Page 55 of Taloned Heart

He moved ahead when Lore glanced back for him. He was not wearing his pack or much at all. The clothing on his form would easily be destroyed, because he already knew what she wanted from him.

Though he hated to be used, Abraxas had already been itching to change. It had been far too long since he’d been in his dragon form. Far too long since he’d heard people scream in fear when they saw his shadow pass overhead.

“So, it is time,” he muttered, standing beside her and looking up at the sky. “In daylight?”

“Plan changed.” Lore, again, ignored Beauty, who was now waving her hand in front of the elf’s face. “We’re fighting to get him.”

“How many?”

She shrugged. “Not enough. The guards on the outside I can put to sleep, or you can take care of the issue. That’s up to you.”

Oh, he’d always wanted to be a good man. He’d wanted to be a valuable partner and someone his mate could rely on. There was a time when he thought that man had to be genteel, honorable, stuffy. He’d thought he had to wear nice clothing and sit at a desk, or at the very least smile at strangers as they passed him by.

But now?

His mate had freed him from those terrible thoughts. Lore did not ask him to be anything other than a dragon. He was a man when they mated, and she enjoyed every second of that, but she never wanted him to change who he was or how he reacted.

And the crimson dragon in him longed to scent blood in the air and battle beneath his claws.

Giving her a feral grin, he felt the change rippling through him. “I’ll take care of them.”

Lore was not the same as she’d been before, either. She did not step away from him in fear of the power blast that would surely knock off her feet. Instead, she stepped closer and placed her hand on his cheek. “My terrifying love,” she whispered. “We will take from them as they took from him.”

Scales rippled down his body and a blast of air pushed Beauty away from them. But Lore remained. She stayed still with her hand on his snout now, gently petting the warm scales there before she whispered, “Should I get our armor?”

“There is no time.” He nudged back against her touch. “We have fought without it before. This is not the battle it was forged for.”

Lore’s eyes flashed with pleasure, and then she raced up his outstretched wing. They’d done this so many times, but he felt the honor of it every time she settled between his spines.

Though the air rang with Beauty’s swears, he still felt the power and the luxury of knowing that he and his partner were ready to take to the skies.

Lore leaned forward and patted the side of his neck. “Let them know we’re coming.” Her own voice had turned wild and wicked. “Let them know who to fear.”

Stretching his neck high toward the sky, Abraxas let out a roar that shook the very clouds. It tore through the air and he knew that all who heard it would tremble in fear. They would know what it meant to be terrified and frozen as they waited for the attack. They would know what Zephyr had felt all these long nights.

His wings beat at the air and they were off. They soared through the air like an arrow loosed from a bow. Two weapons with their sights on the elves, who stood at the ready on the battlements of a castle that once stood for peace.

Though the wind whipped at her words, he still heard Lore as she shouted, “Drop me off in the center! Just get rid of the ones above me.”

He would, and gladly.

They were close enough that he could see the white terror in the eyes of the elves, who pointed weapons at him. Acid dripped from the tips of those arrows, so at least Margaret had learned something from all the battles she’d fought before.

It would not help them.

He had also learned from those same battles.

Licking his lips, he gave them all a terrifying, toothy grin while banking low over the courtyard. Though his body was larger than its entirety, Lore had enough space to slip from his shoulders just before the first volley of arrows reached him.

Abraxas banked again, hard. He tilted his body, rolling through the air so that none of the arrows hit him. They would have to anticipate his movements. And considering they had never fought a dragon before, that would be a difficult task, indeed.

He circled the castle and let loose a surge of flames down one side of the parapets. Every elf on that side was soon torched, their bodies flailing as the blast of his flames sizzled the fat on their bones.

Shifting quickly, he avoided another round of arrows before raising up in the air, too high for them to reach. He took his time, watching Lore’s fluid body as she fought the elves on the ground. Her fighting style had changed. She trusted her magic, even as she leapt through the air, rolled over the back of a bleeding elf, outstretched her hand to release a pulse of power that sent others staggering back.

Twenty men could not stop her, no matter how hard they struggled to contain her. And ah, it was a lovely sight. His bloodthirsty little mate would stop at nothing to get those she deemed family.

He sank low again, timing the moment when the elves turned their attention back to Lore. This time, he scooped their bodies up with his wide jaws, thrashing some off the edge of the parapets and onto the hard stone below.

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