Page 59 of Fated to the Grumpy Dragon
“I’m going to fuck you up,” he hissed, clenching both hands into tight fists, flames dancing in his eyes.
But before he even took a step forward, a blinding pain raced up my spine and into my head at the same time as Emma groaned with pain and keeled over, falling to the sand.
Chapter Twenty-Five
Emma
One moment, I was opening my mouth to convince Rhyse to lay off the insults and avoid a fight between dragons, and the next, I was oceanside.
Everything was burning. People were screaming.
I looked up just in time to see a dragon swoop down, its wings of deep violet blocking out the sun. Not that it mattered. The beam of light that spat from its mouth impacted a group of soldiers, burning them alive.
A tank fired somewhere nearby, the concussive blast knocking me to my knees with a groan but not before I saw it hit the dragon. The impact spun the creature end over end, robbing it of height and forcing it to beat its wings to regain height and speed.
The victory was short-lived, however. As I ran across the street, a scaled head loomed large over a nearby building.The ominous blood-red beast clambered down the side of the building and approached the tank from the rear.
Claws dug deep into hardened battle armor, ripping the heavy combat vehicle to shreds in under a minute. The screams ended when the flames filled the interior.
“Fire!”
I yanked my head up as a squad of soldiers—well dispersed to avoid dragon fire—advanced on the beast. Most only had their personal firearms, but several were armed with grenade launchers. The concurrent blasts of the explosives drove the dragon off the tank and into the air away from the soldiers.
One of them ran at me, hauling me unceremoniously to my feet and pushing me in the opposite direction.
“Run!” he shouted, his face inches from mine to ensure I could still hear him. “Run, ma’am, now! If you want to live, run!”
So, I did. I ran. One foot in front of the next. That was the only thing I focused on. Running. Never stopping.
Then, suddenly, I was elsewhere. An encampment. Rows of tents. People straggling in. Many of them with blank looks on their faces. A mother and her daughter covered in dust. Families torn apart. A line for food.
A warm hand. A blanket. Promise of a better place.
Waking up not in a tent, but a trailer. There’s a man in there with me. He’s friendly. We smile and laugh. He touches my forearm. I’m not alarmed.
Who was he? My husband? A newfound love? I didn’t know his name, but the memories cascading through me made it clear we were more than acquaintances.
“Emma. Emma!”
The sequences continued to play through my mind, dragging me back, over and over, even as a part of me recognized I was still on the beach.
I staggered to my feet, barely seeing Rhyse and the other dragons, Killian and his friends, whatever their names were. My vision was fading in and out, a mix of reality and the past I couldn’t control. Grains of sand crunching underfoot were as loud as the sounds of bullets.
“Look at this fuckup,” Killian laughed. “I can see now why you two are together. She’s broken in the head, and you’re just a crippled freak who—”
A brilliant blast of blue light shot forth from Rhyse, hitting the thick-browed dragonman in the chest, hurling him back. Sparks flew everywhere as he cartwheeled through one of the bonfires and bounced uncontrollably before hitting the ground and lying still a hundred feet away.
“Come on,” Rhyse said, taking my arm and pulling me into the darkness. “Let’s get you home.”
“No,” I said, trying to shake him off, not sure of anything.
My skull was ready to explode from the pounding of my brain as the scenes continued to play. Calling them memories was inaccurate. I had the scenes, but I couldn’t recall the moments themselves. Had that truly happened? Or was I losing my mind, imagining the horrors of dragons?
“Emma, you’re not well. Let me take you home.”
“Rhyse!” a voice bellowed from behind us.
“Shit. Killian won’t just stand around after that. We have to go.” He switched directions, heading for the beach. “I’ll float us out. You can stare at the stars. Rest. Recover. It’ll be okay.”
