Chapter Seventeen
Tessa hit the ground — hard — and rolled down the steep slope. The helicopter engine roared in her ears as she grasped desperately for some hold to halt herself before she was pitched over the low cliffs and into the sea. The rough ground scraped at every inch of exposed skin.
“No!” she screamed when her feet kicked against thin air instead of the earth. God, she was about to tumble over the edge.
At the last possible second, she caught hold of a rock and jerked to a stop with a grunt. She panted into the damp earth for a moment then lifted her chin just in time to see a long plume of fire flash overhead.
“Kai,” she whispered, watching a dragon shoot over the lip of the island.
It was Morgan, hunting down Kai. Setting the helicopter on fire.
Another roar split the night as the second and third dragons streaked into view, each briefly blotting out the moon before shooting after Kai.
“Kai,” she cried, though her voice was lost in the din. Dragons screamed overhead, and the swell crashed into the cliff below — the cliff she was about to fall off if she didn’t haul herself up soon. Only her belly and hands were still in contact with the ground, and she crawled up the forty-five-degree angle one rough, ragged inch at a time.
The flaming helicopter skimmed the ridgeline then thumped to a stop on a rocky outcrop. It leaned toward the water at a crazy angle, then slowly toppled toward the sea.
Kai jumped from the cockpit. The moonlight silhouetted him as he hit the ground running.
“No! Kai!” she screamed as he leaped over the sheer cliff on the island’s windward side, out of sight.
Morgan spat another long line of fire at the helicopter, and a mighty explosion ripped through the night.
Tessa ducked, pressing her face against cool soil. Metal groaned and screeched, and the earth shook as the remainder of the helicopter tumbled down the slope.
She lay still, listening to her heart’s heavy thump. Had she lost Kai forever? Did it really end here?
Loneliness greater than anything she’d ever felt overwhelmed her. When Morgan roared in triumph, she pressed her hands over her ears. But then another dragon’s roar split the night, and she jerked her head up.
“Kai?”
The roar was a tone lower than the others — and a whole different level of angry.
“Kai,” she breathed as a massive dragon swept into sight. Yes, she’d seen him in dragon form before, but never in flight. She lay still, gaping. Was that really the man she loved?
His wings had a coppery tint, and his eyes glowed in the darkness, flickering between the blue she loved so much and the red of anger. His tail flicked, and though the entire apparition ought to have petrified her, all she felt was an inner pull.
Mate, the wind whispered. That is your mate.
Her mate was a magnificent dragon, and somehow, she wasn’t surprised. But was he a match for three equally big foes?
With a flick of his tail, Kai turned toward the oncoming enemy, spitting a long, crackling flame in their direction. The three immediately split around him then regrouped.
Tessa grasped the soil, panting. She could have watched, spellbound by the incredible sight. But she sure as hell wasn’t going to sit back and watch her lover fight for her life. She struggled to her knees and immediately gasped, searching her pockets.
The emerald. Where was it?
Overhead, the dragons wheeled and sped toward each other like knights in an aerial joust. A flaming joust that lit the island’s steep slopes in an eerie glow. Something glinted green against the dull soil, and Tessa cried out.
The emerald! It lay thirty yards upslope where she’d lost her grip on it. She started crawling uphill, then flattened herself when the air erupted in flames — so close she could feel the blast of heat.
The air whooshed as the combatants zoomed by, darting and dodging in midair.
Gritting her teeth, she resumed her uphill crawl. The dragons were for Kai to deal with. Her job was to take care of the gem.
A dragon cried in pain, and she looked up to see Morgan and his cronies regroup. Morgan’s dark red wings beat angrily at the night as flames emerged from his mouth along with gritty roars.
He was talking. Giving the others orders, she realized.
Tessa. Kai’s voice broke into her mind. Wherever you are, stay out of sight.
Her back went rigid, one vertebra at a time. Morgan was ordering his henchmen to search for her, wasn’t he?
The smallest of the three dragons split away from the others and swooped low over the ground, scanning left and right. The other two barreled at Kai, who flapped his wings and threw himself into another counterattack.
Tessa flattened herself again, putting her cheek to the ground as the smaller dragon zoomed by. She turned her head to watch him continue down the long, thin line of land, and then she scrambled back to her feet, intent on the Lifestone. It glinted, urging her on.
Protect me, and I will protect you, the otherworldly green glow seemed to say.
She half ran, half crawled uphill. From the corner of her eye, she spotted the dragon — Hravo? Cyrk? — circle back for another pass. When she was a yard from the emerald, she dove for it and pressed her entire body into the ground, panting silently. Praying she wouldn’t feel the dragon’s talons close around her flesh and lift her bodily from the ground. She clutched the gem as the air pressure changed, signaling his approach.
Then, whoosh! The dragon swept overhead, making the ground shake. Or was that her, trembling where she lay?
A second later, she jumped to her feet, holding the Lifestone. Wondering what the hell she might do next.
Run! Kai roared into her mind as the dragon hunting her pulled a tight turn and came back for another pass.
The sky flashed with fire as the dragons fought overhead.
“Cyrk! Get her!” Morgan roared. His booming voice was gritty and garbled.
Tessa froze when the smaller dragon spotted her. Then she sprinted for the ridgeline as Cyrk took up the chase. The air pulsed with each beat of his massive wings. When the raspy sound of his breath paused, Tessa cringed. The dragon was inhaling, ready to attack her with flame. She glanced back just in time to see his huge mouth open, and—
The emerald warmed in her hand. She whirled, holding it up as the dragon exhaled. The air crackled around her, and orange flames shot around the sides of her body. But there was no burn, no searing pain. Just a furnace of heat and the scream of a frustrated dragon who shot past her, stymied.
He would come back for another pass in seconds, she knew. And then what? She couldn’t play dodge-the-dragon on this tightrope of a ridgeline all night. Sooner or later, she’d slip and fall. That, or Cyrk would find a way to grab her and—
She glanced around. She had to do better than simply avoid Cyrk. She had to kill him. But how?
Hide, Tessa! Kai roared.
She shook her head. No hiding. She had to fight. If not with a powerful dragon body, then at least with her wits — and whatever power the gemstone in her hand possessed.
Molokini was a long, thin, crescent of an island — the remnants of a volcanic crater, long extinct. The ground tilted toward the sea at a forty-five-degree angle to her right, where she’d nearly tumbled into what had once been the caldera side. To her left, the island fell away in a rough, rocky cliff. She peered over the edge, all the way over scooped ripples of rock to the raging swell two hundred feet below.
Come to me. The rocks below, awash in raw ocean, gnashed their teeth.
She whirled, spotting Cyrk return for another pass. Certain death on both sides.
Certain death… The thought stuck in her head.
Her heart thumped as the craziest plan of her life formed in her mind. She lowered herself over the cliff’s edge until her feet hit rock. The wind had sculpted just enough of an indent into the cliff for her to stand in a shallow cave. She pressed herself back against the rock just as Cyrk zoomed overhead. A moment later, with one wingtip straight down and the other slicing the sky, he flew along the cliff’s face, looking for her — so close to the island that his belly practically scraped it.
Tessa’s fingers tightened around an imaginary sword. If only she were like the heroine of one of the books she’d read as a kid. But no sword. No means of self-defense except for the green stone in her fist.
“I want her alive,” Morgan screamed in the midst of his fight with Kai.
Cyrk flew at her with eyes that glowed red. Red enough to tell Tessa he might not comply with the alive part.
“Why should I spare you, wench?” he spat, releasing another plume of fire.
Tessa held the Lifestone up, cowering against the cliff. She screamed into the roar of the fire as it hit with the force of a battering ram, making her lurch. An inch farther and she’d topple over the cliff.
Cyrk streaked past, breaking off his attack with an angry flick of his tail.
Tessa barely ducked clear of the tail then watched Cyrk bank out over the sea, preparing for his next attack — a frontal attack that would pin her against the rock.
She clutched the emerald, but something told her even that wouldn’t save her from the onslaught he was about to unleash.
Kai’s dragon voice boomed overhead, and the sky flashed with light that might have passed for fireworks if she hadn’t known there were three dragons warring up there.
She bared her teeth and faced Cyrk. Maybe she really did have some dragon blood in her genes. Enough to make her want to spit fire back.
Cyrk opened his huge mouth, taunting her. “Try spitting fire, little human. Try.”
Her knees wobbled, and she forced herself to take in a deep breath. She would need it when his fire surrounded her, the way she needed air for a deep dive.
You won’t survive the next one, a voice whispered in her mind. You need to get away.
Tessa wanted to scream. Get away? She’d love to get away. But she had about eight feet to maneuver on one side and ten on the other. That, and the two-hundred-foot drop to the breakers below.
Think! she screamed at herself. Think!
But it was impossible to think with a dragon coming at her head on. All she could do was scuttle sideways like a crab hiding under a ledge — a ledge nowhere near deep enough to shelter her from her foe.
“Die, little human. Die,” Cyrk roared.
Boone’s words echoed out of the depths of her mind. Shiny things, precious things…
Tessa glanced at the emerald. Would it be enough to distract the dragon?
She looked up and found Cyrk closer than ever. Her mind filled with its own roaring sound along with the wave of heat that accompanied a flash of her temper.
“Come and get me!” she screamed, suddenly mad. Frustrated and furious, like she’d never been before. What right did that brute have to come between her and her mate?
The dark sky in front of her blazed into blinding light, but she held her ground.
One second longer, she ordered her wobbly knees.
Another second, and you’re toast, another part of her mind cried. The human part, she realized.
Wait, she barked again, sensing dragon blood stir in her veins, giving her strength.
“Come and get me if you dare!” she screamed as Cyrk rushed onward, blasting her with fire.
“Watch me, stupid girl,” he boomed back.
“You can’t have it!” she goaded, holding out the gem.
“Oh, but I can,” Cyrk snickered, his eyes fixed on the emerald. His beating wings were so wide, they blocked the stars from sight, locking her in a bubble of flame. The temperature around her doubled as his flame closed around her, groping at her body.
“Try,” she goaded him, squinting against the heat. “Just try.”
In two… she told herself, steeling every muscle in her body.
“Die, little human,” Cyrk cried. “Die.”
Tessa’s inner countdown hit one, and she darted sideways into the sliver of space along her tiny ledge.
“You d—” Cyrk started.
“You die,” she murmured, backing away as he crashed into the cliff. His head hit first, and his neck bent at an unnatural angle a split second before momentum brought his body in from behind with a slam. The flames cut off immediately, just like the red glow of his eyes.
Tessa scrambled backward as the dragon’s body fell toward the sea. She nearly cheered — but then her heel slipped on smooth rock, and she pitched forward.
She teetered, flapping wildly at the air with arms that refused to become wings. She kept her right hand closed tight, determined not to lose the Lifestone. Waves spurted upward in a huge splash as Cyrk hit the surface, and she wondered if she would be next.
Tessa! Kai screamed into her mind.
His voice was a lifeline, giving her just enough strength to pull back and crumple into a nook in the rock. She sat there, panting and wide-eyed, not quite able to think.
When more flames erupted around her, she covered her face. Something fluttered past the corner of her eye, and she gaped as a flaming dragon streaked by. Not spitting fire, but on fire.
Bye-bye, Hravo, Kai roared as the body sizzled upon contact with the sea. Now you, asshole…
“Morgan,” Tessa whispered, looking up, hoping to see him ablaze, too.
The dark red dragon shot into view, followed by Kai and a long, seeking flame.
“Kai,” she whispered, pressing back into the rock.
The two dragons roared and sped forward until their bodies slammed together with a crash that made Tessa wince. Then they grappled at close quarters, wings beating at the air as they clawed and bit.
It was terrifying yet mesmerizing, and Tessa gaped at the sight. Just when she despaired that Morgan might win the upper hand, Kai would twist out of his grip and counterattack.
Another scream pierced the night, and Tessa whipped around to the right.
“God, no,” she murmured, sinking back against the rock.
There was another dragon, soaring over from Maui. One with fresh wings and claws that pinched at the air, itching to join the fight.
Tessa’s cry of despair turned to a cheer when Kai’s voice boomed into the night.
Silas!
Silas? She sat down, half in shock. Never had she been so glad to see a grouchy dragon in her life.
She sat trembling. A week ago, she didn’t even know shifters existed. Now, she was cheering one on.
Morgan broke away from Kai, backpedaling in the air. Then he executed a quick turn and flew desperately for the horizon.
Enjoy the woman while you can, he roared at Kai, making Tessa’s blood run cold. I’ll be back. For her — and for the stone.
She shivered, watching Kai race after Morgan in furious pursuit. A moment later, he was just a sleek form in the night, barely visible but for intermittent blasts of fire.
Silas flew after Kai and Morgan, but he seemed to hold back, and Tessa wanted to scream. Why wasn’t he helping Kai hunt Morgan down?
Tears streaked her cheeks, and she rocked, wanting to curse Silas — until it dawned on her. Silas was letting Kai fight his own fight. Letting Kai vanquish the enemy honorably.
She squinted into the night, then gasped when a thick strand of fire broke out. A dark form tumbled toward the sea. Down, down, down…
She cried out when a huge splash erupted on the surface of the sea, then sat back, panting. Was that Kai or Morgan who had just plummeted to his death?
The emerald glowed, warming her hand, and her heart beat faster.
“Kai?” she whispered, staring at the dragon circling toward her.
A pair of blue eyes glowed in the night, making her gasp in relief.
Tessa, Kai called, searching the cliffs.
For a moment, she couldn’t move, paralyzed by a thousand emotions. Then she leaped to her feet and waved both hands, grinning like a fool even though that was a dragon racing up to her and not a knight in shining armor. But it wasn’t just any dragon. It was her mate.
Tessa, Kai called in exhaustion and relief. His chest puffed out a bit as he came closer, though, and his huge mouth curled in a dragon grin to tell her he was okay.
And just like that, she found the energy to smile, too.
She put a hand on her hip and did her best to play it cool. If she squeaked or trembled now, she’d never live it down. So she went with the brassy approach.
“Well, it’s about time, mister.”
Is that right? Kai grinned, hovering in front of her.
His wings cast the fresh night air toward her, cooling her skin while his eyes bathed her in warmth and love.
“Lifestone. Dragon blood. Mates,” she said, ticking the words off like a list. “Boy, do you have a lot of explaining to do.”
Kai looked at her, a little chagrined, but a second later she burst out laughing and held her hand out. “Come to me, my mate,” she called, loud and clear. “Come to me.”