Chapter Five

There was a bloodbath outside the cabin doors. I could scent the blood, hear the screams, and feel the power vibrating through the air. I didn't understand what was happening, not yet, but I knew one thing—this was my time. I either tried to get out now or faced their fate.

I had not a single ounce of empathy for the alphas who were being hunted, slaughtered. If I could be a part of their demise, I would. They were nothing but power hungry drunken alpha holes who thought they were the "shifter mafia kings." As far as I could tell, the only one of those three things they were was being a shifter. I didn't feel one ounce of remorse for not trying to help them. My only regret? Not assisting whoever did.

"Let the fuckers die." I needed to make a choice and quickly. I either needed to stay in the cabin and hoped they didn't hunt me down too or worse, set it on fire and burn to a fiery death, or I had to walk outside and pray to the Goddess that whoever was attacking them wouldn't kill first, ask questions later.

But then what? Where would they take me? Maybe a quick death was the best option after all. I tried to convince myself that any place was better than this. But the last time I did that, I ended up here. My track record sucked.

I took a deep breath and then another before hobbling out of the house, hating the weakness my limping showed. I wasn't sure what I expected to see as I descended the stoop, but it was for sure not what I stumbled upon.

As I reached the bottom of the steps, carnage surrounded me. That wasn't the most shocking part though. Nope. That took the form of the shifter standing in the clearing.

There, right out in the open for all to see, was a dragon, a fire-breathing, scale-sporting, wing-owning dragon. Sure, I knew they existed. Heck, when I was a little boy and pretended that to go rescue the princess, I always ended up with the dragon. But seeing one? This was a first.

He was much larger than I had thought he'd be. Power radiated off him in waves. That wasn't what shocked me the most though. His beauty did. I'd never in my life seen such a magnificent creature. Even the death he left in his wake couldn't overshadow that.

And here he was, about to end me. At least he was quick about things. He'd managed to destroy all the alphas in record time. Maybe if I asked, he would breathe his fire on me, causing a nearly instant death. I'd once read there was beauty in death and I couldn't help wonder if they had been thinking about a dragon at the time.

I stepped closer, and the beast lowered his head. I wouldn't exactly call it a submissive move. There were no other signs he was giving up his fight, his eyes still tracking the area. He was still on high alert but also letting me know he was safe.

Wasn't that a joke? I could see the blood, random bits of what was left of the alphas all over the area. This dragon was violent to a level I couldn't begin to comprehend. And yet, even with that full knowledge, I wasn't scared.

When I took a step closer, his scent slammed into me.

Mate.

Mate.

Ours.

Whoa, no wonder I wasn't scared. My wolf was practically begging to come out and rub his body in scent all over the dragon. And in that moment, I trusted him completely.

A bit of smoke puffed out of his nose from the fire in his belly, and suddenly I saw this for what it was. He was communicating with me, asking me to climb on his back.

How did I know that? There was nothing tangible for me to pinpoint. I just did.

In any other circumstance, I'd have been a hard pass on getting on his back and going for what I suspected would be a flight. As a wolf, I had four feet—no wings. I was a land dweller. It was how the Goddess made me. Heck, I hadn't even been on an airplane.

But seeing what surrounded me in the place I'd been forced to call home, all of the death and destruction, was there truly another choice but to flee? This delicious-smelling alpha, the one my wolf was already enamored with, was offering me help.

If I stayed here much longer, I was going to either be blamed for this carnage or killed as someone saw me attempting to leave.

Staying meant death. There was no getting around that. And leaving with the fierce dragon? That meant I had a chance. Even if that chance was counterbalanced with the very real possibility of falling to my demise. At least in that scenario I died trying, right?

"Okay." I strengthened my resolve, went around, and climbed onto him.

I'd never ridden another animal, not even a horse, and this beast was about to take flight. I held onto him as best I could, unsure how I'd manage once we took to the air. Getting up sucked. My foot was still in horrible condition and my muscles so weak from lack of nutrients. I managed somehow.

"I trust you," I said, never meaning words more.

He lifted his head, looked around the clearing, and then slowly took to the air.

There was a gracefulness to his huge form, one that by all scientific standards should not be flying at all, much less like this. I didn't know where we were going. But I did know it was someplace better than this because I had my dragon.