Page 94 of Marked Dragon

I’d never seen anyone fly as fast as Thorn, and as the guards fired at him, each shot missed by mere inches.

Thorn spread out his talons and snatched the tranq rifles from the hands of two guards then barreled into the last four, who had their tranq guns trained on him.

Gunfire exploded as I surged to the head of our group, adrenaline making me faster than ever before.

I had to get to him. If he got tranqed, I’d need to carry him away quickly.

A loud, guttural roar came from deep within as I reached the treetops. Vlad and Cassidy were a few feet behind me, almost as desperate to reach their son as I was.

“Falkor! Ladon!” Drake barked. “Get himnow!”

That settled my target. Eliminating Drake would also end most of our other problems. King Arman would let Thorn live as long as he didn’t make waves.

My blood boiled with rage, and my stomach heated as flames scorched my insides. Drake was a tyrant and weirdly obsessed with getting his way, feeling entitled to whatever he wanted.

Several guards screamed, and Thorn jerked his head up. The sensation of his magic took hold, telling me what he was doing—stripping the warriors of their dragon.

Falkor and Ladon aimed their rifles at Thorn, but Vlad, Cassidy, and I had caught up. Vlad stopped short, shielding Thorn from a shot as he attacked a guard close to him.

Cassidy took Ladon, while I expelled flames on Falkor. Of course, I’d be stuck with him, as if Fate were giving me hell for dropping his drawers. My flames licked his skin as the rest of the group reached Thorn and Vlad to help fight the remaining three warriors, who were readying to aim their tranq rifles at Thorn and Vlad again.

Grimacing, Falkor stood strong as my flames engulfed him. His skin turned pink from the burns, and he didn’t move. My flames were having an impact on him, but unfortunately, it wasn’t as much as I’d hoped, probably because he was a dragon. Something was better than nothing. I still had so much to learn about dragons.

All too soon, I didn’t have any flames left, and my fire thinned as my lungs burned for oxygen.

Falkor narrowed his eyes and swiveled his tranq gun at me.

Too little too late. I chomped on the arm holding the rifle. The metallic taste of blood filled my mouth as he grunted. Vomit inched up my throat. I’d never tasted blood like this before. The idea of having human fluids in my mouth didn’t sit well with me. I’d cut up all sorts of things in my premed classes, and I hadn’t expected to havethismuch of an issue.

With his other hand, he punched me in the nose. Pain exploded in my snout and shot into my head. Tears burned my eyes, and I jerked back as my jaw went slack, but I’d managed to keep a firm enough grip that my teeth ripped his skin. Despite the damage, he still held on to the rifle.

My dragon roared, loud and angry. She was upset that I’d allowed myself to get distracted by something so silly as the taste of blood. Despite all the training back at the barn, I hadn’t been fully prepared for an actual battle in dragon form. But failure wasn’t an option.

“Make sure you don’t permanently hurt Everly,” Drake commanded as he stumbled back, spun on his heels, then raced toward Theron’s thunder.

He was a scaredy-cat or whatever the equivalent was for dragons who lacked courage. Maybe he should puthimselfon his list of weak dragons for deserting his men.

Falkor swung at me again, but I was prepared. I caught his arm with my left talon, digging my claws into his wrist. I wanted to injure both his arms so he couldn’t use any weapons on us. He was one of the strongest fighters. Putting him out of action would hurt their cause, especially if he was injured enough that he couldn’t command the others.

Drake’s getting away,I connected with Thorn. The only thing keeping me going was the magic thrumming through our connection. As long as he was using it, he was alive and well enough to function.

We all saw his cowardly ass scurry away,Thorn replied.

A loud snarl sounded behind me, and out of the corner of my eye, I watched as Tyson lifted himself into the air and chased after Drake.

Thank goodness.Someone needed to go after him, and I was glad it was Tyson. It would serve Drake right if Tyson took him down.

Falkor kicked at my back talons, trying to knock them out from underneath me, then swung the arm with the rifle at me, but it didn’t get far. I wondered if it was broken.

Even though his kicks hurt, my legs didn’t give out. With my right talon, I swiped the rifle away and pushed him backward. He tumbled down and landed on his back, his eyes bulging.

Sol appeared at my side and swiped up the rifle. He straightened and fired it, lodging a tranq right into Falkor’s stomach.

Blood oozed from Falkor’s arms and dripped into the grass as he snarled, “None of you will get away with this.” His eyelids lowered slowly then closed as the dart knocked him out.

Sol pivoted to where Ladon and Cassidy were fighting. I turned toward them in time to see Ladon lodge a dagger into Cassidy’s left side. Cassidy drew her head back and snarled just as Sol fired the gun. The tranq hit Ladon in the neck.

The strange magical feeling from Thorn ebbed, and my breath caught. Something might be wrong…but as I focused on the bond, I didn’t feel any further discomfort coming through.

---