Marked Prince - Michelle M. Pillow Page 0,37
brush of leaves in a rhythmic pattern as if someone moved through them. The sound underscored the louder crashing of leaves overhead.
Grace picked up her pace, breaking formation.
Before he could react, heavy thuds came from behind.
Thump. Thump. Thump.
The sound caused him to hesitate. Why was someone coming from the house? His mother wouldn’t chase after them, not with two others to protect. That left Salena and Fiora.
“Don’t move,” Grace ordered.
His cousin’s voice spurred Jaxx back into action.
“Put it down,” Grace insisted. “I don’t want to hurt you.”
A grunting noise answered Grace.
Jaxx found his cousin standing behind a couple of trees. Her back was to him, her hands lifted at her sides. A blue glow outlined her body. She stood in her half-shifted form, the armor of her dragon flesh protecting her human shape. If she were to shift fully, she could have firebombed whoever she faced. They wouldn’t have stood a chance against her.
The thudding steps sounded from behind them. His father motioned that he was going to stop the runner from passing.
“You’re safe,” Grace said, her words softening to indicate she was letting the dragon slip from her features to face them as a woman. He heard the quiver in her voice. Whatever she faced frightened her. “Please, don’t do whatever you’re thinking.”
“I won’t let you…” The shaky response revealed a female.
The thudding steps ended, and for a moment, Jaxx thought his father had stopped whoever had come after them.
Swish. Thump. Thump…
He’d assumed too soon. Someone dove through the brush behind him. The footfall quickened, the gait more uneven than before as the person went off the path.
Jaxx moved toward his cousin. Grace should not have dropped her shift to leave her body exposed. The dragon armor would protect her from an attack.
“Stop!” Fiora’s voice shot past him.
Jaxx instantly obeyed her command even though he didn’t know if it was meant for him. But he was the only one to do so. Sounds erupted all around.
Fiora dove past his line of vision, through the underbrush toward Grace, and directly into danger. Jaxx sprung back into action. He leaped between two trees. The strange blue glow intensified.
Jaxx roared in warning. His talons stabbed into the trunk as he propelled himself toward his cousin.
A Cysgodian woman in tattered clothing lunged at Grace. The blue glow came from her roughly hewn blade. He’d never seen such a weapon.
Fiora slammed into Grace, thrusting her out of the way as a man jumped from behind a tree. He too wielded a blue blade. Because she was in her human form, his aim would have stabbed Grace in the heart. Instead, the knife found its target in Fiora. The force of the blow changed Fiora’s course, and she did not follow Grace to the ground.
Grace smacked her head into the base of a tree with an ugly thump. Fiora staggered on her feet. The knife stuck in her shoulder. The smell of burnt flesh became unmistakable.
Jaxx felt the wound as if it had happened to him. The dragon raged inside him. He roared violently, the sound tearing from his throat.
The assailant hurried toward the Cysgodian woman, taking her blade and shoving her behind his back.
Jaxx instantly went toward the couple, ready to rip the man’s head from his body. Grace remained on the ground, unmoving.
“Stop.” Fiora stumbled toward the man, protecting him as she put her body in front of Jaxx. It looked as if she tried to lift both arms, but blood ran down her side, and one limb merely shook. “Help them.”
Help them?
Jaxx wanted to shred the man into a thousand pieces. He heard his father and cousin joining them. Grier went to Grace and pulled her unconscious body to safety. Yusef stood beside his son, ready for battle.
“Protect the babies,” Fiora said, her words gasping.
She turned toward the man and reached for his blade. The man flinched and jerked his arm back. Jaxx smelled fear. It permeated the forest like a rotting corpse.
“Help them protect the babies.” Fiora’s voice was calm, and that calmness seemed to affect the man. He dropped the second blade and stepped back. The woman wrapped her arms around him as if desperate not to be separated. It was then Jaxx saw her pregnant belly poking through the rags she wore.
“Fiora?” Salena cried from somewhere beyond them, searching for her sister. “Fiora!”
“Help them,” Fiora pleaded. She pulled the knife from her shoulder and dropped to her knees. The bleeding became more profuse.
Jaxx swept her into his arms before