Gold light shimmered across Gris's body and he transformed. The blood that flowed slowed and new scales formed across the open wound. Gris growled and Cage breathed a sigh of relief.
The sun witch, mate to one of his warriors ran toward them and brought light to the alley way. Now they could all see the rest of the destruction. Including a human woman lying in a pool of blood. It was the badass katana wielding mate.
Oh no. Not a mate. Not when his dragons had only just begun finding the women who lit up their souls.
A deep wrench hit Cage in the gut. He could do nothing. Nothing to save this beautiful soul mate. What if it had been Azy fighting here at his side? He would never survive her death.
The witch ran to the woman’s side and began performing CPR. She was joined immediate by the human woman’s dragon mate. A young warrior not even yet in his prime. The dragon shifted into his human form and grasped his mate's hand.
Even as the witch worked hard to breathe life back into the woman the crystal at the injured woman’s neck faded and flickered. There was so much blood.
“Come on, come on. Breathe dammit.” The witch pushed on the woman's chest counting the compressions until the warrior grabbed her arm and gently push her away. All the color drained from his face as he stared down at his mate.
He leaned down and whispered in her ear. “Where you go, I go.”
The last of the light in the soul shard blinked out and the young dragon warrior fell beside his mate, still holding her hand in his.
Cage roared into the sky shaking the crumbling building. He’d lost two precious lives tonight.
The witch put her fingers on the woman's neck and then the warrior’s. She shook her head and looked at the others in the group, sadness and shock on her face. “They're gone. Both of them.”
A golden glow of light washed over the couple and swirls lifted from their bodies. The streamers of light sparkled and danced around each other floating together into the sky until their souls dissipated into the night.
Cage swallowed hard past a lump of guilt, fear, and sadness in his throat.
Dragons died in battle, it was part of being a warrior. Some were taken by old age, like his own father's death. But his father had been almost six-hundred years old and didn’t ever have a mate. This warrior had been young, a hundred and twenty maybe a hundred and thirty years old. He and his mate had only been together a few months. His body had no visible injuries. Hers was riddled with her own blood.
She had died fighting alongside them all, and her mate had joined her in death.
Was this the way of the world now? A mate dies and her dragon does too? Did it work the other way around as well?
This changed everything.
The remaining dragon warrior comforted his mate and held her tight to him. He stared up at Cage looking for guidance, for a sense of what this meant. Cage didn’t know.
“Take your mate to safety, warrior. Keep her close.”
The witch peeked out from her dragon’s grasp.
“You too, little mate. Keep your warrior safe.” She nodded and the dragon warrior grabbed her up in his great claws and took to the air, flying high, far from the danger and carnage here.
Gris groaned and rolled to his side, shifting back into human form. His wounds were mostly healed. “What happened? Where the fuck is that succubus?”
“She's gone. The sacrificial distraction. I doubt if we even discover the entrance to Geshtianna's hiding place, we would find her or any of the coven there.”
Gris pounded his fist into the dirt leaving a crater. “She'll pay for this.”
“She has a lot to pay for. Geshtianna will regret the day she allied herself with the Black Dragon.”
When Gris saw the bodies of the couple, he visibly blanched. But he knew his job. He contacted another team of gold dragons in the area to come and meet them, to retrieve their fallen comrades.
“If Geshtianna or the Black Dragon finds this out, we all may be dead.”
The team flew in quickly and headed off for the new gold Wyr stronghold in Spain. Cage wished he were on his way there, and back to Azy right now. He needed to hold her in his arms, rub her belly where their babies grew, and know that she was safe.
One of the dragon warriors stayed behind. “Sir. I have a message from Azynsa.”
“Well, what is it?”
