Page 48 of Cruel Daddy Dragon

The crimson dragon leans down to me. His wings spread, and his mouth opens. There’s a glow starting to build at the back of his throat.

Fuck!

There’s nothing else I can do—I point the gun at him and fire at the inside of his mouth. I pull the trigger a few more times.

CRACK! CRACK!

But as it hits the fleshy pink inside, the dragon suddenly cringes and rears back, roaring in agony. As he does, I see a shining gleam of scales behind his head.

In a moment, Rufus has sunk his teeth into the back of the dragon’s head. He screams. Rufus wrenches his head back and forth, and—SNAP!

With that, the dragon falls limp, falling like a tree and crashing into the snow. He’s suddenly very, very still.

But I can’t take the time to absorb what just happened—Rufus gets off the back of the fallen dragon, his eyes fiery:

“Sarah, what the hell are you doing here?!” he shouts,“It’s dangerous!”

At first, I freeze; I’ve never heard his voice that loud. But a moment after that freeze, my own retaliatory anger flares up:

“I’m out here saving your dumb ass!” I shout back.

“Get out of here!” Rufus shouts, “I can’t fight with you here!”

“I came to help!” I clap back.

“I don’tneedyour help—we don’t needanyhumans’ help!” he yells, “What was that about you letting us protect Greyson Ridge with you?! I can’t protect you when I have to worry about you like this!”

“Bullshit, you don’t need my help!” I roar, “You would have died if I wasn’t here!”

Rufus scoffs.

“Oh, yeah,sure!” he says sarcastically, “Not like we’ve been doing this for years!”

“You would have died!”I howl,“You would have died over there!”

I point to the spot, and Rufus frowns, looking for a moment before coming back to me.

“I saw it happen!”My voice cracks halfway through my scream.

Rufus misses his chance to clap back. He just leans back in surprise, blinking for a moment, frowning. I feel tears spring to my eyes, and I have to heave a deep breath.

“What?” he just says.

“Guys! Cut it out!”A new voice carries through the air a few moments before a large, dark dragon lands nearby.

At first, I flinch, but Rufus doesn’t react. The new dragon speaks again:

“There might be more! Don’t draw them over!”

That voice…I’ve never seen this dragon form, but I know that voice.

“Are you… Orion?” I ask.

The dragon looks at me, and even the serpentine form has that mysterious foxy face. He nods.

“Sarah,” Rufus says, “what do you mean you saw it happen?”

I swallow hard and look back at him.

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