Claiming His Prize (Bad Boy Alphas) (Feral Breed Followings Book 2) (10 page)

M
otherfucker
.

My dragon took control before I could fully process the scene. All I knew was Jane was in trouble. She was hurt, and it was Saern’s fault. My instincts were right. As soon as I could see through dragon eyes, I roared my fury. Jane had hot spots across her face and all over her body. Places where she’d bumped, where she’d bruise, where someone had hit her.

I was going to kill Saern.

The rumble of a wall crumbling behind me was nothing compared to the sound of Saern’s tail taking down another as he shifted in response to me. Dust filled the air but it affected nothing. I could still see heat, still knew where Saern and Jane were. Still spotted almost every detail of Saern’s black scales. And Saern could see me.

He attacked with a swipe from the right, a rookie mistake. I dodged left to stay out of his reach and swung my tail at him, making him retreat and keeping Jane in my sights. She was so small and fragile, so very
human
. I couldn’t let Saern get anywhere near her. Not again.

As Saern edged closer, dropping to all fours, I grabbed Jane and shoved her into the hallway. The torch in her hand made me so proud. My brave mate had listened to me, had kept her wits about her. Had fought back. But it was time for me to do the fighting for her. She had to be safe, and only I could make sure of that.

“She’s your weakness,” Saern hissed in the language only dragons could understand. “You’ll lose because you love.”

He struck again, landing two blows before I could outpace him. But I wasn’t some newbie off the street. Every fight I’d been in, every fighter I’d seen, had all led up to this. Saern was tough, older than me, with thicker scales and probably more experience, but he couldn’t beat me. I’d been taught by the best, so I waited. I stayed back and made Saern come to me. Made him do all the work as I reserved my energy and analyzed his every move. As I looked for the chink in his armor.

The heat through his dark scales was minimal. They were too thick, too old for me to blast through. But every dragon had a weak point; I needed to find his. Then I would know how to take him down. How to use my inner fire to my advantage. I needed to wait him out.

Three more hits in quick succession, two connecting. I reeled slightly from the force but stayed alert. I could hear Jane in the hallway, so I kept myself close to that wall. Blocking the way to her with my body. Saern wouldn’t touch her. Not again.

As he rose to his back feet to roar uselessly at the sky, I spotted it. A patch of orange among the dark. A spot where his scales didn’t cover his more delicate flesh. I saw it, and I didn’t hesitate.

The world went white as I called my fire forward. My chest and throat heated to an impossible level, the pain welcomed and expected. With a roar, I directed a stream of flames toward Saern, toward that spot of his body heat. Toward his weakness.

He hissed and fell back a step before taking to the sky, blowing right through the rest of the ceiling above. Running away and leaving behind piles of stone and twisted metal. But I couldn’t let him go. Dragons had long memories and held even longer grudges. He would return again and again until he got what he wanted. Whether that was to possess Jane or to kill me was really up in the air and dependent upon his mood, but it would be one of those. I refused to let him be a threat to my mate’s happiness ever again.

Saern would die by my hands tonight.

I followed Saern into the sky, my heavy wings cutting through the air with ease, roaring fire whenever I flew close enough. He circled and dove, trying to evade me. But bigger and older didn’t mean better at flying, plus he seemed to be having trouble with one of his wings. That would eventually slow him down, and it was already making it hard for him to maneuver the way he wanted. I could tell. I could also tell that I would win up here for sure if I just kept up.

Saern circled around, spitting huge fire streams my way. The sight had me slowing, knocking myself off course. Okay then, I needed to avoid the flames. I curled slightly, dropping my arm, protecting my own weak spot as I flew above him.

Our roars and screams made the forests shake, made the mountains rumble to kneel at our feet. Our flames lit up the sky in oranges and yellows. Our dragons were older than those piles of rock below us, older than the oceans and many of the stars above us. We were the first of the shifter breeds brought to this land, and that night, we would take back our sky and battle the way we were meant to.

I dove for Saern as he arced into a turn that was too slow to keep altitude. My flames hit his back, setting his wings on fire. Knowing his time was up, Saern screamed and doubled back. I followed, pushing myself as fast as I could. Zigging and zagging through the air in ways Saern no longer could. It wasn’t until the building came into view that I figured out where Saern was going. Wasn’t until I saw the crowd of people standing outside that I understood his plan.

Motherfucker.

I flew faster, working my wings harder, trying to push him off course with well-placed blasts of fire. Saern stayed just out of reach, but with every flap of his wings, he slowed. With every dodge, he lost a little more balance. It was going to be close.

On a cross directly over The Pack House building, his tail brushed my arm, and I reached for him. My claws scraped across his back leg, drawing blood. Saern roared and swooped lower, heading straight for the crowd outside the building. Heading for where my Jane probably was. Diving hard, I slammed into the side of him, trying to knock him off track. Succeeding in pushing him to the side by a few feet.

But it wasn’t enough.

Saern rained fire down on the crowd, the screams from below enough to make my blood boil. I slammed into him again, this time rolling him, knocking him out of the sky with the weight of my body and plunging my claws deep into the spaces between his scales. The taste of burnt flesh flashed across my tongue as we swept over the crowd of people on the ground, but that only fueled me. Remove the threat, then go to Jane. Remove the threat, then help them. Remove the threat.

We hit the ground hard, plowing up dirt as we slid toward the tree line. I used my claws on Saern’s belly, grabbing and pulling and working myself up the length of him until I could reach the orange area hidden almost beneath his wing. His weak spot. The flesh under the scales.

When I had him pinned, had him flat on his back and completely exposed to me, I leaned over him so I could speak the language of my brethren.

“She is not my weakness. She makes me angrier, makes me faster, makes me hit harder. She gives me the will to never give up. Jane could never make me weak.” I leaned closer, letting the smoke billow from my nostrils so he’d know his fate. Nearly salivating over the fear in his eyes.

“My mate is my true strength.”

Saern cried out as I torched him, my flames finding that weak spot easily. Sinking through the delicate flesh. He burned from the inside out, leaving behind a husk of scales. Leaving behind nothing worth worrying about.

Remove the threat
. Done.

When I was sure he was dead, I shifted human and crawled away from him, rolling in the dirt. My throat burned, my mouth tasted like ash, and my body felt as if I’d just gone thirty rounds with every fighter in The Pack House. But I’d done it. I’d gotten rid of the threat. I’d protected Jane.

Jane.

I was up and running for the building in a second, all thoughts on finding my mate. My heart raced as the scene came into view. Fire still burned in places, and smoke billowed high into the air above. But that was nothing compared to the bodies that lay crumpled on the ground. Some were burned to the point of no longer being recognizable, some barely burned but still lifeless. Most of the fighters and trainers at The Pack House were dead.

“Jane,” I whispered, nearly frozen in fear. But I couldn’t stop. I had to find her. I had to keep moving.

I searched through the melee, looking for anything that was hers. Shifting enough to taste the air for her scent. Finding nothing and growing more anxious with every second. I paused for one heartbreaking moment when I came across Laudon, but it was too late to help him. He lay in a charred heap, his body stiff, his heart silent. Dead because of Saern.

“Blessings, my friend.”

I kept searching. Kept stumbling through the carnage. Kept hunting her down, but no Jane. Nothing of her around. No sign.

I wasn’t sure whether to be thankful or terrified.

“
L
et me go
.” I fought against Mick’s hold, but he only shoved me harder. Stumbling, I tried to look up, to look back, to see where Piers was, but the sky was too dark. I saw nothing but deeper shadows blocking stars and moving too fast to differentiate which dragon was which. Even when one spewed flames at the other, they were too far away to see scale colors. I could only hope Piers was winning.

“Quit fighting me, child,” Mick growled, squeezing harder on the back of my neck. In his other hand, he held a flare gun, our only protection against a crazed dragon. For once, the man had actually listened to my advice. Though I didn’t think it was enough.

“No.” I swung around again, trying to reach him with my fists, but he squeezed and shoved, nearly knocking me to my knees. “Damn it, Mick. I need to check on Piers.”

“What you need to do is move. We’re not sticking around to watch this place be burned to the ground.”

“Piers wouldn’t do that.”

Mick chuckled, a dark and dangerous sound. “You think I’m worried about him? Piers is a decent fighter, but he’s tame compared to Saern. There’s no way your precious Piers can survive with that thing after him.”

My stomach dropped at the thought of Piers being in such danger, but a fire lit in my veins at the same time. A defensive streak that knew Mick was wrong.

“Piers is strong and a good fighter. He
can
win against Saern.”

“He won’t win, but it doesn’t matter anyway. The Pack House will be destroyed or found out. It’s time to move on to another venture.”

If The Pack House closed, that meant…

“If we’re done, then leave me here.”

Mick pulled me closer, cocking his head, his words growled in a way that gave me no doubt he meant them. “Oh, I never said we were done, child. You still owe me. Besides, I’m sure you want to have the best care for your father. That care is with me.”

The world tilted as my reality set in. Mick would never consider my debt paid. He would always hold my schooling or my father’s life over my head. There was no escaping him.

But damn it, I had to try.

With Mick so close, I didn’t have a lot of options. But I’d worked in the training facility for too long not to have picked up a few tricks. I lunged back, pulling Mick toward me where he hung on to my neck. Without pausing, I brought my leg up and kicked forward, hitting him square in the chest. He fell back, his eyes wide. Before he could regain his senses, I kicked again. Same spot. Aiming high. Hoping for a direct shot to his heart to interrupt the beating. Mick fell to his knees, the flare gun falling to the dirt at my feet. I lunged for it then danced backward, keeping Mick in my sights as I tried to figure out how the thing worked.

“You will regret that, child.” Mick pushed himself to his feet. He looked ready to attack, though he wobbled a bit. I had limited time before he struck, judging by the growl rumbling from his chest. Killing him myself probably wouldn’t work, but I knew someone stronger. Someone tougher. Someone who could do much more damage if he only knew I needed him. If he wasn’t dying at the claws of another right at that moment.

I found the safety and clicked it into what I assumed was the off position, nearly laughing with relief. “No, agreeing to let you buy me is a mistake I regret. Giving you power over my father is something I regret. This is me having no more regrets.”

I held my arm up and fired. A trail of sparks flew into the sky, lighting us up like a firework on Independence Day. At first, there was nothing but the sound of the wind and the quiet rumble of the fire burning behind us. But then the world shook as the night was torn in two by the scream of a great beast. What had to be a dragon.

And was hopefully
my
dragon, alive and well and answering my call.

Mick grew pale as he watched the flare burn bright and arc across the sky, though he tried to keep his growl rumbling. But as the sound of great wings flapping grew near, he lost all semblance of bravery and began to edge away.

“You’ll pay for this,” he spat. “Your father will pay for this.”

“My father has paid for befriending a wolf shifter for the last fifteen years. I’m done living under that debt because of guilt.” I closed my eyes for a moment as another dragon scream reverberated through the night, this time closer. “You’d better run, Mick. No matter which dragon comes, you’re a dead man.”

His eyes darted around the space behind me, his mouth falling open and his skin paling at whatever he saw there. I didn’t turn, didn’t bother looking for my fate. Either a dragon was coming to kill me or save me. No matter which, I was done with Mick.

Without another word, Mick turned and ran, leaving me behind in the night to wait for what was next. I hung my head and prayed, the flare gun gripped tightly in my shaky hands. Wishing for Piers. Begging for the strength to deal with the possibility that it may be Saern. Praying for guidance in a moment so beyond my control.

A boom sounded behind me, the definite sound of something large landing nearby. I closed my eyes and waited, too afraid to see if it was Piers. Too afraid not to as well. The moment dragged, time slowing to a crawl. Every heartbeat took an hour, every breath a year. And still I waited. Not moving. Barely daring to breathe.

“Jane?”

I sagged with relief, the flare gun falling to my feet. “You said to kill them with fire.”

“I did. I said it, and you listened. You defended yourself and brought me to you with fire. And I killed Saern with fire.” His voice grew closer, the tone warm but shaky. “Fuck, Jane, you’d better tell me if I have your consent because I’m about to—”

I spun and ran to him, jumping into his arms with a sob. Clinging to him as I thanked every god in heaven for sparing him.

“I’ve got you,” Piers murmured, gripping me to him with strong arms. “I couldn’t find you in the crowd, but I saw the flare. I knew it would be you. I found you.”

I inhaled shakily, fighting back tears. “Mick tried to take me.”

He tightened his hold. “I still would have found you.”

“He said I’d pay. He said—”

“Shhhh.” Piers grabbed my face, pressing his lips to mine in a kiss that stole my breath. I kissed him back, my tears finally falling. He’d survived. I’d survived. And we could be together.

When we finally broke apart, Piers placed his forehead against mine and whispered, “Are you ready?”

“For what?”

“To go.” He leaned closer, kissing me again, moving to my ear to whisper, “To fly with me?”

There was no hesitation on my part. I nodded once and wrapped myself around him, tucking my face into his chest. Piers kissed my head, then shifted with me in his arms. His skin turned to scales, but I hung on. I always would. His dragon didn’t scare me.

He roared into the night, and then we took off. The wind rushed past me, and everything below shrank as he seemed to fly straight up. With a dip and a turn, he roared again, circling. Flying high above the burning Pack House before heading down the mountain.

And I didn’t look back.