Page 55 of Dragon Thief of New York
“Mom, are you sure?” Lincoln takes his mom’s hand. “Maybe he’s right.”
“There’s more to this than you know, Linc.” She pulls him into a hug. “Trust me. We can’t wait. I just know… I feel like… we can’t wait.” She draws back and looks at him for a long time, running her fingers over his face like she’s memorizing him. “Whatever happens, just know I love you more than anything, okay?”
“I love you too, Mom.”
They hug again, and when they separate, silent tears streak Kat’s beautiful face.
Damian steps up next and hugs Lincoln, too, which seems to surprise him. He stiffens for a moment, then hugs Damian back.
“We’ll take care of her,” Damian says. He joins Kat by the door, neither of them bothering to go get dressed. We’ll just have to strip our clothes off once we get to the roof, anyway.
I hug Lincoln, patting his back. “See you soon.”
“Y-yeah.” His smile wobbles, but he holds it together. “You sure you don’t want something to eat first or… something?”
“No.” Kat shakes her head. “We’ll be back before dinner.”
Goddess, I hope she’s right.
Chapter 30
Damian
Katflieslikeawoman pursued, and as we near the temple, she is. They come out of nowhere. Six dragons, none of them from our horde. I only recognize two of them, but it’s clear they’re from the Ruby Diamond horde.
I can’t communicate with Kat in this form. The best I can do is nip at her tail and roar.
Go on, mate. Don’t stop.
I turn to face our opposition. Otto does the same. Blocking their path to Kat. She looks back, smoke pouring from her nostrils in a hot huff of anger and fear. I roar at her again.
She can’t stay and fight. There’s only one reason they’re here. They somehow figured out our challenge and want to stop usbefore Kat can become a siren. Maybe they have a seer who had a premonition, or maybe the High Priestess told them. But this is why Lincoln only saw Kat in his vision. Otto and I have a different task. This is part of our test.
The Ruby Diamond horde won’t want another siren around. It’ll take away their advantage over us. They’ll do anything to stop that from happening, and right now, that means they’re going to try to hurt my mate. I won’t let that happen.
Kat’s got to keep going. If she tries to stay and fight, they’ll kill her. And if she doesn’t attempt to get into that volcano, we could lose Lincoln too.
I huff fire at her. Go!
She scowls, but flaps her wings and speeds up, soaring away from us just as the first of the dragons reaches Otto. Two dragons attack him at once, and he fights back with everything he has.
Another dragon tries to fly over him, slipping past in pursuit of Kat. I cut him off, fighting like never before. My teeth rip into his neck before he can backtrack. He falls, but another dragon takes his place.
I can’t keep track of Otto or Kat. Everything narrows to wings and teeth and claws. I channel all my hurt and anger into each strike. Nothing will ever hurt my mate again. She’s mine. She’s going to remember. We’re going to get out of this and keep Lincoln safe.
Nothing and no one will tear us apart again.
I spew fire at a dragon that soars above me. Momentarily distracted, claws dig into my tender belly and pull, slicing through scales, tearing open my insides. But I don’t care. I won’t stop.
I’ve been ripped open before. This pain is nothing compared to losing Kat. I slice through the wing of the attacker below me, and he plummets. That’s when I see three more dragons flying low, close to the water. They’re already well out of range, racing toward Kat.
No!
This was just a distraction. Of course, they sent more than six dragons! I race after them, but my vision is spotty. The wound in my gut burns with each flap of my wings. My head spins. And then, I’m falling.
Forgive me, mate.
Chapter 31
