Page 101 of Dragon Unhinged

I relent with the fire and look away from the dragon. Is my brother here?

I catch a scent of something familiar. My mate.

Far off.

Covered in the stench of fucking vampires. I latch on to the scent and toss the intrusive dragon across the street into another building. I enjoy the satisfying crunch of glass shattering and metal creaking and breaking, the building losing its structural soundness.

Everything hurts as I stomp through the streets following my mate’s scent.

My vision blurs and the skyscrapers surrounding me look more like the walls of the battle coliseums I fought in. If I’m going to find my Brianna, I must battle anyone that gets in my way. The shaking, quivering pain of the jacked-up cattle-prod jolts from my captors. I can feel the uncontrollable agony of shifting without any say, my body reduced to a tool, to a fucking killing machine.

Just as I’m about to turn down another street, I get hit by a force so strong it knocks the wind out of me. We careen into another building. The fucking dragon knocked the wind out of me. I scramble to get to my feet, spinning to knock down theintruder with my tail to give me a few more seconds to regain my footing.

This opponent is stronger than any others I’ve fought. Maybe he doesn’t fight as often. Maybe he’s recently been captured.

It doesn’t matter.

The pain doesn’t matter.

Nothing matters.

Nothing except for Brianna.

My mate. My baby. My family.

The other dragon nips at my tail, a move my brothers used to pull when we were play-fighting as kids. When we were learning how to be warriors.

Not enough to hurt, not enough to break through scales.

I whip around and swipe at him with my claws, aiming for the jugular. We collide together again and a thrashing of talons and teeth.

I’m not playing.

As my claws collide with scales, I let out a burst of fire, intent on setting everything I can aflame. His scales. His flesh. His blood. His bones.

I’ll rip him to shreds, rip this whole place to shreds if I can.

I keep my focus on Brianna, trying to find her scent again as I strike and bite the annoying pest of a dragon standing in my way. I’ll find Brianna and we’ll go far away from here. Away from everyone who would hurt us. Everyone who would try and kill us.

Starting with this fucking dragon. He’s my first obstacle. I’m not letting them drug me again. Not this time. I will not put those cuffs on again and be forced to wait in a dungeon until it is time for me to fight for my life. Kill my own kind. Even if they aren’t dragons, they are my own kind.

The dragon roars in pain and rears back away from me, proving that my talons hit their mark. He limps away, trying toget space from me no doubt. I will not give him time to recover. To come at me again and try and stop me from saving my mate.

I lunge at him, pinning him beneath me as I snap at him with my jaws. Finally, I manage to get my teeth wrapped around his neck, just under his jaw to keep him from biting at me. I hold the young dragon down with my weight, force, and fierce desire to kill anything that stands in my way. Breaking through his scales, ripping into him, tasting the hot, coppery burn of his blood as it hits my mouth. More fire pours from me, engulfing his dragon head, over his neck, down his body, until I can’t see anything else.

Just flames. Fire spreading across the streets over the broken pieces of glass, personal items left behind by fleeing humans, and rubble of destruction left in my wake.

The charred scent of flesh filling my nose. I squeeze my eyes closed. I don’t want to remember killing this dragon as much as I don’t want to remember the rest of the lives I took trying to survive day by day in this bloody prison. Once Brianna is safe, I’m going to kill her father and bathe him in blood and fire as well.

I’m never going to be able to wash this blood off my talons, any more than I can wash the blood off from any of the other supernatural creatures I’ve killed because of Brianna’s father. Because of Grey.

Maybe I should rip my own throat out.

Maybe I should let Brianna and our baby be freed from the weight of my guilt, the weight of everything I’ve had to do to survive.

If Brianna’s even still alive.

I can’t feel her. I can’t hear her. I’ve lost her scent.

---