Page 24 of Red and Her Dragons (Dirty Paranormal Fairytale Haremlan 4)

“Wolves,” I said.

“Guess they beat us to the punch, eh?” Bret stepped forward. “Show yourselves, now.”

I followed Bret to the center of the courtyard. The shadows drew closer to the gate and two human figures approached, stepping into view. It was the wolf alpha, Bryson, and his son, Rowan.

They glared at me.

My hands formed fists at my sides.

“Where is Emily?” Bryson demanded.

“Don’t bother denying she’s here,” Rowan said. “I can smell her.”

“She’s no longer your problem to deal with,” I said. “She has sought sanctuary.”

“You can’t interfere with the arrangement,” Bryson said. “She belongs to my son. She is his property. Return her now or you will be faced with a war.”

“We didn’t steal her,” Bret said, then added under his breath, “Filthy mongrels.”

“What do you think her mother would say when she learns of her daughter’s betrayal? Everything she fought hard to achieve will be null and void,” Bryson said.

I shrugged. “The rules of sanctuary are clear. Neither you nor I can do anything about it. If her mother wishes to come to me and learn the truth, I will be more than happy to tell her.”

“You can’t keep her!” Rowan screamed.

“We can and we will,” I snapped. “So long as she has sought refuge behind these gates, you cannot touch her again.”

The wolves around them whimpered and barked and whined. Each of them moved as though they were anxious. But by the time I had connected the dots and saw the shadows moving toward the sides of the walls that sealed in the courtyard, it was too late.

Wolves launched over the walls that surrounded the castle and charged toward the front door. Bryson and Rowan disappeared into the shadows.

Bret and I exchanged glances and then shifted into our dragons.

9

EMILY

Chaos erupted through the air, waking me from my deep sleep. After several seconds of trying to figure out what was going on, I realized the loud sounds were from a fight. And it was happening close by.

I leaped from the bed and rushed to the window to see what was happening. My heart hammered in my chest, and it felt like my feet couldn’t move fast enough. Whoever was fighting, it sounded deadly, and I hated the thought of my men getting hurt.

Once I reached the window, I pulled back the curtains and found two dragons fighting off an entire pack of wolves.

I didn’t have to guess who was behind it. But as I searched the collection of wolves, none of them were Bryson or Rowan.

“Figures,” I muttered. “Fucking cowards.”

Rage filled me. The bastards not only followed me to the castle, but they were fighting off the men I loved dearly. I wasn’t going to stand for that. Of course, part of my anger was directed at me. I should have known they were going to follow me here. I took a risk and involved the men which wasn’t fair for me to do.

Though I knew full and well the dragons could handle themselves against a pack of wolves, these weren’t just an ordinary pack. They were cunning and had extensive training when it came to fighting creatures and shifters much, much bigger than them. Bryson made sure of that. Plus, they were incredibly strong. More so than most shifter wolf packs.

And the evidence of such I was witnessing with my own eyes.

That wasn’t to say my men weren’t taking care of business. Bryson had a habit of underestimating his foes and overestimating his strength. The sheer fact as much hadn’t blown up in his face yet continued to astound me. And despite how much more powerful my men were, they were vastly outnumbered and close to becoming overwhelmed.

Regardless of the tactics or strength between the wolves and the dragons, there was one thing I wasn’t going to tolerate, and that was the stupid fight taking place in the courtyard. I was going to put a stop to it and make my position clear once and for all.

I quickly dressed into whatever clothes I could find in the dark and ran toward the front door. It was standing open, and the disarray of the fight filled my vision just outside the castle. I continued running. Once I stood on the ground of the courtyard, I stopped and sucked in a deep breath, and yelled, “Stop!”

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