Something didn’t feel right. The discomfort started in Calum’s gut and worked its way up his spine.

He left backstage and searched for Arielle in the crowd. She wasn’t at the table with the others. Where had she gone?

Maybe he was overreacting. With the overprotective way he’d behaved around her, it was easy to believe.

He shook his head. That wasn’t it.

He communicated to his brothers and Mairi. Something’s wrong. I can feel it.

He made his way to the table.

“Where’s Arielle?” He asked.

“She went to the loo,” Raina said.

“You let her go alone? I thought women were notorious for going in packs.”

“Och, Calum…” Raina began.

“Come, make sure she’s okay.”

Raina followed and entered the ladies room. Calum paced outside while he waited.

She emerged with a pale face. “She’s not in there.”

Calum pushed his way through the crowd, searching for her. No luck. He ran outside. He searched the skies. The ground. Everywhere. His heart thundered and his skin turned clammy. Fear clawed at his insides, but he couldn’t let it paralyze him.

A strangled gasp made him turn.

He followed the sound to the shadows. A cloaked figure was bent over Arielle, its face buried into her neck.

Red rage soared through him. Who the fuck was touching his woman?

His woman.

Calum roared as he threw the figure away from her. That’s when he saw the blood. Arielle’s eyes were wide with terror. Blood trickled down her neck. She whispered his name.

“Arielle!”

He bent down. The puncture wound on her neck was singular, not two as he would expect from a vampire. What the hell was that?

She pointed up. “Dragon. Watch out!”

A blow to his gut knocked him over and he rolled across the ground. He clutched his stomach, as he regained his footing.

The man in black laughed at him, a sinister sound. His eyes flashed with an orange blaze before the black irises turned to diamonds like slits. Like the hooded being that had attacked the other night.

In the next second, the man was surrounded by a faint orange shimmer that glowed brighter.

Fuck. He was shifting.

Reshaping into a dragon. No, it couldn’t be…

It was.

The same dragon that Calum had fought the night he found Arielle threatened them once more. Calum shifted to gargoyle form with only a split second to send a message.

Dragon.

The dragon unleashed a torrent of fire. Calum rolled away and soared into the air to avoid being devoured by the flames.

Something was wrong with the transmission. All he heard was static. His message didn’t go through.

While the dragon hurled flames, Calum sneaked to its left flank and punched him with all his strength. It bellowed as it fell to its side. At least the stream of fire ceased.

That wouldn’t last. It would recover soon enough. The weapons were stashed in the back room inside. Useless to him. His brothers were inside, too. Brilliant.

He tried again to communicate once again was greeted by static. Whatever this dragon shifter was, he was powerful. Full of dark magic, enhanced by drinking Arielle’s blood.

Fuck it. I’ve held my own against it before. No way in hell will I back down now.

He lunged for the dragon and punched it in the gut. He followed up with a blow to the throat, and repeated the pounding. The dragon might have fire on its side, but Calum had brute strength. If he could prevent the dragon from breathing flames, Calum would have an advantage.

He repeated the blows, one after the other, until the dragon flipped him, knocking him over to where Arielle had been.

Where was she? She’d disappeared.

Shards of ice claimed his soul. The fear could evolve into full out panic if he didn’t control himself. He struggled to keep his head. In battle, there was no time for it, as it led to poor decisions. Fatal mistakes.

The dragon soared above Calum and roared with a strangled sound. The stream of fire that followed was not as potent as before. The dragon breathed in with ragged pants. Calum’s blows to the throat must have injured it.

Calum flew higher. He assessed his injured enemy. If he stayed out of the fiery range, he might increase his odds of vanquishing the beast.

They circled and parried. Calum lunged closer to strike a blow, while the dragon would unleash its deadly breath. The pattern continued as seconds stretched on, feeling more like hours.

“Calum!”

It was Arielle. He followed her voice to ground level.

She was all right. And she was holding a sword and shield out to him. She must have run inside to retrieve them.

Ach, I love that woman.

Love? He shoved the thought aside and flew to her, and grabbed the sword and shield.

“Look out!”

Calum spun around, feeling the flames before he saw them. He raised the shield and blocked the brunt of assault, focusing on protecting Arielle. Fire danced along his forearms and shins. He cried out at the scalding pain, unlike anything he’d experienced, and collapsed.

The dragon swooped down so Calum covered Arielle with his shield. The dragon knocked it aside and scooped her up in his sharp talons.

Tendrils of fury rose within and swiftly wrapped around Calum. He glared at his opponent, narrowing his vision with laser focus. Destroy it. Save her.

Gavin burst through the back door of the club, followed by the others. The gargoyles had their weapons — shield and swords. Arielle must have warned them.

“What the fuck is going on?” Gavin asked.

“I’m going after her,” Calum replied, his voice strangely calm as the bloodlust stirred. Gargoyles could be blinded by vengeance in battle, and become self-destructive in a suicidal attempt to protect something—or someone. The stronger the attachment, the higher the threat.

He caught Gavin’s gaze. “When she falls, catch her.”

It wasn’t the best of plans, but it was the only option that came to him. If it went as he envisioned it, she would fall. She might be able to shift to pegasus form and fly, but without any warning… He didn’t want to risk it.

Calum didn’t know how much time they’d need. Nor the distance from the earth. The rage to destroy swept through him like a fireball, clouding his calculations. His beast yearned to burst forth and destroy the creature that wronged him, and to slice it into a thousand shreds.

Don’t let the thirst for vengeance burn you up like an inferno. Think cold and hard. It will help you save her.

As clarity cut through his brain like shards of a mirror, a sharp twist in his gut made him wince. He’d literally be dropping Arielle into Gavin’s arms. He forced himself to ignore the jealous pangs.

Catch her, he repeated.

I will, Gavin replied.

This time the message went through. Somehow, they’d interrupted the dragon’s dark magic that had been blocking them. Maybe with the repeated blows.

Calum soared after Arielle. She punched and kicked at the dragon.

She was fighting it. Even though they were dozens of feet in the air, she didn’t cower to the terror.

Admiration swelled within Calum. She was a fighter. And he refused to let her down.

She was making an impact on her captor, too. It reacted to her blows, wincing and slowing the flight. She must have been more powerful than she appeared. Calum took advantage of the dragon’s distraction, closing the distance between them. He glanced back. Gavin was rapidly approaching below him, and his other brothers followed.

Calum gauged the situation. He’d only have a split second to act and not get fried to a gargoyle crisp.

Arielle reached for her leg. Moonlight reflected on the silver surface. The knife!

She tore it from the sheath and plunged it into the dragon’s gut.

Calum flew in from behind, which he hoped was a dragon’s blind spot. He raised the shield, ready for another blast. With the burns still echoing on his gargoyle hide, the last thing he wanted was a repeat.

He raised his sword as he reached the dragon, and then plunged it in its side. It shrieked and turned its massive body toward Calum, releasing Arielle.

She plunged toward the earth. Calum shot her a quick look to make sure Gavin was beneath them. That second cost him. The dragon unleashed a tunnel of fire. Calum raised his shield, preventing the brunt of the blast, but not the agonizing burns over the flesh on his legs.

Once the flames receded, Calum rushed forward, fueled by wrath and blinded by bloodlust. He plunged the sword into the dragon’s throat with a roar. The dragon gasped and then choked. Puffs of smoke and flames escaped from the bloodied gash in its throat. And then the beast fell.

As it plummeted to the ground, Calum pursued, blind to anything but the pulsing red rage that throbbed in his head, repeating one mantra: Destroy.

The dragon crashed into the earth. Calum slowed enough not to follow the same fate. He plunged the sword into the dragon’s chest. As he pulled out the sword from the scaly flesh, blood dripped from its edge. Calum raised the sword over his head, blood spattering over him, and then he slammed it down on the dragon’s neck. The head rolled away from its body.

Calum exhaled. He lowered his wings, heavy with exhaustion.

“Fuck. You killed a dragon.” Mason’s voice was full of awe as he caught up.

Calum’s pride was short-lived. The more pressing concern was Arielle.

He turned to find her descending—in Gavin’s arms. As soon as Calum caught his breath, he’d go to her.

“You all right?” Lachlan asked.

Calum blinked, trying to see through the crimson haze that still clouded his vision as he regained his breath. The dragon is dead. Arielle is safe. You need to let go of the anger.

He glanced at Arielle. Her serene beauty calmed him. “It’s over.”

“Arielle shouted to us as she grabbed weapons,” Lachlan said.

“Looks like you didn’t even need us,” Bryce added. “That was brilliant.”

As they reached the ground, Arielle broke out of Gavin’s hold.

“Calum!”

She threw her arms around him, falling against his chest. Her touch, her scent flowed through him.

Calum pulled her into a tight embrace. The touch against his burns made him wince, but he didn’t care. He needed her in his arms, knowing she was safe, but he couldn’t crush her. His strength had been enhanced by the adrenaline rush and his control over his emotions teetered on a perilous edge.

Arielle was alive. She came to him.

“You’re all right!” She pressed her head against his chest. “I was so worried.”

He laughed. “You? I saw you carried away by a dragon. And fighting like a banshee.”

“You saved me. Again.”

He ran his fingers over the back of her head, letting them run through the silky strands. “I couldn’t have done it without you, Arielle. Without the shield and the sword, I’d be ashes. You stabbing the dragon kept us both alive.”

She pulled away from him, eyes swimming with concern. “Oh my God, your burns! I’m so sorry. Let me help you.”

The blood streaking down her neck indicated she hadn’t fared much better.

“What about your neck? You lost a lot of blood.”

“Not so much. You got to us quickly,” she said. “Just need some rest. And I want to take care of you. Take me back home with you.”

Your home, too. You belong there.

He didn’t dare say it, though. She had a home, one she was trying to return to. “Of course.”

She ran her feather-light hair over his wounds. The silky strands touched them, like a healing ointment, making the pain vanish.

Her touch soothed him. Her presence calmed him.

Shite, he was going to miss her more than he’d thought.