Chapter 2

Austin swept over the forest, a deep growl rumbling in his chest. The need to protect drove his dragon faster—harder—as the sweet smell of jasmine and something he couldn’t quite define lingered in the air. He didn’t question how he knew the scent belonged to the one he searched for, but he did. The certainty of it sank deep into his bones. Tulia Mills. His mission was to find and protect her, and he would. With his very life if need be.

The moment he’d set eyes on the little slip of a female on his computer screen, his dragon had been enraged. With a large purple bruise covering her right temple and sadness dulling her big green eyes, she’d looked defeated. Broken. No woman, dragon or human, should have to suffer as she had at the hands of her supposed protectors.

A wicked roar tore from his throat, and his dragon’s flame blasted from its mouth as the image of her battered body tormented his mind again. The picture was months old, but that didn’t make the fury any less potent. The beast would not be appeased. Not until those responsible for harming her had paid the price. Blood would be shed, and the world would be rid of the dishonorable creatures that gave all dragon shifters a bad name.

Warmth from the midday sun tingled along his scales, and the cool breeze kissed his belly as he scanned the forest floor below, peering into the shadows created by his dragon as he flew. Even though the beast hadn’t allowed him more than a few hours rest since they’d left Glen Farley, he pushed harder, desperation agitating both him and his beast beyond anything he’d ever experienced. The teasing smell lingering in the air grew stronger, but along with it, a sour note burned at his nostrils. Fear.

Austin flew lower until he could all but grasp the treetops with his claws. Had Tulia been traveling in dragon form, finding her wouldn’t have been a problem. Tracking her would have taken a day or two, maybe three, depending on how fast she had gone. No, she had to have either hopped on a bus or gotten a ride from someone. Deer froze where they stood as he flew past while other animals scurried into whatever burrow they could find to escape. As tempting as a fresh meal was, even that didn’t sway the dragon beat his mighty wings.

When he’d left his clan a few weeks before, he had expected a simple mission. Get to Tulia before the assholes who were threatening her returned, convince her to leave with him, and bring her to the Dragon Blood estate in Glen Farley for protection. But by the time he’d gotten there, she and her parents were gone. Nothing was left of their familial home but smouldering ash.

A burst of light to his right had him swinging his massive dragon head and veering toward it. A small town dotted the landscape on the other side of the valley he’d been skirting. Straight ahead, he noticed another bright flash. Dragon’s fire.

Soaring higher, he used the wind to his advantage, gliding on the current with his wings outstretched. A single beast hovered above a small clearing, too engrossed in whatever it had been hunting to pay him any attention at all. The scent of jasmine grew stronger, as did the fear singeing his nose. The asshole was after Tulia. He forced his roar back down his throat, coming at the green dragon from behind.

Flames shot up several trees, destroying them in moments. Thankfully, the fire snuffed itself out with the speed at which it had spread, leaving charred branches in its wake.

Down below, he spotted a male lying on his side with his eyes wide open, unmoving, and not ten feet from him, a petite woman, naked as the day she was born, was scrambling to get away. Tulia.

Mine. His dragon roared into his mind before releasing the sound into the sky, announcing his presence to the green dragon, who’d yet to notice him.

The beast turned just moments before Austin reached it. Too late to avoid the impact, the green dragon roared as he went careening through the air, crashing into the treetops, breaking them like twigs as he went down. Austin didn’t wait for it to recover. The moment the enemy beat its wings and lifted off the forest floor, Austin swung his spiked tail, hooking the beast in the side, tearing its flesh and leaving a deep gash along its ribs.

The green dragon roared. Fire spewed from its mouth, but Austin evaded the blast, coming around to its other side. Heat churned in Austin’s chest, pulsing, expanding until he released his purple tinged fire, scorching the green dragon’s neck, and the top part of its right wing, destroying the thin membrane. The enemy screeched, and tried to veer off to get away, but nothing would save it. It had threatened Tulia. Now it would die.

The dragon beat its wings, climbing higher, but with the damage it had already suffered, it was slow and clumsy. It puffed its chest, then sent a long plume of fire toward the clearing where Tulia had been moments before. Austin wasn’t afraid of pain, or even death, but terror filled him at the sight.

With renewed determination, Austin charged the enemy. He clamped his jaw, sinking his sharp teeth into the beast’s other wing, snapping through bone and cartilage, tearing through membrane, rendering it as useless as the other. No longer able to fly, the green dragon plummeted from the sky, shaking the ground with the impact of the fall. Austin dived after it, intent on ensuring the creature’s death, but a high-pitched scream came at him through the trees.

He changed course, flying fast and hard, heading back to the clearing. It took less than a minute to get there, but his heart pounded against his ribs, threatening to break free with the terror rushing through him. He shouldn’t have gone so far from her without knowing what other threats were around.

He flew low, spotting movement at the edge of the tree line. The one male remained on the ground where he’d seen him before, but another had Tulia by the hair, dragging her deeper into the forest. She kicked and punched, fighting for her freedom, but the bastard kept pulling her over the rough terrain.

With all the trees in the way, he’d never get close enough in his dragon form. Austin roared, dropping to the ground in the clearing with an earth-shaking thud, shifting the moment his feet hit the forest floor. The pack he carried fell at his feet. Then he ran.

Rocks and twigs tore into the flesh of his soles, but he ignored the pain. He’d heal once Tulia was safe.

The scent of the male mingled with the lavender infuriated his dragon, pushing him faster. A short distance ahead, a feminine voice rose, curling around him.

“Let me go,” she begged, her words tight—pained. “I’d rather die than go back there.”

The male looked frantically around, his gaze finally settling on him as Austin crashed through the trees.

“Release her now, and I may spare your life,” Austin said through clenched teeth. It was a lie. Already, a red mark on her cheek puffed and swelled. That wouldn’t go unpunished. He swallowed a furious roar.

“This doesn’t concern you. Go back to your own clan, and let me deal with mine,” the man said with a sneer, still not releasing Tulia.

“Do you wish to go with him?” Austin asked Tulia, making eye contact with her for the first time, feeling the connection like a jolt of electricity to the depths of his soul.

When she opened her mouth to speak, the man stupidly gave her long locks a hard tug.

“I don’t give a fuck what she wants. Her Alpha demands her return to the clan.”

Austin took a step closer, then another. “Release her,” he demanded, his fingertips burning as sharp claws dug through tender flesh. He didn’t expect the bastard to do it, but he wanted the male’s attention on him alone. He needed the asshole to see his own death coming.

The man’s eyes widened. “You don’t know who you’re dealing with,” he said, showing more bravado than brains.

“It doesn’t matter who you are.” Austin swung his arm, slicing through the brush with his claws as he closed the distance between him and the bastard who had mere seconds to live.

The male jerked on her hair again, and a small whimper escaped Tulia’s lips just before she was shoved forward. Austin moved right, catching her around the waist with one arm before she could fall to the ground, keeping his sharp claws away from her as he did. He swung his other hand, intent on ending the enemy quickly. Austin aimed for the man’s throat, but with Tulia’s slight weight against him, he missed his mark, gouging into the man’s shoulder and chest instead. Dark burgundy blood dripped from the wounds, its coppery scent filling his nose.

With more gentleness than the dragon usually allowed, Austin set Tulia to the side before turning all his attention to the male who now scrambled to get away.