Page 83 of Fated to the Grumpy Dragon
“Oh, god,” I whispered, clutching the railing tighter.
On the horizon, I could see the ship. It’s stern was ablaze, the flames slowly working their way forward.
As horrible as that sight was, the sight of two massive, unmistakable forms in the water was worse.
Dragons.
And they were headed right for us.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Rhyse
Water raged around me as I hit the surf, the spray of salt already sticking to my skin like a familiar friend.
Behind me, Dillon, Sven, and Isaac watched. Dillon shouted something, but I ignored it as I plunged through an oncoming wave, emerging out the other side half dragon. Massive claws dug deep into the wet sandy shore beneath the crashing breakers, and I leaped forward with prodigious bounds until I plunged under the water and could really begin to put on speed.
My lungs held huge capacity for oxygen, and years of experience allowed me to push that to the absolute limits. The world narrowed to nothing but the sea in front of me. There was no danger down in these depths, nothing I needed to worry about getting in my way.
I was the alpha in the water, and anything that tried to stop me would find that out very quickly.
Unfortunately, I had only the vaguest idea of the route Rikell would take. The ocean was a vast, vast place. Which meant doing something I really did not want to do.
Reaching the breaking point of my lungs, I dove deeper into the water and then shot upward, using pulses of my wings against my sides to augment my speed. Breaching the surface, I shifted back into my human form as I shot into the air like a bullet, all the momentum of my dragon transferred into a much smaller form.
Up, I went, craning my neck around, looking for the telltale signs of a ship on the horizon.
Up. Up. Up …
“Come on,” I cursed. “Where are you?”
My momentum stalled.
I didn’t see anything.
Gravity began to take over, and I plummeted toward the softly rippling surface of the ocean. After all, what goes up must inevitably come down.
This repeated over and over again.
Over an hour passed before I finally sawanything. But when I did, my stomach tightened.
Smoke on the ocean was never a good sign. I reached the apex of my arc, and my eyes shifted slightly to the west where a glint of light off something metallic caught my eye.
A second ship. A familiar dusty blue merchant vessel.
Orienting myself toward it, I plunged back down toward the sea with a breath of relief. It wasn’t Rikell’s ship that was on fire. In fact, they were headed to rescue whoever was in trouble.
I’m coming for you, Emma.
Channeling every positive emotion I could, I did my best to broadcast them to her. I wanted her to know I was here, that I was coming for her and that, this time, I was doing something different.
This time, I wouldn’t be leaving. Not without her.
Somehow, through it all, the confusion, the near-death injury, and the forced time spent together, I’d found a woman who’d broken through every wall I’d erected. Every single one of them. Without asking or trying.
It had just sort of happened, and I’d been utterly oblivious to how easily she’d worked her way into my world.
I’d only noticed the giant gap in my life once she’d left. A gap where she should’ve been.
