Page 85 of Fated to the Grumpy Dragon
I turned to see the third dragon coming toward me, its spine only barely visible through the waves.
Angrily, I turned to meet it, ducking under the water and streaking away from Rikell’s ship. It was time to send these assholes packing.
But as the uninjured dragon and I slammed into one another, I got a glimpse of its face through the water, finally able to ID who it was.
It wasn’t Killian or his friends.
Staring back at me with wicked malevolence in his eyes was Dillon.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
Rhyse
Taking momentary advantage of my stunned reaction, Dillon sank his teeth into my front shoulder.
Pain stabbed deep as his powerful jaws ripped away flesh and scales, turning the water a murky red around us.
With the agony came clarity.
I’d been wrong all along. It wasn’t Killian behind the sinking of the human ships. He was still an asshole, but he wasn’t the evil mastermind I’d him pegged to be.
All along, it was Dillon. Cool, distant but respectful Dillon.
Of course it was.
In hindsight, there was no way someone like Killian could have kept his mouth shut about this operation. That took someone disciplined, someone organized.
Someone like Dillon.
Which meant I had two enemies who’d threatened Emma that I needed to settle with.
Only one of whom was here right now.
Shoving aside the pain in my shoulder, I swirled around, twisting up and over Dillon before diving and raking my front and rear claws on the left side over his flank. He twisted, trying to come after me, which was exactly what I’d hoped he would do.
Because as his jaws came at me, wide open, ready to rip another huge bite from me, my tail came across, slapping against his jaw with tremendous force.
Dillon reeled from the blow, and I ripped at his back where the wings met the shoulder, tearing deep into the tendons and muscles of his right side, rendering it immobile.
Before he could recover, I was gone, darting away into the depths once more. Circling, I came at him from another angle. He reacted fast, and I was only able to dig one claw into his leg, ripping a few scales free, before I was out of range once more.
This time, he gave chase, but in the water, there was no catching me. I dove and weaved around him with ease, avoiding his attacks without issue. I landed few of my own, but I was wearing him down.
Which was why Dillon decided not to fight alone. A dragon crashed into my side without warning, driving the air from my lungs as I reeled, momentarily motionless, all my speed bleeding off quickly in the water.
Dillon came at me, but I flexed a wing, managing to present him with a face-full of claws at the last second.
But the move exposed my belly. I roared underwater, oxygen blasting from my lungs as thethirddragon ripped into me.
Flexing my wings and whipping my tail, I shot away from all the dragons in a random direction, desperate to put distancebetween us. I needed time to recover, to formulate a plan so I could save Emma.
The others gave me no such time or space. All three of them came on together, pursuing me as I tried desperately to make a beeline for Emma’s ship. If I could just get her off it, I could take us out of here. It wouldn’t be easy, but I had faith I could do it.
Dillon, unfortunately, was smart enough to recognize that. He had Isaac and Sven hold back, maintaining position between Emma and me. Forcing me to go through them to get to her. Knowing full well I would have to either fight them or abandon her.
And I was not abandoning her.
Fine, you want a fight? Let’s fight.
