Chapter Four – The Fight
Asa banked the bike hard to the left, nearly laying it flat as he made the sharp turn. With a kick, he righted it again and veered towards the target. His men followed him. Michael wiped out and went flying. He cursed as he jumped back to his feet, smoking at the mouth. Asa held up a hand, pulling the group to a stop. This was the fourth time with their new maneuver that someone had wiped out.
“Come on, people,” he shouted as he leaped off his bike. “We have more to prove than anybody else in this city. We can’t have this sloppy work. Michael, I know you’re new, but you are better than this. I’m not taking any of you out on raids if this is how it’s going to be.”
The men grumbled to one another, but Asa didn’t let that bother him. They were just cranky and tired. They all were. He wiped a hand across his brow.
“Let’s try it—”
The scream of a female voice cut him off. He looked up to see the distant form of a dragon flying overhead. It banked in a circle, something hanging and squirming from one of its claws. Even from this distance, Asa recognized the fiery red hair. The dragon dangled her some more, making his heart leap to his throat, then it wheeled about and took off.
Asa cursed. He jumped back on his bike and spun it around to follow after the dragon. He kept an eye on it as he dodged over the narrow roads. The dragon dove suddenly, disappearing from sight, but Asa knew where it was going. A few of his men pulled up beside him on their bikes as he continued. Within an hour, they were at Dreok, the city-state ruled by King Leon.
The gates were open, and Asa drove straight in. The dragons and their humans stared at the bikers. A few of them pointed openly but Asa ignored them. He didn’t stop until he got to the palace grounds.
Willow sat on a fountain’s lip, her eyes wide, her hair windblown. Beside her was a dragon who called himself The Spear. A rather pretentious name, but he was notorious for holding grudges. And Asa knew that he would never have been able to get Willow if she was in the city, but that would wait. For now, he just had to get her back to safety.
He put the kickstand into place and headed towards Willow and Spear. Her hands were bound together. The big dragon smiled at him.
“Well, if it isn’t the wingless dragon gang,” Spear drawled. “What brings you here, Asa?”
“Considering that you made sure that I saw you with my human, you already know that.” Asa kept his voice calm. “Just give her back to me and I’ll be on my way. No need for this to turn bloody. We all know what happened the last time you and I fought.”
Meaning that Asa had trounced the other dragon thoroughly. This had to be his way of trying to get back at him. Had he hired someone to kidnap Willow? No . . . the dragon wasn’t smart enough for that. More likely he saw her outside the gates and decided to take advantage of the situation.
“Your human? More like my human.” Spear thumped his chest. “I captured her fairly. A human wandering the woods. I just picked her up.”
“She’s mine and you know it,” Asa responded. His flames were heating up and he fought them back. Just wait. If he attacked first, then he’d be in big trouble. Just coming to the city without prior permission from his king put him in a bad position. His men fanned out behind him and he made a gesture, a silent order for them to stay back and not attack. “I laid my claim on that human, and it’ll be in the records. I’ve got my phone on me. All I have to do is pull up the website and we’ll have this sorted out. By law, you can’t lay claim to a human that has already been claimed.”
Willow yanked at the ropes holding her wrists. Her gaze never moved from his. He didn’t care if she was trying to run away. It was only to be expected, considering the fact that he had stolen her from her home. He wasn’t going to just hand her over to this creep, though.
Spear dropped a hand to Willow’s shoulder. “You have a claim on her? I don’t see any brands. Maybe I’ll put my mark on her, huh?”
Willow made a strangled noise in her throat. She lunged forward, sinking her teeth into Spear’s arm. The dragon yelped and yanked back. His face darkened and his hand flew. He struck Willow across the face, sending her tumbling back into the fountain.
And that was enough. Asa charged forward, releasing his inner beast as he did so. Black scales sprouted from his skin, covering him in a hard protective casing. His whole shape changed form. He whipped his tail around, lashing across Spear’s face before releasing a jet of green-tinged flame into the other dragon’s chest. Spear stumbled back, then snarled. He shifted and charged at him. Just like last time. Asa could have laughed. How predictable.
Asa flipped himself over, his smooth back scraping along the dirt as Spear tripped over him. The black dragon’s claws struck out, ripping scales from Spear’s soft underbelly. Spear roared and turned, but Asa was already back on his feet. He jumped onto the other dragon’s back, grabbing each wing and twisting them to the sides. Spear let out a pained cry and whipped around. His teeth pierced through Asa’s leg and he yanked. Asa, in turn, gripped the wings harder. He kicked at Spear’s face with his free leg and used his tail to knock the other dragon’s feet out from under him.
Spear let out a whimper and released Asa. He dropped to his belly and tucked his head between his hands. Asa released him and backed away, on edge in case he tried to attack again. When the bronze dragon didn’t move, Asa shifted back into his human form and marched over to Willow, who was still half-submerged in the water. Her eyes were wide in her skull as she looked at him and Spear, who slowly shrunk back to his own human form.
“The human is mine.” Asa turned his back and helped Willow from the fountain. With a directed puff of flame, he burned through the ropes. “Are you okay?” he asked in a low voice.
Eyes still wide, she nodded. Silently, he led her over to bikes and lifted her onto the back of his before mounting. Her arms wrapped tight around his middle as he wheeled about and headed back towards his own city.
Now that he no longer had to worry about fighting for her, he allowed himself to consider how she ended in this situation.
She wanted to get away. That much was clear. The only way Spear would have been able to capture her was if she had managed to find her way out of the city. Running around in the woods? More like trying to run away from him. And while it did make him a little angry to know that she’d just take off like that, it made sense. There was a reason why he had never taken prisoners for all these years. Humans didn’t like to be stolen away from their homes.
By the time they got back to the city, she was shaking. He didn’t drive to his home, though. He made a gesture to send his men back to their homes and went to the palace. There, he quickly found Shante. She was in the gardens, her feet up while she stroked her pregnant belly.
“Asa.” Shante’s brow rose at the sight of him. “What brings you here?”
“I want you to arrange a trade. To ransom Willow back to her family.”
Willow gasped. “What?”
Shante got to her feet. “What’s brought this on?”
“I’m not going to keep a human that hates me.”
“But I don’t hate you.” Willow shook her head. “I just . . . I just don’t want to be a slave.”
“Arrange for the ransom. In the meantime, I think it’s best she be kept in the palace.” Asa turned on his heel and started walking away. He thought he heard a murmured thank you from Willow, but didn’t turn back.
His fires flickered low, and that only made him angrier. His body ached from the fight with Spear. A nice relaxing soak in the hot springs beneath his manor would help with that. It wouldn’t ease the tightness that was winding its way around his heart, though. What was he feeling like this for, anyway? It wasn’t like he’d gotten attached to her . . . How could he have? And yet, the thought of never seeing her again made it hard to breathe.
Would she keep in touch if he gave her his number?
No. Those thoughts weren’t even worth entertaining. No woman wanted to be with a man who would keep her as a slave. As for how she got out of the city in the first place . . . Well. Did that really matter? She wasn’t staying. Why should he care about her anymore?