Page 13 of Fated to the Dragon King (Alpha Dragons’ Fated #4)

Alaric

Hayley’s expression appeared both resolute and frightened to death. I’d been expecting her to ask. I glanced around for possible listening ears, saw none, and nodded briefly.

“Yeah, I think you should.”

“I mean, well, you’re my husband, even though you have to divorce me and all, I just –”

“Just need to reassure yourself that you can believe dragons exist?”

Her gaze downcast, Hayley nodded. “Something like that.”

“While I don’t know just where we’re headed with this marriage,” I said slowly, “we have to trust in the divine.”

“That your goddess wants us to be together?”

“Perhaps. Willow might inquire on our behalf, but Lanokota doesn’t always answer.”

“What do you mean, inquire?”

“Willow is the high priestess of Lanokota,” I replied. “She intercedes for us to the goddess. Sometimes she’ll receive an answer, sometimes not.”

Hayley opened her mouth to speak, but closed it again when the waitress appeared with coffee cups and a pot. She set menus in front of us, poured, then left us alone. I absently stirred my coffee while I waited for Hayley to speak.

“I was never sure I believed in a god,” she said at last. “Or a female god. Then I’m magically healed by one. I don’t know what to think.”

“Then don’t think,” I said lightly. “Just accept. Open your heart to the possibilities. When I – shift – for you, then open your mind to belief.”

Her hands shook slightly as she lifted her cup to drink, but her gaze was steady and confident. “Okay.”

We ate the hot burgers and greasy fries while making light conversation.

Hayley had indeed changed since that first day she came to work for me.

Back then, she was a mouse, terrified of me, and of living.

Now, she met my gaze freely, spoke with no stammer and laughed easily.

Yes, she may have been beaten down by life once.

It’s now her turn to hammer away at life.

“Are you nervous?” I asked as I drove us toward my house and the private beach with no possible witnesses to see my dragon self.

“A little. Maybe.”

“I have to know,” I said. “Why did you panic that night? Run from me?”

Hayley glanced at my face, then away. “I thought you intended to kill me.”

“What?”

Incredulous, I took my gaze from the road and minimal traffic to stare hard at her. “Why in Lanokota’s name would you have thought that?”

“We weren’t very happy with each other,” she answered. “You gave off some rather creepy vibes. And you said you could end this marriage tonight.”

My mouth hung open. “Oh, shit. So I did.”

“And you took me to a lover’s lane, and we were alone. No one around. I’m sure you wouldn’t have been the first one to toss someone over the cliff where no corpse would ever be recovered.”

I seized Hayley’s hand, and gripped it hard. Tight enough to hurt, but Hayley never flinched.

“Plus,” she added slowly, “with me dead, you get your money back.”

“I am so, so very sorry I gave you that idea. I would never willingly hurt you. Even if we go our separate ways, I will let you go with a hug and a smile. Even with what you know about us.”

She smiled, her teeth gleaming in the dash lights. “I know that now. You could have left me to die. You didn’t. You risked being seen by flying me to the hospital. Am I right?”

“Yes.”

“If you had murder on your mind, you would have just flown away.”

“Driven away.” I grinned. “I wouldn’t have abandoned my truck with the body of my employee lying nearby, shot dead.”

“Ah, yes.”

“Or risked witnesses seeing me drive away with my dead employee behind me. We weren’t the only ones there.”

“Is that where we’re going now?”

“No. We’re going home.”

“That’s why you chose such an expensive place to live, isn’t it?”

“And don’t forget private. There’s no one there to see a dragon take flight.”

I parked the truck in my driveway, then reclaimed Hayley’s hand.

Without going into the house, we walked through the darkness toward the beach and the restless ocean beyond.

She walked beside me with confidence as though we headed for a swim.

I dared hope she’d keep her wits about her when I shifted, and not let her instinctive fears get the better of her.

On the beach, I asked, “Ready?”

“Yes.”

I strode away from her, toward the water to give myself room. Before I shifted, I glanced back. “Here be a dragon.”

I shifted.

I braced myself for Hayley’s panic. It didn’t come.

She stood where I’d left her, staring up with her mouth open. My dragon’s senses were far keener than my two-legged form’s, thus I saw her clearly in the dark. I heard her indrawn breath, heard her whisper, “Holy shit.”

I stretched my wings, chuckling. “Well? What do you think?”

“I think I’m glad you don’t want to kill me.”

Crouching, I put my muzzle on her level, eye to eye with her. “We don’t kill unless we must. We fly, we breathe fire hot enough to melt steel, but we treasure peace, not death.”

I saw no tremble in her hand as she reached up to touch my jaw. “Your skin. It’s so warm. And yet hard.”

“We’re fire proof, but not bullet proof. We can be killed with guns or rockets, which is one of many reasons we don’t want humans to know about us.”

“We’ll kill you. Won’t we?”

“Most likely. We’re a threat to humanity, despite our peaceful way of life. Humans can’t kill what they don’t know about.”

“Why do I suddenly hate being a human?”

“Because you’re a good person.”

Hayley smiled. “Are you going to fly?”

“I’d like to. If you don’t mind.”

“I want to see it.”

In order to not throw sand all over her, I paced away and toward the rushing surf. Spreading my wings, I leaped heavenward. The light wind, scenting of salt, lifted me higher and higher until I circled over the beach and Hayley.

“You’re beautiful,” she yelled, laughing.

I soared higher, throwing a long burst of flame into the sky.

I then dove, straight down, to splash into the ocean.

Under the water, I flamed again, frightening a pod of dolphins into panicked flight.

I paddled with my four legs to the surface, and, using my wings as pistons, beat my way into the sky again.

I never saw him.

I reached perhaps two thousand feet over the sea when Damon struck me from above. His talons slashed my back, seeking to slice my wings’ tendons at my shoulders. His mighty jaws clamped on my neck, biting deep, inching closer and closer to my jugular.

Folding my wings, I dove.

The impact of hitting the water jostled him from my back.

He couldn’t hold his breath while his jaws were fastened to my neck.

I twisted my head toward his face, and blasted my red-orange flames at his vulnerable eyes.

Damon wrenched his body away from me, turning, and sent a returning blast of fire at my flank.

Unharmed, I slashed my talons at his throat as he swam for the surface. I missed, but sank my claws into his tail, forcing Damon to drag me up with him. Bubbles burst from his opened mouth as he shrieked in frustration, his legs and wings frantically paddling to reach the air above.

As I had filled my lungs before hitting the sea, and Damon hadn’t, I forced my wings to sweep me, us, further down. Inch by inch, I dragged Damon deeper under the surface. He fought, still trying to swim upward, yet my sheer weight on his tail made his progress nearly impossible.

Twisting, Damon raked his talons across my face, missing my eyes by a fraction. My blood turned the ocean around us red while the salty water stung crazily. Still, I refused to let go of his tail, and caught his swinging left forearm in my jaws. I bit down, breaking his leg.

He screamed. Panicked now, drowning with only three usable limbs, Damon fought like a mad thing. He thrashed and tried again to blind me with his right talons. I avoided the strike easily, still dragging him backward. Even so, I, too, needed to breathe. My chest ached with the need for air.

Damon, in a swift movement, sank his teeth into my shoulder. Forced to release his tail, I slashed and clawed at his face and neck. Using his talons like a club, Damon hit me on the side of my head, half stunning me.

Had he the breath, he may have finished me off. However, his need to gain the surface overrode his desire to kill me. He swam up, his limbs and wings working frantically to reach the sea’s surface. I swam hard behind him, nearly out of oxygen and bleeding badly.

His head broke the surface. I heard his gasp for breath, saw him flailing wildly to get his wings working in order to become airborne. He trailed water and bubbles after him just as I breached, sucking air into my starved lungs.

I, too, used my wings for flight rather than swimming.

Chasing Damon, cursing, my rage all but blinding me, I flew in his wake.

Beating his wings, he flew fast toward the city’s lights.

Not to turn and fight, but to escape me.

He knew damn well he’d die if he banked around to charge headlong into battle.

He also knew I’d not risk openly fighting where humans might witness it.

I slowed my pace, cursing uselessly, watching him fly away, escaping my wrath.

Banking around while still over the ocean, my left wing dipped, I sucked in my breath –

And blasted my wicked fire straight into Fiona’s face.

She screamed, her talons rising to shield her eyes. I didn’t slow down as I body slammed her, my claws raking deep gashes in her muzzle, her head, and neck. She dropped like a stone, falling away from me, letting gravity assist her in gaining some distance from me.

“Bitch,” I yelled, diving after her, my wings folded.

Lighter than me, slender and trim, Fiona’s gold dragon ducked and dodged my reaching talons. I missed seizing her tail several times, and could not match her for sheer speed. Like her cowardly mate, Fiona raced toward Damon and the city in her need to escape me.

Breathing hard, I circled, watching her flee. Within seconds, she vanished into the distance. “Damn it.”

Bleeding heavily, my neck, shoulder and back scored with wounds, I banked toward Hayley and the beach. Pain burned away my rage as I back winged a dozen feet from and sand, then dropped.

“Alaric!”

Hayley, running hard, her hair flying, reached me as I shifted into my human form. I fell to my knees, my teeth clenched to avoid yelling in pain. Ripping her shirt into pieces, Hayley staunched the blood flowing from my shoulder. This time I did yell out as she put pressure on the wound.

“Hold still,” she ordered. “Don’t fight me, dammit, just relax. Relax as much as you can.”

“Trying,” I grunted, holding my hand against the gash on my neck.

“You need a hospital,” she said. “I’ll call 911.”

“No.” I grabbed her hand as she reached for my cell in my pocket. “No hospital. I’m okay.”

“No, you’re not,” she cried. “You’re bleeding badly.”

“It’s stopping. Help me up.”

“Alaric –”

“Help me up, damn your eyes!”