47. Tyson

CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN

TYSON

G orm’s magic was there one moment and gone the next. Beyond the trees, Wiggles lit the god on fire with my element, and I literally glowed with pride.

My mate.

Six of my fellow fire dragons had been holding my scale-covered human body in place. Gorm wanted me to go to her to show his control, to use me against her. I wanted to go to her to make sure my body, under my control or not, stood between them. The point being: I was trying very, very hard to move forward.

With Gorm’s control gone and Wiggles saving herself yet again, I suddenly stopped. Three scale-covered humanoid dragons, including my sire, went flying backward while the rest barely kept their feet.

My chest rose and fell, not just from my exhaustion but unease. I didn’t want to be here. These dragons viewed me as the spare son and didn’t give me a second thought beyond what my sire told them to think. I should be with Jay, my mate, celebrating our victory.

“Tyson,” my sire said behind me.

I took a deep breath. I’d pulled a Wiggles, thinking too hard instead of acting.

A lifetime of obeying my sire trained me well. I turned at the sound of his voice. Instead of seeing my sire flanked by his special forces, it was family and friends at his back. My two brothers, their guards, and one of my old drinking buddies glow with emotion. Fear, danger, aggression, and excitement mixed in swirls of black reds and oranges.

But it wasn’t just those colors. Spikes of green envy flashed in my brother's auras, and a hot pink I’d never seen before made up the base of my dad's flame.

“How are you, son?” My dad asked.

I narrowed my eyes, searching his face for the answer he wanted, before remembering I didn’t care anymore. “Myself.” The single word had so many meanings. Not just that Gorm’s hold was gone, but my sire’s was as well.

“It seems your mate’s already won the day,” my dad continued neutrally.

My mate.

I turned to Wiggles. Unlike the dragons celebrating around her, knives filled her fists, and her strong stance was ready for a fight. The fire around Gorm turned fluorescent-green, and two red eyes floated in the center.

The smell of demons filled the air.

“Gorm’s a god. This fight has just begun.” I turned and looked over my shoulder. I couldn’t pass on Jay’s entire lecture on demon killing, but I could pass on something. “Dragon fire, pure elemental magic, will weaken the demons. Leave the god to me.”

Three booms shook the ground.

I didn’t wait to see if my family followed my orders. My dragon burst out of me, destroying trees and turning small chunks of flying wood into mini fireballs that rained down on my fellow fire dragons. I smirked, my scaly lips exposing a line of sharp teeth.

The taste of fresh blood filled my memory. My mates' rage mixed with my own as they shifted and dove into the fray.

Heedless of the trees, I charged forward. Hardwood slowed me but couldn’t keep me from my mate. By the time I burst into The Hunt’s clearing, battle raged, and demons dropped from the sky like rain. I couldn’t see Wiggles, though I felt her somewhere in the middle. The smell of demons and rot hit me. I lunged forward, clamping my jaws down on a body that tasted like metal and battery acid. My mouth burned. I spit the thing out and blew hot fire across my tongue to burn off the poison, attempting to melt my soft pallet. It hit the demon, and it melted, little gremlins grew out of the goopy mess it left behind.

A fresh demon jumped onto my back. I roared and shook, but the thing had a tight grip on my spikes as it scrambled toward my head. Leaning left, I threw myself. Dragons weren’t really the correct shape to roll. My spikes groaned and bent as they stabbed into the ground. The sound of my sire’s partially shifted battle roar filled the air, and he leaped to my aid, tearing the demon the rest of the way off my back.

I whipped my tail, unintentionally crushing a demon as I righted myself. My sire respectfully inclined his head before turning and running toward another demon. I couldn’t waste my time on the small fries. I needed to get to my mate.

Flames lept out of my throat, and I let out a roar that shook the ground. I charged towards her, heedless of the battle raging around me. Ally and enemy dove away from my claws. A massive decaying dragon fell to the ground on my left, only to right itself, and spew drops of green goop into the air that rained down and burned through scale and skin alike.

Jay came into view. Lux and Rehan, already in their dragon bodies, fought on either side of her, keeping demons and undead dragons from getting to her.

My mate was not alone in their center. Earth, fire, air, and water spilled from her as she faced Gorm in the shape of a massive horned demon. Black power rolled off him, blocking her every move.

Og’s glowing body, riding on Rehan’s back, briefly dazzled me. A line of molten gold and green magic soared from his fingers and sank into Jay, just as Gorm sprayed a line of thick ropy poison into her face. Instead of hitting her, a wall of Og’s magic bloomed to life. A few delayed drops hit her arms, bleaching her honey skin and making her flinch.

I roared my arrival, my fire already churning and ready to engulf Gorm. My mate bond twitched as the same thought occurred to all of us at once. Alone, my fire hadn’t done anything. But four elements working together? It had to be enough to obliterate Gorm.

Ogden jumped off Rehan, who dodged to the side, making room for the warlock’s shift in midair. Earth and dark green magic circled his growing body until his dragon claws landed where his human feet would have.

We were whole.

A demon sunk its claws into my flank, only to be pulled off by a scale-covered water dragon. I couldn’t get distracted. With Gorm dead, everything else would be kindling for my flames. We formed up around our battling mate and waited for our opportunity.

Wiggles threw one of her knives and then the other at Gorm’s face. Clearly not expecting a physical attack after all her magic, one of the knives nicked his cheek while the other bounced harmlessly off his forehead. Jay flipped backward, giving us room to bellow.

Power and adrenaline pumped through me. Fire streamed out of my mouth, joining my brothers and turning into a white ball of soul-destroying righteous energy. Gorm screamed. Black smoke churned and rose off his burning body, but he still stood. My lungs squeezed. I needed to breathe, but I couldn’t stop. I would not be the first of my brothers to drop.

Suddenly, Gorm exploded into an oily black ooze that mixed with the fluorescent-green I now knew would eat through my scales. His essence splashed onto us and coated my mate, standing just out of range of our flames.

She hadn’t run, not that I honestly expected her to, but she could have at least taken cover behind one of us. Fear froze me in place as I waited for my pain and her screams. But nothing came.

Wiggles ran her hands through the oil and let out a bitter laugh. “I’m still protected, Gorm.”

Something crawled along my scales. I lifted my front leg and found the oil moving, almost bubbling with glee, as it fruitlessly searched for a way into me. Just the feel of it made my scales crawl, and I shook like a dog.

Pain stabbed into my side and stopped my futile shaking. The pain doubled, and I turned to find one of the undead dragon’s tail spikes buried in my side. It charged me, tearing its spike free and tackling me like we were fecking humans.

The oil on me bubbled before rushing from my scales onto the undead dragon. It rolled off of me and froze. More oil whipped past me, only to stick onto the unnatural black scales of the undead dragon and slurp between them. The dragon’s body grew, but its wings did not, leaving tiny pricks that would never get its massive girth into the air. Its horns took on a familiar curve.

Gorm. Our combined elemental flames hadn’t been enough. The confidence I’d felt died as the god, now in a demonic dragon body, lifted its head to the sky and breathed out a stream of pure poison, which rained back down on us. Partially shifted dragons screamed, racing for the trees. I skidded towards Jay and found myself with my mates, wing extended over her to keep the poison from eating her alive.

I looked to Rehan, our leader, whether I liked it or not, only to find his gaze darting around, just as lost as I was. Poison dripped onto the top of my head and ran toward my eyelid, threatening my vision. Pain pierced my wing, and I looked at our layers of outstretched leather only to find the white on the top full of burning holes. Although I blew fire on it, eating some of the poison, the damage was already done.

Pain deeper than anything I’d seen filled Lux’s gaze. His aura turned so black the only emotion I could match to it was despair.

Missing an arm and a leg, literally, the only place my mate could feel normal was in the air. I turned back to Gorm. Pure rage rippled off me in waves that distorted the world.

I locked my gaze on his rotting body, dug my claws into the ground, and prepared to charge.