Francesco Marino

Leaving the roof without seeing any signs of my Three-Tailed brethren coming to our aid left me with a twisted and frustrated knot in my stomach. They would come, right? At least some of them had to see it. We did live a little farther apart from the others, but it should only be a two-minute flight at the most. Where the hell were they?

No matter. My brothers needed me. Audrey needed me.

Swiftly, I made my way back toward the room where Damon and I had faced the bastards. Damon was there, looking worse for wear to the point of being seriously injured but not fatally. At least not yet. Miguel was also here, which made me glad, but Audrey?

Where the hell is Audrey? I sent to the two of them. My wing collided into the face of a dragon. He tried to bite me in return, and I backhanded him so hard that my claws tingled from the impact.

Go find her, Miguel sent me.

Go find her! I all but roared. You were supposed to keep her safe!

We were separated. Damon needs me.

You two look like you can’t handle this! What the hell was I supposed to do? There were six, seven, hell, maybe more dragons here. With Damon not at full strength and Miguel facing four—no, five—at once, this was a disaster of epic proportions. Both of them could fall.

Go, Francesco, Damon sent.

His mental voice sounded strong at least, and I nodded. If they both wanted me to save her, I would.

Following my nose, I tore after her. It still infuriated me that the Fanged Serpents had tortured her to the point that her scent had been permanently altered. No, she basically had no scent at all, which made tracking her nearly impossible.

Nearly.

I entered the kitchen in time to see a female backing Audrey into a corner. My fierce little warrior had our katana into her hand. The blade had been fashioned from a dragon claw so it could work against the female in either form.

Damn, was Audrey smart.

“I can’t imagine that he would want me dead,” Audrey was saying, and I hung back, listening. I had more than enough time to be able to sneak forward and kill the dragon before she could harm Audrey.

“Why wouldn’t he?” the female retorted. “You are the reason why our place was torched.”

"Well, you shouldn't have kidnapped me when you knew that three dragon leaders loved me. You should've known that they would come and rescue me. But no, you all were hoping for a widespread attack. You wanted them to be able to all come so you could kill them there. That it was a sneak attack, in and out, rescue instead of a battle didn't fit into your plans. That's why you're here. That's why you're attacking us in our home now. Tit for tat." Audrey tsked with her tongue. "That's not very mature of you, now, is it?"

“You are so damn ignorant it’s a crime,” the female said. “If you think you know anything at all about the great Jeremy—”

“Oh, I do,” Audrey said calmly. “I know that he loves me. He loves me just like Damon King does, like Miguel Ramirez Lopez does, like Francesco Marino does. Jeremy Jenson loves me.”

I flinched. She didn’t mean what she was saying, and the leader of the Fanged Serpents definitely did not love her, but that didn’t matter. The female was going into a blind rage over Audrey’s speech, which had been damned inspired if you asked me. The foe was about ready to transform, and I started forward, but I didn’t have to worry. Audrey jabbed her hard in the shoulder, and the female’s transformation was halted. She reverted back to human completely, and I rushed over and wrapped my arms around her neck to cause her to go to sleep.

“Bottom drawer to the right of the stove,” I said, pointing.

“What am I looking for?” Audrey asked. I loved that she brought the blade with her.

“Shackles.”

“Shackles? I don’t even want to know why you have some here in the kitchen,” she said, shaking her head.

I winked. “You like shackles?”

“Not in the kitchen.”

“But there can be sexy times anywhere.”

Audrey glanced at the unconscious female dragon. “I didn’t know if I could get her to stop. She made it clear that I was supposed to be captured again, which is why I went off like that, trying to upset her and get her to make a mistake. Why did she want to kill me against orders?”

“You sure she wanted to kill you?”

“Oh, yeah. She almost was able to.” Audrey shook her head. “Do you think she loves him?”

“Maybe. We can talk to her more once she wakes.”

Audrey nodded and smiled warmly. “Thank you, Francesco.”

“I will always come for you.”

“I know, and I love you for it.”

“I love you too,” I murmured, hugging her. I would deal with our captive in a moment. For now, I wanted to relish the feel of her in my arms, my love.

Whom my brothers also loved.

Damn.