Page 86 of Dragon Awakened

Even as the chaos unfolds around me, my dragon is throwing herself more and more ferociously against my ribs. I stagger, slamming my palm into my chest. With all the will I have, I try to open my heart and let her out, but there's an unbreakable wall holding her in. The pain of her captivity wants to sink me to my knees, but I have to keep my bearings.

My dragon may still be trapped inside me, but I'm no helpless damsel.

My bracer burns with magical power, and Rhiannon's locket sears the skin at the very center of my chest. I grasp the hot metal pendant and feel the crackle of magic.

Escape is literally at my fingertips, and visions of places we could go flit through my mind.

I drop my hand.

There's nowhere we could go that would truly free us from the evil that's followed us here. And even if there were...

I twist my neck, taking in the destruction around me with numb horror. The town square is ablaze with purple smoke and ash. Dark bolts of lightning crack the ground, rumbling earth and sending up plumes of shattered concrete and dust.

Hundreds of dragons circle above my head, but that's not all.

Unity's come out to respond to the threat. My eyes sting. Bear shifters and wolf shifters lunge at the attacking dragons, pulling them out of the sky with claws and teeth. Witches and wizards have emerged from who even knows where, and the very air shimmers with the power of the magic being unleashed.

Their town is being destroyed because of me--

No. Their town is being destroyed because of Zephyr and Fury and Erembour. The rulers of the Air and Shadow Dragon Kingdoms may want me and my magic, but they're the ones who brought an apocalypse to Unity's doorstep.

This place is the closest thing I've had to a home since my parents were stolen from me. Its people are defending the town against an attack so powerful that it could wipe them off the map.

My magic isn't strong enough to take the town with me, and even if I could--my experience with the Water Dragon Kingdom has driven home to me that there's a cost to that kind of magic.

In my heart of hearts, it's clear--we have to stand and fight.

I raise my hands in the defensive posture I learned from High Priestess Fang of the Grand Stone Temple. My connection to Jianyu lights up with blinding silver light, and his dragon roars his approval, sweeping by and launching the same broken bits of concrete that the attacking dragons created right back at them. Rafe's dragon whoops as well, his exhilaration palpable. He always was itching to stop the hiding and sneaking around and just fight already.

More dragons barrel down on us, though. The Air Dragon cyclones become full-fledged twisters. One veers off seemingly at random, and I turn to find Sister Grace hurling huge rocks of her own at the rampaging beasts. Amy is behind her, her arm raised over her face in self-protection, and I see red.

My hair whips around my face, my dress flapping in the wind as I fling a sphere of protective magic in their direction. The spell has the same new resonating power as before, and the Shadow Dragon unfortunate enough to clip its wing on the shining surface roars in pain.

Bracer burning, I summon the offensive powers I somehow managed to manifest in my fight against Li when he kidnapped me from the Water Kingdom. My fingers crackle with power; it's so much easier now. The deep purple blasts of energy that I fire at Air and Shadow Dragons alike have the deep magic of Shadows and the heat and solidity of Fire and Stone; the fluid grace of Water and the swift flight of magic born of the Air itself.

And to think that anyone ever dared to call me weak. Defective.

The absolute rightness of it all slams into me, merging with a pride I never imagined I could have. My mate-bonds glow with overwhelming brightness, my awareness of each of them like a physical force. My dragon roars, and I can feel her--

Her wings are dark shadows bursting from my shoulder blades; her fire is my breath, her talons grow from my fingers, and I scream out in pain.

My bones want to crack. My skin is violet conflagration.

But she's still stuck.

Growling, I sling more magic at the dragons swooping down at me and my mates. Malik is above me, tearing into any dragon that would attempt to get in close enough for a physical attack. He's taken more scrapes and gouges from sharp talons than I would like, but his dragon moves with impossible grace. Bright lines of glowing aquamarine magic swirl beneath his scales, and the very clouds that the Shadow Dragons summoned burst with rain that he whips into arrows of piercing energy.

Storm screams, and I yank my gaze upward in time to see him blindsided by a whirling cyclone from behind. Fury looks ragged and worn down, but their battle is a stalemate, the two brothers too evenly matched.

All around us, the story is the same. My mates and I aren't hurting for allies, but every dragon we take down is replaced by another. Flinging protection magic in a dozen directions at once, I dare a glance toward the horizon, and my heart falls.

More dragons are still materializing, portals ripping themselves open from the air itself.

The pavement around me explodes as a Shadow Dragon swoops past Malik's line of defense. I cry out, attempting to shield myself, but I'm still thrown backward, sharp rock cutting into my skin.

From the ground, things look even more bleak. Blood drips into my eyes, and I swab at the gash on my forehead. Storm is stumbling through the air, Fury advancing. Two huge Air Dragons swoop over Malik, dividing his attention, and my own side lights up with pain as he takes a series of hits. Rafe rains down fire, but his energy is flagging. Jianyu tears at the very earth, only to be caught up in a twister that wrings him in a violent spiral that rattles my teeth. I bite down on my tongue and taste blood.

My bracer glows even hotter, its magic screaming at me. All four of my connections to my mates are rippling fire, and my dragon is beating her wings with a savageness that's going to tear me apart.

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