Page 35 of Taken By the Dragon Prince (Dragon Lords 4)

Khalstorm could feel the brutal power of each bone-breaking hit, blurring his vision and knocking his brain around in his skull. One particularly hard punch sent a bloody spray of spittle over the surrounding foliage.

He lost his footing just as Lockheed slammed his heel directly into his sternum. Flying backwards, breath exploded from his lungs as he crashed to the forest floor. For a frightening moment, his vision went black. Blinding pain radiated through his bones, paralyzing his body. The collar cinched tighter around his neck, making him wheeze.

He knew it was over then.

Lockheed leapt atop him, hammering him with meaty fists, one skull-crunching blow after the next. All Khalstorm could do was take the beating, energy depleted.

Still, he felt a smile split his swollen, bloody lips.

Fist cocked back, Lockheed paused to give him a quizzical look. Beaten and bloodied, his grin must appear gruesomely cryptic. He didn’t care.Celeste was surely long gone by now. Safe . . . from Lockheed at least.

As his vision dimmed again, he thought of her one last time, picturing her beautiful face, that coy smile he loved so much. Her vibrant, expressive eyes, her rosy cheeks, her full kissable lips—

But the vision was all wrong.

For some reason, her eyes were ferocious, her cheeks smeared with dirt. Her jaw was clenched, teeth bared.

He blinked in disbelief. That wasn’t a mental image before his eyes. The figure creeping up behind Lockheed wasn’t conjured from his wistful imagination. She was really there!

She’d returned? Why? What the hell was she thinking?

She raised a thick branch in her grip.

Just then, Lockheed seemed to sense movement behind him and began to turn his head. Khalstorm’s heart plummeted.I failed to save her after all.

He reached out and grabbed Lockheed by the throat, reclaiming his attention.

At the same time Celeste swung the branch with a carnal roar, striking Lockheed directly in the temple with all her might. His head ricocheted from the impact, rolling awkwardly on his neck. Then, with a stilted grunt, his big body flopped to the ground beside Khalstorm.

Celeste dropped her weapon and covered her mouth in abject horror, staring wide-eyed at Lockheed’s unconscious body. “Oh Goddess, did I kill him?” she choked out, her voice barely above a whisper.

Squinting through his swollen eyes, Khalstorm could tell the man was still breathing. He could regain consciousness at any moment, and when that happened, Lockheed wouldn’t hesitate to snap Celeste’s neck before finishing him off.

Can’t let him hurt her.

Celeste was white as a sheet and on the verge of tears.

Bombarded by emotions that he could not fully process—intense relief over her safety, horror that she had put herself in danger, concern for her state of mind—anger rose to the fore. “Why did you no’ run!?”

She blinked up at him blankly, stark eyes glistening.

Taking her by the shoulders, he shook her. “Why!?”

“I-I couldn’t leave you.”

He stared at her for a moment, seething with emotion, ready to burst from it.She came back. She saved me . . . again.After everything he’d put her though, she refused to give up on him.He thought he’d never see her again.

She could have been killed!

Boiling over, he dipped his head and slanted his lips over hers, pulling her flush against his battered body. Her lips were soft and warm, but the kiss was hard and punishing, a desperate attempt to heal some wound that had opened up inside him.

For an instant, she tensed, stunned by the bruising kiss, but then she sighed and kissed him back just as hard. Her fingers furrowed his hair, pulling him closer and holding him in place. Groaning, he deepened the kiss, slipping his tongue past her lips, drowning in her exquisite taste, her soft, giving body.

When her hands slid down his torso and grazed his wound, he winced. She pulled back. “You’re hurt.”

“It’s nothing.” He assured, basking in her concern and wanting his lips back on her . . . but it wasn’t safe. Not now anyway. Lockheed could awaken any moment, and he was anxious to get her away from here. Searching Lockheed’s pockets, he retrieved a full pouch of coins—this will come in handy—then swiped his sword. He returned to Celeste, threading their fingers together. “Come. We canna stay here.” Then he guided her back through town, all the while wondering how in the world he would earn her forgiveness.

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