Page 113 of Memories Like Fangs
Too fast.
“Byrd says we have more dragons incoming!” Quinn said, having read my mind. She jumped down from my back, lacking her usual effortless grace but somehow managing. Cody wasn’t so lucky as he practically face-planted onto the pavement.
“Fabulous! We were doing such a stellar job with these four!” Maisie retorted, using her magic to teleport Quinn and Cody into the barrier she had made. “We need a plan! We can’t hold this up for much longer!”
Must protect my mate! Must protect my family! Must protect!My dragon snarled, my wings vibrating menacingly. I stood in front of the barrier Maisie had made around the SUV. I bared my rows of fangs in the direction of the dragons. My tail thrashed behind me, the tip leaving craters in the road where it slammed into it. The remaining glass on the SUV windows that wasn’t broken suddenly shattered, along with glass from the houses and street lamps nearby. Instead of falling to the ground, they floated toward me. The glass had cracked to become theperfect blades: long, rugged, sharp, and angry. Even the shards on the ground had fused to become longer weapons. Like always, I felt a thread connecting me to each and every one, allowing me to control them. The glass blades all flew to hover before me protectively, a reverse Iron Maiden that I wished any fucker would try to go through.
“That will never not be cool to see,” I heard Simone marvel behind me. Quinn and Maisie murmured in agreement.
Then, something gold fell from the sky.
It crashed to the ground with a gut-wrenching crack, creating a crater the size of a small car. The settling dust revealed it was?—
“Everett!” Teddy cried out, having already shifted to rush over to him. My Uncle Everett had shifted back to his human form, and he was a fuckingmessof blood and bones. His wings were bent, torn, and limp behind him. They were going at the wrong angles, just like his right leg and left arm. One of his ribs jutted horrifyingly from his chest. Thankfully, he was healing, but his feral noises told me that it was far from an easy, painless experience. Teddy took his head into his lap and bit his wrist.
Seeing my uncle so broken and in such agony set something aflame in me. It reminded me too much of my mother when her own wings were limp and filled with holes behind her in her final moments. It reminded me too much of my Aunt Max when her eyes were vacant as she bled out with the flames licking at her wounds. It reminded me too much of my father, who had died fighting for me. All of them had died fighting for me.
The golden dragon from before and the blue one I had fought off landed then. The golden dragon watched Teddy feeding Everett his blood and appeared to fuckingsmirkat the damage he caused.
He moved toward them.
I lost my fucking shit.
I pulled at the threads connecting the glass to me and shot them his way. More than a few hit their marks, ripping his wings and creating gashes in his scales, before he tried to use his wind magic to deter them.
I was already on him by then.
And, I was aiming my fangs at his throat.
It wouldn’t kill him—it takes a lot more than that to kill a dragon—but it would be sweet, sweet retribution.
My muzzle closed around his throat, my rows of fangs piercing through his scales. I could feel his roar of anguish. He fought back, clawing at me and trying to push me off. I took hold of his wings and channeled everything I could into breaking them in my grip.
His roaring cry rattled my entire being.
In retaliation, he stabbed his claw into my wings and shredded them.
The pain was so hot and radiating through me that I was pretty sure I blacked out. My jaw loosened, so he was able to take hold and toss me away from him.
I hit the ground and rolled back toward the shield. Despite the agony sending shivers through me and making me have to blink back tears, I couldn’t help but relish the taste of that bastard’s blood in my mouth. Especially as I heard him still hiss and whimper in pain.
Smirk at that, you cocksocket.
ENOUGH!
Suddenly, the very sky felt like it was shaking. A roar unlike anything I had ever heard cracked the heavens. The booming voice was a physical thing, a tidal wave in the air. All of the other dragons landed on the ground and bowed their heads in such a way as to expose their necks.
Before I could question the move, she landed.
She had to be the largest dragon I had ever seen, bigger than my mother by a landslide. She towered over all of us, easily the height of a skyscraper and taking up the entire street and sidewalk of the houses. Her massive body was covered in white scales edged in gray and black that made them look like moving storm clouds as they glinted like ceremonial armor gifted by the gods. Her slate-black wings unfurled behind her like banners of smoke and feathers. A crest of matching feathers fanned around her head like a lion’s mane, racing down her back to end at the tip of her tail. Her brilliant white horns spiraled like a crown. No, not a crown, acoronet. Her eyes were obsidian pools with her pupils being white. Other dragons landed behind her, creating a wall of dragons before us, but her presence was too captivating for me to really notice them. Her power came off her in chilling, beating waves. Gravity itself seemed to shift around her.
My dragon whimpered, cowering within me. I gritted my fangs to fight the urge to shrink and bow before this dragon.
What’s wrong? Why are you acting like this?
Submit. Must submit.My dragon whined.Must submit to the Sire dragon.
Sire dragon? What the fuck is that?
