Page 137 of Ash

“Her name is Dani,” Tyrez said, and he took a step toward her.

* * *

Back on the beach with the crashing ocean, Dani was in triage hell.

Tyrez had gone for help while the Watcher, Bess, had come here through the portal to try to save the injured and infected. One of the Dragons still capable of flight had carried her down to the beach.

But it wasn’t enough. The Legion Dragons were dying.

Some bled out, grievously wounded by the predator’s teeth. Having already used everything other than her underwear, Dani switched to whatever she could scrounge as tourniquets—and found the tough, fibrous bands of seaweed washed up on the beach worked well.

A couple of Dragons, their wings gone, pleaded with her to let them die. One other tried to end it himself by wading back into the ocean. Taran stopped him, but the big Dragon could barely stay upright himself.

The external injuries weren’t even the worst of it. Bodies writhed on the beach. Dani could try to stem the flow of blood from the wounds, but she could do nothing about the creatures eating them from within. She staggered between the bodies on gravel slick with blood, and did her best for them.

Then the portal fluoresced, and Tyrez brought the cavalry.

Dani was pressing a seaweed compress over a huge bite wound when the portal flashed, and she looked up.

They soared into the sunlight, and dove down upon them. Feathers and scales that glittered in golds, silvers, blues, and lilacs. Eagle heads tilted to eye the beach as they flew ever closer.

For a panicked moment, she thought they were once again under attack. But then one banked overhead, backwinged, and landed.

The head was that of an eagle, but the eyes did not have that cold, hard gaze. Rather they were large, warm, and expressive. The neck feathers blended to fur at the chest, extending down to forepaws with long, articulated fingers ending in talons.

Dani had never seen one before, but she had no doubt as to what it was—a Gryphon. As it bent over the Dragon she’d been working on, she noticed its hindquarters and whippy tail gleamed with scales, rather than fur.

It rested its forepaws—they resembled hands—upon the Dragon. Then, it began to sing.

Dani’s hair lifted as though teased by an invisible wind. The energy danced through the song and enveloped the Dragon’s limp form.

The blood stopped flowing from the wound, and Dani straightened. There were Gryphons everywhere, working on the Dragons. The air rippled with their music. Only a little larger than the phase-one Dragons, they were graceful creatures, and quite beautiful.

“There is nothing more you can do, Dani. You have done enough.” The deep voice was so hoarse, it was scarcely recognizable. But it was still familiar, and welcome.

She spun toward it. He stood straight and strong, but what she read in his face froze her heart. His metallic gaze was dark with pain—from seeing so many of his peers dying from something he could do nothing about.

Without conscious thought, she reached for him. His features spasmed as she took his hands. The energy that surged along that link stole her breath—so much pain. It punched through her internal walls and touched what resided there.

Dani stepped into Tyrez and hugged him. His strong arms dropped around her.

The moment he touched her, it was like being swept up in a tsunami—every nerve coming alive as though he was a bolt of lightning, and she the grounding rod. The muscles in his arms were like steel and yet they held her with such gentleness, she did not feel trapped, but rather supported. The warmth of his skin against her own—her breath hitched. Her heart flipped over and began to pound hard. Could he feel it?

“I’m okay, Dani,” he whispered. “But are you?”

Dani trembled with the power of what passed between them. She’d faced every one of the many challenges in her life on her own and come out the other side. Done her best to deal with every anxiety attack since the death of her pack. She’d come unglued, yes, but on her own terms.

Dani hadneverleaned on another to help her through. Yet she hadn’t hesitated for even a moment. He’d needed this. And just maybe, she had too.

A part of her wanted to stand there in his arms forever. To let them shield her, while she gave comfort. But this would never do. She was supposed to be distancing, not getting closer. Dani took a deep breath and pulled away.

He let her go.

“I am fine,” she replied. “How is Ash?”

Tyrez stepped aside.

Ash stood behind them, gazing around at the Gryphons. He appeared a little less wobbly, but Dani saw the chaos in the golden Dragonshifter’s eyes. The collar around his throat gleamed in the sunlight, and the chains still hung from the manacles on his wrists.

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