Page 64 of Of Bone and Ash

When I open my eyes next, I’m taken off guard by the weird golden light coming from the dead Hounds. Not a light. A man—with wings? What the hell?

There’s a man lording over the monsters the Balaur Patrol just took out, brilliant white feathered wings outstretched, and what looks like a golden whip clasped in his hand. One moment his lips are moving, then suddenly the Hounds burst into a golden fiery inferno, the heat so blistering I’m pretty sure it singes my eyebrows off. Which is somewhat terrifying since I’m supposed to be fireproof.

“Teos!” That voice… that damn voice. I know I’ve died and gone to heaven when I shift my gaze to see Bella crashing to her knees next to me, her eyes glowing as she cups my face and starts talking so fast I can’t understand a word. She’s covered in blood, red and black, the liquid staining her face and neck and making her hair stick to her skin as her small thumb strokes my cheek.

“What?! Don't you fucking dare!” she screams as Ryland walks over. I squint up at him and then back at her, and if my heart could shatter, it would when I see a small tear streak down her cheek as she leans forward and presses her head to mine. “Oh my god! What do I do?” she screams, panic well and truly setting in as the small, sweet hands cradling my face start to tremble.

Well, that's not ok. I hate it when she's upset.

The man with the white wings steps closer to us the moment he sees me and Bella on the ground, and she looks up eyes darting to him as she asks something I can't make out. As the man moves closer, an almost familiar face comes into view, but then my vision swims, and I can feel my body heave, twitching as it shuts down. Bella turns her watery eyes back down to me as the man shakes his head and then glares at me like he’s also mad I’ve caused her tears.

If I could apologize, I would, because his anger is not misplaced. I really need some help here so I can wake up and show Bella everything is fine. Looking up at Ryland, who has stepped between us and the winged man, I watch as he looks at Bella with the same kind of horror I feel when he sees her tears.

I nod, catching his attention and mouth. ‘Do it.’

He growls under his breath, crouching down at Bella’s side and yanking her into his arms, which immediately has her lashing out at him. The winged man yells and steps toward them, setting off a dozen angry growls from the Dragon shifters nearby. Ryland twists Bella’s tiny body against his chest, cradles her head so she can’t see me, and leans close, glaring at me.

“I swear to God. If you don’t come back from this, and she never talks to me again, I will hunt you down in the afterlife and kill you in the most painful way possible,” he threatens. I wheeze a laugh as his big hand wraps around my neck, and a loud cracking sound is the last thing I hear as I welcome the darkness of death.

TWENTY-NINE

Ryland

“Let me go!” Fina snarls, her tiny nails sinking into my arm, leaving bloody crescent-shaped imprints as I try to keep her from the bed that holds Teos’ unconscious body. She trembles in my arms, her body feeling far too delicate and entirely too small. Yes, Fina has always been slightly built. Hell, I’m pretty sure my thigh is bigger than her waist, but she’s always been strong. Tall for a girl, standing well over six feet when she wears her heels, which is practically every day.

Right now, she feels like a drowned kitten, shaking and wet, dripping with blood, and barefoot, making her head not even reach my shoulder. Her clothes are in tatters, her hands are balled into tight fists as her magic sparks in the air around us.

“Draga Mea,” I rasp, holding her tighter, trying to reason with her, but she’s not hearing any of it.

“No! No, you don't get to call me that! You lost that right when you left me when I needed you!” she shouts, making the three sets of eyes in the room dart up to meet me with raised brows. I growl low in my chest, warning them to avert their eyes and get back down to business. My Dragon is way too close to the surface since finding his mate fighting a Demon and is now hurt and covered in blood.

I’ve only kept the three of them here—two for protection while we finish securing the campus, and the remaining one to make sure the boy doesn’t actually die. I finally kicked the damn Angel out despite his protests. The man and I almost came to blows multiple times until Atlas and Boris told him they needed a full report done. All three of them agreed to not tell the headmistress about her son's involvement until he wakes up. Since the boy is over the age of eighteen and has a steady heartbeat, it's something we can legally do, but I’m pretty sure they’re going to get their balls busted for it the moment Teagen finds out.

“Now do what you do best and leave!” she snarls, raising her legs up off the ground before throwing her weight forward.

“Dammit Serafina!” I growl when I lose my hold on her, and we both go toppling to the floor. I reach my arms out, catching my weight before I crush her underneath me, and my damn Little Huntress takes advantage, spinning onto her back and wrapping her toned legs around my waist, making me grunt in surprise when she rolls, sending me sprawling to my back with her on top of me.

My Dragon preens like a damn peacock over having such a feral and capable mate, but her defiance only pisses me off. I dart my hands up, catching her small wrists before she goes for the small blade I know she keeps in her pocket.

“Really!?” I snap at her, but she only shifts her weight, leaning to the side just before she brings her knee up, connecting painfully with my ribs and making me groan. Fina twists her wrists out of my hands, moving to jump off me, but now I’m pissed, and she’s going to have to deal with it.

I’ve given her the time Atlas asked of me. Now we talk.

Lunging forward, I grab her around the waist, side-stepping her kick directed at my other side while my Dragon growls at her in a warning.

“Don't,” I rasp out, catching her hands in one of mine before wrapping my other arm around her and hauling her off her feet. Jumping up, I nod at the three Dragon shifters checking on Teos. “You stay in this room if you value your lives,” I command.

Andrei shakes his head, a disapproving look in his eye as Dimitri, my only Dragon who has healing abilities, mutters something I don't quite catch before he goes back to Teos, running his hands over the guy's arms and legs to make sure there isn't any lasting damage from the Hell Hounds. Kingston nods, moving to shut the door behind me as I carry my feral mate from the room, hissing and screaming.

“I’m going to castrate you with a rusty spoon and feed it to one of those nasty Hounds!” Fina snarls, and I laugh, shaking my head as I turn her in my arms, then throw her small body over my shoulders as I walk through the small living room and drop her ass on the counter in front of me. “You’ve been spending too much time with Kayla,” I accuse.

Fina doesn't find this comment as amusing as I do and instantly tries to attack, her hands shooting for my throat with her nails sharpening to tiny points.

“No!” I snap, grabbing her and yanking her forward so she's pressed tight to my chest, glaring up at me with so much hate that I have to break eye contact.

“Let me go!” she snaps, trying to bring her knee up to catch me in the balls. I dart my hips back just in time to save myself and glare down at her. “You really want to play dirty right now, Draga Mea?” I growl, my Dragon pressing to the surface, wanting to play with his mate. She wants to have a dominance battle? Fine, he’ll give her a damn dominance battle and have her crying out our name underneath us in a matter of seconds. We will be so deep inside her that she won't know where I end and she begins.

My eyes widen as his thoughts cross my mind, and I have to clench my jaw and shove him back so I don't spin her around and pin her against this damn counter to fuck her within an inch of her life.

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