Page 84 of Fated to the Grumpy Dragon
A gap where she belongs.
So determined was I to find her and reclaim her that I was caught totally blindsided by the wave of dark fear that slammed into me. My muscles tensed, and my heart rate soared. Coldness closed in around me, gripping tight like a vise I couldn’t shake.
I floundered for a moment, lost in the inability of my own mind to respond to my demands. Through it all, I had one cohesive thought: Emma was in danger.
But she was on Rikell’s ship. She was safe. They weren’t on fire. What, then, could the issue be?
Emma’s fear was replaced by my own. I couldn’t lose her. Not now. Not when I was this close.
I will NOT let anything happen to her.
Steely determination blasted aside my last vestiges of fear, and I surged ahead once more in the direction I’d seen the smoke. I would keep Emma safe. Whatever it took.
Rising to the surface, I extended my neck above the waterline like a periscope to ensure I was headed in the right direction as I closed in.
Homing in on the burning ship, I dove once more, aiming at a spot between her vessel and the one on fire. I wasn’t going to go one second longer than necessary without seeing her.
She was close. So close I could almost taste her. Onward I swam, propelled by the wild desire of my dragon. I needed her in my arms. To tell her how I felt and what I wanted. It was insane. It was way too fast.
But itfelt right.
I was not in the wrong. Not this time. I would get to her, climb up on the deck of Rikell’s ship, and tell her I—
Something was wrong.
The closer I got, the more I could pick up from Emma. And what I sensed was not fear for the people on the burning boat as I’d suspected. It was for herself.
She was terrified she would die.
Fear for the one I loved lent me a speed I’d never known before. Water rippled over me as I moved still faster through the sea.
All at once, I was there, and I could see what had her so scared.
Rikell’s ship wasn’t alone. Two shapes circled it in the water, slowly closing in.
Dragons.
The blue-green ocean was lost in a haze of red as my dragon showed a side of itself I tried very hard never to let out. Unmitigated fury turned the water into a roiling bubble around me as I darted in at the unprotected flank. In the water, it wasimpossible to tell if it was Killian or one of his goons, but it didn’t matter, I could connect the dots.
Who else would be out here attacking a human ship and now preparing to silence the dragons who’d witnessed it and come to help?
My jaws opened, tearing a huge chunk of flesh and tendon from the nearest dragon’s haunches. I just narrowly missed my target, which would have left its tail flopping uselessly, leaving the dragon dead in the water. Instead, it would now experience searing agony every time it tried to move. Almost as good.
Sliding up and over the dragon’s spine, I dove down toward its partner. It noticed me coming, however, and because I didn’t possess the ruby-red scales of its partner, it knew I was no friend.
The dragon turned and tried to get away, but I had the speed advantage. I closed in on it, then with a precisely timed flick of my tail and pulse of my right wing, I dropped underneath and around the fleeing dragon, raking my claws against its unsuspecting belly as it tried to see where I’d gone.
Leaking blood and scales, the other dragons retreated toward the burning boat. There, I could see a third dragon circling the ship.
Killian and his two friends. Just as I’d known.
I surfaced. “Emma!” I shouted. “Are you okay?”
A short blonde appeared over the side, her oval face pinched tight with fear. “Rhyse?”
“I’m here,” I said. “It’ll be okay.”
“Watch out. There are other dragons!” she called, pointing.
