Page 4 of Not a Pawn

What the hell is going on here? Even as the daughter of a common fire dragon, I have always had to be careful of the flames. I’m not a dragon shifter so I’m not impervious to their talents.

Chaos has erupted all around me. Two men stand at the entrance of the room, and I can’t seem to look away. Both are massive, over six feet tall with dark hair. They are dressed in black, their bodies primed for a fight. More gorgeous yet evilmen. How is that fair?

The one on the left stares at me as he makes his way toward me where I remain frozen on the ground. Gunfire assaults both men and before my eyes I watch as he transforms into his dragon. The man closest to me morphs into a stunning blue, white, and silver scaled dragon. He wraps his wings around my form, protecting me from the barrage of flying projectiles.

Staring up at him, I try to wrap my mind around what the fuck is going on, but it just doesn’t make sense. Deep curillin orbs stare into my soul right before I pass out.

Chapter Three

Words That Kill

Sebastian

Adrenaline is raging through my veins, not just due to the fight but also because our fated mate is somewhere in this marble and brick monstrosity. It takes all my willpower to keep my dragon under control. The moment I let him free all hell will break loose.

I love my beast, but he is like a bull in a China shop and this situation, which was previously a decimation, has become mired with the need for finesse. I can’t—I won’t—let anything happen to the mate we have been searching for all these years. Even before we knew a fated mate could be out there waiting for us to find her, we searched. A ridiculous sense of hope pushing us to find something that may not even exist.

Now she is close enough to smell and I won’t risk losing her. The thought of these men looking at her, let alone touching or harming her, is enough to have my blood boiling, literally. But I still have a tenuous grasp on my rage and my animal. For now.

The voice of a female carries down the white-tiled hallways and I hasten my steps, knowing I need to reach her before any more harm can come to her. My mind is reeling, filled with disgusting thoughts. Have they bruised her skin? Seen her naked? Violated her? Each thought only spurs me on, no longer worried about who sees me.

I reach the set of oak double doors at the same time as my twin, both of us vibrating with held-back rage. Neither of us hesitates to shove the doors wide open, eager to put an end to this insanity.

The scene before us chills me to the bone. Our beautiful mate, with her olive-toned skin and loose curls, is on her kneesbefore Marco Pezzo, as if he is some kind of royalty.

No one notices us as they are all transfixed on their boss and the conversation he is having.

“Belonging to me,”he says, calmly.“All of this can be avoided. You can have a luxurious life, and I will shower you with gifts. All you have to do is accept my proposal.”

“And if I don’t?”our brave little mate retorts with steel in her spine and her voice.

“Then, I will take what I want from you before passing you off to my men. You will beg for a death that will never.”

Those are the words that snap the last of my restraint. My dragon pushes forth with a rush of anger and violence. In the blink of an eye a fireball flies past our mate’s head to slam into the face of a man I should have killed years ago. Shouts and gunfire erupt all around us, a cacophony of chaos that is like music to the ears of my beast.

What does draw our attention is the fact that our little mate hasn’t moved from her spot. She stares in fascination as Marco Pezzo burns before her eyes.

“Focus, brother,”Julian demands through our mind link.

Reality crashes down on me. Our mate is in danger, bullets flying around her head. We need to end this before anything can happen to her.

Julian approaches her in his human form while I take out as many as I can with my fiery breath, but something must have alerted him. A split-second later he falls upon her in his dragon form as bullets assault him from all sides, his scaled wings all that keep them both alive.

The roar of outrage that erupts from me is enough to shake the foundations of this house. A building I will level to the fucking ground before this night is through. Fire spreads between the men, furniture, and drapes, running rampant and decimating anything in its path. The gunfire diminishes beforehalting completely.

“We need to get her home,”Julian says, panic evident in every word.“She passed out.”

The need to ensure our mate is unharmed and healthy, rides both us and our dragons. Neither of us makes sure all the men are in fact dead. Neither of us considers the repercussions of our actions.

Our only focus is our mate.

****

What New Happy Hell Is This?

Harlow

My head pounds like someone is trying, with force, to drive a railway spike into the depths of my cerebral cortex. Opening my eyes only hurts more, the light burning my retinas.

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