Francesco Marino

I was more than willing to return home. Not that I considered Philly home yet. It was so different from the Rocky Mountains. There, we had ample space to fly around at night and didn’t have to worry about being seen.

Of course, I was flying this night. I wanted to return to my clan as quickly as possible. The news I had wasn’t good. Not at all. We had a decision to make, and I already knew how I felt about it. As for Damon and Miguel, well, they could go either way.

There was something about flying that was so relaxing, so magical, so peaceful. I did my best not to think and tried instead to focus on gliding. I hardly flapped my impressive wings, just floated through the air as if I weighed nothing at all.

I knew I could fly faster, but despite my need for speed, I refrained. The faster I would fly, the more I would have to flap my wings. The more I would flap my wings, the greater the chance that someone would see me. For the most part, dragons were in agreement that humans could never learn about us, and I wasn’t about to be the foolish dragon who blew our cover.

The moment I crossed over into the airspace above Philly, I descended. I needed to land and find an Uber to take me the rest of the way in.

The sudden shift in wind and the smell it carried had me hesitating. Ozone. Brimstone. Fire.

A dragon was out and about.

That did not spell good for the people in this city or for my fellow clanmates.

It took everything within me to not throw back my massive dragon head and roar with rage, but I managed to keep my composure. Flapping my wings, not caring so much about being discrete, I raced along to try to discover the precise point of the dragon’s location. Not there. Not there. There!

In a field, a dragon stood tall on the ground, shooting blasts of fire at someone or something. Thankfully, the dragon seemed to be solely and entirely focused on his prey. Unfortunately, that meant most likely the prey was dead or dying.

The dragon’s back was to me, and I now glided over, wishing to maintain the element of surprise. Adjust to the left more, more, back, there!

My clawed feet gripped into the dragon’s back. I would have to use an incredible amount of strength in order to lift the dragon, so I didn’t bother to waste the power. Instead, I racked my claws down the dragon’s back.

The dragon roared and turned his head toward me. Before it could try to flame broil me to death, I gripped the dragon’s throat and pointed it skyward.

Out of the corner of my eye, I spied movement. The creature the dragon had attacked lived yet.

Fierce anger rushed through me, and I squeezed my claws even tighter. As a dragon, I could not speak, but if I could, I would say something along the lines of, “Do you give up? I may spare your life if you do. Or I could send you to prison. Or I could kill you right now.”

The dragon seemed offended. Another howl escaped his lips, and I used that moment to ignore his pathetic attempts to get free or to claw or scratch me back. Instead, I focused on the claws on my other hand, and I jabbed him right in the shoulder.

My opponent seemed to gasp. He was beginning to move a lot more gently. The dragon was in some serious pain.

I released my hold on his neck. The creature the dragon had been fighting had now collapsed. I had no choice in the matter. I couldn’t allow the creature to die. The threat of even a wounded dragon was too much for any other living thing.

The dragon fell to the ground the moment I let him go. He lay there, breathing heavily, sucking down air that I had refused to give to his lungs. Good.

Carefully, I took to the sky and glided over to the spot where the creature had collapsed.

No. Not a creature after all. A human. A female. She was wearing a white shirt with a gray sports coat matching gray skirt. A power suit. A hard worker.

As I watched, she grabbed a rock. A flash of pain flickered over her features, but she lined up a shot and tried to throw the rock at me. She failed. The rock didn’t land far from her at all. Her body was weak. She was extremely injured.

A wave of compassion washed over me. This was stupid, and I should ask the others first, but there wasn’t much time. The other dragon would recover very quickly, and I didn’t want to have to face him again, not if I could help it.

I landed and tried to urge the woman to climb onto my back, but she would not stir. I could delay no longer. The other dragons would be furious with me, but I would not allow another to be slashed as if by magic. This dragon might or might not have killed the other humans, but this one would not be his.

Gently, I picked up the girl by my claws. Swiftly, I carried her back to the domain of the dragons, a five-story-building on the other edge of Philly.

As soon as I landed, I shifted back to my human form and managed to work it out that I catch the injured woman in my arms. A second later, those feet of mine touched the ground.

I strolled forward, and the doors automatically opened for me. A wave of cold air washed over me, and I grinned. Ignoring and bypassing the other dragons who were guards, I marched right to my bedroom and laid the injured woman on the bed.

“What is the meaning of this?” Damon asked from the doorway.

“Not now,” I said through clenched teeth.

“But—”

“But not now.” I glowered at him but only for a second. I could not turn away from the woman for long. I had to make certain her chest and lungs were rising and falling. I hadn’t saved her for nothing. I refused to accept that.

Eventually, though, her breathing became more erratic and then her eyes opened. She took one look at me and screamed.