Chapter Thirty-Seven

Rhyse

W ater raged around me as I hit the surf, the spray of salt already sticking to my skin like a familiar friend.

Behind me, Dillon, Sven, and Isaac watched. Dillon shouted something, but I ignored it as I plunged through an oncoming wave, emerging out the other side half dragon. Massive claws dug deep into the wet sandy shore beneath the crashing breakers, and I leaped forward with prodigious bounds until I plunged under the water and could really begin to put on speed.

My lungs held huge capacity for oxygen, and years of experience allowed me to push that to the absolute limits. The world narrowed to nothing but the sea in front of me. There was no danger down in these depths, nothing I needed to worry about getting in my way.

I was the alpha in the water, and anything that tried to stop me would find that out very quickly.

Unfortunately, I had only the vaguest idea of the route Rikell would take. The ocean was a vast, vast place. Which meant doing something I really did not want to do.

Reaching the breaking point of my lungs, I dove deeper into the water and then shot upward, using pulses of my wings against my sides to augment my speed. Breaching the surface, I shifted back into my human form as I shot into the air like a bullet, all the momentum of my dragon transferred into a much smaller form.

Up, I went, craning my neck around, looking for the telltale signs of a ship on the horizon.

Up. Up. Up …

"Come on," I cursed. "Where are you?"

My momentum stalled.

I didn't see anything.

Gravity began to take over, and I plummeted toward the softly rippling surface of the ocean. After all, what goes up must inevitably come down.

This repeated over and over again.

Over an hour passed before I finally saw anything . But when I did, my stomach tightened.

Smoke on the ocean was never a good sign. I reached the apex of my arc, and my eyes shifted slightly to the west where a glint of light off something metallic caught my eye.

A second ship. A familiar dusty blue merchant vessel.

Orienting myself toward it, I plunged back down toward the sea with a breath of relief. It wasn't Rikell's ship that was on fire. In fact, they were headed to rescue whoever was in trouble.

I'm coming for you, Emma.

Channeling every positive emotion I could, I did my best to broadcast them to her. I wanted her to know I was here, that I was coming for her and that, this time, I was doing something different.

This time, I wouldn't be leaving. Not without her.

Somehow, through it all, the confusion, the near-death injury, and the forced time spent together, I'd found a woman who'd broken through every wall I'd erected. Every single one of them. Without asking or trying.

It had just sort of happened, and I'd been utterly oblivious to how easily she'd worked her way into my world.

I'd only noticed the giant gap in my life once she'd left. A gap where she should've been.

A gap where she belongs.

So determined was I to find her and reclaim her that I was caught totally blindsided by the wave of dark fear that slammed into me. My muscles tensed, and my heart rate soared. Coldness closed in around me, gripping tight like a vise I couldn't shake.

I floundered for a moment, lost in the inability of my own mind to respond to my demands. Through it all, I had one cohesive thought: Emma was in danger.

But she was on Rikell's ship. She was safe. They weren't on fire. What, then, could the issue be?

Emma's fear was replaced by my own. I couldn't lose her. Not now. Not when I was this close.

I will NOT let anything happen to her.

Steely determination blasted aside my last vestiges of fear, and I surged ahead once more in the direction I'd seen the smoke. I would keep Emma safe. Whatever it took.

Rising to the surface, I extended my neck above the waterline like a periscope to ensure I was headed in the right direction as I closed in.

Homing in on the burning ship, I dove once more, aiming at a spot between her vessel and the one on fire. I wasn't going to go one second longer than necessary without seeing her.

She was close. So close I could almost taste her. Onward I swam, propelled by the wild desire of my dragon. I needed her in my arms. To tell her how I felt and what I wanted. It was insane. It was way too fast.

But it felt right .

I was not in the wrong. Not this time. I would get to her, climb up on the deck of Rikell's ship, and tell her I—

Something was wrong.

The closer I got, the more I could pick up from Emma. And what I sensed was not fear for the people on the burning boat as I'd suspected. It was for herself.

She was terrified she would die.

Fear for the one I loved lent me a speed I'd never known before. Water rippled over me as I moved still faster through the sea.

All at once, I was there, and I could see what had her so scared.

Rikell's ship wasn't alone. Two shapes circled it in the water, slowly closing in.

Dragons.

The blue-green ocean was lost in a haze of red as my dragon showed a side of itself I tried very hard never to let out. Unmitigated fury turned the water into a roiling bubble around me as I darted in at the unprotected flank. In the water, it was impossible to tell if it was Killian or one of his goons, but it didn't matter, I could connect the dots.

Who else would be out here attacking a human ship and now preparing to silence the dragons who'd witnessed it and come to help?

My jaws opened, tearing a huge chunk of flesh and tendon from the nearest dragon's haunches. I just narrowly missed my target, which would have left its tail flopping uselessly, leaving the dragon dead in the water. Instead, it would now experience searing agony every time it tried to move. Almost as good.

Sliding up and over the dragon's spine, I dove down toward its partner. It noticed me coming, however, and because I didn't possess the ruby-red scales of its partner, it knew I was no friend.

The dragon turned and tried to get away, but I had the speed advantage. I closed in on it, then with a precisely timed flick of my tail and pulse of my right wing, I dropped underneath and around the fleeing dragon, raking my claws against its unsuspecting belly as it tried to see where I'd gone.

Leaking blood and scales, the other dragons retreated toward the burning boat. There, I could see a third dragon circling the ship.

Killian and his two friends. Just as I'd known.

I surfaced. "Emma!" I shouted. "Are you okay?"

A short blonde appeared over the side, her oval face pinched tight with fear. "Rhyse?"

"I'm here," I said. "It'll be okay."

"Watch out. There are other dragons!" she called, pointing.

I turned to see the third dragon coming toward me, its spine only barely visible through the waves.

Angrily, I turned to meet it, ducking under the water and streaking away from Rikell's ship. It was time to send these assholes packing.

But as the uninjured dragon and I slammed into one another, I got a glimpse of its face through the water, finally able to ID who it was.

It wasn't Killian or his friends.

Staring back at me with wicked malevolence in his eyes was Dillon.