He tries to jerk his hand free from my grip, to no avail. My other hand flies forward, smashing him in the jaw once, twice, then a third time. With each strike, his head snaps back, then comes forward again as if nothing happened.
“This would be over a lot faster if one of us used a wand,” Tanner calls out to me, sounding annoyed at my insistence on not using magic.
“Don’t you dare!” I yell back.
“Chaos… death… pain,” the man mutters through tightly clenched teeth. “Make it stop…”
I hit him again, harder this time.
The dragon’s free hand flies toward me, and I’m so distracted by his relentless indomitability that it nearly hits me. But I raise my left hand just in time to block it.
And the longer we fight, the more I can feel darkness growing inside me. I can feel rage starting to form.
Desire to crush this insolent beast for daring to defy me, a fae prince of the highest caliber.
But I resist it. This creature doesn’t know what he’s doing. Maybe he just needs help.
Quickly, I grab his arm and throw him bodily over me, slamming him into the ground with such force he makes a human-shaped indent in the cement.
If this dragon wants to play rough, I can play rough.
The dragon gasps for breath, but then with a horrible shriek, I see his dark form growing up and up into the air until he’s a horrible beast the size of a building.
Giant, chaos-infected wings, spikes of all sizes, glittering scales with the toxic colors of oil spills scattered across them.
A giant maw of gaping, sharp teeth tainted with blackness. It spills out the side of his drooling mouth as he lets out another roar at the sky.
Then he rears back, sucking in a breath, and Flynn steps forward urgently.
“Brett, he’s going to—”
I nod because I’ve run out of time to do this nicely. I leap into the air, flying up in front of him and spinning around quickly to build momentum. As I come around with a hard kick aimed at his face, I’m too fast for him to even see it coming.
It slams into his maw just as he’s about to spew fire, and his entire body ripples with the force of the blow as his head is knocked sideways, pulling him over and down.
As he hits the ground, waves of chaos emanate and the cement shakes all over.
A cloud of dirt flies into the air, falling gently around us like toxic snow.
The dragon lies quiet, knocked out from the blow. Then he slowly transforms back into his human appearance with chaos still swirling around him.
At least when he was in dragon form, I didn’t have to hold back my strength as much.
I could swear, just before he went down, that I heard a quiet, Thank you, whispered on the wind.
“Damn, Brett,” Tanner says, jogging up to me. He rubs his jaw as he watches the dragon breathing deeply. “I forget just how strong you are sometimes.”
“We’re all strong,” I say, kneeling to pull open one eye. Even knocked out, it feels like he’s glaring at me. “Any one of you could have done that.”
“Yeah,” Ian says, walking up and putting away his wand as well. “But you’re the only one silly enough to try it.”
“Not silly. Merciful,” Flynn says. “Which is odd coming from an ice prince.”
I glare at him. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
He simply shrugs, and I decide I don’t have time to verbally spar with a fire fae right now.
“Chad just said he and Bella will be here soon,” Tanner says, folding his arms and looking at the unconscious dragon lying at our feet.
Ian grunts, shaking his head. “I still think we should’ve just destroyed him instantly. He could still infect others he comes into contact with.”
A moment later, we hear the sound of wings beating, followed by Chad and Bella landing nearby, both of them running up to us.
Chadwick can cloak as a dragon, and he flies with his mate tucked under his wing.
His mate, Bella, is a fairy. The first latent fae we met in this world.
“Is this who you saw in your vision?” I ask Chadwick as he switches to human form, walking toward us in his typical purple sweater and jeans.
Beside him, Bella, a tall blonde, is walking with her pink wings trailing out behind her.
“Yes, that’s him,” Chadwick replies, pushing up his glasses. “Honestly, I wasn’t sure how you guys were going to handle it. Is he alive?”
I nod.
“I’m glad you didn’t have to kill him,” Chadwick says, coming over to kneel by him with Bella.
“I can still help him,” Bella says. She waves a hand over his body, spreading a wave of sparkling pink that clears out the darkness, making it shine for a moment before it dissipates.
The man lets out a groan.
“I don’t sense any chaos left in him,” Bella says softly. “Is that usual for dragons from the chaos realm?”
“Normally, they’re pure evil, serving their master’s will to the last breath,” Tanner exclaims. “Chaos princes keep them as pets, but they’re every bit as bad as the princes are.”
“I don’t think this guy is like that, then,” Bella says. “He feels safe now.”
I put my hands on my hips. “Something odd is happening. Some kind of chaos magic that we don’t understand.” I look down at the man at my feet. “It’s almost like they could possess a regular dragon.”
“That shouldn’t be possible,” Chadwick says. “But I’ll have my men bring him in for questioning.” He puts his hands on his hips. “Thanks for your help, but shouldn’t you be getting back to the beacon? Have you made any progress?”
“Not exactly,” I say as Flynn throws his head back, laughing.
“Oh dear,” Bella says. “So you’re matching with her?”
I nod. “But she doesn’t feel resonance back.”
Bella folds her arms as she thinks for a moment. “Right now, she probably just feels like a regular human woman. Have you tried something human, like asking her on a date?”
I blink. “No, but—”
“Then try it,” Chadwick calls back to me as he changes back into dragon form, his sparkling shape reaching up toward the sky. He grabs the fallen man in his front talons. “You need to make progress in getting her to trust you. As you’ve seen today, chaos can be coming from any side.”
Flynn just shakes his head as Chad and Bella take off together, cloaking as they disappear into the sky. “A date? Yeah, like that’s going to happen.”
But I nod to myself, thinking it over. Bella’s right.
I should ask Avery on a date.
It can’t be any harder than fighting a dragon.
5
Avery
I still can’t believe Brett actually came up to ask me for a date earlier.
It was so incredibly normal that I almost said yes, but I couldn’t because I don’t have time for romance, now or ever.
I’m sure a gorgeous guy like that will get over it.
As for me, it’s dark out, and I know exactly where I’m headed.
I’ve been watching this guy every night this week, watching him case his potential victims, and I’m ready to stop him before he can offend again.