Page 63 of Bearly Yours
The Sheriff had put out an emergency bulletin in town, informing everyone to stay in their homes until he gave the all-clear. He and his officers were sweeping the town, keeping watch. I stood with my full Clan, including Virion, Draven, and Rhys. Some mates, the natural fighters of our group, had chosen to stay, but the rest of them were protecting the cubs at King Draven’s villa, far from danger.
He’s here,my mate told me.
I drew in a choking breath.Stay alive. Don’t make me live without you.“He’s here,” I said softly for those around me.
The sun was just coming up on the horizon. The sky was alight with brilliant splashes of purple, orange and pink, but through the streaks of bright color I could see a black dragoncoming in fast. Roarke met him in the air, and they came together like two boulders, the crash reverberating through the entire forest, and probably the entire town. My Clan surrounded me in the space of a breath. Mateo grabbed one of my hands and Alistair grabbed the other as we watched the two dragons try to gain dominance over each other.
My heart was in my throat.
I couldn’t believe this was happening.
I hadn’t wanted Roarke to take on Drakis alone, and none of the rest of us had wanted that either. That was why we were all here, ready to help in the fight. But most of had known...this was Roarke’s fight. We couldn’t fly. We were the shield wall in case Roarke failed.
I trembled. Roarke wouldn’t let Drakis anywhere near me. Not unless he was no longer alive to protect me.
Steady,my bear rumbled.Our mate will win.
I nodded. He had to. I would accept nothing less.
Flames flashed across the sky, and Drakis’ roar was one of fury. Roarke harried Drakis, ripping into him with his claws, then looping around him and ripping into his other side. Drakis roared flames at him, but Roarke evaded them and slammed into Drakis with his tail. It connected with a back leg and Drakis screamed in pain. Roarke spat flames at Drakis’ face,flame, flame, flame. I lost sight of them. Trees burned, our forest burned, and the smoke was thick in the air and on the ground. Roarke flapped his gigantic wings, trying to clear some of the smoke from the air so he could see. But it wasn’t enough.
We lost sight of Drakis; his black dragon hide was perfectly camouflaged in the thick smoke from the burning trees. One of the mates, a female mage, put out the fire with water, but it was too late, Drakis flew up out of the cover of the smoke and sliced my mate’s stomach open.
I staggered and went down. I couldn’t feel the severity of his wounds, but I could feel through our mental connection his confusion and exhaustion, and distantly, his pain. It was like he was shielding me from the worst of it. Mateo and Alistair went down on their knees with me, I could hear them, as if from afar, frantically calling out to me, but I couldn’t focus on them or their questions.
“He’s hurt,” I said brokenly. “He’s hurt really badly.”
Roarke dropped like a stone from the sky, but before he hit the treetops, he rallied. His flying patterns were all over the place, and I could feel how muzzy-headed he was, how everything seemed like it was happening to someone else far away, but I could also feel his grim determination. Roarke shot vertically past Drakis and kept going until he was only a speck in the distant sky.
Oh no.
I knew what he was going to do!
I stumbled to a standing position andyankedon the arms of Mateo and Alistair so they would stand, too. “Clear the area!” I shouted. “Stand back! Clear the area!”
Everyone listened immediately, scrambling as far back as they could while still being ready to help Roarke if he was able to bring Drakis down.
“Here he comes,” King Draven said. He stood next to me, his sword out. It glinted with High Elvish runes, and was veined with gold and reinforced by High Elf magic. I could tell from the glow. Only High Elven blades shine that brightly.
“Dice is here,” Rhys assured me. “She’s in the lodge. She’ll take care of your mate.”
I shivered. “Thank you,” I whispered.
Drakis watched as Roarke dove at him with impossible speed, and in what must have been absolute arrogance, he chose not to move. They clashed again. Roarke roared, and I couldhear the fury and pain in his dragon voice. I held my breath and squeezed Alistair and Mateo’s hands like crazy.
The force of Roarke’s dive, coupled with his massive size—he was easily one third bigger than Drakis—brought both dragons down to the ground with a tremendouscrash.Everyone moved en masse, but no one was faster than King Draven. King Draven, who’d been Roarke’s best friend for centuries, and who was extremely teed off at the moment because his friend was lying on the ground not moving, moved forward in an insaneburstof speed, and in an acrobatic move that looked looked like it must have taken ninja skills to pull off, ran up Drakis’ body,flippedover Drakis’ wildly swinging arm with its razor-sharp claws, andstabbedhim in the heart with a High Elven blade. The only blades that could cut through dragon scales.
Virion handed me one of his swords, and I swear they were now singing a battle dirge, harmonizing together in increasing complexity. The sword vibrated in my hands and glowed a brilliant green and gold.
“Dragons have three hearts,” Virion said, almost casually. The rest of my Clan had all moved forward and were holding Drakis down. The other mates were hitting him with their magic. Most of it bounced off, but he roared in annoyance and tried to flame everyone anyway, and my alpha—holy honey he was strong—jumped on Drakis’ head and held his jaws shutwith his bare hands.
He hurt mate,my bear said.He killed Emrie family. Must put down.
I nodded at Virion, who nodded back at me. We rushed forward into the fray, and my Clan instantly made space to let us through. We ran up Drakis’ flailing tail, me only managing to stay on by some kind of miracle, and met Draven, who was still viciously twisting his sword into one of Drakis’ hearts.
And he didn’t look all that broken up about it either.
Virion immediately pierced the second heart. The dragon convulsed and roared, throwing off my alpha. Mateo and Mathan rushed in and took his place, and by sheer strength kept Drakis’ mouth shut. Drakis, in a last-ditch effort to win, starting heating his skin to impossibly high levels, but even though the soles of my shoes were melting, I stopped and stared at Roarke.
