Ancient Enemy - Katie Reus Page 0,6

land. I have no problem providing food for the city, but that doesn’t give you the right to show up and steal my pet.”

“Ms. Kinley, that dragonling isn’t—”

“The dragonling has a name. It’s Willow.”

The wolf’s eyebrows raised slightly, and she was vaguely aware of the other two wolves slowly moving outward from their partners—as if they wanted to surround her, Hazel and Willow.

Oh, hell no. She wasn’t going to give them the chance.

Without waiting another second to let them dare try to hurt or take Willow, Dallas crouched down, shoving her fingers straight into the rich soil of her land. Then she softly chanted a spell before raising her hands above her head and tossing a ball of wild magic at the wolves and dragon.

She moved so quickly they didn’t have time to react.

Except for the dragon. He started forward, smoke coming out of his nose. “What the hell—”

Hundreds of lavender plants rained down from the sky onto their heads. Take that!

“Holy shit,” Hazel murmured as Dallas grabbed her hand and tugged her toward a softly whining Willow.

“Hold on tight,” she ordered as they both jumped on Willow’s back. Leaning forward, she held on to her dragonling and ordered, “Fly!”

Hazel let out a yelp as she grabbed onto Dallas’s waist from behind.

They rose into the sky in jerky, quick movements as Willow frantically flapped away. It was like riding on a broken tilt-a-whirl, but she was able to keep a solid grip on Willow’s neck, keeping her footing.

She glanced over her shoulder, knowing they wouldn’t be able to outrun the others forever. The big dragon hadn’t shifted yet because he was still fighting through all that lavender. She knew the male could follow them, but if he tried, she’d toss another spell at him.

For now, she was going to hide her dragon away and then come back and talk to them. She wasn’t exactly sure what King’s wolves would do to her but at this point she didn’t care. If they wanted to arrest her or whatever it was they did, then fine.

She wasn’t going to let them kill her pet.

She’d lost so much. She wasn’t losing Willow too.

Chapter 3

Rhys watched as the little dragonling flew awkwardly into the sky, the two females hanging on tight. As he batted away the ridiculous amount of lavender covering his face, he looked over at King’s wolves, who were doing the same.

“Damn it,” Darius said as he managed to swim out of the mountain of flowers.

“Could’ve been worse,” one of the other wolves said. “Could’ve been a swarm of bees. Now we just smell good.”

Darius’s jaw tightened. “She obviously wasn’t trying to hurt us. She’s just really protective of the dragon. How the hell does she actually have a dragon as a pet?” Even though it came out as a question, it was pretty clear the male wasn’t looking for an answer. Grumbling, Darius rubbed a hand over his face and grabbed his phone out of his pocket before calling King.

Rhys was quiet as he watched the little gray dragon fly over the treetops and disappear. He wanted to race after them, but unfortunately he followed King’s orders right now, and would as long as he lived in the Alpha’s territory.

Not that he was actually living here in the permanent sense. He’d been here almost two weeks and all he wanted to do was hunt down and destroy Catta. King didn’t actually know his purpose for being here, however. He just knew that Rhys was here while he worked on “something.” And as payment for him being allowed to live here, he got to help out in any way King saw fit. Unfortunately that cut into his hunting time, but he knew he was supposed to be in New Orleans. Could feel it in his blood.

“King says to bring them in,” Darius finally said as he slid his cell phone away.

Rhys nodded because he’d figured as much. He’d just been waiting for the go-ahead.

Darius gave him a hard look. “You can track them?”

He made a scoffing sound. Of course he could.

“Good. Find them, get them to sit still and wait for us. Do not harm any of them.” A soft, deadly order.

Rhys narrowed his gaze. He didn’t need to be told that. Somehow he bit back a sharp response. “I don’t think they’re going to go far. It’s clear all the farmers here are pretty tight.”

“I thought of that too,” Darius said, pulling his cell phone out again. “I’m gonna call all the