The Dragon's Slave

Chapter 27

A woman's voice reached me first. Not words, but a cross between a scream and a howl. Illaise. Wolves poured into the clearing and the air around me filled with the scent of wet fur.

Pourtus staggered back as three, and then five of the beasts fell upon him. Forcing him to change. Even in his dragon form he was outnumbered. The wolves were fierce, snarling and leaping. Working as if of one mind. In all my calculations of my odds, I hadn't figured in the Shifters.

Pain brought me near the edge of consciousness as my were arms gripped by an unseen force and jostled.

"Sorry Lady," Scet apologized from behind me. A bow was set at my feet, the weapon that saved me from Pourtus.

My arms wrenched back, inducing pain that hurt like a firebrand, and then my limbs were free. I wimpered as I pulled them forward, cradling the red gash across my wrist.

"I would love to have the killing blow myself," Scet grumbled as he came around my front, his eyes narrowed at the white dragon. Blood dripped from gashes along the dragon's side. He snapped at a wolf that drew too near. As he did a second beast leapt for his throat. Planned, like the thefts of street gangs.

Scet pawed at my injury, pulling at the skin delicately. My awareness faded slightly, black spots formed in my vision.

I was losing my sense of self. Soon I would loose consciousness. I blinked at the swell of blood his ministrations caused and he hissed. A pool was collecting on the ground, the scent of iron invaded my nostrils. That was my life, I smelled, drifting away.

"A minute earlier and I might have prevented this," he muttered. He forced my chin up. His face swam before my eyes, but for the second time he was looking directly into them.

"Dynarys is going to kill me," he shook his head. "You are loosing blood fast Lady, I hope you are more forgiving than your mate."

I didn't respond, couldn't. The ground began to spin and my stomach threatened to escape.

Bleeding. I was bleeding out. Just what they had wanted, and it was a trap. The Quatori would come.

"Dynarys," I whispered. I had to tell him. He had to know about the master. And I had never said...never told him...hell, I hadn't even admitted my feelings for him to myself.

Scet lowered his head, warm lips placed right against my wound...and licked.

A shock of awareness raced through my blood at the contact. Not sexual awareness, this was something else. I could hear each beat of my heart and feel the tissue that he had touched. It was knitting. Muscles joining back together and vessels repairing the break. Somehow he had healed me. But it was more than that too. I could hear breathing, his breathing and I could feel him blink.

He had taken a liberty. One punishable by death.

"You mated me?" I whispered. "Oh, Dynarys is going to kill you."

Noted. Scet's dry thought raced into my mind, unbidden. Bit I could save your life no other way. The bond will fade Gayriel, eventually, so long as we do not complete the ritual. It is not a true mating. I could feel the truth of what he said, but he hesitated and I knew there was more.

"What?" I asked out loud, uncomfortable with the idea that he would be able to read my mind as I read his. I would just ignore that fact until it went away.

"Breaking the bond is painful, you might wish I had let you die."

I still felt like I was dying. I took a deep breath. A snarl of wolves fought throughout the clearing. The Dragon Lord that bound me so tightly lifted off on great wings into the night. I could not make out Kurath, or his wolves among the others, but Pourtus I could see.

His wings hung, tattered by his side, his hind leg useless. Still the Shifters did not go in for the kill. They waited, for word from the Alpha. From Dynarys.

At last I understood the intricate relationship. He had tried to refuse the position, but that was not how shifter society worked. Dynarys was alpha of the Amber Aerie Shifters, his mother alpha of the free pack. And without the actions of his beta, Scet, I would not have survived this night.

And I was grateful, I decided. This mistake had cost me deeply. But it might have been my life, Dynarys's life. Instead, I would be submitted to some discomfort. A fitting punishement for my actions.

The corner of Scet's mouth rose slightly in approval. You will make a fine Alpha's mate, he told me.

"Where is Dynarys?"

He lures away the Quatori.

He said no more, but he did not have to. The image of my mate slicing his own skin to smear a dragon's blood among the trees pronounced itself.

I wobbled.

"I need to sit down," I whispered weakly.

I didn't get a chance. The sky darkened and five forms landed within the clearing.

I focused the remains of my concentration. Odd, Strale's golden wings sparkled, even in the dark. The blackest of the shadows veered toward me, landing above me with a solid thump.

Then he was there. My mate, my love, and I was in his arms. Suddenly the tears came. The hurt and the guilt and the worry. All ran from my eyes and I sobbed into his chest.

"Gayriel," Dyanrys whispered, I looked upward. His throat worked in convulsions. He pressed his face into my hair, and froze.

I found myself whipped backward, the sudden motion overwhelming my senses. Had I not been held aloft I would have collapsed.

Furious amber eyes met mine and a roar built in his chest. The chest where I had just laid my head. "Where. Is. He."

I looked around. In my distraction I had missed Scet slinking off. Good thing he did. It didn't look as though Dynarys would stop his dragon from tearing the shifter apart.

"Dyanrys," I touched his chin. "Can't you smell my blood? I know your anger, but he would never have had to do it if it weren't for him." I flung my arm toward the white dragon.

It lay on the ground, battered and barely breathing. My energy was waning and I had a hard time dredging up the anger I should feel toward him.

"Pourtus and Grim. They were going to bleed me out, to lure the Quatori in...a trap for you."

Dynarys was breathing hard. The muscles on the surface of his skin rippled and twitched with tension.

"If Scet hadn't tended my wound," I showed him my arm, an angry red scar had formed, but even that faded as I watched. I should have been more surprised, but I felt numb. "I'd be dead by now Dynarys, and I wouldn't have the chance to tell you," I swallowed and looked down.

No more wasting time.

Once, I had wanted freedom. Nothing more than the freedom to make my own decisions and answer to no one. Well, I was making a decision now.

I wanted him.

"Dyanrys, I love you."

There. It was done. I had chosen my own path. Relief sucked the rest of my strength from me. Coupled with the loss of blood it should have been unsurprising when the ground rose up to meet me and darkness took my mind.

A new emotion crossed Dynary's face as I faded. Just before he scooped me up into strong arms. Something tender, and vulnerable. Something both he and his dragon agreed upon. And then, darkness took my mind.