Page 79 of Dragon Unhinged

I worry Krystana is in a similar situation, but she’s been able to contact us and promises that she’s doing well. I guess I’ll take her word for it for now.

I have to hope that we can somehow find all the places shifters are being held and break them free before they end uplost to the spells, lost to the pain, or worse. And if there are any other dragons being held, we must find them before they give up completely and let the craze take over. I doubt even the strongest blood magic in all the worlds could stop a dragon lost to the craze from breaking free and wreaking havoc.

“Malcolm and I will send out word to everyone we know. We’ll find Ellie.” Ash’s jaw tightens as he digs out his phone.

In the time since our home was invaded and his parents were killed, Ash has aged. He’s carrying burdens I don’t think any dragon king has had to bear, maybe ever. Finley, too, has matured, has stepped up in her role as his mate, as our de-facto queen, even if most of the dragons we know refuse to accept the claim, and certainly refuse to accept him as king with a human, former or not, at his side.

There’s so much to do and so little time. Stopping Grey is just the top of a very long list.

We need to learn from the Obsidian Queen, and we need to find a better way to do things. We need our society to return to some level of normalcy, and we need to get back to a place where dragons can thrive.

Even if it’s only just enough that I can stop portalling all over this damned country, this world, long enough to fully regain my powers.

“Malcolm, can you stay with him? If he wakes, call me immediately.”

“Of course.” He tugs the chair from the corner of the room over to next to the bed, and props his motorcycle boots up onto the end of the bed next to Declan’s.

Pru sets her tablet down and steps up to Declan’s side. “I’ll keep an eye on him too, and I can administer more sleeping potion whenever we need to. I don’t know what else we can do to help him, other than keep him comfortable and hope that he can eventually heal on his own. I don’t know that there’s even amagical surgical option to fix his wings though, and if there is, he’d have to remain a dragon long enough for it to work.”

“We’ll figure it out somehow. He’s strong.” I sigh again, the exhaustion of magic use and stress wearing on me. “We have to find Brianna, though, and bring her home quickly. He certainly won’t be able to heal himself completely without his mate.”

There aren’t enough Wystans in or near Miami to get all the various tasks I need completed, and not enough magic or help in the world for us to just end the threat so that we can move on.

But that’s not going to stop me from doing everything I can.

Even if it means trying to get a broken witch to re-embrace her magic for the side of right.

Before I get out of the hospital, though, Pru stops me. “That dragon in there isn’t the only one who needs rest, Syrena.”

I roll my eyes, even though that simple action makes my eyeballs ache. Maybe I do need rest, but how can I stop working, stop helping my clan, the Wystans, when there’s so much happening, so much fighting on so many fronts? It’s not like there are a lot of clan witches to begin with and not all of them are on our side.

“I’m not saying run off to Bermuda and work on your tan or make friends with the local sharks. I’m just saying, maybe we need to have a girls’ night soon, pop open a bottle of wine or three, and we’ll just decompress. We’ll talk about anything that doesn’t have to do with dragons, vampires, or magic, or anything else but our favorite episodes ofSex in the City.” She gives me a playful nudge. “You need time off.”

I give her a weak smile and nod. “We all do. But unless things have drastically changed in the last few minutes, we still have a psychotic vampire with his minions out there trying to take down everyone I’ve ever loved, and enslave any and every human they can get their hands on.” I run my hands over my face, feeling the weight of everything, feeling the stress of havingto save yet another Wystan brother from himself. “When I get the chance to breathe, when I get the chance to sit, we should definitely have a girls’ night. And if I can get Krystana to come home, and Tabitha decides to forgive herself for the bullshit that bloodsucking monster put her through, I’ll even bring them along. We can all sit around and drink and talk about whether or not you and Gavin are ever going to take the plunge and have a kid of your own.”

Pru’s glare sparks a bit of laughter.

“Okay, okay. I get it. That was a low blow.” I shake my head still smiling a little. “I see how you look at the Wystan babies. And the Carmine babies. You and Gavin have plenty of time.”

Pru gives me a chuckle that is completely devoid of humor. “Maybe we’ll talk about it when we get a chance to breathe, a chance to sit. Or are you the only one who’s allowed to martyr herself to save the world?”

“I’m not…” I shake my head and move to sit in one of the waiting room chairs.

Pru follows and sits right next to me.

“Okay, maybe I am. But what else am I supposed to do? With only three clan witches trying to take on a whole lot of ancient magic and a vampire who has been planning for the better part of a century or millennium for all I know, we’re unmatched. And unless I can break Tabitha out of this mood she’s in, I don’t have anyone waiting in the wings to take over if I take a nap. Penelope’s got more than enough on her plate, without taking my clan’s problems on too. I have a human who’s pregnant with a dragon’s baby, without wearing his claim, without a dragon of her own. And I’ll be as positive as I can be with her, with Declan, but Gods, Pru, I don’t know what’s happening there. I don’t know if she’s going to be okay, and now that she’s not here, nowhere to be found, and we can’t monitor her, I really don’t know how to help her or Declan. I don’t know how to helpDeclan’s dragon, and I don’t know how we’re ever going to take down Grey when he’s always two steps ahead of us. I need to get Tabitha to talk to me, to show me what spells she’s cast, what spells Grey might still have up his sleeve, and it feels next to impossible to even get her to look at me.”

Pru squeezes my hand. “There it is. It’s about damn time you let it out.” She let out a breath of relief. “We’re going to figure this out. And we’re going to figure out how to handle the counsel, and the fact that there’s a new clan who doesn’t have a witch. But not if you keep burning yourself out every couple of days. Go home, get some sleep, and try again tomorrow.”

“How can I? I feel it, Pru. There’s a change in magic. It’s affecting all of us. It’s changing all of us. Even if we do manage to find out how to stop Grey, to get the counsel to recognize the value of human mates, and bring the Obsidians back into the fold, magic isn’t going to go back to working the way it always has. Something has been irrevocably changed.” I shake my head. “I don’t know how long I’m even going to be able to help combat it all. I can’t stop fighting, until I can’t fight anymore.”

Pru’s lips curve into half a smile and she squeezes my hand again. “There you are. I was starting to wonder if I was going to have to find us another badass witch to keep all these dragons sane.”

I roll my eyes at her, even though her words make me want to smile. “Okay, I’m going to talk to Tabitha. I need her help, and one way or another I’m going to get Declan through this mess, get him healed up, and then I’m going to find his mate, get her through this pregnancy, and someday soon, I’m making the Wystans put me up in an all-inclusive suite on a beach far from where any fucking vampires can find me.”

“Make them spend a chunk of their vast wealth to put you into one of those expensive overwater bungalows for at least a month.”

“Two. Maybe three. With massages and spa treatments every day.”

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