Page 64 of Bite Me

They backed up another step, looking at each other. If they had even a smidgen of intelligence, they’d be thinking he’d gone batshit crazy.

What he was, was crazy in love. The words to his haka were about becoming a man. Ky would survive this day, and the next. He would be the man Jada needed.

He began to chant, shouting the words, instilling the passion of every Maori warrior he’d known since birth, his own father, and even Nana Kiki. She’d kick these demon dragons to the dogs and back.

What is right is right. Indeed.

“Tika tonu!

U - e!

Tika tonu!

U... e!”

He waved his arms, raising and dropping his knees, advancing on his enemy and backing them away from Azynsa’s escape route.

“Tika tonu atu ki a koe, e tama

Hiki nei koe aku whakaaro, pakia!”

He saw her approach out of the corner of his eye and turned the energy of his dancing and chanting up a notch.

“He hiki aha to hiki?

He hiki roa to hiki?

I a ha ha!”

Azynsa was almost away, but in another meter, she’d be directly in their view. Ky showed the demon dragons his pukana, glaring wild-eyed looks. They backed away smelling of urine and fear.

“E tama, te uaua ana

E tama, te maro

Roa ina hoki ra

Te tohe o te uaua na”

Ky slapped his chest and elbows and prepared to shove the band in front of them into each other and then turn and run.

“E tau nei.

Ana! Ana! Ana! Aue... Hi!”

He growled at the scaredy cats who cowered, and he bolted after Azynsa.

She climbed over rocks and took twisting turns through tunnels. “What the hell was that thing you did? A spell?”

“No, it’s a traditional chant about being true to oneself.” God, he hoped she knew where she was going. “A dance that will be performed at my wedding.”

“Your mate must be one fierce queen.”

She was.

Another turn and he could see light. It couldn’t be daylight, they were too far underground.

He grabbed at Azynsa’s arm, but it was too late. She practically flew into the open chamber narrowly avoiding running into the Black Dragon by diving behind a pile of rocks.

---