Page 120 of Catastrophe

Like waking up, I could cling to her voice, the sound of her enough to pull me away from whatever weird spell the slimy familial bond had me under. “That’s it, Charlie. Yes. Listen to me, come back to me. You’re mine. Now, he’s going to realize you’re not under his influence anymore and then he’ll attack, but I’ll protect us. I promise. Just keep away from him and don’t listen to him.”

You’ll protect us? How? What’s the plan? I wanted to ask, but she cut our bond off again with enough force to jolt me back from the familial bond, back to Dralie, and back into the body of a dragon.

“Charlie? Are we back? Safe? What happened? Where did we go?” Dralie asked. The worry in his voice matched my own.

“I don’t know. The dragon seemed to take over our mind. Bastard.”

We looked around with slight head movements and noted the green dragon flying directly above us, looking smug. We had flown miles away from the fires and he dropped in height, ushering us to do the same. When we didn’t immediately do so, his head dropped to stare at us and fury lit his eyes when he noticed we weren’t in his control anymore.

“Let’s show this dragon how to fly.”

We scooped low, heading down, down, to the tree line, and the dragon chased after us. The slug-like bond tried to infiltrate again, but I batted it away. But then the dragon roared and shoved at us from the side, knocking Clawdia straight off our back, screaming, and falling through the sky.

“Clawdia.” My heart lurched as we quickly recovered, dodged the dragon’s claws, and dived after our mate. We caught her in our claws and her grip on us was shaky, but tight.

The green dragon was determined that either we follow under his command, or we die, and he swooped down, claws out and sharp as he dove into our back, scratching at our scales and puncturing our wings.

Fuck, that hurt.

And the puncture to our wing, as well as the heavy weight of a dragon on our back, pushed us, spinning, toward the ground at great speed. I felt sick.

We tucked Clawdia close to our chest and rolled as we hit the ground, smashing the dragon on our back into the ground as we skidded to a halt in the dirt. We released her as soon as we could and ushered her away as the dragon scrambled and clawed at our back.

One moment it was moving, we fought to get away from it, and the next we were covered in blood and the dragon collapsed back into the hole. Dead.

What the fuck? We looked back to Clawdia, and blood dripped from our snout.

“Our mate just killed that dragon? She is most fierce.” Dralie said. “Go to her.”

I shifted and dragged myself, shaking, out of the grave where the green dragon lay.

“Are you okay?” Clawdia rushed to me, her hands outstretched and seeking the wounds on my body. “Your wing and back. You’re bleeding. Just give me a moment.”

“I’m covered in blood.” I said and held her hands so they didn’t touch the dragon blood all over me. Her eyes unfocused, and I squeezed her hands hard. “Don’t you dare heal me after that. You’ll hurt yourself.” She sighed, but did as I asked. My back remained raw and open. “Thank you.”

“You’re welcome,” she whispered.

I raised a brow. “You couldn’t do that while it had its grubby paws over my mind?”

“I couldn’t be sure it wouldn’t harm you, too.” Her lip trembled and I couldn’t resist any more. I pulled her into my arms, blood be damned, and nuzzled into her hair.

She wasn't a killer, and this was the second time she’d had to take a life. And we didn’t even know who the dragon was.

After a moment’s silence, I asked quietly, “The protector?”

“He’s dead,” she replied, her face drawn. “The portals are open.”

And then, safe in my arms, she fainted.

CHAPTER 30

CLAWDIA

One moment I was looking into the familiar and warm eyes of my love and the next I found myself in the beautiful converted warehouse the witches were staying in. I gasped and hid behind a door as I touched myself and looked for the portal I came through, but found none.

How did I get here? How do I get out? But as I touched the door, my hand went through it. A vision. I was having a vision? But I’ve never had a vision in the middle of something. Does this mean it’s getting worse already? Has something happened to Nisha?

The vision felt different from the ones I’d seen before. They felt colder, less vivid and, from the look of the places, it was obvious that it was a historic vision. However, this looked exactly as I remembered it, just as bright and beautifully decorated with the tall windows and the colorful abstract art on the wall.

---