Miguel Ramirez Lopez

The cries and screams from down below had altered. At first, all of them had belonged to our foes, cries and yells I had never heard before. This sound, though, this I recognized.

Damon. He was in trouble.

I had seen the flames from our distress cry through the window. Francesco must have gone to the roof to send it out. Just how badly were we being attacked.

My gaze fell on Audrey beside me. She had checked both of the guns I gave her and had extra bullets.

She nodded. “We need to join the fight.”

“Whoa, no. No way, chica,” I said, holding up my hands. “That is not a good idea.”

“Why not?” she demanded, racing over to the window. “Do you see the damage they’re doing to your house? Do you see how many there are? And those flames… Francesco and Damon aren’t fighting them together anymore, are they? We have to help them! Miguel, if one of them dies because of you being too pigheaded—”

“I am not pigheaded,” I argued, my blood pressure rising. My face must be bright red. When I was angry, I was Hulk-level angry. I was already pissed to the seventh level of Hell that the Fanged Serpents would come here and attack our home, but to have her act as if I were a coward was far more than I could handle.

“I know you are a capable fighter,” she said more softly. She brushed her knuckles against my arm, still holding both guns.

Audrey was trying to use a different tactic on me. I didn’t need her to. Damon had cried out again. He had already not been at full strength. He needed my aid.

But not hers.

Then again, what choice did I have? They would be able to smell a human a mile away. They would be able to find her no matter where she might hide.

So now, I would have to enter the fray against who knew how many dragons, save Damon and protect and shield Audrey.

That would be no easy task, but I would be damned before I would let anything happen to one of my brothers or to my love.

Our lover.

My teeth bared. I hated to have to share her, but we all loved her, and she loved us all. If sharing was the only way for us to be together… I didn’t know. A matter for another day.

“Back up,” I grumbled.

Her eyes widened, and she scampered back. “It’s Damon in trouble, isn’t it?” she asked.

“You telling me or guessing?” I asked, barely able to keep my dragon at bay now that I had already given my body the okay to transform

“My connection with him, it’s not the same as before. I can’t tell. I can’t quite feel him, but I’m right, aren’t I?”

I nodded and gave into my dragon, yelling throughout the process, embracing the almost erotic pain-pleasure that came with shifting.

My body came to life, reformed into my dragon, and I had complete control over myself that I was able to lift Audrey with my barbed tail in such a way that she was entirely safe from the spikes. She hardly cried out in shock, and I lifted high into the air and slammed down once, twice, and a third time to smash through the roof.

We landed directly onto the back of a dragon, and I shifted forward so that my front legs pressed down with all of my body weight directly onto his neck. With a loud crack, the neck broke. I flapped my wings a few times lazily to hover above the body of the dragon that shrunk to reveal a man with a seriously broken neck, a puddle of blood already forming beneath him.

We weren’t in the room with the main battle yet, though. I touched down with my feet and took a step forward before I realized Audrey was no longer in my tail.

She ran up to stand by my head and nodded to me, guns raised.

Unreal. I would have to have a talk with her later and explain just which one of us was pigheaded. It might involve a spanking and then…

Now’s not the time to think with that head, Miguel!

She was such a damn distraction. So perfect in every other way but this one flaw of mine with her could cost her or Damon or me our lives.

I nodded at her and hoped she knew that I meant for her to stick close by. Again, I began to walk, and she kept pace with me until we entered the hallway.

Damn. I couldn’t fit unless I—

Down the hallway, a dragon was doing just that, thrusting her shoulders from side to side, forcing the walls to crumble and bend away to give herself room to chase me down. Her mouth opened, and Audrey had no choice but to retreat some, back the way we had come.

I met her blast with one of my own, and I waited for her to come. She advanced slowly at first and then faster, still using her fire, which I continued to meet with my own. The flames were so massive and colorful that neither of us could see the other. Although I risked burning myself, I lifted a claw, and when her throat was there again it, I slashed hard enough that my claws might have been a sharp blade against a human's neck. She jerked, gargling, shaking badly, and her flames dying as her body did as well. By the time she reverted to her human form, I realized that the loudness of our fires cackling had prevented me from hearing the sound of gunshots.

Audrey. She was facing a dragon by herself.

Damn it!

I started back toward her and then hesitated. Damon had just cried out yet again.

“Miguel, don’t you dare come here!” Audrey shouted.

She sounded fine. Pissed off and angry but without any hint of pain.

“Go save Damon. Please. For both of us!”

I hesitated, so damn torn. My lover. My brother. They both needed me, and I could not be in two places at once.

What should I do?