Noah groaned as another jolt of painful, electric energy flowed through his dragon body. Saul, also in dragon form, let out an awful laugh. In some ways, the sound of that laugh was worse than the physical pain of each jolt from the dragon ruby.
Noah did his best to act as though Saul’s little performance with the dragon ruby was not affecting him, but that was getting harder and harder to do. Noah knew what Saul was doing. Peter had briefed all of the dragons on the fact that it was possible for someone as advanced in dark magic as Saul was to use someone else’s soul to power dark magic spells. All of the dragons had agreed that, because of this, they would not attempt a rescue should one of them be captured. It was better to let one dragon fall than to risk giving Saul access to all the dragons. If rescue attempts went poorly and the dragons were captured, Saul would have ten dragon souls at his disposal. That might be enough for him to power through some seriously destructive spells.
Noah’s body twisted in pain again, followed moments later by another horrid laugh from Saul. At least this time Noah had managed not to groan. He tried to focus all his thoughts on Izzy. He’d seen her, right before Saul had taken him down. Izzy had been sitting proudly on her broomstick, a brilliant smile on her face. Noah’s greatest consolation in this moment was that the war was over, and Izzy was safe. At least he could die knowing this had not all been for nothing.
Saul’s large dragon form sauntered proudly back and forth across the large room they were in, and Noah couldn’t keep from staring. The evil dragon was a terrible sight to behold. His hide was blood red, with swirls of black color here and there. His whole body was covered with deep, angry scars, and his head, wings, and tail all sported black spikes. His eyes were an unnatural red color, and seemed to have no pupils. Noah shivered. He wondered if Saul had always looked this awful in dragon form, or if the evil had twisted him into something especially ugly. Noah had a feeling it was the latter option.
“You fools think you’ve won the war,” Saul said now, his voice sounding raspy and hoarse. “But I know how loyal you all are to each other. Your little friends will come rescue you, and when they do, I’ll have enough soul power to launch a counterattack. This fight isn’t over yet, my friend.”
Noah couldn’t answer while in dragon form, but he didn’t want to dignify Saul’s comments with a response, anyway. Someone as evil as Saul would never understand what loyalty actually meant. Noah closed his eyes so he wouldn’t have to see Saul’s disgusting form, and focused instead on the picture of Izzy he held in his mind’s eye. The pain he felt at knowing he would never see her again weighed heavily on his heart, and he tried to recall the brief happy times they’d had instead of thinking about what her life would be like lived out without him. He wondered if destiny would send her a new lifemate. Sometimes, when a lifemate was lost to death, fate saw fit to bring a new lifemate across your path. As hard as it was to imagine Izzy with another man, Noah hoped she would find love again. He just wanted her to be happy.
Another jolt of pain, another laugh from Saul. Noah could feel his strength beginning to fade. He wondered if this gentle ebbing away of strength was what losing your soul felt like. Or perhaps this was just physical exhaustion. After all, Saul was unlikely to waste much soul power just to irritate Noah. Saul would want to save every last ounce of power for whatever final blow he had planned. Noah smiled at the thought that Saul would never get to make his final stand. No one was coming for Noah, and that was that.
A sudden chorus of loud roars rose from behind the door of the room where Saul had been torturing Noah. Noah’s eyes slid open to see that even Saul seemed startled by the noise at first. But the brief moment of confusion on Saul’s dragon face was quickly replaced by a happy expression.
“They’re coming,” Saul said. “You’re friends are here for you. Too bad they’re never going to take you alive. Or, should I say, they’re never going to take you with your soul intact.”
More evil laughter. Noah frowned, shudders of horror running through him anew at the sound of Saul’s human voice coming from dragon lips. But his frown was about more than just Saul’s voice. His frown was at the thought that one of his dragon clanmates had come after him.
No, Noah thought, frustration rising from his core. We agreed not to perform any rescue operations. Go back. Don’t let Saul have access to your souls.
Another chorus of loud roars sounded from behind the door, and then, suddenly, Noah felt a hot, burning sensation in his core. The lifemate bond. Izzy was in trouble.
In the split-second before he heard her scream, Noah realized that it hadn’t been one of the dragons to come for him. It had been Izzy. He was shocked, touched, and horrified by this fact. Shocked because he knew how afraid Izzy was of Saul. Touched because Izzy had come for him despite that fear. And horrified because he doubted that Izzy stood much of a chance of winning in a one-on-one fight against Saul, especially when Saul still held the dragon ruby.
Saul, still laughing, went to fling open the giant door of the large room in which they sat. Noah had been too wracked with pain to pay much attention when Saul dragged him into this building, which seemed to be some sort of hideout for the evil dragon. But now, with his presence of mind somewhat recovered, Noah could see that the door of the room led into a large, arched hallway. And in that hallway were dozens more of the same awful-looking, awful-smelling monster creature that Noah and Izzy had encountered at the Redwood Dragons Base. Noah’s stomach turned at the smell, then turned again in fear when he saw that Izzy was in the hallway, too, surrounded by the awful, bloodthirsty things.
Her yells, he realized now, had been magic spells. She was yelling out attack spell after attack spell, spinning in constant circles to keep the monsters at bay. Noah groaned and tried to raise his head to help her, but he couldn’t move very well. He seemed to be under some sort of spell himself, one that kept him exhausted and glued to the floor. Saul saw Noah’s movement out of the corner of his eye, and turned toward him for a moment.
“Magicae illido,” Saul said, pointing his wizard wand at Noah. Instantly, searing pain flooded Noah’s body, and a large gash appeared on the side of his left side. Hot red blood flowed down his dragon hide, and Noah could not hold back a roar of pain.
He saw Izzy look up for a moment at the sound of his roar. She never stopped circling and yelling out spells, but he saw the anxiety filling her face. She knew this was not going to be an easy rescue, if a rescue was even possible at all. Noah wished he could help her, but when he tried to stand again, despite his wounds and pain, Saul once again yelled a dark magic spell in his direction, resulting in a second gash across Noah’s left side.
Izzy roared in anger herself then, and seemed to find renewed gusto. She took out several of the monsters in a row, until Saul bellowed out “Stop!” This was followed by a long string of Latin sounding words from Saul’s lips. Noah wasn’t sure what Saul had said, but it seemed to have the effect of calling off the monsters. They roared angrily and then ran past Izzy toward what Noah presumed was the exit. Noah dimly saw Izzy’s face registering horror as she was forced to look Saul squarely in the eyes.
Noah thought for a moment that Izzy might turn and run in terror. He wished that she would. He wanted to scream at her to run, and to save herself. But he could not speak in dragon form, and he felt too weak to shift. He could feel himself bleeding out on the floor, and he wanted to weep at the thought that now not only was he going to die, but Izzy would die as well. Why had she chosen this moment to be brave? Where had she suddenly found the courage to face Saul? And why hadn’t any of the other dragons or wizards stopped her, dammit!
None of that mattered now. All that mattered was finding a way to stand up, to regain his strength, and to breathe fire on Saul before Saul destroyed Izzy. But no matter how hard Noah concentrated on moving, he could not lift even one claw. He watched helplessly as Izzy stepped into the room.
Her Falcon Cross military uniform was torn in several places, and her hair was coming wildly loose from its bun. Her face was smeared with dirt and blood, and she had a rather angry gash across her left cheek.
But she had never looked more beautiful. Her eyes sparked with anger as she glared at Saul. Gone was the timid, fearful Izzy who had volunteered to go on a mission with Noah just to avoid facing Saul. This version of Izzy was out for blood—the blood of the evil dragon standing in front of her. Noah had the fleeting thought that he’d never been so turned on in his life, and that if by some miracle they both made it out of this, he was going to make love to her until she was too sore to stand properly. With a frustrated sigh, he once again strained to lift his head, but he still couldn’t move. Saul’s evil laugh rang out once again.
It looked like today was not going to be a day of miracles.
“Step away from the dragon!” Izzy yelled, suddenly charging into the room. Noah groaned, wishing he could somehow convince Izzy to leave. But Izzy was walking forward into the room with her eyes flashing and her magic ring raised high. She had no intention of backing down.
Saul laughed at her. “Or what? You’ll zing me with that puny ring of yours? In case you haven’t noticed, I’ve got the freaking dragon ruby on my side. Not to mention I know dark magic spells. You don’t stand a chance against me.”
“Good always stands a chance against evil,” Izzy declared. She was still holding her ring high, but Noah heard the slight tremor in her voice as she spoke. She was terrified. She was doing her best to hide it, but she couldn’t completely mask the way she felt. Noah was starting to catch the scent of fear coming from Izzy’s direction. He wondered if Saul could smell it, too. But Saul seemed too caught up in waving the dragon ruby around to notice any smells. Noah continued struggling, but all he succeeded in doing was widening the gashes on his side. He couldn’t move, and now blood was flowing out in fresh currents.
The room grew blurry. Noah stopped trying to stand, and focused all of his energy on staying conscious. Dimly, he watched as Saul and Izzy started sparring. Saul’s haughty laughter rang through the air as the evil dragon flapped his wings to hover in midair, then raised both his wand and the dragon ruby. A rush of red light and electric energy surged toward Izzy, and Noah winced, thinking he was about to see Izzy die. But she was not going to be taken down so easily.
In a flash, she had ducked and rolled to the opposite side of the room. Noah’s eyes widened. He had never seen anyone move so quickly. Saul was apparently surprised by this, too, because his haughty laughter turned into an angry roar. The evil dragon raised his wand and the ruby once more, and unleashed another attack. Izzy ducked and rolled again, then responded by launching an attack from her own magic ring.
“Magicae appugno!” Izzy yelled out. The attack spell hit Saul square in the chest, but it had no effect. Dragon hide was thick enough to ward off most magic spells, unless you managed to hit them in a particularly vulnerable spot—and it was going to be hard for Izzy to hit Saul in a weak spot. With all of her ducking and rolling, she had to shoot off whatever attacks she could, without worrying too much about aiming.
Noah watched in despair as Saul and Izzy went round and round in circles in the large room. She avoided every attack from his wand, and threw up shield after shield when he used the ruby to attack. Noah wasn’t sure how the ruby worked, but he could tell that Saul wasn’t using even close to the full extent of its power right now. Noah guessed that this was because a full attack in a room this small would probably kill all of them at once. Saul was a twisted, pathetic soul at this point, but he still thought he deserved to live while others were killed off.
On and on Saul and Izzy went. The dueling pair seemed to have forgotten that Noah was even in the room. They yelled and roared and attacked. Eventually, Saul began breathing fire, but Izzy’s shields were able to counter that as well. Noah wanted to scream at her to run, but all he could do was pray silently to whatever gods might be out there listening that somehow Izzy would make it through this.
Her uniform was even more tattered now, and she had several new gashes on her body. She didn’t pay any attention to her wounds, though. Her eyes focused only on Saul. Noah could practically feel the hatred radiating from Izzy toward the evil dragon. The scent of fear was gone. Fear had been swallowed up by action. Noah knew the look on Izzy’s face well. He’d seen it in battles dozens of times before. A soldier might be afraid for a little while, but eventually, the intensity of fighting made you forget to be afraid. Everything in you focused only on killing your opponent. Worrying about your own life was a luxury that no one had time for in the heat of battle.
Izzy fought well, but Noah could tell she was fading. Her movements were growing slower bit by bit, while Saul’s speed remained steady. It wouldn’t be long now before Saul managed to take her down. Noah felt adrenaline rushing through his own veins. He tried over and over to stand up, but the spell Saul had cast on him held him down. Frustrated, Noah even tried whipping his tail around to strike Saul with its spikes. But his tail was weighed down by dark magic as well. Noah felt his strength seeping out of him, and, if not for the primal urge he felt to protect Izzy, he would have been happy to just give up and die. He could not give up, though. Not while Izzy still lived. He would break through this spell and help Izzy, or he would die trying. He was not going down without a struggle.
He strained his neck upward again just in time to see Saul finally hit Izzy with a spell from his wand. The scene unfolded before Noah as if he was watching it in slow motion. Izzy’s forward motion was stopped with sudden force. She looked like she had just run into a wall. Her eyes widened in pain and shock, and Noah saw her starting to tumble to the ground. Saul’s evil laughter rang out once again when he realized he’d hit his mark. The laughter grew louder as Izzy crumpled to the ground like a rag doll, her eyes still wide in shock. Noah’s heart twisted in his chest when he saw a small river of dark red blood beginning to flow from Izzy’s side. He struggled harder than ever to raise himself up, but his efforts were just as useless as before.
Saul stepped closer to Izzy, laughing and twirling his wand in his disgusting black claws. He raised it to hit Izzy with another spell, one that would likely be the final death blow to the woman Noah loved. Saul seemed to have forgotten all about keeping Izzy alive to save her soul for his dark magic. The twisted dragon had become deranged and bloodthirsty in the heat of battle.
No! Noah thought. From deep within him, words he had spoken to Izzy in the Redwoods came rushing back to him. I swear to you, Izzy, if it’s the last thing I do, I will kill Saul for how he hurt you… As long as there is breath left in my body, I will fight to avenge you, and to protect you.
Noah still had breath left in his body, and it was past time to avenge Izzy. He had not come this far and fought this hard only to watch the woman he loved die before dying himself. In desperation, he focused all of his energy only on his spiked tail. He squeezed his eyes shut and concentrated on lifting his tail and hurling it in Saul’s direction. If only he could hit Saul somewhere it would count. Somewhere that would cause the evil dragon intense pain.
Noah focused and struggled, but his tail didn’t budge. He was about to give up when he heard a soft, pathetic whimper. He opened his eyes and saw that Izzy, barely conscious, was trying to shield her face from Saul’s raised wand, as though her hands alone could somehow stop whatever spell he was about to throw at her. A feeling of protective rage surged through Noah, giving him just the energy boost he needed to get his tail off the ground. He swung toward Saul’s eyes, knowing he would only have one shot. He had to hit something that mattered.
Saul turned his head slightly, sensing the movement behind him. Noah missed Saul’s eyes because of this, but managed to lodge a spike deep into one of Saul’s ears. Saul yelped in pain, heaving his giant dragon body upward in surprise and hitting his head on the ceiling. When his head collided with the ceiling, Saul lost his grip on the dragon ruby. The ruby slipped from his fingers and clattered across the floor, stopping just inches from Noah’s front right dragon claw.
Hardly daring to believe his good luck, Noah grasped for the ruby. When his claws closed around the cool hard stone, he felt a surge of hope. He was not alone or defenseless anymore. He had no clue how to use the ruby, but at least he had it in his grasp. Saul would be significantly weaker without it.
Saul realized then what had happened, and roared with anger at the sight of Noah holding the ruby. Saul raised his magic wand and pointed it directly at Noah’s head. From somewhere behind Saul, Noah heard Izzy screaming in terror.
Noah had no time to think, or to wonder how the dragon ruby worked. He raised it in front of him like a shield, surprised to find that he could move a bit easier now. The ruby was giving him power, even though he was still under Saul’s spell. Saul yelled out another attack spell, and Noah, in desperation, yelled out to the ruby.
“Kill him!” Noah screamed, right before a fresh wave of pain washed over his body from Saul’s attack spell. Noah squeezed his eyes shut, sure for the dozenth time tonight that he was about to die. But he didn’t die. Instead, he heard an anguished roar coming from Saul’s lips.
Noah opened his eyes again to find that Saul was covered in red electricity and was swaying back and forth. The evil dragon’s red eyes twisted in pain, and he pawed at the air as though looking for some relief. Foam started coming from his mouth, and then, with a sudden lurch, he fell to the ground.
Noah blinked in surprise, looking from the lifeless dragon to his own hand, where he still clutched the dragon ruby.
“It listened to me,” he said in amazement. “The ruby listened to me. I told it to kill Saul, and it did.”
A moan from across the room snapped Noah out of his brief reverie. He looked over to see Izzy holding her side, and gasping in pain. Noah quickly stood and started walking over to her, then realized with a start that he could move again. The spell Saul had cast over him had disappeared as soon as Saul had died. Noah gave Saul a tentative shove with his dragon nose as he passed. The evil dragon did not move. His face was frozen in a twisted expression of horror, and his wide, empty eyes were fixed lifelessly on the ceiling above them. The evil dragon, who had caused so much pain for so many, was indeed dead.
Noah turned his dragon head to look at Izzy, but it was hard to assess her injuries while he was in dragon form. With a grunt, he closed his eyes and began shifting back into a human. When his transformation was complete, he was horrified to see how deep the wounds in his side were. The wounds had been irritated by his shifting, and blood flowed anew from his sides. He needed medical attention, and soon. But he couldn’t focus on his own needs until he knew that Izzy was alright. Limping, he made his way over to kneel beside her. She blinked her eyes open, staring up at him with a dazed look. She had deep gashes in her side, too, and had lost a tremendous amount of blood. Noah did his best not to panic. He had no idea how they were going to get out of here together and find medical care, wounded as they were. But he had to believe that they had not come this far just to die themselves.
“Saul…dead?” Izzy asked, unable to find the strength to form even a complete sentence.
Noah nodded. “He’s dead. He won’t be hurting anyone else.”
Izzy closed her eyes and sighed, and Noah bit back tears.
“Stay with me, Izzy. I’m going to get you help. We’re going to be okay.”
“Too…late…for me,” Izzy said, then coughed and sputtered blood from her mouth.
“No!” Noah said. “No, it’s not too late. We just need a doctor to stitch you up and you’ll be good as new in a few days.”
Izzy made no reply, other than to sigh again. Noah pulled her head against his chest, unable to stop a few tears from squeezing past his eyelids. Izzy was right. Unless a doctor miraculously appeared out of thin air within the next few minutes, she wasn’t going to make it. He choked on his sobs, trying to hold them back and to stay strong for her sake.
“Shhh. It’s all going to be okay,” he whispered in her ear, even though he knew it wasn’t.
And then, as if to make things worse, he heard shouting in the hallway, along with the pounding of boots. More dark wizards, he thought. Can’t they leave us alone? Saul is dead, and we’re as good as dead. Just let us die in peace.
When the door to the room flung open, Noah looked up wearily and readied himself to once again shift into dragon form and fight. But then he stopped, his eyes widening at what he saw. A large group of men, all dragon shifters from the scent of them, had barged through the open doorway and were looking from him to Saul to Izzy. They all started talking at once, but Noah didn’t have the strength to tell them to speak one at a time. He didn’t have the strength to ask them who they were or where they’d come from. All he knew was that the sight of these dragons, with their pure eyes, clearly unsullied by Saul’s evil ways, was the most beautiful thing he’d seen in a long time—other than Izzy, of course.
“Doctor,” he choked out, looking up at the men and using his last strength to ask for help. He held Izzy’s limp hand tightly as he spoke. “Need…doctor.”
And then, his world went black.