Page 88 of Slay Me

“Agree to my terms, and I will.”

His men are clearly waiting for a signal from their boss before they move my way. Fucking fools, I’ll kill them all before they even come close. My only fucking regret is I didn’t at least try to level this damn place when I’d been here before. “I gave you a chance to live, and you repay me by attempting to barter with my mate.”

“Mate?” Ernesto arches an eyebrow. “That makes her far more valuable than I considered.” He leans in and runs a tongue along the side of her face. “Still so fucking delicious.”

“So you understand the weight of that word,” I say slowly. “Let her go, and I’ll kill you quickly.”

He throws his head back and laughs. “My bullets will pierce your scales with no fucking problem. We’ll drop you before you fully shift. Unless, of course, you agree to my terms.”

“Which are?” I need time. Time for Duncan, Killian, Bracken, and Fiona to tear through their fucking ranks.

“You are the only dragon shifter in these parts.” Ernesto shoves Liv to her knees near the ledge. Magic shimmers around her as the wind likely conjured thanks to her emotions pulls at her hair, sending it flying in all directions. “Give me your scales, and we can all go our separate ways.”

“No!” Liv pulls against him, but he grips the back of her neck harder. “He’s lying! He’s only half-fae!”

“Shut up, bitch. Men are talking.’

I snarl. “I warned you. Didn’t I? To stop coming for what is mine.”

“And as I told you, your warning means shit to me. We both know if you could have killed me, you’d have done it already. I have too much manpower. Too many people at my back.” He runs his tongue over Liv’s cheek once again then inhales deeply. She shivers. “I could bend her over and fuck her right here, and there’s nothing you can do about it.”

“I’m going to enjoy killing you.”

Ernesto arches a brow. Then the arrogant fucker actually laughs. “I have Liv. One wrong move from you and I’ll throw her off this building. Can’t imagine she’ll be able to conjure a breeze strong enough to save herself.”

“I’m going to rip your head off and drink your blood,” I tell him as I take a step closer.

“No, you can’t come any closer! He’ll turn you to stone!” Liv screams. A gust of wind slams into my chest, shoving me back a step, and I know she’s trying to hold me back.

Save me by sacrificing herself. What she doesn’t know, though, is that losing her will kill me.

Ernesto locks gazes with me, eyes swirling a steel color as they brighten.

I feel his magic coating my flesh, feel it rolling over me, searching for a way to penetrate my flesh, but nothing happens, and I grin at him. “Did you forget after our last encounter that dragon scales make me impervious to magic?”

The door behind Ernesto’s men opens, and three blood-covered lions standing beside a pissed-off berserker burst onto the rooftop. They waste no time. Killian, Duncan, and Bracken lunge forward with a roar while Fiona races into battle, eyes so fucking bright they might as well be lights.

I charge Ernesto, but he does as promised and throws Liv from the building.

She screams.

My heart stops. I race forward and leap off of the building, plummeting to the street below right behind her.

Chapter29

Liv

Iscream as I fall, trying like hell to pull at my magic enough just to slow me down. Anything to save my life because, for the first time, I have something to live for.

And he just dove off of the roof after me. Dante’s arms at his sides, he shoots toward me. Why the hell isn’t he shifting? “Shift!” I scream, but he ignores me.

My heart races while images of us together rush through my mind. We had such little time together. Hell, my life has been nothing but pain, so why did I expect it to end any other way?

Dante’s strong arms come around me, and he rolls, putting himself between me and the ground.

“I love you,” I whisper, though I doubt he hears it because, in the next instant, he pushes away from me and shifts. Scales shimmer down his arms and along his body as the dragon bursts free. Then he grabs me with his massive claws, pulling me against his chest and wrapping both wings around me as we slam into the ground.

My body jerks, but Dante absorbs most of the blow.

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