Thorn circled the warehouse to make sure no one had seen him. “Been ready.”
The two of them stayed in the clouds until they found a group of Dark. He and Con came at them from opposite sides. Thorn went first, blasting them with magic and pushing the Dark right toward Con.
Thorn dipped his wing to turn and flew off when Con came in and released dragon fire on the Fae. When they were done, no Dark was left alive.
With their victory, they moved on to the next section. It proved more difficult since there were numerous humans mixed in with the Dark.
Thorn tucked his wings and dove straight down from the clouds. Since he was unable to spread his wings fully between the buildings, he managed to spread them enough to halt his descent and even him out. He grabbed a Dark in each hand, crushing them.
Con dove down behind him, catching three Dark in his mouth and using his teeth to tear them to shreds before tossing them away.
Again and again they found their prey and unleashed hell.
Their attacks were enough to get the Dark to begin fleeing, but then there were the combined attacks of Rhi, Guy and Darius, as well as Fallon, Larena, Phelan, and Aisley.
Thorn flew back up to the clouds, content with their attack and the outcome. Con spotted another group that they were headed toward when Kellan’s voice shouted in their heads.
“Dark attack at Dreagan!”
Thorn roared and dipped his wing as he quickly turned and headed toward Dreagan. How had the Dark gotten in? There were precautions in place.
Then he remembered—the distillery.
Thorn roared again in fury—and fear. He flew swiftly, his heart sick that Lexi might be hurt. Or worse—captured.
It was as if the Dark knew where she was going to be every time he thought she was safe.
* * *
Rhi remained on the same street as Phelan and Aisley. She stayed closer to the Druid, because the Dark would like nothing better than to get their hands on her.
Though she kept an eye on Phelan as well. If the Dark ever discovered he was a Fae prince … she didn’t even want to think about what would become of him.
She swung her sword around her, bending backward to get the two attacking behind her. Rhi straightened and kicked out her leg, her heel sinking into the Dark’s throat.
Rhi.
She looked around for Con. There was urgency in his voice that she hadn’t heard before. She glanced up when she felt a gust of wind go over her.
Then he was standing in the middle of the street naked. A Dark ran up to him. Con grabbed him around the throat and squeezed. The Dark clawed at Con, but it did no good. The King of Kings had a hold of him, slowly squeezing the life from the Fae with black eyes full of fury.
Con’s head swung to her. “Dark are attacking Dreagan. Thorn has gone. All of this,” he said as he tossed aside the dead Dark and motioned to the city, “was set up to divert our attention from Dreagan.”
Dreagan. Under attack. By Dark. It couldn’t be possible. But all she had to do was look into Con’s eyes and see the lethal rage rolling off him to know it wasn’t a joke.
She teleported out before she thought to ask Con why he assumed she would help. But she didn’t go to Dreagan. Instead, Rhi found Fallon and appeared next to the Warrior as he stood using his claws to tear through the Dark.
“I need you to get Malcolm to Dreagan immediately.”
Fallon’s black Warrior eyes looked at her. His black claws dripped with blood, and his gold torc looked stark against the black skin of his god. “What?”
“The Dark are attacking Dreagan. This was a setup.”
She didn’t say any more as she teleported to Dreagan.
* * *
Kellan dove toward the shop, rolling and shifting into human form. He landed on one knee with his hands upon the ground. His head lifted when he saw Taraeth and Balladyn in the shop talking to a woman.
He listened to their conversation as he made his way into the building. The fact Taraeth hadn’t posted anyone near the doors told Kellan that the king of the Dark didn’t care if the Dragon Kings came in or not.
Then Kellan heard the humans. No wonder the Dark weren’t worried. No Dragon King could go in there with humans watching.
He saw Arian and motioned for him to go around front. Then Kellan snuck into the shop. Broken glass sliced into his feet, but he paid it no attention.
“Taraeth and Balladyn are here,” Kellan told the other Kings. Everyone needed to be prepared.
“Bring her,” Taraeth told Balladyn.
After he ordered one of the Dark to kill everyone, Taraeth stopped and turned around.
“And bring the traitor, Shara.”
Kellan waited until the Dark with Shara was even with the door to the hallway where he hid before he rushed them. Shara was taken down with them, but she sent a blast of magic toward Taraeth as she did. Kellan snapped the Dark’s neck who had a hold of Shara and jumped up.
Arian crashed through the front glass doors and went after the Dark standing there. Kellan motioned for Cassie and Jane to get the humans out, but the mortals wouldn’t leave. The girls began to drag them out of the shop one by one.
Kellan took the blasts of magic aimed for Cassie and Jane. His leg gave out, sending him down to one knee. Kellan got back up with a grimace and braced himself for the Dark who came at him.
Then they were in hand-to-hand combat. It wouldn’t have been a fair fight had Kellan been at full strength, but the Dark magic was taking a toll.
There was a loud roar that Kellan recognized as Thorn. The next instant, Thorn stalked into the shop naked and furious and grabbed the first Dark he saw, ripping his heart out without so much as a glance.
Thorn was looking around the shop as if searching for someone.
Kellan elbowed the Dark he was fighting in the throat and snapped his neck. The rest of the Dark vanished from the store in the next second.
Thorn stood in the middle of the shop shaking his head. “Nay. Lexi was safe here.”
Arian’s chest heaved, anger contorting his face. His champagne-colored eyes blazed with unadulterated fury. “I tried to reach them, but they teleported out before I could.”
There was murder in Thorn’s dark eyes. “They attacked the cities to take us away from Dreagan.”
“Aye,” Kellan said. “But why just the distillery? I thought they’d go after the weapon again.”
“More Dark coming your way!” Dmitri shouted.
Kellan, Thorn, and Arian ran out of the shop and shifted into dragons. Kellan remained near Shara while Thorn and Arian flew to the skies and took their assault from above.
Rhi stood in the middle of the parking lot with her sword raised, ready as Dark ran at her. A moment later and Fallon deposited Malcolm in the middle of the fray before teleporting away again.
“No’ fair to start the action without me,” Malcolm said. His skin turned maroon as he released his god and raised a hand to the sky as lightning forked from his fingers, sending bolts in every direction.
The sound covered the roars of the dragons, and the display would keep any humans from venturing out into the storm.
Kellan turned and beheaded a Dark with his wing who had been going after Malcolm. The rain continued to come in a downpour.
Thorn roared and dove right at the group of oncoming Dark. He flattened dozens of them before others began to hurl magic at him.
He was trying to fly back up to the sky when a huge bubble of magic hit him, instantly shifting him back into his human form.
Kellan took out the Dark responsible. Another flood of Dark Fae came at them, swarming the parking lot like ants.
“Kellan!” Rhi shouted from his left.
She was pointing to the ground where Thorn lay unmoving after hitting the ground hard. After what had happened with Rhys where dragon magic was mixed with Dark that nearly killed him, Kellan refused to take any chances. He stood over Thorn so no Dark could get to him.
Rhi was doing major damage to the Dark with her sword and quick movements while Shara used her Fae magic. Roars from Arian sounded around them as he continued to swoop down from the sky raining dragon fire on them. There were sudden shouts and war cries as more Warriors arrived.