Though, she hadn’t known it could hurt this much to be apart.

  She bit her nails, staring at the screen as texts came from her friends, also watching from home in a panic.

  The entire world was watching.

  How long could Troy and Jack last? She gasped as she saw Jack’s blue dragon form fall from the clouds, caught by Troy.

  “Please, please don’t let my friends die,” she prayed quietly, desperately, for what felt like the hundredth time.

  That thing was so huge. Was it her fault it was there? She’d never forgive herself if people were hurt because that monster was coming for her.

  Troy and Jack had said they sensed a chaos eruption and were going to check it out before it got closer, but no one had expected an attack to break out over downtown Dallas.

  “It’ll be okay,” Serena said, coming over to the couch where Mara was sitting and handing her a cup of coffee.

  Mara felt like her very heart was on fire, so she wasn’t sure coffee would help, but she took it gratefully anyway. “Thanks, Serena. But I don’t see how it can be.” She swallowed. “That thing is huge.”

  “Konar told us to call him if something came for you,” Serena said. “So if that monster gets past the double dragons, we will have a failsafe.”

  Mara’s throat was tight, watching the throngs of people with faces full of fear as they tried to evacuate the city. “I don’t worry about me. I just—”

  Serena looked at the TV. “I wish there was more we could do too. The double dragons are doing their best.”

  “I don’t want to be safe if no one else is,” Mara muttered.

  Serena gave her a calm smile. “You are such a good person, Mara. Konar didn’t deserve you. But this is just life for the double dragons. They are fighting incredible odds at all times.” She folded her arms, sadness taking over her expression. “This is the way things have become in the fae realm as well. Chaos everywhere. Invasions.” She shook her head. “I wish there was more we could do.”

  “You’re part fae. Couldn’t you help?” Mara asked hopefully.

  “I have to stay here and watch out for you,” Serena said. “And I can’t fight chaos. I would lose myself even facing that dragon. It exudes confusion and madness.” Her face tightened. “Jack and Troy will take care of this. I believe in them.”

  “Troy just had to literally carry Jack into the sky,” Mara said.

  Serena cursed and sat next to her. “Dammit, no. They have to be okay.”

  Mara was practically shaking, watching the entire thing unfold.

  The newscaster suddenly stopped speaking midsentence, and the camera cut over to a huge black shape moving through the sky.

  “It appears we have another attacker,” the reporter said breathlessly. “Joining the fight against Dallas. Is there any hope for us?”

  Mara hated the news for exploiting the chaos. The newscaster almost sounded excited, like this was some sport and not an event where many people could be killed.

  The new creature was huge and indeed a dragon. Smoke wound around its body, trailing as it flew.

  But there were glowing dots of orange-red all over it, which caught the light as it moved through clouds like it was dotted with small translucent stones, one in the center of every black scale.

  The orange reminded her of something as the dragon flew up into the clouds.

  Her eyes flew open as she saw the face of the dragon for a moment and recognized it as one she’d seen in the woods, backing her up with hot, ember-laden breath right in her face.

  But it couldn’t be…

  “That’s Konar,” she said, putting a hand up to her mouth, unable to stifle her shock. “But…”

  Serena sat up stiffly. “I thought he hated humans. This whole world. Other dragons—”

  “He did,” Mara said, her heart overflowing as she tried to process what was happening. He was the last person she expected to come save the humans, not to mention Troy and Jack, at that moment.

  Holy crap.

  For a moment, she was so proud of him she couldn’t see straight, couldn’t speak.

  The cameras all moved up to focus on the clouds, which were dispersed by Konar flying through them, revealing Troy and Jack as well as the chaos dragon in the sky.

  She nearly screamed as she saw the thing shoot black fire at Konar, who dodged and attacked back.

  When Konar blew fire, she wanted to cheer, but when the evil dragon reflected it at the civilians, horror welled within her.

  Part of her hoped Konar wouldn’t hesitate, that he would fight regardless. A selfish part of her wanted him to keep blowing flame, regardless of what happened on the sidelines. If he couldn’t save everyone, so be it.

  He was fighting for her world, but he didn’t need to die for it.

  She winced as she watched the fight continue, getting the feeling that Konar was definitely forced into a defensive position, avoiding using his fire and taking every hit he could to protect the humans.

  She bit on her nails painfully, fear lashing at her insides as she saw Konar take another hit.

  He was doing this for her. She felt it in her heart.

  He was finally being the dragon she’d always dreamed he could be. Protective and kind and serving her world.

  She couldn’t have been prouder of him… or more worried.

  The stupid fight was so unfair, with him taking the other dragon’s fire that was clearly aimed at humans and unable to use his own attacks.

  “That’s it, Konar, get ‘em!” she yelled at the TV as Konar managed to swing his tail into the other dragon’s face again, knocking him slightly farther back from the city. But then another black cloud of chaos flame shot from the monster, engulfing Konar, who let out an enraged shriek and charged the other dragon again.

  They were both huge, and though the chaos monster had a slight size difference on Konar, Konar was holding his own, sinking his fangs into the other dragon’s shoulder even as it breathed more fire over Konar’s form.

  Konar broke away, circling the other dragon, smoke trailing from burns on his body.

  “This isn’t looking good,” Serena said, standing. “I need to call the oracle.”

  Mara stood as well, watching Serena go. She put her hand around her carnelian pendant, feeling helpless. She’d never been more scared or upset in her life.

  She loved Konar. She missed him every day.

  She’d wanted him to be more, and here he was, doing what she’d always wanted.

  And now she wished he would just run away.

  Or that she could help him.

  Suddenly, she felt power surge inside her, and as if something were bursting out of her, she felt the immediate urge to run outside as fast as possible.

  Even as she ran, odd tingles filled her body, and she looked down to see the floor getting farther away, everything beneath her looking smaller.

  She continued to run, blind panic for her mate making her uncaring about her environment, until she tried to run through a door and ended up smashing through the wall above it, too huge to get through.

  She was outside on the grass, vision blurry as she looked down to see the ground had finally stopped getting farther away.

  The tingles were stopping, and she could feel her body again.

  Though, it felt strange.

  She looked down at her hands, surprised to see long dragon paws with talons stretching out beneath her. She looked side to side and saw long, glittering wings.

  Her body seemed to be an iridescent color, leathery between iridescent scales, with iridescent wings.

  How could this be possible? Was she hallucinating?

  She turned her dragon hand over, noticing that it was covered in tiny clear crystals, which shone with tiny rainbows when they caught the light.

  On her wings, instead of spikes, iridescent crystals shot up in all directions.

  Inside, she felt her dragon awaken and heard it tell her what to do.

  Something she hadn’t listened to her whole life. Something that felt new to her and like it had been there all along.

  Go, we need to save him.

  She stretched out her wings, beating them hard, and somehow, someway, she felt her body lift into the sky.

  Oh god, she really was a dragon. She aimed her body toward Dallas, toward the fight, hoping she would be able to actually help when she got there.

  But even if she had to die, at least she would die by her mate.

  He had somehow learned to love.

  It was time for her to learn how to fight.

  25

  Konar was wearying in his fight against the titanic chaos dragon but merely because of the exhausting number of attacks he had to absorb to protect the civilians or other dragons.

  He knew he could kill this thing easily if he didn’t have to be playing defensive constantly.

  But as a shade dragon, he had a high resistance to chaos. What was enough to knock out Jack’s blue dragon merely made Konar slightly dizzy.

  Troy was in black dragon form, and Jack was behind him, conscious but staying back from the chaos dragon.

  “I can’t attack!” Troy yelled. “Black dragon fire is highly toxic. I can’t risk him reflecting attacks.”

  If only they could disable the chaos magic the dragon was using to redirect their fire blasts.

  And the chaos fire it kept shooting, which burned like acid and was starting to eat away at Konar’s wings.

  Still, he would do whatever he could to protect Mara’s world. All he wished was that they could save everyone and get back to her.

  So he could say sorry for so many things.

  “Go back to the mansion,” Konar yelled. “I can fight better not protecting you or your partner!”

  “Like hell!” Troy yelled back.

  “I’m staying,” Jack said weakly, beating his wings. “I can still breathe healing fire.”

  Konar knew he might need it soon, so he nodded.

  Then he moved in for another attack on the chaos dragon.

  But he was tiring, the acid burns covering him surpassing even what Jack could heal.

  Given time, he could heal, but he couldn’t take a break without the chaos creature attacking the city again.

  Evacuations were still stalled by the crowds trying to surge out of the city.

  But he would fight to the very end.

  He lunged, sinking his teeth into the other dragon’s neck and shaking him hard as the other dragon blew fire over him again.

  This whole fight was so disgraceful and cheap.

  The monster suddenly stopped breathing fire and raised its head, eyes widening, glittering with malice.

  Focusing on something in the distance.

  Konar beat his wings and kicked back and away from the other dragon, staring at something flying toward them, sparkling like it was covered in rainbows, reflecting everything around it.

  As it got closer, he realized it was a dragon, covered in iridescent skin and crystals over nearly every surface.

  It was almost hard to look at it, it was so beautiful.

  And the chaos monster was beating its wings in place, staring with narrowed eyes.

  “A crystal dragon,” it said in a rumbling, horrible voice. “It’s impossible.”

  As it came closer, Konar noticed the emerald green of the eyes at the center, followed by a rainbow ring around the outside.

  It couldn’t be, but it had to be—the closer the dragon got, the more Konar recognized the energy and was sure.

  That was Mara.

  His mate was a dragon.

  He blinked, keeping an eye on the chaos monster as it watched her approach.

  “I am here to find and consume a crystal heart,” it growled. “I will do so, even if they are a dragon.” The dragon built chaos fire, and Konar flew with all his might to block Mara from taking the long-range hit.

  He flew to the side from the force of the blast, and Mara flew up and in front of him.

  Drakkaris, her dragon form was beautiful. He’d never seen anything like it. Hadn’t known such a dragon could exist.

  “Use your fire, Mara!” Jack called out. “You could purify that thing! You have opposite energy!”

  Was that why this monster was hunting crystal energy? Because it was dangerous to him?

  Or was he really planning to consume Mara and use her energy for himself?

  Konar wouldn’t allow it.

  Mara flew forward, sucked in a breath, and then blew a cloud of crystal shards, glittering with rainbows, in a hail at the chaos dragon.

  He dodged rather than reflecting, apparently unwilling to risk it.

  Where the shards embedded, Konar saw the black and white marbling vanish, leaving the chaos dragon a dull grayish-green in a few spots.

  It was removing the chaos.

  Mara flew by him, crystal wings shining, the look in her eyes taking his breath away even in dragon form.

  So gorgeous.

  He tried to stay focused, knowing he still needed to be aware of attacks.

  Luckily, Mara seemed to be immune to chaos, not dizzy in the least as she flew to the side of the dragon, trying to hit him with shards.

  This time, he dodged faster.

  “You need to hit him more directly!” Jack yelled. “Troy, we have to help her keep him in place. It’s going to take a ton of crystal fire to take that thing down if he keeps dodging—”

  “We can’t,” Troy said back, circling in front of his partner, guarding him with his body. “I can’t risk you taking another attack. We have to let them take care of it for now, while we heal.”

  Konar sent Mara a glance as they both dodged out of the way of a huge stream of chaos flame.

  “This wasn’t supposed to happen,” the chaos dragon said, lashing his tail, now mottled with green from the crystal darts he’d been hit with. “I was supposed to draw your protectors out, weaken them, and come for you. After I fed on chaos—”

  Konar took advantage of the moment to send fire at the dragon, forcing him to the side. “Mara, now!” he yelled as the dragon dodged her direction.

  Mara unleashed crystal fire, but it wasn’t enough. The huge beast just launched upward, laughing.

  “That’s all you have? You’ll never be able to hit me with adequate crystal fire before I kill everyone in this vicinity. You’re a failure, crystal heart—”

  Mara blew more fire, but he flew lower. As Konar and Mara circled him, trying to pin him with their dual fires, Konar really did wonder if it was hopeless.

  With all the fire, it was only a matter of time until civilians were killed or Mara, as a new dragon, ran out of energy.

  Mara looked at him with worried eyes, but he gave her a determined nod. They would do this together. They were both warriors now.

  She nodded and blew more fire as Konar tried to blow his shade fire behind, trapping the chaos fiend, who flew up again, laughing.

  The stupid thing was drawing power from Jack and Troy after hurting them. From the fear and panic below.

  And from the fact that Konar and Mara had to watch out for each other and the civilians, not just themselves.

  Just as Konar was starting to feel lightheaded, he saw two dark shapes approaching in the distance.

  Squinting, barely dodging another chaos flame burst, he realized it had to be Drokar and Karnal.

  The dragons flying toward them were huge, with shade dragon coloring.

  Were they coming to help?

  Hope rose in Konar, but as Karnal and Drokar got closer, he saw an evil gleam in both of their eyes.

  They weren’t coming to help. They were coming to take advantage of the havoc.

  Konar saw a chaos blast aimed at Mara and flew straight at her as fast as he could, knocking her body out of the way so he could take the blast.

  To Konar’s surprise, when Karnal and Drokar reached them, they hovered above them, above the chaos dragon, looking down and beating their wings as if trying to decide how to get involved.

  Then he saw fire building in their throats as they both took different angles in the sky. He was about to yell at them when he saw their target had to be the chaos dragon.

  Which was about to be hit with huge amounts of fire.

  If he could just blow from the other side, the monster would have nowhere to move to dodge, and—

  “Mara, now!” he yelled, building and unleashing fire on the monster, who smirked and moved upward, not even noticing Karnal and Drokar yet.

  Just then, Karnal and Drokar unleashed their fire beams directly at the monster, blocking his escape route upward or to the right.

  Konar kept his fire on the monster, preventing his escape downward.

  Just as Konar had asked, Mara took a deep breath and blew more crystal fire than ever at the dragon, who had nowhere to go without being burned by intensely hot barbarian dragon fire.

  The shards covered the dragon, sticking out all over like needles, and the thing shrieked and twisted in the air, burning and changing colors all at once.

  “Keep going!” Jack yelled.

  Mara breathed harder, and Konar couldn’t have been prouder of his mate than at that moment. So strong. So brave.

  Such a kind heart but such a fighter.

  He kept his own fire going, proud that his type of dragon had almost endless amounts, just like Karnal and Drokar.

  The thing twisted, burning, as green and black smoke rose from it and fire began to burn over it.

  Its chaos neutralized, it couldn’t reflect or attack, and it was now taking every attack from Konar, Karnal, and Drokar as Mara finally pulled back, heaving and breathless.

  Meanwhile, Konar and his friends knew what to do. They flew around and around the chaos monster, flaming it, burning it, ignoring its screams.

  Doing what they were born to do.

  Finally, covered in blackened flesh, it let out one more shriek and passed out, either dead or unconscious, and began to fall out of the sky.

  Sensing the danger to civilians, Konar and the other barbarians turned to see him fall, but Troy and Jack were there first, using their smaller, faster forms to dart beneath the large, falling monster and catch it with both of their bodies.

  It disintegrated into ash, falling like snow over the city below, which was luckily mostly evacuated.