“My Lady!” Patrick cried out and shifted back to his human form. He raced to her side. Even an idiot could see she was in serious pain.
“Forgive me, My Lord.” The dragon turned one great eye to him. It was glassy with agony. The fact that she called him lord showed that she knew who he was, but that wasn’t saying much. Most dragons knew of the orphaned red dragon the queen had taken in.
“Be still.” There was definitely something wrong here. Patrick placed his hand on her side and felt her temperature. It was much too high, even for a dragon. “What happened?” he asked.
The dragon let out a shuddering breath and shifted her wing to show a bolt stuck in her side.
Patrick clenched his teeth. The bolt was from a crossbow—not something a farmer would have. “How?” he asked as he felt around the wound. It was obvious the bolt had been in there for some time now. The flesh around the entry had already started to sour. If they didn’t get her help soon, she would die. As it was, it would take a skilled magician to ease the dragon’s pain. This had gone far beyond the aid of a simple healer.
“From the castle.” Her breath was labored as she spoke.
Patrick rubbed her side, soothing her as best he could. There was only one castle near here, and the black dragon had already razed its occupants. No wonder he had gone in and killed all the men. They had nearly killed his mate. “And the maidens?” Patrick asked, needing to know that Kathryn was all right.
“Safe,” the dragon groaned.
Patrick’s heart lightened at her words. “I promise that we will get you help.” He patted the dragon’s side again. Backing away from her, he shifted back into dragon form and raced to the water’s edge. He paused long enough to reassure her again before diving into the water. There were three dragons in the flight that might have the skill to save the woman’s life. Hopefully they weren’t too late.
Patrick broke the surface of the water into hell.
His men had the black dragon surrounded and were taking turns attacking him, but no one was really doing damage. They were trying to draw him over land so they could down and capture him, but the rogue had other ideas.
He hovered over the water, just outside the cave. Anytime a dragon would go for the lake, the black dragon would attack viciously, driving them back up.
Seeing an opening, Patrick beat his wings hard and shot straight up at the beast. He wrapped his talons around his neck and put his mouth right next to his ear. “Stop this!” he screamed. “We are not your enemies!”
The loud noise rattled the dragon for a second. He shook his head, trying to ease the ringing and dislodge his attacker.
Patrick held firm. “Your lady is dying!” he shrieked again. Please let his words register in the dragon’s mind. “Stop this, and we can save her!”
The entire flight of dragons stopped their attack.
The dragon let out a deafening roar and shook his head again, but the beating of his wings slowed, letting them slip into the water.
Patrick held on for a few more seconds before releasing his hold on the surrendering dragon. He turned his eyes skywards to the surrounding dragons, looking for the ones he wanted. “Mica! Andrew! Thalin!” he barked. “With me!”
Diving into the water, the three dragons followed as Patrick led them into the cave and up to the sandy floor.
“Save her.” Patrick pointed towards the injured dragon.
The three men shifted and went to her. They all grimaced at the severity of the wound.
Andrew turned to Patrick with despair in his voice. “My Lord?”
The growl of the rogue dragon echoed around the room. The dark creature pulled himself from the water and lay down on the sand.
The man blanched. “We can’t work magic without the right components,” he explained.
“Maybe we can help.”
Patrick’s heart leaped to his throat. He knew that sweet voice. Mine!
Kathryn came around the back end of the injured dragon with the maidens that were missing. Each carried an armload of supplies. Pausing, Kathryn glanced at the red dragon before turning to the three men standing next to the wounded dragon. Oh my god, they were naked! Color climbed up her cheeks, but she pushed her embarrassment away and approached them with a bowl wrapped in a cloth. “Here.” She set the bowl near the men and backed up a step. “Fever’s foe.”
The girls quickly dropped their armloads of herbs and bandages on the ground and hid behind Kathryn.
The three men bent to look at the supplies. One of the men looked up at the girls. “Is there more?”
“Yes,” Kathryn answered. She pointed towards the back of the cavern. “There’s a whole room filled with random things.”
He stood up and started off towards the room. “Show me.”
Two of the girls hurried off leading the way, leaving Kathryn to deal with the dragons.
Movement caught her eye, and she turned to look at the red dragon. The thing chirped and rumbled as it stepped closer.
The younger girls huddled behind Kathryn, scared of the growling, red beast.
Kathryn froze and studied the creature before her. It was nowhere near as large as the other dragons. A trickle of smoke curled up from one nostril as it let out a series of growls and clicks. Its scales were the color of bright blood. Several were marred from recent battle. One wing drooped lower than the other. Could this beast be her Patrick? But hadn’t the black dragon killed him? Memories tickled the back of her mind as she stepped towards him. A flash of red scales in the early morning light. She had seen this dragon before.
“It was you.” Kathryn pulled away from the girls trying to hold her back. “You jumped out of the lake that morning.”
Sitting back on his haunches, the dragon curled his tail around his feet and nodded. He hung head hung in a shameful way, showing he was sorry that he has scared them. There was something about the way he moved that convinced her she was right. This was most definitely her Patrick.
Kathryn launched herself at him. Her arms wrapped around his neck, and she squeezed him for all she was worth. She didn’t care if he was a dragon—he was alive, and that was all that mattered. “I thought you were dead.” She buried her face into the side of his neck as tears burned free. “I watched you sink in the lake.”
Joy washed through Patrick as he lifted up his front leg and wrapped it around the crying girl. “It would take more than that to kill me,” he purred. He held her for a moment, glad she was alive and not afraid of him. Mine.
A scream of pain from the female dragon broke into their world. The mages had started to work fever’s foe into the wound. “My Lord!” Thalin called for help.
Patrick released Kathryn and rushed to the injured dragon’s side. Their reunion would have to wait for a more appropriate time.
“Hold her down,” Mica yelled as the dragon thrashed about.
Throwing himself on her neck, Patrick tried to pin her but failed. She easily outweighed him by more than three times his weight. He glanced back at her mate. He was big enough to hold her down. “If you want to save her, help me!” Patrick roared.
The black dragon shifted from foot to foot, distressed by his mate’s pain.
Now Patrick understood why the dragon had been stealing woman. He needed someone to heal his mate, but he couldn’t mentally handle her being hurt. Seeing the larger dragon’s indecision, Patrick released his hold on the injured female. He raced over and rammed his head into the side of the larger dragon. “Hold her down.” He banged his head into the black scales once more before the dragon moved. Bloody dragon!