September Moon (Alexa O'Brien, Huntress #8)

“There has to be another way,” Arys muttered, continuing to back away from me as if he couldn’t trust himself to be so close. He wanted it, yet he was fighting the urge.

“There isn’t, and you damn well know it.” I advanced on him, determined to force him to do what needed to be done.

“Alexa, stay back,” he warned, a hand raised, crackling with power.

I was saddened and distraught to see our bond being put to the test like this and failing. If I’d had to bet on one of us to fuck this moment up, I’d have said it would be me. There was no satisfaction in being wrong about that.

“Stop this shit right now. You’re going to blow everything.” I was ready for it when he threw the power he held. In a smooth motion, I absorbed the blast. His power was mine too. He could try to turn it on me, but he would fail. We had done this dance before.

For a guy who was usually so smooth and charismatic, a century of waiting had done more damage than I’d realized. Arys was visibly frazzled. I had to do something. In a reckless attempt to snap him out of the strange spell he was under, I ran to where Jenner swayed on his feet with a hand pressed to his forehead. He blinked cold blue eyes at me in confusion.

“Do it,” I demanded, grabbing him with claw tipped hands. “Just make it fast.”

Jenner glanced warily over my shoulder to where Arys stood lost in the chaos. “He’ll kill me.”

“Better him than me.” My claws left deep scratches in his tattooed flesh. I was frantic, feeling our chance slip away.

Before I could bully Jenner further, there was a loud bang, and the earth shook beneath my feet. I turned to find Willow on his back, his face bloodied and his clothing torn. Shya stood over him with a cloud of black smoke swirling about him like a tornado.

He faded into the mist. It took me a moment to realize he was changing form, shifting into something other than the human façade he wore. Whatever it was, it was massive. The smoky mist began to take the shape of a dragon. Standing almost as high as the second story of the building with enormous ebony feathered wings, Shya swung his large tail.

It swept Willow off the ground and hurled him through the air. He crashed through the treetops before plummeting to the earth in a heap.

The dragon turned on us, blinking big red eyes that gleamed with murderous intent. Then he opened his mouth full of vicious, pointed teeth and breathed out a stream of fire.

Chapter Twenty-Six

Everyone fled in a different direction. Jenner grabbed my hand, and we ran for a patch of trees near the perimeter fence. It wouldn’t do a whole hell of a lot if Shya wanted to scorch us to death, but at this point, he still needed me alive.

“If we survive this, you fucking owe me,” Jenner said. He was pressed against a tree trunk as if it would hide him. “And I will call in that favor.”

I would have shot him a glare, but I didn’t dare take my gaze off Shya’s bone-chilling new form. So I settled for a middle finger. “You do that.”

Shya settled himself in right over the unseen door. Scanning the vicinity for us, he began to preen his wings.

“Come now, Alexa,” his voice boomed through the night. “You’re only prolonging the inevitable. Why must you make everything so difficult? Let’s talk. Perhaps we can strike a deal.”

Making deals with a demon dragon was not on my to-do list for the evening. Searching the dark for my companions, I was relieved to find Shaz and Arys together several yards away. Kale and Jez were nowhere in view, and I suspected they might have rounded the corner of the building.

With my gaze on Willow’s prone form, I called out, “I have nothing to say to you, Shya.”

I owed Shya some serious payback for the hell he’d put Willow through by killing his lady love. Dragon or not, that wouldn’t change.

He stomped a foot in temper, and the ground rumbled beneath me. Never in my worst imaginings had I dreamed up a scenario like this.

Several shouts announced the arrival of the FPA swat team. What the hell were they thinking? They swarmed from around the building, aiming several types of weaponry at the black dragon. It seemed that they were packing silver tipped crossbow bolts and guns that more than likely held silver bullets.

I shook my head and watched their vain attempt at policing the darkness. Much to my relief Juliet was not among the small squad of people willing to die in order to satisfy Briggs’s curiosity. Of course the self-righteous Fed was safely inside, probably watching from an upstairs window.

There was nothing I could do. Not without putting myself in harm’s way. The agents swarmed Shya, shooting him full of bullets and bolts. It was pathetic, like watching children play superhero.