon is trying to fly, and Ellery doesn’t want him to. This is dangerous. It might as well be his first shift. If he can’t get control over his beast, this could get ugly,” Aleksander observed grimly.
“There’s no way we’re going to be able to get the net over him that we used to prevent him from flying at his first shift,” Chrysander stated as he frowned. He had no clue what to do or how to help, but it was killing him watching Ellery slam himself into the ground repeatedly. Aleksander was right; this situation was dire. Once Ellery became a dragon, Chrysander thought his fears of his other half dying were over, but for some reason he found himself here. His hands were tied and all he could do was hope that Fate didn’t destroy Ellery.
“We may be able to contain him in a bubble,” High Arcanist Delaney the Dark said softly. “Between Dre’Kariston and I, there should be enough dark magic to encompass even a dragon as strong as Ellery until we can figure out what’s wrong.”
