Page 8 of Sass Me

Protect Her or Die

“Dragon’s fire, I thoughtthose she-wolves were going to eat my face off.” Daxton laughed and opened up the back of the SUV they’d rented for the week. He pulled out the pile of clothes they’d left back there.

Steele grabbed his shirt and jeans. The less time he had to spend in these ridiculous pants the better. “What the hell did you say to them to piss them off like that?”

“Only that I was damn grateful to Jake for sending us over. That’s when they flipped their shit.”

Steele riffled through one of the pockets to find his shard. He’d felt uncomfortable leaving the most important thing he owned in the car. But, it would have been even worse to allow it to be manhandled by all those women. “Then I don’t know whether to blame you or Jake for losing my shot with Fleur tonight.”

“That curvy chick you were practically fucking in the kitchen? She’s was a hot piece of ass. I wouldn’t mind getting some of that action.”

Steele grabbed Dax by the throat and threw him up against the side of the car. Both of their dragon’s rose to the surface, ready for a fight. Steele snarled. “Don’t even think about her in that way. She is mine.”

Dax glared at him, studying his face. Then he raised his hands, surrendering. “Holy shit. Fine, you’ve got dibs.”

Steele released Dax, surprised at his own vehemence. It wasn’t like he couldn’t get any number of women he wanted. She was just a girl.

His gut clenched at the thought. Fuck that. She was a hell of a lot more. He didn’t know why, but she was.

He snatched at his shirt and pulled it over his head. The material felt rough against his skin. Nothing like Fleur’s soft lips. The stupid fireman pants went into a pile, and he pulled on his jeans.

Dax did the same, and slipped the cord with his red soul shard over his head. It glinted briefly, its internal fire shining for a brief moment when it settled against Dax’s skin.

Steele reached into his pocket and pulled his own soul shard out. It blazed like a lighthouse beacon into the night, filling the darkness with its green light.

He and Dax stared at the green crystal-like talisman. “What the fuck, dude?”

What the fuck, indeed. Had something happened to his shard while they’d been dicking around? He’d never seen any dragon’s shard do anything but hang around their necks and occasionally glow with a bit of colored light.

Steele put the pendant on and tucked it under his shirt. The second it hit his skin a pleasure-pain shot through him, so great it brought him to his knees with its power.

He cried out and grabbed at the bumper of the SUV to steady himself. He crushed the metal in his fist, his dragon’s claws extending from the ends of his fingers. His dragon shimmered across his skin, stretching, pushing its way out.

The dragon part of him wrenched control and roared into the night, taking him fully into the shift. He clawed at the ground, reveling in the power pouring through him.

Then as suddenly as it had taken him over, the power faded and the dragon receded, leaving Steele in his human form, gasping for air.

“Well, we’re not getting the deposit back on the rental, that’s for sure.” Dax stared at Steele, crouched in a fighting-ready stance. He glanced to the right then back.

The SUV lay upside-down, it’s windows shattered, and the bumper ripped clean off.

“You want to tell me what the hell just happened?”

“I...don’t know.” The shard at his chest faded to a soft glow, like the light from a firefly, and warmed his skin beneath it.

“Can you stand? Can you fight?”

Steele got to his feet. “Yeah. I can. Why?”

“Because we’ve got company.” Dax jerked his chin to the shadows building around them and shifted into his dragon.

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