Page 17 of Centaur Bolt

My human mind raced. I’d known this region well at one time. Better than this lot, for sure.

A flash of scales—they’d come after me. Big mistake. Seconds later, my body streamed with fresh blood as I wrenched the Deranger away from more tempting targets, and refocused him on my true goal.

Marcus.

I rose again, seeking and finding the smaller, fleet form. I needed the Deranger in order to outpace those chasing us, but how was I going to keep it from shredding Marcus?

From the glimpses I got through the clouds, his wingbeats were faltering—was he tired? Or was the human reawakening within him?

His energy was so frenzied, I couldn’t decipher it. If his beast was still in control, he wouldn’t listen to anything my human might have to say. Which meant that this was going to be a forced decision.

Force, for me, had always involved the Deranger. I’d never been so conflicted with my brutal inner monster.

Gritting my teeth, I improved Marcus’s odds of surviving me by driving him closer to my goal. I gave him a glimpse of my Dragon through the clouds—he veered farther into the mountains, wings beating hard. Good. I gave him another, and he changed course again.

We were closer now.

The remaining Dragons followed him. My attacks had put space between them and him—he was now out of range, but I spotted a few darts hanging off his hide. How long until they took effect? Wyverns were resistant to drugs, but not immune.

I vanished again into the clouds and battled to push the Deranger down—I didn’t dare try this if I couldn’t control it. If it broke loose, there were no do-overs.

We were deep into the mountains, now. Marcus had risen to just below the cloud layer in order to clear the peaks. I could no longer sense his life essences—the natural crystals in the mountains obliterated all of it, including the bloodmagic in our collars. Like me, the Dragons were now reduced to tracking visually.

I folded my wings, and dove. Needed to plan this perfectly. Wasn’t sure I could. The Deranger battled me all the way down, wanting to shred when it hit. I gritted my teeth and yanked back on it, hard.

I plunged through the bottom layer of clouds, and there he was.

He didn’t see me until the last moment. Tried to dodge, but I smacked into him and shoved him out of the sky, toward the forest cloaking the mountainside below. We crashed straight down through needles, leaves, and cracking branches until we hit the ground with a thud.

He was bruised and contused, but still very much alive. And completely lacking gratitude.

As he hissed and writhed, I transferred my grip to his throat, and snarled, “Lie still.”

His teeth snapped at me, and his wingtip claws sparked against my scales. I tightened my hold, put my face directly into his, and let slip on the Deranger. The surge of raw power carried through my foreleg and into the grip on his throat, pushing him into the ground, spasming until he could no longer breathe.

His eyes flashed green fire at me as I hissed, “Stand down, and I can save you.”

If he didn’t yield—the Deranger would shred him. Did he see how close I was to losing control? For just an instant, his gaze glowed a pale color—amethyst? Wasn’t sure. It was there, and then gone.

His beast went limp in my grasp.

I closed my eyes and battled my monster. It took so much effort, I shook with it. Managed, just in time, to regain some control.

Shadows passed overhead, seeking us.

I crouched low over Marcus, and the second they had passed, rearranged my grip on him. Then I launched straight up, carrying him with me.

He writhed once, and I snapped my jaws at him. He might be smaller than me, but he was heavy, and I was calling on the power of the Deranger to make this possible. If he fought me, I would have to drop him.

Or kill him.

He stopped moving. Not relaxed, exactly, but I was able to haul him into the shelter of the clouds. Then I leveled off and winged through the mountains, using them as cover.

They couldn’t track us, but I couldn’t sense them, either. The only recourse was to stay hidden. The clouds would not work, because my flying time was limited while carrying such a load. My wings already trembled with the strain.

Fortunately, I had another idea. I swung my head back and forth. And then, I followed my nose. Soon, my ears detected the crash of waves upon rock.

I dropped below the cloud cover three times to reorient. On the third, I spotted two Dragons flying along the coastline.

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