Mated to the Chaos - Georgette St. Clair Page 0,48
no chance to spew it at anyone else but her and the wolf. No chance to kill anybody else. Nanshe and the wolf leapt in unison. Meeting the dragon’s fire, Nanshe's protective shield guarded the wolf from being touched by the flame as it danced around her protective field, encasing them in a shower of fire. Carlo’s worried scream was only matched by his bellow of rage.
“Fight with me, mate. I am okay.”
She didn't hear Carlo answer, but she felt it.
The four of them—Torin, Carlo, Nanshe, and the wolf—attacked the dragon at once. The wolf raked at the sensitive lining connecting the dragon's jaw and reaching under the hinge to gouge at the neck as Nanshe sent power from her fingers to blind the dragon. The dragon’s pained scream filled the air, and the fire suddenly cut off, blood dripping around them.
Nanshe spared a glance to where Torin and Carlo were digging at the underbelly of the dragon. It fell, slamming to the ground with a thud and pinning Hollows beneath it, smashing them into nothingness.
The four of them redoubled their efforts, attacking and pushing as hard as they could. The other mages shook out of their stupor, tossing magic at the dragon. Gold, red, white, blue, and purple, all the colors of the rainbow, surrounded the dragon and held it to the ground.
“We cannot defeat it, but we can harm it enough that it will run away to protect itself. Don't stop!” Nanshe shouted.
They kept pushing and pushing until the dragon whipped out its wings, now tattered with the force of magic that had ripped through the tendons, and launched itself into the air.
“It's fleeing. Keep sending your magic.”
The mages did as Nanshe ordered, all of them doing whatever they could until the dragon spun high in the air and disappeared. Hollows turned into wisps, fading as the portals closed with a thunderous crack.
Encantado had faced a battle and survived.
As Nanshe looked around, she knew they had made it, but not unscathed. Broken bodies, charred forms, and bleeding soldiers littered the ground. How many had they lost? How many of Carlo’s pack were gone? How many of Torin’s Guardians would not live to see another day? How many had Skuld destroyed in the name of power?
Nanshe fell to her knees, tears pouring from her eyes. When would it be enough? Why had it had to come to this? There was no reason it should have.
“Oh, Skuld. In the end, sister, you will fail.”
“No, I won't. And I see you now, sister. Now I know you're with them. Do you truly want to battle against me? Do you think he will love you? He has never loved you in all the timelines that you have known him. He has always walked away. He has always run. And this time will be no different. Trust me. I've seen the future.”
Nanshe tried not to think about Skuld’s words. She had enough to worry about when it came to Carlo potentially repeating past mistakes. But for now, it was time for them to take care of their wounded.
Nanshe cut off the connection with her sister and looked to the wolf. “Leave now and go hide. I promise, your time will come soon.”
The wolf streaked away, disappearing in the disarray. Carlo and Torin looked at the wolf and back at Nanshe. She simply shook her head.
Some questions could not be answered until the right time.
Chapter Sixteen
At least a hundred mages were lost because of the dragon. The bastard had been on the battlefield for less than fifteen minutes and most of their casualties were from him. The Hollows had taken out maybe ten to fifteen mages and wolves but that was it, despite fighting for hours while Carlo, Lennox, Kallan, Teague, and Nanshe were gone. It surprised him to see time in Encantado had moved far faster than it did in the In Between. What was only hours for them ran a couple of days in Encantado itself.
Now Carlo understood what Heath had meant when he thought he’d been gone for such a short time yet Isadora had grown so much. None of this made sense. Carlo was pretty tired of time and how it affected all of them.
They needed to regroup. Luckily, the dragon hadn't created another area of Scorched Earth, but they could still see its effects. So many had been burned and some businesses would not be reopening anytime soon due to time needed to rebuild.
Carlo was sickened by what Skuld