“Stay here,” he barked and pushed to his feet. He walked over to where Baldewin and the other dragons were standing around the Jaeggi. The man with shaggy black hair stared up at them, blue eyes blazing with hatred.
“You dragon cowards! You can kill me, but it’s not going to stop our clan,” the Jaeggi snarled.
“Why are you attacking mages? What can you possibly hope to accomplish?” Rodrigo demanded.
The Jaeggi laughed, the sound pitched high and a bit hysterical. “Accomplish? We’re going to destroy all the dragons. You’re the ones who broke our power. You’re the ones who ruined our lives. We want you dead. All of you dead!” He paused, and his grin cut like a gaping wound across his face. “But first, we’re going to drain all the power out of you and every fucking mage that exists in the world. We’re going to be the most powerful creatures on this planet. We’re going to remind the humans what it was like to have mages in the world. The Jaeggi will rise up and take control of all.”
“We will never let that happen,” Alric vowed. His deep voice fell low and rumbled like thunder through the room. “The Jaeggi should have been destroyed centuries ago for what you did. You killed dragons and slaughtered thousands of mages. You wiped out entire clans.”
“You’ll never stop us all.” He giggled slightly. “You’re not even going to get out of this room.”
Tori’s heart leapt into his throat as he felt the power rise within the mage. He had only a second to act. Meeting Evora’s panicked gaze across the room, he could only hope she would be able to follow his lead.
“Grab the shield!” he shouted. Calling on the power that still flowed freely from Baldewin, Tori raked his fingers down Baldewin’s chest. His fingertips barely brushed his shirt, but that was fine. He needed only to touch the Titan’s Shield coating his lover. It was enough to allow him to snag it not only from Baldewin but Ravi and Gunter as well. He wasn’t willing to steal it from Alric. There was no question what his first duty was—protect the king.
Tori turned and threw the shield around the Jaeggi so it formed half of a bubble. Evora mimicked his action, creating the other half of the bubble, closing him within a shimmering golden light. Ravi started to speak, but the words were cut off a moment later when the Jaeggi mage exploded. The blast pounded against the shield, and Tori shouted in pain as it reverberated up his arms and slammed against his chest.
Strong arms wrapped around him from behind, and Baldewin’s strong torso pressed against his back, supporting him when his entire body wanted to crumble. “I’ve got you. Lean on me,” Baldewin whispered gently in his ear.
Tori took him up on that offer and put all his weight on the dragon as he held back the blast. The energy seemed to burn along his muscles and rattle his bones. He and Evora slowly pushed the shield inward, suffocating the fire until there was nothing left but a black smear on the battered concrete floor.
With a relieved sigh, he dropped his arms to his sides and released the shielding spell. He glanced across the room to find Evora collapsing into the arms of her mate, Thiago. The dragon pressed dozens of little kisses across her head and face as he praised her. She looked exhausted but happy.
Closing his eyes, he sank into Baldewin’s warmth and support, letting his dragon love him and care for him.
“Tori, thank you,” Alric said. There was a catch in his throat that seemed to wrap tight around his heart. “You and Evora saved us.”
“That’s it. I want to be Tori when I grow up. Coolest mage ever!” Cameron shouted with a laugh.
“Baldewin, I have a request,” Tori said softly.
His lover nuzzled the side of his face and kissed his neck, sending the most delicious tingles through his body. “Baby, you just saved our lives. You can have anything you want.”
“I want to go home.”
Baldewin’s head jumped up, and he twisted around enough to look Tori in the face. “Home?” There was a line of worry that formed between his brows, and his full lips pulled down into a frown.
Tori nodded. “Home…to Burkhard. I wanna go home.”
His mate’s face broke into the most beautiful smile. “Then I will take you home.”
Common sense said that it would still be another day or so before that could even happen, but some part of him needed to hear it. He needed to hear that he was going home with his mate, and they were going to live a wonderful life together away from the chaos of the Taavi and the Jaeggi.
As Tori recovered and felt comfortable standing on his own again, Gunter ran to the SUV to fetch the satchel of supplies. Stabilizing the wounded mage was much easier this time, thanks to all the elements they had on hand, as well as two more mages to balance the duties.
Markku’s color improved and warmth started to return to his skin. The moment it was safe, his unconscious form was handed over to one of the Valerii bodyguards in his dragon form. It would be faster to fly him back to his clan where his treatment could continue. Ravi volunteered to accompany him to help watch over the mage and carry back the news of what had happened.
The remaining dragons helped load the mages into the SUV, while Alric slid behind the wheel.
“You know I can drive,” Cameron offered.
“I think I’ve experienced enough of your driving for one day. You can rest, my mage,” Alric said, brushing a kiss across his jaw, but Cameron didn’t look fooled.
“I’m beginning to think you find my driving scarier than facing down the Jaeggi.”
“And you would be correct.”
Cameron dramatically threw his hands up into the air as he marched over to the passenger side of the SUV. But Tori didn’t miss the smile lurking on Cameron’s lips. The mage was clearly laughing on the inside.
Baldewin pulled Tori back into his arms while they watched Tanja and Panu climb into the third row of seats in the SUV. “Are you sure you wouldn’t rather fly with me?”
“I wish I could.” Tori tilted his head back against Baldewin’s chest so he could look up at him. “Your dragon is magnificent.”
Baldewin groaned. “That’s it. Now he’s preening.”
“He deserves to preen. He is gorgeous. The loveliest dragon I’ve ever seen.”
There was a low rumble from Baldewin’s chest, almost like purring. Baldewin’s dragon was very happy indeed.
“I’m never going to hear the end of this.”
“I can’t fly with you—at least not while awake—but we can go up into the mountains when we get home. We can lounge in the sun together.”
Baldewin bent and captured his lips in a slow kiss, seeming reluctant to end it. “That is a date.”
Tori stepped away from Baldewin, and his stomach did a happy little flip as Baldewin shifted into a massive dragon with deep, rosewood red scales and enormous wings. The dragon winked at him and then launched himself into the air. While he might not be comfortable flying with his mate, he would never stop being in awe of the dragon.
He jumped into the SUV, and they took off at a more responsible pace with Alric behind the wheel. Tori sighed deeply as he sank low in his seat. Evora was also slumped, looking as exhausted as he felt. Tori might have used a great deal of power from Baldewin, but he was still drained from the extensive spell casting. He’d never slung so many spells back to back. The only thing he wanted was a nap—not that he was going to get that any time soon, as they headed straight for the Taavi village.