That fucking bastard.

  “I don’t think it’s a good idea to be around Knox until I’ve severed ties with him,” I said, not wanting to stress Cillian with my wolf’s revelations. “Let’s put that plan into action once we’re back from seeing my family.”

  He didn’t seem pleased but didn’t argue. Mostly. “I want him dead for what he did.”

  “I know, and he will be. In time.” At least, I fucking hoped so.

  Cillian grabbed my hand, and we exited his home together. I’d wanted to ask if I could run back as my wolf, but given the tugging in my chest that I knew was coming from Knox, I didn’t bother. Sticking as close to Cillian as possible seemed like the best choice.

  He shifted right there in front of his house, and I wasted no time climbing onto his back. As he took flight, I held on to his scales as well as I could since we’d forgotten the rope when we left.

  His right wing dropped down, forcing his body to dodge in the same direction. I nearly pissed my pants and screamed at him not to play around, but as soon as we leveled out again, I realized what had him making those moves.

  Lightning was shooting across the sky. Streams of darker silver sparks that looked similar to what I’d seen come from Cillian earlier that day, and yet, they didn’t at all make me feel safe.

  Knox is attacking again, my wolf said.

  How the hell do you know and I don’t?

  Because I can feel his dragon, too.

  Wasn’t she just full of revelations, suddenly.

  I didn’t bother to relay the information to Cillian. He seemed very aware of what was happening. All I could do was focus on not falling off his back. I kept my feet planted where his wings met his body and leaned forward so that my chest was laying against the base of his neck and I could reach the longer, more spike-like humps.

  Once I had a solid hold and wasn’t worried about falling off, I yelled into the air. “I’m not falling off anytime soon. Do whatever you need to.”

  As soon as the words left my mouth, my stomach ended up in my throat. Cillian’s dragon tilted his body downward, and I had what felt like a literal killer view of the ground. He swooped left just before we crashed into the surface, then right, and I glanced behind us.

  I couldn’t see anyone else, and there were only faint flickers of the lightning left behind.

  When I thought we were out of the woods, a shadow fell over us, and I yelled once again. “Above us!”

  Cillian was already fully aware. We went vertical again, this time going higher into the sky.

  The dull sun was cresting over the mountains in the distance, but still provided enough light for us to see Knox’s deep emerald dragon behind us.

  At least, I assumed it was Knox based on the sensations in my chest increasing.

  His dragon’s teeth snapped, trying to grab hold of Cillian’s tail, but my true mate was faster and kept just enough distance between them.

  I focused on keeping my hold to Cillian secure. The last thing we needed was for me to fall off and Knox to be the one to catch me.

  I assumed Cillian was going to attempt to outrun Knox, but not even a minute later, his body curved, turning us around and coming face to face with his brother.

  He had to be fucking insane, but I didn’t say a word. Instead, I paid as much attention as I could to the warring dragons.

  Cillian’s left wing swung out, and the sharp point cut into Knox’s face, drawing blood.

  Knox roared and flicked his tail around, just missing me.

  This had Cillian fuming. Or I assumed so based on the smoking huffs coming out of his nose.

  I was waiting for him to use his lightning ability, but that moment never came.

  Knox came for us again, and Cillian dropped his wings, sending us plummeting to the ground. Knox was right behind us. His claws skimmed the ends of my hair that were currently above my head. “Move!” I yelled at Cillian, unsure if he was aware just how close our opponent was.

  Except we were too close to the trees and there wasn’t anywhere to go other than up, right into Knox’s path.

  Cillian continued with his current trajectory, right into the ground. I had no clue what he was thinking, but if he got me scalped by the fucking claws still reaching for my head, he was going to suffer. Immensely.

  Right after I killed Knox.

  Trees were right in front of us. Knox was still above us and the ground was below. We could turn around, but the time that would take would allow Knox to have the upper hand.

  I wanted to scream at Cillian, but I held tight, hoping he was about to unveil some superpower I wasn’t aware he had.

  Just as I was certain we were going to crash right into the trees, Lykem’s dragon came out of nowhere and plowed into Knox. As soon as that happened, Cillian’s wings went out, slowing his speed. He turned around, taking me further and further away.

  I glanced back to see Lykem blocking Knox from attacking and their two dragons going head to head.

  Fuck. Lykem better be fine. I wasn’t going to be okay if we’d run and gotten Cillian’s best friend killed.

  Chapter Seventeen

  CILLIAN

  I should have known better. I shouldn’t have kept Dawsyn at my house for longer than a minute. Hell, we shouldn’t have even bothered going. There wasn’t anything there that I needed, but telling her no when she’d wanted so badly to see where I lived was hard.

  Knox had almost gotten to her. Again. I’d nearly failed to protect her. Again.

  The rage filling me wasn’t going to lessen anytime soon.

  If I hadn’t had Dawsyn with me, I’d have killed the fucker right then and there, but there was no way I was going to risk my mate getting caught in the crossfire, which was also why I didn’t use my lightning against Knox. I was too afraid of her getting burned from the energy while she was on my back.

  As we raced back to the caves, I knew we had to do something about their connection, and soon. I hadn’t even had her back for a full day, and he’d already come for her.

  The bond she had with him needed to be fucking severed.

  As soon as we were close enough to the caves, I landed and Dawsyn jumped off of me. Her entire body was shaking, and her eyes were wide.

  I shifted back to my human form and went straight to her, holding her painfully tight against my chest. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

  “That had nothing to do with you,” she growled. Her anger that I had mistaken for fear was suddenly palpable.

  “I need to get you out of here,” I said, pressing my lips to the top of her head and anchoring her to me. “He can’t get that close to you again.”

  “We’re meeting my family tomorrow,” she said. “We’ll figure something out then.”

  I shook my head. “No. Tonight. I won’t risk him coming after you again while everyone is sleeping.”

  She leaned back, heavy emotions washing over her eyes as she stared up at me. “I’m going to get everyone killed.”

  “No. This is all on him.” If anything, I’d started this war simply by being born. Whatever vendetta Knox had, it started with my family. Dawsyn was merely leverage he was trying to use, but I wasn’t going to let him.

  “You’re sure we can go tonight?” she asked, glancing behind me and up into the sky. “As soon as we find out if Lykem is okay.”

  My hands still shook, so I kept them pressed against her back as I nodded. “I’m sure he’s on his way back already.”

  I wanted to go help Lykem, but the thought of leaving Dawsyn made my stomach churn and scales threaten to burst from my skin.

  Her stare met mine again, and she lightly rubbed her palms over my biceps. “We’re okay.” With those two words, all the ire I’d seen flitting within her eyes washed away. I tried to match her mood, but it wasn’t happening.

  She moved her touch to my chest. “I’m yours, Cillian. All yours. No matter what Knox did or does in the future. Nothing will change the fact that you’re my mate. The only one I want.”

  “What if I can’t protect you from him?” I asked, because that terror was what prevented me from calming down. It didn’t matter how much we wanted each other, or how I’d burn the whole world for her. If I wasn’t enough to keep her safe, none of that would make a difference.

  Her hands cupped my neck and my chest rumbled. “Do not let fear take over. We will fight. For however long we have to. And we will win.”

  She wrapped her arms tighter around me and pulled herself up and into my arms. The phantom thrum of our bond twitched inside my chest—not actually there but knowing it should be.

  I leaned forward and captured her mouth. She parted for me, and I wasted no time tasting her. One hand palmed her ass, keeping her up, and the other moved slowly up her sides until my thumb brushed underneath her breast.

  The sensation elicited a gasp from her, which I devoured with our kiss.

  She gripped my hair, angling my head and deepening the kiss.

  Fuck, I needed to have this woman more than I needed my next breath. These kisses and touches weren’t enough. I had to claim her. I had to know she was mine. All fucking mine and that nobody could ever take her from me again.

  The sound of branches snapping had both of us jerking apart. I kept Dawsyn in my hold as I turned around, just in time to see Lykem’s dragon crash into the ground.

  I set her down, grabbed her shoulders, and spoke firmly. “Go to the cave. Call for anyone who is nearest to you and tell them we need a healer right the fuck now.”

  She didn’t hesitate. Didn’t ask questions. Just turned and ran in the opposite direction.

  My chest strained with tension as I hurried toward Lykem. He hadn’t shifted back, which wasn’t fucking good.

  Blood coated his face, but I couldn’t tell if it was his or someone else’s. His right wing was ripped, and there were several deep gouges on his sides. Worse, there was still more crimson leaking out from underneath him.

  Hell, I didn’t even know how he’d made it back to us.

  My hands pressed against his head, wiping what I could away from his eyes. “You’re going to be okay. Dawsyn went to get a healer.”

  He made an odd noise that didn’t make me feel any better, then fell to his side. I pulled my shirt off and went to his side, hoping to staunch the worst of the wounds with the fabric. But I froze when I moved around his wing.

  I was going to fucking kill Knox ten times over for the damage he’d caused, but for this, seeing my oldest friend split open like a goddamned fish, he’d fucking burn.

  Lykem’s underbelly had a two-foot gaping wound, so deep that I could see severed muscles and what I assumed to be his guts.

  The only thing keeping me from losing my damned mind was that none of his internal organs looked damaged.

  His dragon healing would help, but without a healer, this amount of damage would kill Lykem within the hour. As it was, I had a feeling he was going to need a blood donation.

  Knowing there was nothing I could do for his stomach, I went to the wing that looked broken. This was going to hurt like a son of a bitch, but the bones had to be reset sooner rather than later, or he was never going to fly right again.

  I glanced over at his dragon’s face to find his eyes closed. Hopefully, he was passed out and would stay that way for this part.

  My hands grabbed on to the end of his wing and steadied my grip. I took a deep breath as I made sure there was only the one break. I didn’t want to fix one part only to make another worse. When I didn’t see any other sections bent in the wrong direction, I twisted then pulled, fast and hard.

  Bones rebroke from having already begun to heal, and Lykem’s dragon reawakened with a boisterous roar.

  His front legs swiped out, likely looking for anyone he could skewer for what I’d just done to him. At least one of his claws caught on my jeans, ripping the material, but just missing my skin.

  I backed up and held my hands out. “It’s just me, Lykem. I had to reset your wing.”

  Smoke puffed from his nostrils in a clear “fuck you,” but I didn’t take it personally. I’d have done the same thing.

  His chest heaved, and I walked around him once again, seeing if there was anything else I could do. Before I could put hands on him again, Winter, our clan healer, came running back out with Dawsyn right behind her.

  They had matching gasps when they saw Lykem. Though, it was Dawsyn who dropped to her knees. “I’m so fucking sorry.”

  I went to her and pulled her back. “Not your fault.” Then, I glanced at Winter. “What do you need?”

  “Everything,” she whispered, her hands hovering over his chest. “He’s very weak, and his stomach…” She glanced back at me, a piece of her white-blonde hair falling over her wide aqua eyes. “This isn’t good.”

  Dawsyn’s body shook within my hold. “What can we do?”

  “Tell Greta I need three full kits,” Winter said. “She’ll know what to do.”

  Dawsyn took off without me, and I stayed behind in case Winter needed my help to move Lykem.

  As she bent next to him, the healer did a partial shift and began painfully plucking scales from her arm, creating a pile of at least a dozen. It wasn’t well known outside of our clan that her scales held a healing power, but I was damned grateful I knew.

  She placed three of them inside Lykem’s stomach wound, then turned to me. “I need you to come and press his skin back together as close as you can get it. We need the magic from the scales to penetrate as deeply as possible.”

  There was no hesitation in following her request. My hands were already covered in blood, and if Lykem didn’t recover from this…I knew I’d never unseen the gore we were surrounded by.

  His dragon twitched, but it appeared he was passed out again. A small thanks.

  Dawsyn returned, chest likely heaving from all the running and adrenaline. “Greta said she’d send the first kit out within five minutes and keep working on the others, but she’s not sure if we have enough items to do three.”

  Winter cursed under her breath. “If you believe in a god, I’d start praying.”

  My mate’s face paled. “What can I do?”

  “Come over here and help me adjust his wing, so I can get to another wound.”

  I opened my mouth to tell Winter I would help. Lykem was a big dragon—heavy as shit—but before the words could get out, Dawsyn was at Lykem’s shoulders and bent at the knees, sliding her hands beneath him.

  With a loud grunt of effort, she lifted his upper body. Her face was red, and I was pretty sure she wasn’t breathing, but hell, she was fucking strong.

  Winter had him adjusted within thirty seconds, and Dawsyn dropped his body, wincing when the ground shook. “Sorry. Again,” she whispered to him, rubbing her hand over his neck.

  “He didn’t feel a thing,” Winter said, then handed her a few scales. “Place one of these in each of the wounds on his other side. If they don’t look like they’re going to close on their own, hold them together until you see the skin start to stitch itself back together.”

  “What happens when we get all the wounds closed?” Dawsyn asked.

  “We pray he wakes up.”

  Chapter Eighteen

  DAWSYN

  It had been four hours since Lykem had come back. Once all of his injuries were sealed—thanks to Winter’s scales—she’d covered his body with a balm made from the healing kits Greta had sent out. All that was left to do was to watch over him.

  Dragons were sent to keep an eye out for any incoming attacks. We had no clue what happened to Knox since Lykem hadn’t woken back up, but if he wasn’t worse than Lykem, then we had to be prepared for anything.

  Especially since the bastard seemed to have a beacon on me, thanks to our bond.

  I badly wanted to leave and go home to find a way to break the connection, but more than that, I needed to know I hadn’t killed Lykem.

  Sure, I knew it wasn’t me who’d wounded him, but Knox had only attacked because I was out there.

  Cillian’s thumb rubbed over the back of my hand. “We’ll need to leave in the morning, even if he’s not awake.”

  I tilted my head at him. “Can you read minds? I was just thinking about that.”

  His responding smile didn’t quite reach his eyes. “No, but I’ve been thinking about it, too. The sooner we can cut the connection Knox forced on you, the better for everyone.”

  There was one thought that had come to my mind, and while neither my wolf nor I liked the idea, I felt the need to express it.

  “What if I didn’t cut the tie and used it against him like he is us?” I asked. The words made me want to vomit, but we had to be smart about this situation. Knox currently had the advantage, and we had to find some way to take that from him.

  Cillian’s body simmered with fury, and his eyes darkened as he looked right at me. “Abso-fucking-lutely not. I don’t care if you being bonded to him saved a thousand lives. You’re mine. Not his.”

  I couldn’t stop myself from smiling at his outrage. Not that there was anything funny about our situation, but knowing how strongly he cared for me brought a much-needed happiness into my heart.

  I leaned my head against his shoulder as we sat in his makeshift bed, leaning against the wall inside the cave. “I’m more than okay with that. I just wanted to make sure I wasn’t being selfish by not sharing the thought once I’d had it.”

  His grip squeezed my hand tighter. “There is nothing selfish when it comes to us being together. I don’t give a fuck what anyone else thinks.”

  My eyes fluttered closed, and I let my body relax against Cillian’s. It had been more than a week since I’d had decent sleep. While resting on the ground wasn’t ideal, it was so much better than the nights I’d spent in that cell, alone with no light.

  Cillian’s fingers stroked over my cheek, and he kissed the top of my head. “Sleep, Mate. I’ll wake you if there are any changes.”

  I nodded and burrowed in closer, sliding down until my head lay in his lap and my legs were curled up next to him.