Page 48 of Red and Her Dragons (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 4)

“Yup. Sounds good,” Jax said and looked around. “Can we go now?”

He came across as oddly nervous. It wasn’t like him to behave like this. Of course, I didn’t have to think about it too hard to realize his mood must have had something to do with Emily. And though she was with Marcus, she was still at ground zero. The fact didn’t exactly bring comfort. Even for me.

I nodded. “Be careful. Don’t lose your head in the chaos.”

“Yeah. You too,” he said before turning and walking away. As he moved, he shifted and took flight.

I followed suit by shifting and flying off after him.

Minutes later, we circled the cabin. I realized then what had Jax so wound up. Surrounding were hundreds upon hundreds of humans and wolves. Much more than we had anticipated, and definitely more than we would be able to handle if things ended up getting messy. We were outnumbered by a lot.

The fact we might lose someone we cared about tonight had my heart hitched into my throat. Of one thing, I was for certain, and that was I wasn’t going to go down without a fight.

Since we now had an idea of the state of things, I nodded to Jax, signaling to him I had enough of a look at things. He took off to one side and disappeared, so I went to the other and landed, keeping myself in the shadows and my body close to the ground. I wasn’t sure if Jax had done the same, but I stayed in my dragon form. Just in case we needed more power to fight off the band of wolves and humans than what I would provide in my human form.

Besides, it was hard to deflect lightning.

I moved in behind an unsuspecting group of humans and wolves, sticking to the shadows until the moment was right. When such a time would come to pass, I wasn’t sure, but I was positive I would know it when I saw it.

For the time being, I waited.

I raked my gaze over the surrounding area. So long as I remained unseen, I just might have kept an element of surprise. The need to see what everyone was so focused on had become hard to ignore. I peeked my head through the trees. I found Emily standing in front of Marcus in his dragon form. His friends stood on the porch, unmoved by what they were watching. Well, everyone except the woman who stood off to the side. The poor thing seemed petrified.

I angled my head a little more and saw Emily’s pseudo-fiancé standing in front of her with his father and another man I had no idea as to the identity of. I wasn’t able to catch what they were talking about, but judging by the expression on Emily’s face, she was less than moved or thrilled.

Voices started to rise. Emily’s magic covered her.

Rowan charged forward and gripped both of Emily’s arms into his hands. Anger boiled through my veins. That man had no business putting his hands on my woman. Lucky for me, Marcus was the man with the plan and bent his neck with his mouth opened wide, aiming to chomp the mutt’s head off.

Rowan, unfortunately, jumped out of the way in the nick of time. The lucky bastard. It would have been nice if that single move had ended the fight before it got started.

I almost laughed. But I was too angry. It took everything in me not to attack right then and there.

Emily balled her fist and punched the guy full on the mouth. I smirked in the only way my snout would allow which, I was sure, would be a terrifying grin if placed on the receiving end. I was proud of her, though. She had things covered well enough, despite Marcus backing her. And that was a solid right hook she gave Rowan too.

I wanted to pat myself on the back and congratulate Jax as well. We taught her well.

Another argument ensued. I wasn’t sure what it was about. Though the voices carried through the quiet night, I was too far away to discern the actual words. Even if I was able to pick out the words spoken, I truly didn’t care to know what was said. I only cared about Emily and how she was literally in the middle of it all.

I hated the fact she was so close to harm. Even though Marcus stood right behind her, it wasn’t enough. With the numbers surrounding the property, we were in for a bloody fight that wasn’t going to end well for either side. But I was still certain we were on the losing end of things, and that meant Emily could get seriously hurt or killed.

Still, replaying the punch in my mind had me almost breathless with adoration. I couldn’t help but take notice of how much had changed with her. The sweet innocence she used to have, and would throw me through a loop with, was long gone. Her eyes no longer shone with the innocence of a life without pain and suffering would show. She had scars now. Ones that were hidden deep beneath the surface.

Her years with the wolves had made her battle-hardened in a sense. Yet, throughout it all, she was still the same girl I remembered, and I had never been prouder.

Emily’s hands glowed with her magic, forming balls of fire and light. She aimed both in front of her and shot the fireballs from them. They landed on the ground. Rowan screamed like a girl.

Unable to help or stop myself, I chuckled.

The sound startled the first few rows of wolves and humans standing in front of me. My chuckle had alerted the group of my presence. One by one, they turned around. The wolves growled, and the humans aimed their weapons at me.

I huffed.

They really didn’t know what they were doing.

I stood up on my hind legs and flapped my wings, and then put all the force I was able to muster into slamming my feet back onto the ground. My hope was to shake the earth enough it would knock at least a couple of them off their feet. But as I touched the ground, I frowned.

They hadn’t so much as shuddered.

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