Page 24 of The Goblin in the Sink Drain
I shoved Fayne hard, sending her sprawling, then threw up my arm to fend off Dad.
“Get out of here,” I yelled at her, determination setting in. “Take Sloane with you.”
Teeth pierced my forearm as Dad clamped down, and flesh tore as he slung me like a chew toy until a sharp pop rang out, loud enough to rise over the cacophony of snarling wolves, violent wind gusts, and the rabid fury Dad breathed in my face as I let him gnaw on my bones to protect my throat.
The ground lurched beneath me, bouncing me like a trampoline, and I bit my tongue.
The wolf hadn’t let go of me, but he wasn’t sawing through tendons anymore, so that was nice.
An ancient growl dredged from the depths of civilization’s collective nightmares rumbled through the blood-soaked air.
I had done a fair job of ignoring my rescuer in favor of not getting killed before he reached us, or so I had told myself. The truth was, I was afraid to look, to see what I might never become. To confirm what I had been unable to defend when Dad asked me if I had seen a dragon with my own eyes. I couldn’t hold another hope in my heart that slid through the cracks between my ribs to shatter on the floor of mediocrity.
Hot breath blew dirt and grass into my eyes, and the all-encompassing shadow blotted out my vision.
The wolf released me, but he didn’t go far. As his features contorted, I read his intention to parley.
Since that would take a minute, I laid my head down to breathe through the agony lighting up my body.
A gentle nudge to my shoulder warned me I had run out of time for pretending dragons were myth.
This was it. Now or never. I had to tuck away my insecurities and fears and face them.
Facehim.
Rían.
Heart thundering in my ears, I used my good arm to shove upright. I gave the world a second or two to quit spinning quite so fast while I gathered my nerves. Blood loss was kicking my butt, and I was pretty sure I had gone into shock because my armreallyought to hurt more.
A low groan, an inquiring noise, rose over my shoulder, and I twisted myself until I faced him.
Well, his ankles. They were very nice ankles. The glitter of his blue-green scales reminded me of peacock feathers. The fading sun glinted off them, causing me to squint as I searched higher up his massive body.
He was the size of a house, his tail as long as Main Street. His head was wide, flat, and crowned with tiny horns. His eyes remained pure white, proving it was Rían staring back at me.Maybe it was how my head spun, but I would swear he was smiling. And histeeth. I could use one of his long fangs as a stripper pole.
Oh, God. Where had that come from? I didn’t know the first thing about pole work. Burlesque? I wasn’t even sure what you called it. What Ididknow was you didn’t perform it in the mouths of dragons. Not even in ones that wanted to marry you.
The world, which had just started making sense, tipped on its side.
Oh.
No.
Wait.
That was me.
“Ana.”Dad waved his arms over his head like he was flagging down a taxi. “Don’t go.”
Why, oh why, had I not blacked out when I had the chance? It would have spared me from watching Dad sprinting toward us as naked as the day he was born. Nothing I hadn’t seen before, sadly, but that didn’t make the view any less traumatic.
Chest ticking, the dragon blew a fine burst of flame, scorching a perfect line between Dad and me.
The message was clear.
Cross the mark, and he would get as smoked as Mercer’s famous Fourth of July brisket.
“You thruck me,” I slurred, my jaw not working right, which, frankly, was a major letdown. I had wanted to tear a strip off his hide, not drool all over myself. “Merther thried to kill me.”
