Aria let her Dragon go. As she dropped the scales, she approached Nikolai. His neck arched, and his nostrils flared wide as he drank in her scent and the sight of her naked human flesh. She kept the tenuous link between them open, and along it, she pushed everything he was, and could be, to her. Tothem.
Another burst of silver passed across his eyes, and she sensed a small part of the rage redirect to something no less forceful, but far less destructive. It wrenched control from the Perditor and put it into her hands.
She placed them on each side of his face and lowered it until his horn rested on her shoulder. His nose brushed against her breast.
The huge black body quivered and went as rigid as a board.
I have an idea,she said.Are you with me?
Another shudder passed through him, and then he sighed.Yes,he replied.
* * *
The impact with the rock had sliced open Lucas’s forehead. He fought to stay conscious as blood poured down his face. There was something he was supposed to be doing.
Galeran. Runes. Right.
As he struggled back to his feet, Demeti moved closer to him. The three Dires loomed behind, their eyes shining with anticipation.
The Torshin’s hands still glowed, but now they held something within them—a ball that spun a rope of pure energy.
Dammit.
Lucas tried to dodge it, but the icefire whip lashed out and wound its way around him, burning everywhere it touched. It pinned his arms to his sides and yanked him face-first into the wall.
He gritted his teeth against the pain, but no matter how hard he struggled, the whip merely tightened its hold. The glowing strand dug deep into his skin, and the blood ran down his body.
Demeti pressed against him from behind and seized Lucas’s ear in his teeth. He bit down.
Lucas couldn’t help the guttural sound that erupted from him, but it was what followed that froze his heart—sharp claws riffling through the stiff hairs along his spine. He braced himself against what he knew would come.
Only this time, it didn’t.
He felt the hairs activate with little zings of electricity, but his body failed to respond.
Because you are mine,Nikolai snarled in his brain.And Demeti will never touch you again.
Demeti groaned as he ground up against Lucas. But Lucas hardly felt it, his mind was filled with white fire along the link. His eyes widened as tiny wisps of black fog drifted off his skin, and the ground beneath his feet trembled.
Nikolai, what the hell—
A distinctly feminine voice raced across his thoughts.Brace for impact, Lucas.
Then something scorched straight through him. The air lit with jagged strands of red lightning. The icefire whip shredded in an instant, and forks of pure energy shot from Lucas’s skin, blasting right through Demeti.
The Torshin screamed, a shriek that turned into a high, thin wail as the lightning penetrated every cell and splintered them into a million tiny shards. It continued to the Dires, now scrambling for the exit. Their howls rose to screams and then cut off abruptly.
Lucas’s mouth was open in a soundless scream of his own, the energy threatening to take him in their wake. The ground shook and more chunks of rock crashed to the cave floor. Then the lightning was gone, as quickly as it had come. The mountain rumbled ominously, before falling silent once more.
He collapsed, shaking. His entire body felt as though it had been wrenched apart, and then reassembled.
Lucas? Are you all right?It was Aria, and her mindvoice trembled.
The cave was silent except for a steady dripping sound. What was left of Demeti and the Dires splattered all over the surrounding stone. Gagging, Lucas dragged himself on all fours to the entrance, and huddled in the shadows of the tunnel, arms wrapped around himself.
Lucas?Nikolai, this time.
I’m okay. Just shook up.
