Page 119 of Magic Claimed

Raine. Don’t be afraid. I’ll catch you.

And then my peace was shattered by a wave of emotions so fierce and overwhelming that they left me breathless.

Fear.

Fury.

Desperation.

Love.

I was still gasping when something huge and dark plummeted out of the sky and struck Blake broadside.

He was sent reeling—tumbling through the sky for a handful of seconds before he righted himself—and as my brain tried frantically to tell up from down, I caught my first glimpse of his attacker.

Shimmering black scales, wide black wings, claws like scimitars, furious amber eyes… and a heart I could feel beating as if it rested in my own chest.

“Callum!”

He was here. He was whole. I didn’t understand it, couldn’t explain it, but the how and the why didn’t matter. Only that he was okay.

But now I was in the middle of a fight that I wasn’t sure I could survive.

Blake was desperate for a win. He knew I’d escaped his headquarters, so he would likely assume Kes had escaped with me. That we’d somehow neutralized his people. He couldn’t count on backup, and the battle still raging below us was too evenly matched to claim victory.

He needed to strike another blow to the morale of his enemies, and that meant winningthisfight. Demonstrating his superiority in the air, while robbing Callum of the one thing he was most desperate to protect.

Me.

And it seemed that Blake agreed with my assessment. As Callum circled and dove, the dragon holding me reared back—hovering nearly upright with me clenched tightly in his claws.

I heard a sound like laughter—so deep and terrible that it shook me to my very core—and then…

He threw me.

Launched me skyward into the sun, like a fly-ball vanishing into the lights of left field. For a moment I hung there, weightless—unable to scream, unable to form even the smallest panicky thought—and then I fell, racing towards the unforgiving earth at ever-increasing speeds.

And below me, fanged mouth open wide as he rose through the air, was Blake. Pulling in a breath as he prepared to send me to oblivion with a single jet of flame.

Callum had already started his dive when Blake threw me, and had he been one bit less agile or experienced, our story would have been over in the blink of an eye—burnt to ash in the white heat of dragon fire.

But miraculously he twisted in midair. Pulled up, turned, and lashed out, carving a deep and bloody wound along Blake’s ribs with his claws.

Blake screamed and flailed and began to fall, but I was falling too, and Blake somehow managed to reach out and grip Callum’s neck between his teeth.

He was larger, just as Morghaine had been. Probably stronger, too, and he held on as the two plummeted towards the earth, twisted together in a terrible, bloody dance.

And I fell with them.

Watching the clouds flash by as if in slow motion. Heart in my throat—not for me, but for Callum, as he kicked out with his hind legs, caught the trailing edge of Blake’s wing, and tore a long gash through the membrane.

And when Blake’s mouth opened to cry out in panic and agony, Callum was free. Free to bank, free to dive, heedless of his own pain. His amber eyes seared into mine as I heard the terrified screams from below me.

I’ve got you.

I looked back at him and smiled as the ground rushed closer.

I know.