Page 47 of Into the Dawn
“I can do that,”Ronan agreed. “Be careful.”
Kylie had watched enough movies and TV shows to have a basic idea of what she wanted to do. Hovering overhead, she wrapped her mates and their younger brothers in the strongest protection shield she could manage. The shimmering barrier glowed with an ethereal light, pulsating gently as it enveloped them. She’d wanted to create something visible to make sure it worked, and her magic hadn’t failed her.
When she was sure they were safe, she opened her mouth and breathed fire on the rogues. The flames erupted in a stream of blazing heat and light that scorched the air and burned everything in its path. Caught off guard, the rogues barely had time to scream before they were swept away in the inferno.
Using her magic, she skillfully contained the fire within a small area, ensuring that the rest of the Western Forest remained unscathed. Once the task was complete, she hovered in place, her large wings flapping lazily. Smoke billowed out of her nostrils as she surveyed the scene below, and her long tail swished with primal satisfaction. The ground was scorched, and the rogues were reduced to nothing more than piles of black ash.
She felt an overwhelming sense of triumph and pride, a stark contrast to the revulsion she had anticipated feeling after slaying so many. Apparently, she had gotten over her aversion to killing pretty damn quick. The power she wielded and the control she maintained over the destructive force of the fire filled her with a newfound confidence. She realized that her actions, though brutal, were necessary to protect her mates and their people.
The dragon spirit within her roared in approval, and she released a plume of fire into the air as she embraced the strength and determination that surged through her veins. This was her domain, and she would defend it fiercely, no matter the cost.
“Fucking hell, Kylie! You did it! You’re a total badass!” Layla exclaimed.
“She is right. You are a badass,”Ronan said. He stood in the center of the black circle grinning up at her.“Now, get down here, mate. I need to hold you and assure myself that you are real.”
“We need you, mate,”Dominic corrected.
“I’ll be right down…as soon as I figure out how to shift back.”
Chapter Sixteen
As soon asKylie was back on the ground, Ronan and Dominic barely gave her time to say hello to their younger brothers before they whisked her away.
Once her dragon landed, it had taken her several minutes to figure out how to shift back into her regular form. Luckily, the fire she had used to kill the rogues had cleared an area large enough for her to land. It had felt strange having her mates run their hands over her dragon body.
The smooth, golden red scales that covered her beast’s large form were plates of impenetrable armor. Despite the hard shielding, she felt ultra-sensitive when her mates stroked their hands over her. Yet, when Layla and the young princes touched her scales, she felt nothing.
With their safety no longer a concern, Ronan had ordered Axis, Bastion, and Keo to meet up with their father and escort Layla back to the palace. Kylie felt a little bad about leaving Layla with the trio, but her friend was an expert at wrangling wild teenagers, having dealt with her own brothers.
They’d run into a little problem when they realized Layla couldn’t understand the Arcadian language. Kylie had been able to use her magic to help her friend learn the language instead of having to inject her with an L-CON, or language converter unit, that most of the Arcadians used.
Since Kylie had shifted back, Dominic hadn’t released his hold on her hand. Even when he had dragged her into the dark caverns and squeezed through a space barely big enough for his big body to fit through. Ronan followed closely behind them, touching her back, shoulder, and arm as if he too needed to keep contact with her.
She sensed the emotions swirling within them but didn’t understand what had caused such strong reactions. “Umm, are you guys okay? What’s going on? Why are you acting so weird?”
“We are angry,” Ronan said.
“At me?”
“Nay, love. Never that,” he denied quickly. “We are angry that the rogues caused us to miss your first shift. And for causing you to have to take lives without us there to help you.”
Okay, she could see why that would have bothered them.
She was no fighter, but she was proud that she had been able to protect her mates. She was also pleased that she had managed to shift into her dragon form, but the experience would have meant more if they had been by her side. Better yet, she wished they had been able to soar through the sky with her.
Arriving back on Arcadia only to find her missing had made them feel tense and uneasy. Add in the fact she had been forced to fight their enemies, and her protective mates were definitely feeling all sorts of stressed.
But that still didn’t explain why they were dragging her into the mountain.
“Where are we going?”
“We are taking you to our special hideout we claimed when we were younglings,” Ronan told her.
“Okay. I’d love to see it.” She paused before asking, “Is Layla safe with your brothers? They won’t pull a prank and leave her in the forest, will they?”
“Nay, mate. They would not do that to her. They understand how important she is to you, to us, and to her future mates,” Ronan explained. “Besides, our father and his warriors are with them now. She is safely being escorted back to the palace.”
That was one thing she could stop worrying about, then.
