Page 87 of Sworn to Revenge
How the hell did he break free from her hold? I turn my head toward Alin and see Pedro and her lying motionless on the ground.
“Son of a bitch!” she curses, her voice barely a whisper.
“He shot them too?” I whisper to Miguel, and he confirms with a choked breath, fighting to keep his eyes open.
“Don’t you dare close your eyes!” I warn him and use the moment while the man is speaking to Alin—his back turned to me—to slip out from under Miguel’s body.
“As soon as you kill me, you’re a dead man walking!” she spits at him in pure hatred. For the first time in my life, I see Alin looking so helpless.
The man reaches under his jacket and pulls out a black gun in one swift motion, aiming it at Alin.
Pedro croaks weakly, can’t move a single bone too.his threat raw with fury.I follow the man’s gun
The sound of metal sliding into place reaches me, cold and final.
“NOOOOOOO!” A scream bursts out of me, the searing pain in my chest peaking.
My turn now. Finally.
The guardian’s roar detonates in my skull, rattling every corner of my mind. The light radiating from my chest is blinding, so intense that tears stream uncontrollably down my face. My body feels like it’s being torn apart and stitched back together in the same breath.
Let me in.The dragon’s voice is relentless, a tidal wave of power crashing against my will.
“No—” The word barely leaves my lips before the pain crescendos, a searing fire that consumes everything. My knees buckle.
You can’t do this alone.
The weight of his presence presses harder, suffocating. My ribs feel like they’re about to crack under the pressure, my lungs burning with every shallow gasp.
“Stop—please, stop!” My voice is a whisper now, hoarse and broken.
They’ll die if you don’t let me.
The words cut through me, sharp and undeniable. I see Miguel’s battered body lying limp in the sand. Alin and Pedro are crumpled nearby, unmoving. My hands shake violently, my heart pounding against the cage of my chest.
“Fine!” I scream, surrendering to the inevitable. “Take it!”
The moment I relent, the dragon surges forward, his power engulfing me. My skin feels like it’s peeling away, layers of humanity stripped back to reveal something raw and primal beneath. Heat radiates outward, unfamiliar and all-consuming.
“What the—” The man’s voice reaches me as if through a fog, distant and irrelevant.
The sensation shifts. Warmth turns into a strange comfort, like falling into a familiar embrace. The pain dulls to an ache, and for a fleeting moment, I feel safe, cocooned in something greater than myself.
This is where you belong.
The words stir something deep inside me, a truth I can’t deny. I open my eyes, and the world blurs back into focus.
Miguel’s frightened groan pulls me back to the present.
“Can you get out of my body?!” I choke on my words, half in disbelief, half in exasperation.
Hovering above us is the dragon—a towering, coiled mass of white scales shimmering with streaks of violet light. His massive figure stretch wide, blocking out the sun, and his bared teeth glint like jagged ivory blades. The air vibrates with his fury.
The man facing Alin falters, his bravado crumbling as his knees give out. The gun slips from his grasp,landing with a muted thump in the sand.
The dragon roars, the sound a bone-shaking crescendo that seems to reverberate through my very soul. The man collapses, his unconscious body dropping onto the sand with a muffled impact.Pathetic, inferior race. I haven’t even started, and he’s already out.His voice is still in my head, and I roll my eyes dramatically at him with a retort,Arrogant.
This isn’t even the real show. Ready?His question catches me off guard, and I have no idea what to expect next.
