Page 104

HARLEY

C haos exploded around me.

Steph’s sage green dragon crashed into Sean’s smaller, sickly looking gray dragon.

For all his sickly appearance, though, he was surprisingly strong as he struggled against Steph.

Sean’s hired lackeys withdrew knives and batons and charged forward as well, brandishing their weapons at the Lakeview enforcers.

They began to grapple as well, and the sounds of dragons’ roars, men’s shouts, and the thump of fists meeting flesh filled the night air.

Blakely tightened her grip on my arm and took an unsteady step back. We were right at the edge of the clearing, with the tree line at our back. Hopefully, we wouldn’t be collateral damage, but with those dragon tails whipping, anything was possible.

My arms were starting to go numb. I’d been tied up for what felt like hours.

First, I’d been slapped in handcuffs and put in the back of a shitty van, then driven down a winding dirt road to another one of Sean’s dirty hiding spots.

He’d left me there with a few of his hired enforcers, who had tied me to a chair and promptly ignored me while they got drunk and played cards.

Nothing had happened until Sean returned.

When he had Steph on the phone, I could hear Steph’s rage even through the tinny speaker.

I wasn’t scared. I was pissed.

At Sean, of course, but mostly at myself.

How could I be so fucking stupid? I’d already been kidnapped once , and I’d let it happen again? Steph had gone to so much trouble to ensure this didn’t happen. I couldn’t believe I’d been gullible enough to think my mother had changed.

Mom. I hoped she was okay, wherever she was.

Steph roared, and smoke billowed from his nostrils as he swung his head and bashed it into Sean’s.

Sean snarled in pain, and the distraction was enough for Steph to push forward and take control.

He dug his claws into Sean’s body, and the two dragons rolled on the ground, nearly taking out some of the men fighting around them as they crashed into the cabin.

“Shit!” Blakely dragged me back until we were between a few of the trees, as if they would defend us from the fighting. “Shit. Shit. This was a mistake,” she muttered under her breath.

“No fucking shit. This mess is your fault, and I’m going to wring your fucking neck when it’s all over.

” I tugged against her hold, but it was no use.

With my arms half-numb and her grip tight with fear, I wasn’t getting away.

Plus, where the hell would I go? I wasn’t going to run when Steph was in the middle of his challenge.

“Shut up,” Blakely hissed. “This is your fault more than mine. If you had just left town?—”

I barked an incredulous laugh. “After everything that’s happened, you’re still stuck on that? You actually think you’ll get your fairy tale ending with Ace?”

“There’s nothing funny about this.” Blakely yanked on my wrists, and my shoulders twinged in complaint.

I grimaced at the pain. “You’re completely sick in the head.

You need help, Blakely. Steph never loved you.

He never really wanted you. You were just there.

And whatever you had with him is over.” I nodded toward the ongoing fights.

“This goes way beyond whatever weird obsession you have with me and Steph. You were really stupid to get involved with Sean. Really, really stupid.”

“It worked, though.” Blakely’s voice quivered. I could tell she didn’t really believe what she was saying. She was arguing just to argue. “Ace showed up, didn’t he?”

“Yeah, because you used me as bait,” I snapped.

“Sean promised he’d get rid of you,” Blakely said. “He said after he got Ace to show up, he’d win the challenge, get rid of you, and Ace would finally be mine.”

I burst out in hysterical laughter. “And you really believed that?”

Blakely said nothing. Jesus, she really had fallen for Sean’s insane lies.

“Do you even know how a challenge works? They’re to the death, you psycho.”

“Or submission,” Blakely said meekly.

“You really think Steph would submit to Sean?” I rolled my eyes, even though she couldn’t see it. “Every time I think you can’t get more delusional, you surprise me.”

“But… That’s not?—”

“Sean lied to you,” I snapped. “The way he lies to everyone. So if Steph dies here, it’s your fault.”

“No!” Blakely cried out. “That can’t happen.” In her fear, her grip loosened on my arms. I pulled away, and she didn’t reach for me again—maybe she was in shock. No complaints here. I began to work my wrists back and forth, loosening the rope around them.

“This is all wrong.” Blakely pushed her hands through her hair and watched the fight desperately. “Sean said he’d win, that Ace would be mine! He can’t kill him! He can’t !”

Sean and Steph were still locked in combat.

Sean had a long gash across his side. It was shallow but bleeding steadily.

Steph’s front claws were stained with blood.

His golden eyes burned with rage, and smoke billowed from his nostrils and his mouth.

Their fighting had crushed the remains of the cabin beneath them.

In the surrounding dirt, the Lakeview enforcers had Sean’s hired muscle mostly under control.

“You should’ve thought about that before you agreed to work with him,” I snarled. I pressed my back to a nearby tree and tugged hard at the ropes around my wrist. Blakely’s attention was still fixed on the fight, and she was biting her thumbnail. Sean really had her believing he might win.

Steph roared as Sean buried his claws in his side.

I swallowed hard.

No. I couldn’t be afraid. I believed in Steph. I knew he would win.

He had to. Because I couldn’t lose him.

He’d refused to claim me because the pain of his loss would be too great. But as I watched the blood seeping from his wound, I knew it didn’t matter. If I lost him, the pain would be too much to bear.

I shoved that thought away. I wasn’t going to lose him. I wasn’t.

I wrenched my hand down, and the widest part of my palm slipped through the binding. I quickly untied the rope and dropped it in the dirt.

“This is your fault,” I said. “Every step of the way, you’ve done nothing but try to get rid of me. You’ve tried to ruin my relationship, ruin this clan, and if Steph dies here, it’ll be because of you. ”

Blakely whirled toward me, fear and rage flashing in her eyes. “ You started all of this?—“

I was sick of talking in circles. I was sick of giving her chances. My arms were still prickling from being tied up, but I didn’t care. I raised my fists and punched her hard in the face.

Blakely shouted in surprise and pain, then charged at me.

She hit me so hard I lost my footing, and we tumbled into the dirt.

We exchanged a few blows and rolled around, each trying to pin the other.

Blakely pulled my hair, making me shriek as the pain shot through my scalp.

This fucking bitch. I flipped us again, pinned her, and slapped her hard.

Blood trickled from her mouth as she grimaced at me.

“You bitch,” Blakely hissed as she sneered up at me. “How dare you?—”

An ear-splitting roar shook the trees. I rocked backward, losing my focus on Blakely, and she cried out and covered her ears. I clambered to my feet, a pace away from Blakely.

In the clearing, Steph had his teeth buried in Sean’s neck. Blood gushed from the wound and spilled out of Sean’s mouth as he thrashed under Steph’s hold.

This was it. I held my breath, watching Sean thrash, waiting for him to go limp as the life left his body.

Suddenly, a renewed surge of life rushed through Sean.

He dug his back feet into Steph’s gut, and the pain must’ve loosened Steph’s jaw, because Sean pushed hard with both feet and sent Steph reeling backward.

Steph roared again. With blood dripping from his fangs and smoke flowing from his nostrils, he looked…

Terrifying. Strong. Gorgeous.

I was so proud to call him my mate.

Sean reeled back. There was that awful bone-crunching sound again as he shifted: his wings sank into his body, his neck retracted, and his scales disappeared like a puff of steam.

The human Sean stood in the clearing, covered in blood, tilting to one side as the gashes in his side and neck oozed.

He was naked, save for the blood coating his skin.

His eyes burned gold and red as he whirled toward me.

“Kill her!” he roared. “The gun! Blakely! Kill her now!”

At my feet, Blakely reached for her waistband with trembling hands.

Only then did I see the holster on her hip.

She scooted back, away from me, until her back was propped up against a nearby tree trunk.

She managed to get the pistol out from its holster, and her hands shook horribly as she struggled with the safety.

Realization hit me like a bolt of lightning.

I was Sean’s failsafe.

Sean was losing, but if he killed me, the bond Steph felt would suddenly shatter. And like Steph had told me, he’d be incapacitated. The pain would weaken him enough that Sean could kill him.

It was unfair and wrong, but it would still be a victory in the challenge.

“Shit!” I shouted. “Steph!” I rushed out of the tree line and into the clearing, right into the fray of the fighting.

I stood in the center, chest heaving, wrists aching, bruises blooming on my face from my scuffle with Blakely.

The Lakeview enforcers had the hired muscle managed: Hawk had one pinned, Tank another, and the other two were missing, like they’d run off in the middle of the fight.

Not surprising. Steph, still in his dragon shape, lashed his tail and roared at his brother.

“Do it!” Sean shouted.

Blakely was too shaken up. The small pistol seemed like it weighed a hundred pounds, and she started to cry as she tried to hold it up. Sean shouted in rage as he charged at her. He snatched the gun from her hands and whirled toward me.

Time slowed down.

I was pinned to the spot. Frozen. Terror trapped my voice in my throat.

Oh, Steph. Oh, Dylan. They’d be in so much pain. It couldn’t end like this. It couldn’t!

The gun went off.

Another roar.

Sage green filled my vision.

Steph. He threw himself in the line of the fire, and the bullet flew true. He roared in fury, in pain, then crashed into the grass.

“No!” I screamed. “Steph, no!”

Steph’s legs buckled as he hit the grass.

He only barely managed to stay upright, his muscular body swaying with pain.

From behind him, I saw the blood pouring from the bullet wound in his chest. How had this happened?

He was a dragon—bullets weren’t supposed to be able to pierce his scales like that.

I was still frozen in place, watching the blood pool on the grass. This couldn’t be happening. It had to be a bad dream.

Blakely had managed to pull herself to her feet. She was leaning heavily against a tree, and her whole body was shaking. Her eyes were wide with shock. Then, she turned on her heel and sprinted into the woods like a terrified bunny.

Sean raised the gun again. His hands were steady this time as he aimed at Steph again. Not at his heart this time, but at the center of his forehead.

The gun went off again, and my heart stuttered.

I waited for the blow, but it never came. The bullet shot straight up into the sky. Someone had barreled into Sean, knocking him hard into the ground and sending the gun bouncing across the grass. A hand wrapped around his throat.

It was Rome, the young enforcer. He snarled, the sound purely draconic, as he hauled Sean up by his neck.

Sean gurgled as he was lifted effortlessly, like a leaf.

Blood soaked Rome’s hand and dripped from the wound on Sean’s side all the way down to his toes, which barely brushed the grass.

Rome hurled Sean to the side, and he crashed into a tree with a muted moan of pain.

As he crumpled to the ground, Sean shifted back into his dragon form. His pained groan morphed into a wet growl from his dragon’s throat. He clambered to his feet, but he was too slow.

Steph surged forward. He slammed Sean against the tree, and there was a loud, sickening crack. I didn’t know if it was the tree, or Sean’s spine. Steph bared his fangs and fastened his jaws around Sean’s neck again, this time right at the top under the base of his skull.

I knew what was about to happen. I closed my eyes and turned my head, but that didn’t do anything to stop the sound .

A wet tearing sound. A low, gurgling moan. A heavy thump.

A beat of silence, and a heaving, gurgling breath.

Then another thump .

“Ace!”

I opened my eyes at the sound of Hawk’s voice.

Steph, still in his dragon form, had collapsed on the grass.

I rushed to his side, trying not to look at the bloodied heap of Sean’s lifeless body, his empty eyes, and the gaping wound under the base of his skull.

At the edge of the clearing, Tank and Striker were hogtying the two remaining stooges, while Rome had Sean’s gun in hand.

I knelt by Steph’s side and flattened my hands on his broad, warm chest. He was so big in his dragon form, but right now he looked vulnerable.

The scales on his chest were much smaller than the ones on the rest of his body and thinner, not like the armored scales on his back.

The bullet had cut through the smallest, thinnest scales near his armpit.

Blood coated his chest and spilled freely from the wound.

“What’s happening?” I asked desperately as I pressed both hands to the wound. The blood was slick and warm under my palms, pulsing out with each heartbeat. “Why isn’t he healing?!”

“The bullet’s still inside of him,” Hawk said. “He can’t heal with it in there.”

“Steph,” I said. “Steph, look at me.”

He blinked his eyes open. His golden irises were shot through with the hazel of his human eyes.

His snout was stained with blood, and he was panting through the pain.

I kept both hands on the wound, pressing hard, even though I desperately wanted to reach out and touch his face.

“You have to hang on, Steph,” I whispered. “For me. For our son. Okay?”

Steph made a low, soft sound, like his heart hurt more than his body. His eyes fluttered closed again.

“Stay with me, Steph,” I said. “You have to stay with me.”

I pressed harder onto his chest. Was his heartbeat getting weaker? Each pulse of blood seemed slower.

“Stay with me.” I was begging now. “You did it, Steph. You won. You saved us all. And now, you have to stay with me.”

Again, that terrible, soft sound.

A sob racked my body.

Just stay with me.