Page 49 of Lyric

“Lyric,” I whispered. “I'm so sorry.”

As Lyric ran, he was tearing off his clothes. He shifted before his pants were off and I saw them fly up into the air like a weird blue bird.

He went into flight so fast it was as if time had glitched. One minute he was a human running across the green, and the next he was a dragon in flight, his wings straight back, zooming like a rocket straight toward us

At the front of the house, three dragons came racing over the property. That would be the security detail who had somehow missed a massive dragon hiding behind the back wall.

My hair flew back from my face as Coltan gained altitude and speed.

I pounded my fists against his paw. I leaned down and bit into it as hard as I could, tasting salty blood. But nothing deterred the feral beast.

I screamed my frustration into the air.

It only took about ten seconds for Lyrican to catch up to us. He came up alongside Coltan so close I could almost reach out and touch him. His scales flickered ten different shades of purple in the late light. My handsome mate.

He let out a bellow, the most threatening sound I'd ever heard from him. Then he nudged Coltan in midflight as if to throw him off balance.

Coltan roared again and picked up speed. But Lyrican was faster and set about to prove it. He began to fly in front of Coltan to block his path and cause him to make sudden adjustments and turns.

Coltan spit fire and jerked himself hard in flight which caused him to lose altitude and have to expend energy to right himself again.

Quickly, Lyrican circled him again and again, forcing Coltan this way and that, hemming him in.

Now the air was filled with fire and ash. Coltan held me tight against his chest, the fingers of his paws squeezing.

“Stop squeezing,” I yelled. “I can't breathe. Coltan, please! I'm pregnant.”

My words had no effect. The dragon called Coltan was beyond rationality.

I thought about shifting. What would happen if I tried, and his clawed fingers squeezed so tight and unrelenting during the shift? I would surely die.

I closed my eyes and tried to calm my breathing. I had to keep it together. For me and my baby.

I felt myself jerked all around. And then I heard the clashing of armor, the tangle of wings. My stomach turned over as again we rapidly lost altitude.

The two dragons fought. If Coltan let go, I'd be in freefall. I had no idea how high I was but depending on the distance to the ground I might be able to shift and save myself if that happened.

Up and down we went. Fire all around. Roaring, growling, teeth scraping armor.

Somehow, I hung on to my sanity and my awareness. Lyrican was fighting for my life. I would do everything I could to help him.

The dragon paw tightened even more. I focused on counting my breaths and keeping them shallow. In. Out.

In the depths of my mind, Jinnan was ready to take flight if I fell. His senses were open to Lyrican in the powerful dragon bond the two of them shared. They were communicating rapidly through thought and feeling, stuff I couldn't follow fast enough. But I knew they were working together.

I sensed it before I saw it. Lyrican went straight up into the air, then rocketed down and rammed his snout into Coltan's neck. The jolt was so hard I saw stars.

Coltan let out a cry. I saw something break away, glistening and fluttering. Had Lyrican actually broken some of his armor?

Dragon armor was one of the hardest substances on Earth. But it was scaled. Dragons had died before if something managed to get beneath the edge of the scale and penetrate the skin.

For the first time, the hold on me loosened. I wiggled myself, pressing up as hard as I could. My body moved up. I did it again and my legs came loose.

This was it. This was my moment.

Without looking, I climbed over the topmost finger curled around me and plunged into freefall.

Jinnan was ready, shifting immediately, wings unfurling. He already knew which direction to head and soared away from the two dragons fighting.

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