Page 104 of Dragon Unhinged

I climb into the back of the van and kneel down next to her. Her body is barely hanging on. I rummage through my bag, pulling out crystal after crystal and placing them around her body. I grab my moonstone and start murmuring the words of healing from an ancient dialect. When desperate, ancient is always the way to go. “She’s right,” I say once I feel Brianna stabilize a little. “We need to get Brianna to Declan, and we need him to be fucking human when we get there.” I give her another look before turning my attention to the infant kicking her feet in a car seat. “Finley, please drive the van. Ash, keep your eyes on this woman until we’re out of the woods. We can decide what to do with her after Brianna wakes up.”

“I’m not staying behind,” Ash barks.

Finley is already buckling herself into the driver’s seat. “Then follow in the other car, but there’s no more room for either of you.”

I brace myself for Finley’s insane driving and keep working on healing Brianna to the best of my abilities, which isn’t much right now.

“Syrena, if he’s fallen to the craze…” Ash’s voice trembles, ever so slightly, and I know what he’s about to say.

I shake my head, like I refuse to hear it. “I can reach him. I know I can. All the stories, they’re about dragons trying to reach dragons. But I know Declan. I know his heart, his soul. I know him as a man, and I know him as a beast, more than any of you do. We can bring him back. Trust me, Ash, please.”

“Whatever we’re going to do, we need to do it fast, Ash,” Finley says, pulling his attention back to his mate. “Or we’re going to lose more than one brother to Declan’s craze. And you and I are adopting that little baby, because Brianna could die too.”

My king frowns, even as he wraps his arms around Finley and pulls her in close. “Keep Syrena safe. I’ll follow with the fire breather in the SUV.”

“Fire breather? I have a name.” She scowls at Ash.

“Prove your worthiness, fire breather, and I’ll consider caring what it is,” Ash snaps as he drags her away.

Finley puts the gear into drive and slams on the gas, winding around Ash’s SUV.

“Where am I going, Sy?”

The streets get moreand more cluttered with rubble, more obstacles, the closer we get to the two dragons battling in downtown Montreal.

At least it looks like most of the people have already fled. The fewer witnesses we attract, the better, especially since we already have plenty of humans who think we’re the enemy. It’s too much to hope for with everyone carrying around a camera and video camera with them everywhere they go. There’s going to be videos from every angle on the internet by sundown.

Trees, buildings, benches, everything in sight seems to be on fire or crumbling from Declan and Malcolm slamming into each other, into every structure that gets in their way. Finley swerves around obstacles, dodging whatever gets in her way, to get us as close to the dragons as possible.

Even without me having to tell her, I’m sure she understands just how important it is that we get Brianna and their baby close, so Declan can sense them, so that Declan can cling to the new family he’s building and come out of this baser-instincts-driven craziness.

Assuming we can bring Declan back from his dragon form at all.

I close my eyes, holding Brianna’s hand, as I focus on her mate, as I focus on making sure that I can bring them both back. The last thing any of us want to do at this point is to orphan this baby, and I know that if I can’t get through to Declan, if I can’t make him return to his human form and claim his mate, Ash will do what he has to as the king of the clan.

A fate we all want to avoid.

The van stops, and I take a slow breath, readying myself for what we’re about to face.

The windows of the vehicle rattle as one of the dragons lets out a roar, reminding me just how dangerous, how big and awesome these beasts can be.

Reminding me just a little more just how much is at stake right now.

Ash’s SUV pulls up next to us, and I look over Brianna again. “I don’t want to take her out there. She’s hurt enough as it is, but I’m afraid she’s likely the key to getting Declan to return to us.” I shake my head and turn my attention to the baby. “Finley, will you watch over her?”

“Of course. But if things go sideways, you should get back here. Take her far away, so that Ash and I can finish it.” Shefrowns, looking at the car seat. “I can’t imagine the pain Brianna went through. Childbirth is hard enough when you have time to prepare, but to rush through it like that…” She shakes her head. “Go. Take care of her father now.” Savior of the fucking Tourmaline Clan, I should get an award. Or at least an all-inclusive, all-paid vacation.

I nod and step out of the van, looking at Ash. “Bring Brianna. I’m going to need them both. And your connection to Finley, if we have any hope of bringing your brother back.”

Chapter

Forty-Four

DECLAN

DECLAN! STOP!

The insistent voice breaks through my fury, my claws still sunk deep into the flesh of this dragon’s gut.I let the fire die and turn my head to see who is interrupting me now.

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