Page 88 of Accidentally a Dragon Daddy

The world turned red around me as rage burned swiftly and with blinding intensity.

She wanted to harm my child.

My child.

“Damn you!” I roared as pain settled into me. Pain at what I knew must be done. There was no escaping it now. I wished and hoped, trying to find another way. But there wasn’t one.

To protect Elanya and the baby, I would have to kill my sister.

Shooting forward, I angled us down, putting distance between my dragon and Jaklin as I raced for the border. The jets tried to herd us back, but I spat dragon fire in the general direction of one of them, forcing them back.

We swept across the river and into the city on the other side. Two dragons watched from below, perched on skyscrapers in case the jets broke the ceasefire lines. Given what Jaklin had done, there was always the chance. But they didn’t. They kept to their side.

A skyscraper nearby exploded as Jaklin’s fireball shot past my wing and impacted it. I grimaced and veered hard to the left. Then I twisted my neck over my wings and breathed a huge cone of flame into my path.

Jaklin twisted aside, her wing scraping the side of the same tower, shattering windows as she went. A shriek of pain followed, but the maniacal bloodlust in her eyes never faded.

“Has she always been this unhinged?” Elanya called. I could feel her twisting left and right, looking for my sister.

“She was in love with Vicek,” I said. “He strung her along. I tried to tell her it was only physical, that she didn’t have a chance at becoming his mate. But she became obsessed with the power he would eventually inherit. She thought if she were his mate, she would share in it with him. The war with your people took all that away from her.”

“I see. Down left!”

I moved right without thinking, simply reacting, and Jaklin shot up from below, jaws missing my belly by mere feet.

In return, I bathed her side in dragon fire. Crimson scales peeled free, falling to the ground far below as Jaklin bellowed in pain. It wasn’t a mortal wound, but it still hurt. Dragon fire was one of the few things that could truly hurt another dragon. My breath attack had left a long, blackened strip down her right side.

“You need to end this. Before she gets lucky!”

Elanya was right. I didn’t like it, but she was.

Instead of continuing to evade my sister, I banked after her. Now, I was the one in pursuit. She flew fast and strong, wings beating hard.

But I was faster. I was more agile. My training meant I had more experience flying in close among the human towers. I could cut corners tighter. Was more experienced with the wind vortices that could form between tall buildings.

Jaklin didn’t stand a chance. I rounded one corner and was nearly on top of her.

Fire and claw shredded her spine in return for a chunk of scale and flesh torn from my lower chest by her jaw before she crashed into a building and fell to the ground, the muscles attaching her wings no longer working. My claws had severed them.

I landed on the rooftop.

“Stay here,” I told Elanya, watching the crimson dragon waiting for me below. She couldn’t flee. Not anymore.

After my mate slid from my back, I slid over the edge of the building, dropping quickly. I breathed fire straight at my sister, forcing her to scramble out of the way. I spread my wings at the last second, slowing my fall as concrete and asphalt crunched underfoot.

Jaklin’s jaw darted in toward my neck before I even fully touched the ground. My legs twitched, and I leaped at her, my wings tucked in tight along my side. The unexpected movement meant she battered her head against my chest.

It was too easy. Jaklin had no combat training. Just instinct. Which was precisely what my training had taught me to use against her.

She whipped her head around to breathe fire across my face. Only she found my jaws waiting for her. They closed around her snout from the side, and she belched fire into her own mouth as she frantically sought to extinguish it, cutting off her own exhale of air.

My jaw clenched tighter, teeth puncturing deep.

Jaklin rolled. It was unexpected. Her claws dug deep into my chest and belly as I went with her, and I was forced to let go before she shredded me.

With another wordless shriek of anger, Jaklin came at me, jaws open and outstretched. I’d barely recovered from the roll, my chest an oozing mass of pain and shattered scales.

But I had enough time to inhale.

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