Everything slowed. Even the pounding of my heart dropped to a drawn-out beat. I felt every breath, the raw burn of his transformation sinking into my lungs. My gryphon reared, her strength thick in my veins, and one word formed. “No.”
Lord Sinon’s eyes narrowed. “No?”
Anger balled in my stomach, fired by my hatred of him, by his treatment of Kaden. He owned us, but we deserved fairness. I climbed to my feet. “No, you’ll let him go.”
Sinon laughed, the sound too loud, sharp. His shadow surged around him, growing in strength. Soon, he would be beyond reason, the full beast pushing aside its human sheath…and then he would devour Kaden. I couldn’t allow that. Hell, my gryphon already strained under my skin, aching to sink her razored beak into his transforming flesh.
“Are you challenging me?” His altered voice vibrated through me and only strengthened my anger. He gripped Kaden with one taloned hand and loomed over me. “Are you?”
My heart hammered, the stink of his transforming flesh bitter in my mouth. Would I challenge this First Dragon, one of the seven most powerful mythoi in the world? One who dictated the energy flow for almost a third of the planet? Challenge a beast that owned me? A disbelieving smile pulled at my mouth. “You know, I think I am.”
A dragon had to accept a challenge. It was in their blood.
Sinon blinked.
“Jaime, no.”
Kaden’s voice snapped my attention to him. Pain darkened his eyes. He focused on the man that held him, the shape of a human the only thing remaining. Silvered scales edged in black coated him now, the promise of the beast he would become terrifying. But that couldn’t, wouldn’t, stop me.
“Let her go, Lord.” He sucked in a breath, and I knew he pushed down the anger that had his face tight. “Please.”
A bark of laughter erupted from Sinon’s widening mouth. He threw Kaden from him. My mate hit the wall with a hard thump that winded him. Fury twisted Sinon’s still-human features…and then he was gone.
A shockwave of cold air swept over me and flung me back, slamming me into the wall beside Kaden. Seconds, I had seconds before the dragon surged into existence.
“Run for the windows.”
“What?” Kaden’s order caught me by surprise. A howl vibrated the inches-thick glass in its frames and I sucked in a quick, panicked breath. I was insane. I was. But it was better this way, to go out fighting for Kaden, fighting for my mate.
Kaden grabbed my hand and dragged me around the twist of air and light coalescing in the vast open space. “I’m sorry, I can’t help you. But you can run. You’re fast, you’re smart, you can escape him.”
“I’m not leaving you.”
“Jaime…”
“Fine. Then if I do this. You run. You escape-”
His fierce kiss broke my words and then the deafening roar of a dragon made him push me towards glass that suddenly wasn’t there.
My calves hit the steel ring edging the floor, and I fought for balance, my arms flailing in the open space. Sinon’s long muzzle loomed over me, foetid steam gusting against my skin. He was vast, a thick-muscled dragon with translucent, arching wings and a burning silver body. He opened his maw, razored teeth gleaming.
Sinon had forgotten Kaden. Good.
I shot a final glance to my mate…and then I let myself fall.
Chapter Ten
Freezing air whistled around me, and time slowed…slowed. My hands shifted in a sluggish wave, talons gleaming, sharp, perfect, and heavy heat burned under my flesh.
And then it hit. The terror of falling. I think I screamed, my arms, legs fighting the terrifying freefall as my gryphon surged through my flesh, changing me. My heart pounded, my throat raw. Buildings rushed in around me, looming over me as Sinon had. Fuck. Not enough time. I would hit the concrete before I shifted.
A blistering roar rippled over me, and I saw a glittering dragon erupt from the tower and swoop down towards me.
My life was over. With the strength of my gryphon, I twisted over and faced the horror of the grey-slabbed pavement rushing up to meet me. Seconds. I was dead, so dead-
My wings stretched in a burning rush from my back. A shriek erupted from a hard beak, my wings spread wide and I swooped barely inches above the ground. Talons raked over the flagstones, showering sparks. People screamed, scattering from my path as I soared. Sinon roared high above, a dense black shadow rippling over me and clawing up the buildings, but I clung close to the ground, skimming only a few metres above the heads of the terrified people. His immense wings denied him access to me, would trap him between the buildings…but the road ahead branched, widened.
Shit. He blocked my path, a vast, silver-gilt dragon shining in the morning sun. Liquid black eyes gripped me, glittering with fury mixed with what? Fear froze my thoughts. Yes, the joy of the hunt burned in him too. I was so very dead.
A wild sweep of air from his wings caught me, crashing me back into the glass frontage of a coffee shop. I scrambled free of glass and shrieking baristas and pounded down the side street, my wings beating hard to give me lift.
I found it and soared. I couldn’t fight the beast, but I was giving Kaden time to run. I had to believe that as my heart raced and air rushed cold and short over my sharp tongue. The open space of Tower Hill and the four caps of the Tower itself burst over my senses. I willed myself up, fighting the natural urge to cling to the ground. Hated flying. Hated it.
Sinon loomed over me…and I shrieked at the first flare of stinging hot flame searing the air. Flaming was forbidden. Even I knew that. The dragons had agreed to it on emergence, agreed to it because Sinon had killed so many. My feathers singed and, the fur on my broad back steaming, I rolled away. Fuck. I must have really pissed him off.
The cool, damp breeze over the river eased the burn, and I wheeled away from Tower Bridge. Time. I had to buy time for Kaden. That was the only thought in my head as I beat my way down the Thames, Sinon a terrifying shadow darkening the water.
I veered sharply, diving into the myriad of buildings on the south bank of the river, skirting the old, disused train tracks. Fire cindered the overgrown bushes, sweeping smoke and ash over me, and I screeched as a lick of flame caught my tail. Pain seared up my spine, and the solid beat of my wings faltered. Shit. No! My talons sparked the tracks before I found my rhythm again.
Sinon howled his victory, a wild, joyous sound that shattered glass and shook the ground. Yes, the bastard took great pleasure from the hunt.
Waterloo Station swept up to meet me, all glass and concertinaed steel, sharp and gleaming in the golden shafts of sunlight. I flew down one of the curves of the open platforms, workmen and renovators staring in horror and then tearing from my path.
My plan was simple. I knew I wouldn’t survive this, but perhaps, with luck, I could humiliate the First Dragon. The world’s media had to already be swarming, and I wanted to make him look like a prize idiot. Just before he ate me.
I erupted from the stone-faced entrance of the station, swept down the steps and shot for the river.
Sinon surged overhead. Specks of cars flew high above us, their windows and, I hoped, their equipment sparking light from the morning sun. The world watched us.
A long screech broke from me, startling a flock of pigeons into the air as I tore past the abandoned Shell Oil Centre, swerved to the left…and almost slammed into the great silver-scaled chest of the dragon chasing me. The half-shriek of surprise and fear ripped from my beak, and I fought to keep myself in the air, my talons clinking against his impenetrable hide.