“What?” I twist my hand in his grip, but he’s holding on so tightly, it wrenches the bones in my wrist. I only succeed in slipping off my mitten, not that it does me any good. “Let me go! I don’t want to go anywhere with you.”
“Skye!” he barks. “Stop it. It’s okay. We’re taking you home. You’re safe now.”
The sheer lunacy of that statement temporarily shocks me into silence. Does he really believe he’s…saving me?
We emerge from the trees, and I realize where he’s taking me. It’s the cove where I prepared my full moon ritual on that fateful night when I nearly killed Jack by taking his power during sex. It’s hidden from the Lodge, and it’s outside my spell’s perimeter, especially because I’d been intent on pushing the barrier out toward the village, not away from it in the direction of the coast.
“Cameron, no!” I jerk back with all my weight and succeed in tumbling us both down on the grassy slope leading down to the water. White-capped waves lick the pebbles on the shore, crashing against the dark granite rocks. I lose my second mitten.
He grunts and rolls over, hand grasping for mine. “Don’t be stupid,” he growls. “These people aren’t who you think they are. I don’t know what they told you, but they’remonsters. They’re dragons, Skye. And we need to get away from the villagenow.”
“They’re not monsters,” I protest, scrambling away from him, crab-like. “I like it here.”
“You’ve been spelled,” he says. “We’ll find a way to break their enchantments, but if they catch us here, they’ll kill both of us.”
He waves a hand and mutters something I can’t hear over the rushing of the waves. A small rowboat appears from thin air, popping into existence much like Cameron himself did earlier.
The man I used to sleep with throws me a smirk over his shoulder. “Neat trick, huh?”
He’s unbelievable. And crazy if he thinks the best way to escape pursuit by sea dragons is to row away in a tiny shell of a boat.
“Look, if you leave now, I won’t tell them you’re here,” I argue, “but you have to stop attacking the village. What were you thinking? There are children living there!”
That’s what I absolutely can’t forgive. No matter what history the witches and the dragons have, children should be protected at all times.
His lip curls in a sneer. “Abominations. We’ll burn the whole place to the ground.”
He’s fucking serious. I can’t believe I ever thought he was charming. Sure, Cameron was handsome in that pale, studious way that I used to go for in college, but this is his true face. All the polish rubbed away by the Alaskan wilderness. I wonder how long he’s been living rough out here, then decide I don’t care. I just want him gone.
“You’ll go away and never return,” I snap. “Or I’ll—”
“You’ll what?” he says, his brown eyes glittering. “Are you seriously defending these creatures?”
“They’repeople!” I yell. “They deserve to live in peace, and I don’t care who your parents are or what my family thinks of me, I’m going to make you sorry you ever stepped foot in this village.”
“You little traitor.”
He sounds almost amused. Then he pounces on me, grabbing me by the hood of my parka and dragging me to the boat. Flailing, I try to find purchase, but the slippery pebbles offer no support. Then my boots splash in the shallow surf, and he pushes me over the edge of the boat. I fall in, my limbs flailing, and crack my head hard on the wooden seat. Black spots twirl around my field of vision, but I fight the darkness with all I have: if Cameron takes me away, my men won’t know what happened. They won’t know where to search for me, and Cameron will be able to put gods know what spells on me to keep me restrained.
I scramble upright and look around for a weapon. Panicked, I feel around for an oar to use as a club, but it’s fastened to the rim of the boat to prevent it from floating off. Cameron pushes the boat down the pebbles, and I lunge over the side, splashing into the shockingly cold water.
My lungs seize for a moment, and I splutter to the surface, coughing. “Help!” I scream as soon as I get a breath in. “Help me!”
Cameron appears in front of me, his usually pale face red and twisted in anger. He backhands me across the face, the blow vicious and cruel. “Shut the fuck up,” he hisses. “Or I’ll kill you myself.”
He’s serious. When we’d been together, he’d been cold and distant toward me, but he’d never once been violent. True, his indifference and sometimes cutting remarks had been painful, but this is the first time he’s raised his hand to me. Tears well in my eyes from the pain, and I spit out a mouthful of blood. I must have bit the inside of my cheek. But I retreat from him, deeper into the water, raising my arms in the way boxing champions do. Not that I know how to fight, but I figure I can maybe stop another blow from landing if I see it coming.
But Cameron is a witch. He doesn’t need to be within striking distance to hurt me. His face shining with sweat, he focuses on me, his teeth bared in a snarl. With a muttered word, a glowing orb of green fire appears in his hand, and he lunges it at me.
We’re still too close for me to duck. I try, but the magical flames leap to his command, bursting over my skin. They scald, the heat unbearable, even though I’m all wet. I smell burning hair before the pain registers, and then I scream, batting at myself with my hands to put the flames out. Then reason kicks in, and I dive underwater, doing a kind of stop, drop, and roll. Still, the flames lick at my skin, my clothes, and I know he won’t relent. He’d rather burn me to death than let me go. And once I’m dead, nothing will keep him from turning these same powers on my new home. On the people I love.
All of a sudden, the flames wink out, and I splash to the surface. The saltwater is agonizing on my burns, even though it’s cold. Then an earth-shattering roar rends the quiet. Aiden in his dragon form rears up in the shallows. His long neck stretches above Cameron, and the witch cowers on instinct.
Aiden swipes his tail at him, and Cameron falls, spluttering and splashing in the knee-high water. Then he picks himself up, summons another ball of flames, and lunges it at Aiden’s head.
The massive dragon ducks, but the magical flames land on his left wing, sticking to the leathery membrane like shining green glue. Aiden screams in pain, then knocks Cameron aside again. A warning to stop the attack. His wicked claws could have rent a witch in two, or he could have bitten off half his body, and yet he’s holding back.
For me.
