Page 28 of So I Dared a Dragon (The Mating Game #6)

twenty-eight

. . .

Aarix

I had the strangest sense of déjà vu as I flew over the desert. I’d been here before. Maybe not in this exact location, but this scene…this wasn’t the first time I’d witnessed it.

More than that, lived it.

It was the wolves that tipped me off. How tiny they looked as they scattered, running for their lives. I’d seen this play out in a battle for the Rocky Mountain dragons.

They’d used wolves as their guardians…

“Sweet moon, that’s Bibi,” Hugo growled as he curled his fingers into my scales.

He’d tipped us off that the situation had escalated, confirming the chaotic vibration I’d been picking up from my mate. He’d used an elaborate tracking system to pinpoint the ladies’ exact location. He’d been very proud of it, and it was correct, but I didn’t need it.

“Looks like she has things under control,” I said. Bibi had a reputation as a fierce fighter, but this was the first time I’d seen her in action. They were coming at her, two, three at a time, and she was breaking them. Still, they had the audacity to try. Even as they watched their comrades fall.

That was brotherhood. That was why my thunder had followed me into that mountain. Why the Rocky Mountain thunder had trusted me. All for one, and one for all.

“She’s magnificent, isn’t she?” Hugo sighed. “She hates fighting, and I understand why. She’s a force to be reckoned with, and I’m not sure we’re ready for her full power.”

Magnus glanced over at me. When we got the call from Hugo, he warned me that he thought this was a false alarm. A trap. That Hugo was in on whatever Bibi wanted from us. That we’d been lured here under false pretense.

But my gut told me different. And no matter what Bibi wanted, Calista belonged to me.

“Are we actually fighting these wolves?” Luca asked, like he was reading my thoughts. “It won’t be a fair fight.”

But would I take on Bibi, if she challenged me? She’d shown us nothing but kindness.

“Don’t think we’ll need to,” I said as a plume of flame exploded close to the ground. “But we protect what belongs to us.”

I swooped down, coming closer to the scene, and that feeling got stronger.

For a moment, the pavement disappeared, and there was nothing but the barren desert and beasts before me. The vision became clearer. The last time I was in this place, it was as an agent for the Night God. The Shifter King had fallen, disappeared by some accounts, and the Night God saw an opportunity.

And it was my job to tell them what a good opportunity it would be.

That was first time I’d ever laid eyes on my mate.

She was one of them. But she was also the one . Her red hair glistened in the sunshine as she threw her head back to laugh like she didn’t have a care in the world.

In my mind’s eye, our gazes locked, and I knew from that moment she would be mine.

Fire blossomed from every fiber of my being when I realized exactly how much had been stolen from me.

“Aarix!” Magnus snapped. “You’ll incinerate them.”

The wolves scattered. Only Bibi, Calista, and a woman I’d never seen before remained.

“Who’s the other dragon?” Luca asked.

I’d been so focused on the wolves—and then wrapped up in the vision—I hadn’t even noticed she had dragon characteristics. She was more like Calista, a hybrid. Naked from the waist up, with wings that overwhelmed her tiny body. Her eyes were wide, scared, and she was lucky to be alive. There was no one within scent distance of her who thought she had any experience in this form.

At least, in this lifetime. I had a feeling there was a reason Calista had been so drawn to her. Which made me wonder if she and Bibi shared a similar connection.

We landed in the middle of the highway.

Calista ran over to me and put her arms around my neck. Hugo barely had a chance to dismount.

“I’m so glad you’re here.” She pressed a kiss against my neck. Smoke rose on contact. “Those wolves are Montana pack.”

“I wish it had come as more of a surprise.” Bibi huffed. Her fur was caked with other wolves’ blood. “And I played into their hands, calling them to ask for help.”

“Why didn’t you ask me?”

She closed her eyes for a long blink. It wasn’t like her. Something didn’t smell right, and now I wondered if that wasn’t some of her own blood.

Hugo wasted no time shifting and going straight to her side.

“Because you can leave the pack, but it stays with you. We were taught to keep our problems to ourselves. Not let anyone else know we were weak.”

“ You’re the furthest thing from weak, babe.” Hugo nuzzled his snout against her neck.

“Or did you not trust us?” Magnus growled.

Calista’s mouth dropped. “Why would you ever say such a thing?”

“Because you’re in love with Bibi.” He grinned, like this was some sort of victory. “We watched Lars and Hannah’s episode. Where you told the entire world that your episode would end with a twist. Is that what this meeting was about? How your pack would help you twist the knife in Aarix’s heart?”

“Absolutely not.” Calista shook her shoulders and squeezed her eyes shut. A wall of heat rose from her, and her skin melted away, revealing her true form.

The most gorgeous dragon I’d ever seen.

Her scales were still red, copper, and gold, and she looked like she’d risen from the earth. She tipped her head back and let the fire inside her loose, and it rose to the sky.

She stalked toward Magnus, who didn’t even blink at her approach.

“Yes, I told the whole world Bibi was my mate. Which Bibi rightly rejected. She might as well have stomped on my heart at the time and then sold the stiletto print in the show’s store. My life had fallen apart without her. Aarix had been such a bright light. Ironic, since you call me sunshine. He was the only one who believed in me. Who thought I was something special. But I convinced myself if I went back to him, the Night God would punish him because I helped Darcy get away. You’d been stuck in that mountain for so long, I didn’t know you’d ever get out. All my life, everyone had told me that Bibi and I were destined to be together. That she would always protect me. She was the only one who ever had, and my life without her…was a giant failure. I needed her.”

“No, it wasn’t. And you didn’t.” Bibi punctuated the statement with a noise that landed somewhere between a bark and a cough. “ If you had found me right away, you wouldn’t have met Aarix or had that amazing adventure. I wouldn’t have met Hugo or started The Mating Game. We wouldn’t be here.”

“She’s hurt,” Hugo said as Bibi coughed again. “We need to get you checked out.”

“We can fly her home,” I offered.

“She needs help now.” Hugo growled. “There’s got to be somewhere closer than that.”

“Closest city is Vegas,” Calista rushed over to her friend. “Are you hurt?”

“I’ll be fine once I shift.” Bibi barely managed the words before more coughing. This time, blood bubbled on her lips.

“Get her to Vegas. Now,” I demanded. “I’ll deal with those wolves.”

Calista shook her head. “Bibi and I deserve closure with our pack. If we aren’t a united front, they’ll know they’ve broken us. Montana is a weak pack, so they know weakness when they see it, and prey on it. This needs to stop, right here, right now.”

“I agree,” Bibi said. “The dragon energy is making me feel stronger. But we have to act fast.”

“The wolves have to be miles from here at this point,” Hugo said. “Babe, you won’t be able to run.”

Calista looked at me, and I nodded. It was time for my mate to recognize her full strength, and take back everything that had been stolen from her.

“We’ll fly,” she said. “I can take Bibi. Hugo, choose a dragon.”

“I don’t know if I can fly yet,” the unidentified dragon called out. “Hi, I’m Darcy. We’ve met before in the caverns. These wings popped out literally fifteen minutes ago and I’m far too freaked out to do anything with them.”

“Like you fuck you are.” Calista took Darcy’s hands in hers. “It’s time we both remember who we were.”

Darcy’s lips parted. “What do I do?”

I expected Calista to look to me once again for guidance, but she didn’t need anyone to tell her what to do. I’d never been so turned on in my entire life.

“Close your eyes and go back to the last time you were a dragon. Not when they took your power away from you—go back to when you were in your full power. Remember what it was like to be a dragon. Picture yourself as the strongest, fiercer version of yourself and do it in a hurry because I’m really worried about Bibi.”

Darcy let out a long sigh. “Let’s do this.”

The ladies held hands. Heat rose quickly, warping the pavement beneath them. Their bodies expanded and skin turned to scales. Calista’s wings blossomed, red like the enemies’ blood that soaked the ground beneath her. Darcy’s scales were golden, fading to blue tips. Their human faces gave way to their dragon forms.

They were powerful, beautiful, and absolutely unstoppable.

“Bibi, climb onto my back. My wings can shelter you.” Calista said. “If you need to bite into them to hold on, don’t worry about hurting me. You can’t.”

“I can’t believe we didn’t catch the most epic moment in the history of The Mating Game on camera,” Bibi lamented as she climbed onto her back.

“Guess you’re feeling better.” Calista laughed, but now, she looked at me. When she was pure dragon, she didn’t need to speak to tell me what she was thinking. Bibi hadn’t coughed up any more blood, but she was definitely compromised.

We needed to get this done fast.

Luca went over to Darcy. “Do you remember how to take off?”

“I think so,” she said. “This is wild.”

“Hold my hand, we can do it together.”

Calista was already in the air. Hugo hopped onto my back. “ She’s in worse shape than she’ll admit. I know why we’re doing this, but I’m not sure it’s a good idea.”

“Bibi is a fighter. She’d never put herself in a situation where she couldn’t win.” I had to hope that was true as we took off.

There was no need to gain much altitude; we were on top of the wolves almost immediately. Calista landed first, skidding to a stop that tossed Bibi off her back. It wasn’t lack of experience. My mate was so powerful, she’d have to learn to control it all over again.

It would be a pleasure to help her with that, but first, we had to take care of these cowardly wolves.

I landed beside her, and Hugo scrambled down to take his place beside his mate.

Magnus, Luca, and Darcy landed behind us.

“Declan, how rude of you to run off before I could introduce you to my actual mate,” Calista said. “This is Aarix. If you haven’t noticed, he’s a dragon and so am I. Something tells me this isn’t a surprise to you.”

The wolf she called Declan bowed his head. There was no way he and his compromised pack could overpower us physically. If he wanted to live, his only choice was to confess.

“When you arrived, Declan was just about to tell me why he’s been such a traitor, sending me those anonymous nastygrams,” Calista said.

“It was him?” I stepped forward, and the wolf flinched.

“I can’t tell you anything,” he said quickly. “I’ve been trusted to guard this information.”

Calista tipped her head back and breathed fire. “Fine. Take your secret to your grave.”

“I was following orders,” he said.

“From who?” I barked out the words. All the restraint my mate showed, I struggled to control. The only reason this wolf hadn’t hurt my mate was because she was stronger than he was.

Or she was worth more to him in one piece…

“All the alphas in our pack before you have met with untimely deaths,” Calista reminded him. “You can change things, Declan. You can make things better for our pack. Don’t you think we deserve peace?”

“If you do the right thing, we’ll defend you,” Bibi said.

I wished we had talked that little detail over, but she and Calista had once considered these wolves pack. I would do the same for my thunder.

Declan cautioned a look at the other wolves. “All I ask is that you listen. All of you. It might not make sense at first.”

Calista huffed. “We could fill this desert with all the things you won’t understand, wolf. Try me.”

His eyes widened. “ We weren’t always the Montana pack. We descended from an ancient pack that originated in Colorado. Only the wolves who hold the original bloodline from that order become alpha. Back then, it was our duty and honor to guard the Rocky Mountain dragons. When they were called to serve the Night God in the Winter Plane, our duties changed. We couldn’t go with them and neither could you. Only the pure-blooded dragons could serve in that capacity. So we were tasked with protecting the dragons who stayed on this plane. Calista was one of those dragons.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Calista said slowly. “That would mean I’m hundreds, if not thousands, of years old.”

“I told you it wouldn’t make sense,” he said. “ We were instructed to conceal you and make sure no one knew what you really were. After we erased any evidence that the Rocky Mountain dragons lived on this plane, we settled in Montana. We did our best to carry out our duty in each lifetime, concealing Calista’s identity by breeding her with our strongest wolves, so as she would become more wolf and forget about her true nature. Which is why we hoped to pair her with Bronson, who you know as Bibi. Bibi was one of the original guardians, but her bloodline isn’t pure. So she could never be alpha.”

“The Night God would never want that,” I said. “He’d never ask you to make anyone less powerful if he thought there was something he could gain from them.”

“You’re right, he didn’t agree with our methods, but these decisions were made long before I was born. I can’t explain why my ancestors did the things they did. However, I do have to deal with the consequences.”

I could almost feel for the wolf. I’d been fooled by the Night God too. But the difference between me and him was I was willing to take responsibility for my actions.

“What changed?” Calista asked. “It sounds like he was willing to accept these actions for centuries.”

“The Smoky Mountain dragons gained their freedom,” Declan said.

“And you knew that we’d liberate the Rocky Mountain Dragons,” I said. “Which made Calista a problem.”

“Not exactly,” Declan said. “ With Calista and Bibi gone, we no longer had a duty to that old bastard. We hoped he’d stop extorting us, forcing us to steal money and land and do heinous things that made us the enemy of every wolf in the west. We did all that to protect you.” His gaze was squarely on Calista . “We could finally build our pack how we wanted to, in a way that would benefit our wolves.”

“Don’t blame me for this. If you really thought that, you would’ve left me to deal with the Night God myself. There’s something you’re not telling us.”

“You haven’t let me finish.” I had to hand it to the wolf. He still had the balls to stand his ground. “Your disappearance angered the Night God, and when you arrived in Tennessee, he demanded we bring you back under our control. He would need you for the inevitable fight ahead. Of course, you didn’t simply come when called. Our original plan, to mate you with Bibi, had failed. If we were unable to complete our mission, as he called it, he threatened to send us all to the pits of hell unless we brought you back. So our plan was only to scare you, Calista. Never to hurt you. Now, we ask for your protection, because the Night God will rise soon, and he’ll want revenge against all of us.”

Bibi hacked and stumbled. The wolves that flanked Declan lunged forward.

A wall of fire erupted from me, giving Calista a chance to get Bibi on her back. Those wolves deserved what they got when they faced the Night God. Bibi was part of my thunder now, and I wouldn’t let anyone lay a paw on her.