Page 63 of Dance for the Dragon
The coven leader struggled to get free, but with his arms trapped at his sides, there was little he could do.
The ceiling began to crumble down around them. Devon suddenly found herself in Hawke’s arms, rushing back toward the tunnel. They made it just as the dragon broke through, and a large piece came crashing back down to the ground. Sunlight streamed down through the hole he’d created, glinting off the rippling jewel tones of his dark scales.
Terror ripped through her and Devon screamed, certain he’d burn alive right before her eyes. She tried to run to him, but Hawke held her back.
“It’s okay, Devon.” He was annoyingly calm. “Watch.”
Kohl flapped his enormous wings and flew up and out of the caverns, the Master still gripped in his talon. But as soon as the sun’s rays hit the vampire, he burst into flames, disintegrating into dust and ash that floated down through the beams of sunshine like fairy dust, until it gently touched down on the cavern floor.
Catching a gust of wind, the dragon flew higher and higher toward the sun.
Devon watched him until he was only as large as a bird.
And then he was gone.
Chapter 23
That night, Kohl rushed down the ramp and through the caverns. “Hawke! Hawke! Goddammit, where are you?”
Per the dragon’s usual drill, he’d woken up in the center of the field near the restaurant. This time, he’d managed to remain conscious while shifting back, and barely made it to the back door in time. He’d busted inside, breaking the hinges, and threw his naked ass into the center of the room, slapping at his smoking skin.
Nonplussed, Margaret had turned from the stove and threw a large pot of lukewarm water over him she’d just set to boil, while her brother ignored him completely and opened one of the ovens to check on whatever was cooking inside.
After promising to pay to have their door fixed, he’d spent the remainder of the afternoon below ground, pacing a hole in the carpet. Using Margaret’s phone, he’d tried to contact Devon, Hawke, and Andrew, but no one was picking up. He’d contemplated sending someone over to check on things, but immediately discarded the idea. It was too dangerous. Finally, he’d settled down enough to shower and dress, but he didn’t get any sleep that day.
“Hawke!” He came upon the throne room and skidded to a stop. The entire coven was there, cleaning up piles of rubble in the middle of the room. Confused, he drew a breath to call out to Hawke again, and smelled fresh air. Slowly, his eyes travelled upward. There was a giant hole in the ceiling of the cavern.
Large enough for a dragon to fly through. “Holy fuck.”
Andrew was the first to notice him standing there, and he immediately dropped the large rock in his hands and dropped to one knee. He slapped the guy next to him on the leg, who frowned at first, but upon seeing Kohl, immediately did the same. It continued with a domino effect until the entire room was silently kneeling before him.
Kohl’s eyes swept the room, but he didn’t see Hawke. Or the Master. A sense of foreboding had the room spinning around him. “Where is Hawke?” he asked Andrew. He would never forgive himself if he had hurt his friend in any way. It didn’t matter that he retained no memories when he became the beast.
Andrew lifted his head and pointed back down the tunnel, toward Kohl’s rooms. “He’s in your room. With the woman.”
“Devon?”
“Yeah.”
“Thank you.” Kohl spun on his heel, glancing back only once. Questions spun around in his head, but right now he only needed one answer.
Halfway to his room, Devon’s scent came to him, along with Hawke’s. He realized with a start that the growl he heard was coming from him. And his fangs were bared. Kohl gave himself a hard shake. Hawke was his friend. There was no reason to act this way. The dragon disagreed, but they could argue about it later.
He wasn’t prepared for the sight that met him when he got to his room.
Devon was curled up on his bed with her back to him. She wore one of his T-shirts and what looked like little else. Her beautiful golden-brown skin was ashen, and there was an ugly burn in the shape of a misshapen star covering the outer portion of her right thigh.
Hawke sat in the chair near the bed with his elbows on his knees and his fingers pressed together, staring at the floor.
Kohl must have moved or said something, for suddenly Hawke’s head snapped up and he leapt to his feet. It was proof of his distraction that he hadn’t noticed Kohl was there before then. “Are you all right?”
But Kohl couldn’t take his eyes from the scalded flesh on Devon’s leg. “Did I do that?” A fever raged inside of him, burning so hot his eyes watered and he could barely see. “Hawke? Did I fucking do that to her?”
Hawke said nothing.
Kohl fell back into the wall behind him, pressing the heels of his hands against his eyes to block out the sight.
A heavy hand fell on his shoulder. “She needs you. Kohl! You gotta snap out of it. Devon needs your blood or she isn’t going to make it.”
