Chapter Eleven

I leapt from the carriage before the door opened, Aras close behind me. His snarls and growls made me anxious. I didn't like my mate fighting, even if it was at my back. But it also gave me an edge that my enemy wasn't expecting. They probably thought I'd force Aras to stay in the carriage. But even so, they were fools to attack a freshly mated Dragon.

A Dragon will do anything to protect his mate.

It didn't matter that we were instantly surrounded by trained Dragon soldiers. It didn't matter that some of them were powerful enough to half-shift. It didn't matter that archers held positions in the trees and immediately began firing at me. Not even my extremely rare half-form mattered. I would have prevailed without it. Because I was defending Aras.

Arrows pinged off my scales, claws likewise skittered away, and teeth snapped on fabric alone. Meanwhile, I lobbed heads from bodies with single swipes of my talons and snapped off hands with powerful bites of my jaws. Screams came then and, of all things, laughter. From Aras! My mate was laughing. I glanced behind me to see him slashing with claws and a blade, eyes brighter than when he'd been watching the play. As if he could feel my stare, he looked over his shoulder and grinned.

“You are fucking beautiful!” Aras shouted, then whooped and slammed his claws into the throat of a Dragon.

Part of me preened under my mate's approval, but the other part raged that these men, these Dragons who knew what mates meant, would dare to attack Aras. Burning magic burst through me, rushed along by a cool geyser. Every power inside me came forth at once, drawn by the most primal instinct—the need to protect my mate.

Knowing what was needed, I let my dragon take control. Instincts overpowered reason. I saw the sudden fear on the faces around me, but even that didn't register. They knew I was strong, but, thanks to my foresight, they had no idea that I could become something so close to a dragon without losing the dexterity of my man's shape.

And that wasn't all I could do.

With barely a thought, I sent a wave of water forth to take out the outer force. Over twenty knights and every archer were swept up and held suspended in a ring of water.

Aras whooped again, but this time I didn't look. This wasn't fun for me. I was tearing apart men who should have protected me. Men who should have held honor above prejudice and respected me for my strength, if nothing else. They had proven dishonorable and disappointing. Now, I had to dispatch them. Their deaths would be a warning to those in the dread who had plotted against me, but it might also be a rallying call. So, I couldn't let them know what I could do—how I had won against so many. No survivors to tell tales. I had to kill them all.

The men within the wall of water fought against its hold, but could do nothing. Nothing but watch as Aras and I spun slowly, back to back, tearing their friends apart. And I do mean that literally. We viciously carved the Dragons to pieces, killing those we could and dismantling the others until we could finish them off. When you were attacked by multiple enemies at once, you had to land blows quickly, to as many of your enemies as possible. So, no, not all the deaths were fast. Most blows were merely crippling, meant to wheedle down the number of our opponents.

The fight felt like it went on forever, but the inner ring of soldiers went down in less than three minutes and after that, things went even faster. It was like snatching fish out of a barrel. I used my Water Magic to bring the Dragons forth singly and beheaded them as soon as they were freed. There was no fight anymore. Just executions. As I was King, they were legal too.

Aras stood to the side and cleaned his fur, making happy rumbling sounds as he watched me finish things. Seeing that made the trauma bearable. More than bearable. It made me feel supported even though my own dread had turned on me. Aras was with me. He approved of what I did. He even adored it. None of the gore had disgusted him. Instead, he participated. And he thought my half-form was beautiful! Great Goddess, I loved him.

Another head went flying, another body falling to the sodden ground. The trapped Dragons fought harder, little bubbles of air forming around their heads. It was all most of them could do with their Water Magic. Fools. To be given such power and not train to use it was idiocy. But it didn't surprise me. As I said before, they were too snobbish, too secure in their superiority to bother learning a new magic. They didn't think they'd need it.

Now, they saw their mistake.

Some of them, at least. The others would never know how I killed these men. I would make sure of that.

“Is it fucked up that I'm enjoying their fear?” Aras drawled as he stepped up beside me to get a better view of the next execution.

I paused in drawing out the next traitor to grab Aras by the back of the neck and pull him into a vicious kiss that was nonetheless full of everything I felt for him. Lust, joy, need, freedom, and, above all else, love. I poured it into my mate, offering him a taste of how proud I was to have him beside me. Offering him my truth.

And Aras poured his truth into me.

I felt it all. His need. His lust. His joy in what we had found together. And there, rising amid it all, a small seed. No, a bud about to bloom. Oh, fuck that. Aras's love wasn't a stupid flower. It was a blade, and our love would hone it. It had already sliced deep into my heart. Soon, its edge would be so sharp that I wouldn't feel the cuts. I would welcome them. The more Aras sliced me open, the more he could pour into me.

When we drew back from each other, we instantly locked stares. There was so much inside Aras's eyes, and I hoped he read everything in mine. But those stories weren't necessary. They'd already been told with our lips and the magic that bound us, just not with speech. Oh, who the fuck needs words anyway?

Aras grinned. “Slow down, baby.”

At first, I thought he meant with us.

But then he went on. “You're killing them too quickly. I want those motherfuckers soaked in fear by the time you pull them out of there. And I want the bastards who sent them to see the remains and know what happens to those who dare to attack you. Maybe then they will understand who it is that rules them.”

My breath shuddered and my heart soared. “You are perfect,” I whispered. “So fucking perfect.”

“And you are so fucking beautiful.” Aras stroked my scaled cheek. “I don't suppose you could shift into this later?”

I burst out laughing, then I gaped at him in shock. We were surrounded by blood, gore, and body parts; ringed by a wall of water full of traitors who I had sentenced to die; and my mate had made me laugh. Yes, this was love. I was absolutely certain of it.

I summoned another traitor forth and took my time with him.