~

 

George didn’t wait for the others. The moment that he was outside of the castle he started running on fast feet, following his nose to lead him towards the downed dragon.

His arms pumped the air as he ran … a heartbeat later and his beast burst from inside of him.

His wolf roared with anger. The beast churned up the earth as it went. His claws dug deep and spat out chucks of turf into the air.

George’s only desire was to get to the dragon shifter and kill him as fast as possible so that nobody else could get hurt, especially not his mate.

If he could do that then he might just have a chance at a life with his one true love.

If he died trying … well, then he hoped the others would protect his mate as he’d protected theirs since he’d been on the mountain.

He spotted the shifter in his human form – it would have been hard to miss the man. He was damn big, but George’s beast was determined…

One or the other would die, and he damn well wanted to be the one that was left standing.

He wanted his mate.

 

~

~

~

 

Roloko saw the size of the beast that was coming at him and his heart thumped his ribcage. It wasn’t just the size of the wolf, but the red eyes that gave away what it was that he was about to tangle with.

A true alpha – formidable…

Roloko forced the shift within him. He knew that his dragon wasn’t ready, but he had little choice.

His beast didn’t protest. The shift didn’t come easy, but by the time that the wolf was almost upon him, the dragon rose from within him and burst into being with a roar that told of the pain it had caused him…

Roloko’s wings felt as if they were encased in cement. He lifted them and felt the effort drag them back down again…

The wolf launched itself at one wing.

He felt the piercing tear into his flesh from the beast’s razor sharp claws and his dragon let out a deafening screech…

He managed to jerk his wing and dislodge the wolf, but he knew that the beast would quickly be back for more…

He needed to take to flight, and he needed to do it before the alpha picked himself up from the ground, or the rest of the group managed to reach him…

 

~

~

~

 

Zana ran on fast feet towards the dragon. Her mate was down, but far from out – she knew that the wolf just needed a few seconds to shake off what ailed him.

She instilled her magic into the blade and launched herself towards the beast. It turned its head, and she caught sight of her own reflection within its huge eye…

For such a huge beast, it moved faster than she’d expected – spinning in place and flicking its tail at her…

She felt the strong arms come around her body – felt her sword bury within the flesh of the beast before it was wrenched away as she was tossed through the air – away from the dragon – away from the fight…

Zana hit the ground hard, but she rolled straight through it and up onto her feet on the other side of that collision. Her eyes took a second to locate the man who had saved her backside as he flew backwards through the air from the hard lash of the dragon’s tail as it whipped him…

Connor knew before he’d even hit the ground that he’d damaged more than one rib by taking the hit for the witch. Better him than a human female – at least he wouldn’t have to waste any time feeding her his blood and fighting off the wrath of her mate…

Landon had shifted into his bear, and the other alphas had decided to follow suit and shift into their beasts.

One true alpha, six alpha wolves, one vampire, and five witches faced down the dragon.

It was just a case of who blinked first…

 

~

~

~

 

Roloko took to flight. He had little option – the beasts were on the move, trying to surround him on all sides, and he couldn’t let that happen.

He wasn’t the fastest of them. He needed to rise above to see where the next challenge was going to come from…

The witch had surprised him with her attack, and he hadn’t wanted to hurt her too badly, but he obviously didn’t trust that she’d felt the same way about him.

As it was the vampire had taken the hit. Good for him. He liked a man who fought with honour.

As for the witch with the sword – he wouldn’t misjudge her again.

He rose from the ground with a screech of anger and pain. His wing still hadn’t healed. His bones still felt damn cold, and the sword had injured his tail … none of that felt life threatening. None of it gave him a reason to abandon his kill for now.

He would still be able to defeat the true alpha, and the witches’ magic could do little to him – they could only manipulate nature as they had done with the ice storm. But he knew that if they tried to use that tactic now, then they would kill themselves and their mates in the process…

He had the upper hand, but in case they were in any doubt…

He filled his chest with the crisp air and let loose the fire that hit the castle and set it to burn…

 

~

~

~

 

“The others…” Chelsea saw the flames licking the castle and felt the rush of panic within her…

“The tunnels will survive it…” Connor assured her.

“We need to magic the damn thing…” she bit out. She preferred to fight one on one, but there was no damn way that she could take a dragon on in a fist fight.

She aimed her magic at the beast, but even with a damn good kick in the pants that she should have given it – nothing happened.

“We need a damn big leash, or a really big stick to beat it with…” Connor said.

Vicky looked up.

The dragon wasn’t that far away … she pulled on the collective magic of the witches inside the castle and forced it out of her fingertips in one blast that missed the beast, but caught the top of Connor’s tree – the crack of the magic hitting the trunk echoed through the air; as she grabbed the thick bough with her magic and wrenched it towards her…

“My branch…” Connor bit out, but he knew what his mate had planned, and he made damn sure that he was out of the way as the trunk smashed down onto the dragon’s back and sent the beast tail spinning downwards…

“Really big bloody stick…” Vicky bit out.

“I don’t think magic works…” Zana bit out. “I hit it with my sword that was laced with magic and nothing…”

“Manipulate your surroundings,” Vicky said.

“What’s that supposed to mean?” Connor asked.

“We hit it with really thick things, wanna volunteer?”

“Throw an alpha at it. We’ve got plenty,” Connor said and heard every wolf growl at him.

“You wanna get your backside bitten off?” Vicky asked.

“Alphas – no damn sense of humour…” Connor muttered, but there wasn’t any more time left – the dragon was shaking itself off for another strike…