Page 2 of Dragon Unhinged

The bars rise with a low groan on the side of the arena, and a low buzz of electricity echoes in my ears, warning me of what’s to come if I don’t go into the ring on my own. My hands open and close into fists. This whole hall is wired to fry me if I don’t move quick enough. I still remember the burnt stench of the bear shifter who didn’t move quickly enough and got damn-near barbecued by the currents. His fight didn’t last long with so much damage—it was a mercy to put him down.

I won’t let myself meet that same fate. My dragon rushes to the surface, nearly feral from living in the conditions we’ve been in.

At least if I die in battle, it’ll be over.

I breech the bars once they’re high enough, cringing against the high-pitched squeak as metal grinds against metal, letting the bars disappear into the cement above.

Almost immediately, a thready plead fills my head.

Just let me die.

It’s been so long since I’ve connected with another shifter, so long since I’ve gotten to hear another, it’s jarring and so foreign I almost want to push it out.

I try and keep my feet under me as my dragon pushes at the seams over my skin.

You cannot stay in there. Move. Now!I mentally roar the last word. I can’t stand the thought of bearing witness to another shifter choosing to commit suicide.

I squeeze my eyes shut for a second, trying to hold my dragon back. Once the beast is released, it’ll be about survival.

They took my mate.

The defeat and ache in his voice cracks in my head.His ache bleeds into my own.

You can’t just give up, I try, pleading at him.

They killed her in front of me, to ensure I would play their games. I won’t give them the satisfaction.There’s the rage he needs to move forward.

I growl low, fire churning in my belly.Then come out. Die a fighter, die an honorable death, so that you may see her again. She would not want you to give up this way.

I don’t know what it’s like to have a mate, except through stories, through seeing others find theirs, but I know that female shifters are often more fierce, stronger, than the males. I have seen the strength even humans who mate dragons have, and I cannot imagine that this shifter’s mate was any different.

Slowly, the scuffing of feet moving across the stone floor fill the silence of the ring. Losing focus on keeping my dragon at bay gives him the inch he needed to give into the magic yanking him out of me. Every bone in my body is breaking at once to reform, grow, and shift.

What was once as normal as breathing, now is as alien as my life and a special form of torture. There’s no control, no smooth transition, as a wing rips free from my back. Talons shred the skin of my hands and feet pushing the human bones away, burying them inside broken and in shambles. There’s no order to my shift, no way my body is remotely prepared for the motions I fall to the floor as my dragon gets the reins. Fire erupts out of me, charring the cement beneath me.

The other shifter hunches and tumbles out of the cage into the arena, tufts of fur sprouting over his exposed skin, his veins pop out along his arms, neck, and forehead. A roar escapes him as he tries to keep hold of control. His head grows square with a gaping mouth of sharp teeth. Orange, white, and black fur rolls over his pale skin. He falls onto all fours, his body mass growingas his hands morph into giant paws with scythe-like claws ready to reap me. Another roar pushes out of his snarling muzzle and his stripped tail swishes back and forth. He’s a magnificent tiger, reminding me a friend of mine. But this tiger shifter and I won’t be friends, we’ll be each other’s ends in one way or another.

It will be over soon. I’ll make it quick, but you have to make it look as though you want to survive. Give them a show and then you’ll be back with your mate.

Even reaching out telepathically hurts, but I push past it.

What’s your name?I ask.

Silence fills my head as I finish shifting into my dragon form.

Finally,Marcel.

Marcel, I am Declan. I promise you, this will be over soon.

For you, at least.

When my dragon form has completely taken over, I stretch my wings out slowly, wincing at the pain that settles all the way down into my bones. Taking a few shaky breaths, I ready myself for what’s to come, what has to come. I can’t hear Marcel’s thoughts, but I imagine he’s doing something similar.

Even in his fully shifted form, I can see the abuse weighing on his massive form. His fur is patchy and doesn’t have the sleek look of being well cared for, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s because of the way his captor treats him, or if it’s a symptom of losing the one woman in all the world he shared everything with.

Probably both.

I crouch low, projecting out to him,Attack me first. Aim for my neck.

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