“You’re not going anywhere with my mate, you fucking piece of trash,” Beck said. Behind TJ, Beck could see the worry in Sierra’s eyes, but thankfully, she looked unhurt. “I’ll end you first.”
Beck aimed to make sure she stayed that way.
TJ scoffed. “Please. We both know I may not be like you, but I’m still a dragon. In the time it will take you to kill me, that thing outside will probably have already made a lunch out of your mate.” He finished with a cackle that sent pure fury seething down to Beck’s toes.
The betrayal of believing he’d hurt all those people so long ago was nothing near to the white-hot rage that both he and his dragon felt at seeing TJ above Sierra, his hand over her mouth.
THUMP. THUMP. Colossal steps pounded the earth, rattling the house and sending a vase toppling off an end table.
Beck’s grip tightened on TJ’s neck, and TJ let out a choked sound, dark-blue eyes still full of mirth. He looked in the direction of the hole where the back door had been and grinned.
The floodlights on Sierra’s back porch were bright enough to illuminate the monstrosity outside. It was shaped like a lizard but something even dinosaurs would have been afraid of, walking on all fours with huge feet and talons like giant scythes. Its body was the length of a football field, covered in thick, plated scales on its sides and rows of poisonous, razor-sharp spikes that went down its back and ended in a clump of even more spikes at the end of a long tail.
Its head was more akin to a dragon, though, with rows of teeth and two big horns and big reptilian eyes that glowed red, darting around the landscape.
And then Beck watched as the basilisk’s eyes peered down at them in the little house, settling directly on Sierra with sudden interest.
“Oh, look, it even looks like it’s interested in your human too,” TJ said.
With a deafening roar, the basilisk started to charge. In moments, it would level Sierra’s property with a single foot.
And whether Beck was guilty or not for all those people’s deaths, whether or not his friends were right about him or if TJ had been right all along, Beck knew he’d fight anyone—or anything—to protect his mate.
He didn’t have time for anything else. He rushed for the door as TJ stepped aside, his hand still holding Sierra back.
TJ just laughed gleefully, the sound of his voice being drowned out by gargantuan footsteps headed for them as Beck shifted into his dragon in a matter of moments, making directly for the basilisk.
Sure, the damn thing was two or three times bigger than him, but that wasn’t going to stop a mountain dragon from protecting what was his.
The basilisk barely seemed to notice a huge dragon taking shape in front of it as it charged. But before it could even cross the property line of Sierra’s spread, Beck roared with all his might just as he swung his tail forward, catching the basilisk across the face and knocking it over to the side where it skidded in the thick mud.
It was so dark outside that only his enhanced vision allowed him to see through the thick sheets of rain and the blackened night sky. Another flash of lightning lit the land, showing the colors of blue and green and red intermixed through the creature’s scales as it stood back up, its gaze narrowing on Beck.
In Beck’s experience, basilisks knew only two things: sleeping and fighting.
And by the look he saw in this monster’s eyes, Beck was about to get the latter.
It roared angrily, squaring off with Beck, its form still covered in mud and loose earth. Beck just braced himself, knowing that if he wasn’t careful, he’d soon be buried himself.
It charged again, this time directly toward Beck as he angled himself away from the ranch, drawing it out into the open terrain.
As it gained on him, Beck lashed his tail outward again, aiming for the thing’s eyes. But the basilisk batted it away with its meaty front foot, and Beck heard the snap of its multiple rows of teeth as it lunged for him.
Confident he’d pulled it away from Sierra for now, Beck took off, only able to barely get off the ground. The rain was so thick. He turned, hovering above the basilisk, ready to dive down when the deluge thickened even more, probably at TJ’s command, pelting his dragon with so much water he couldn’t even see very far in front of him.
Damn that fucker TJ.
The basilisk raised its tail, flicking it upward, and a huge, spearhead-shaped needle the length of a car went whizzing past Beck, barely missing as he dove low. Then Beck reached his claws out, tearing into the thick hide of the basilisk as he flew past, then landed behind it.
It was bleeding but only barely, its impossibly armored skin needing more than just a few scratches to scare it off. With the rain thickening, flight was almost entirely out of the question now, so Beck’s normal tactics for taking a basilisk one on one were out of the question.
So like most problems he’d encountered in life, he’d take the damn thing head on.
They both charged at each other now, the footsteps of two huge beasts shaking even the mountains as they locked horns with a thunderous crash so loud it put the lightning to shame. Beck pushed with all his might, twisting his head left and right, trying to topple the much larger, much heavier beast over so he could expose its more vulnerable underbelly.
The basilisk’s eyes zeroed in on Beck, red and alert and vicious. It made a rumbling noise from its throat, like the sound of an earthquake, as it pushed back on Beck, heaving forward with its weight. Beck’s talons dragged through the mud, and he nearly lost his footing. But he was a mountain dragon. Even more than basilisks, he was familiar with rock and stone and earth and mud.
This was just a bit of bad weather.
He growled, then pushed up with all his strength. Their horns unlocked, and Beck opened his mouth and sprayed a stream of fire and superheated rock into the basilisk’s face. It winced backward, eyes shut as it moved back a step.
Even though the damn things were basically immune to dragon fire, it still couldn’t possibly see through the hail of smoke and stone and flame.
Beck charged, not knowing if he’d get another opening like this, reaching forward and biting down on the thing’s neck. The basilisk’s neck was so wide he could barely get his teeth around the half of it, so he focused on the partially exposed throat, chomping with all his might.
The basilisk roared, yanking backward, dragging Beck forward as it shook and pulled, trying to wrench him free. But Beck just tightened his grip, ignoring as one huge row of claws raked across his side, cutting through his scales and sending rage-inducing pain scorching through his insides.
Beck was up on his hind legs now, his front claws digging into the monster’s shoulders, anchoring himself as he yanked back on its thick neck. He watched as the basilisk’s tail rose, sending two spikes flying toward him. To avoid it, he angled to the left, and one went over his shoulder while the other grazed his back leg.
The telltale hiss of basilisk poison punctuated the dull roar of the rain and wind, followed by a dull flash of pain in his side. But it wasn’t bad. Not nearly enough to end a mountain dragon.
Beck gritted his teeth as it flailed and started to lose its wind. “Give up, you fucking sunuvab—”
Suddenly, something rammed into Beck’s side with formidable speed, hard enough to knock his back legs out from under him. He didn’t see what it was, just heard a dull whoosh as it pounded his shoulder.