Page 104 of The Forsaken Heir
“Vince, save Elle!” I shouted, pointing toward her.
My friend, in his full dragon form, eyed me for a moment, then swung his head toward Elle and rushed to help her. I let out a small breath of relief, but an instant later, a massive, hairy beast slammed into my side, sending me crashing onto my side. Pain lanced up my arm where I landed on it, but it was nothing compared to the terror of the snapping jaws at my throat.
I shoved my free arm under the wolf’s chin to keep it from tearing my throat out.
“Fuck…off,” I grunted, pushing the beast back as hard as I could.
The wolf flew back, knocking the feet out from under one of its allies, which spared Octavian from having his hamstring ripped out. My chief of security had been backed into a corner, and he and another of my men were trying to fight their way out. This was a fucking death trap. My mind whirled as I went through dozens of possible escape options.
Behind us, the crackle of shattering glass grabbed my attention. Relief flooded my soul as I turned and saw Vince cradling Elle in his arms, and leaping from the broken glass wall, flapping his wings and rising into the night sky.
The fact that Elle was safe took a huge toll off my mind, and I waded back into battle. Teeth nipped at my arms as I fought toward my men, but I barely felt it. Half-shifted, I lashed out with my teeth and claws before reaching Rasp. He was still in his human form and fighting off three wolves at once. I swung at the attackers and quickly dispatched them.
“Through the glass,” I screamed into Rasp’s face, trying to be heard over the tumult of the fighting around us. Behind me, the heart-wrenching sound of a dying dragon’s cry split the night. I flinched, forcing myself not to turn to see which of my men it was. He was gone, but the others weren’t. I had to get them out. I was the prince, and my duty was to my people.
“The glass?” Rasp asked dumbly. “What?”
Grabbing him and another man by the scruff of their necks, I shoved them toward the hole Vince had made. “There! Get home. Now!”
The other man rushed for the opening, but Rasp held back, beckoning at me.
“Come on, bro. Let’s go, then.”
I shook my head slowly. “I’ll follow. You go. That’s an order.”
Had wolves not been closing in on him, he would have argued, but he had to backtrack toward the opening, fighting off wolves as he went. He threw me one last anguished look, already knowing what I was planning. My friend understood me well, and he’dseen my intentions in my eyes.
“Octavian,” I cried. When he turned his dragon head toward me, I pointed to the opening in the wall. “Retreat. Get back home.”
He bobbed his head, then he and the remaining members of my security force made their way to the broken wall. Blood poured from a myriad of bites and claw wounds all over Octavian’s body. He had been cut by silver weapons, and those wounds smoked as if his fire was about to burst from within. I’d never seen the man look closer to death than he did. I prayed he’d make it.
The wolves, sensing their prey running for safety, made to follow. I leaped onto a table and tore off the remnants of my tattered shirt, revealing my clawed and bloody chest, then threw back my head and screamed.
“I am Aurelius Decimus, prince of dragons. I am the one you want. Come for me!Come for the prize, you fucking bastards!”
The wolves turned almost like one sentient creature, their yellow, hungry eyes boring into me. Bastien Laurent shifted and pointed at me, a victorious smile on his face.
“Take him. I want him alive. The others are of no consequence.”
“Aurelius, no!” Rasp cried. He stood at the window, ready to shift and leap out.
“Go, Raspion! Go. I’ll hold them. Fly, damn you.”
His face twisted into a mask of agonized pain, but he did as he was told. He leapt out into the night air, shifted, and took flight.
I was alone. A solitary dragon in the wolf’s den. All around me, wolves snarled and gazed up at me hungrily. There was nothing more to be done. Even if I shifted, my dragon would be no match for so many.
“It looks like you’re not that invincible after all,” Bastien said, swaggering through the crowd of wolves, some fully shifted, some half-shifted. “Rumor had it that you were some larger-than-life spectacle. I don’t know why I thought they might be true. Anyone with the nickname ‘The Peacemaker’couldn’t be a true warrior.”
I snarled, curling my lip in disgust, and waved at Bastien.
“Come and try me then, if you think it’s gonna be that easy. You may strike me down, but I assure you, no man here will forget the day they fought the prince of dragons.”
Bastien chuckled and crossed his arms. “So much bluster.” He glanced over my left shoulder. “Now.”
I spun just in time to see a hulking form sneak up on me. Before I could so much as blink, it swung a broken leg of a table toward my face.
Bang.
