Into The Dragon's World - Brittany White Page 0,52

she saw them.

Brady had shifted into the magnificent dragon she had seen that night in the grotto—scarlet red, with wide-spanning wings and lithe, powerful limbs. Wallace was nearly as tall, but his body was thick with muscle. They circled each other warily at first, but Brady kept himself between her and Wallace. Wallace launched his attack, trying to knock Brady over, and they grappled fiercely. Brady was finally able to push Wallace away and instantly blasted him with a river of fire. The water around them turned to steam, and Casey could smell the acrid stench of burned animal hair and charred flesh.

Wallace couldn’t have survived that, she thought. She watched Brady’s dragon slowly flap its wings, his tail moving deliberately through the shallow water. The stillness of the air was suffocating. She wanted to call out to Brady but didn’t dare distract him. Time stopped.

She stood shakily.

She saw the dragon’s head turn in her direction, and suddenly the bear was on him, tackling him, driving him deeper into the water. Wallace’s jaws snapped fiercely as he clawed at Brady’s chest and belly, digging for that one soft spot that would end it.

Casey looked around frantically. Something—anything—to help Brady…

Almost without consciously thinking about it, she grabbed a chunk of brick from the fragments of wall that littered the ground. She didn’t know what she was going to do until she had done it, jumping onto Wallace’s bear form and clinging to his back. She dug one fist into the coarse, matted fur and raised the brick high—

Casey! No!

She heard Brady’s voice screaming in her mind, but there was nothing left to be done but kill the bastard. Grunting with effort, she brought the brick down hard against the bear’s ear. Another downward swing and she heard the crack of his skull. Another swing and she hit him between the eyes. She was dimly aware of her own screams, but heard only Wallace’s howls of pain.

Wallace roared, staggering away from Brady long enough to grab Casey by the arm and hurl her away from him. Casey screamed as she flew backward. She heard the crunch of her head hitting stone, but felt nothing.

As blackness took her again, she saw Brady rise up, wings fully extended—his head thrown back as a plume of fire shot into the sky.

And then...nothing.

30

Brady

Brady watched Casey crumple, blood steadily pumping out of a wound on the side of her head. She’d hit a rock jutting out of the water dead on. Time slowed. Stopped. He couldn’t tell if she was still breathing.

Wallace’s mocking laughter echoed through his mind. Oops! Guess we both lose!

Brady turned his attention back to Wallace. Any bit of mercy he might have shown before was lost now, replaced by a cold, gnawing heat deep in his chest. He slowly rose to his full height, extended his massive wings, and flapped once, twice, rising higher into the air until he was twenty feet off the ground. Wallace stared up at him with his blank, black eyes.

Brady dove.

He propelled himself at Wallace with another powerful flap of his wings. He hit Wallace with his rear legs first, knocking him off balance and onto his back. Brady settled his entire weight atop him, pinning him down with his talons, and roared white hot flame directly into the bear’s face. Wallace screamed, flesh and fur burning away under the onslaught, and swung wildly at Brady, knocking him away with a lucky shot.

Free of Brady’s weight, Wallace rolled into the water, soaking his patches of still-flaming fur. Brady drew his wings in close to his body and crouched low, baring his teeth in a snarl. Wallace threw his head back and roared, bellowing rage into the night. The two faced each other, waiting for a reason, circling slowly.

Too late, Brady realized that Wallace was luring him away from his position in front of Casey. Wallace was too close to her now. Before he could react, Wallace lunged for Casey, drawing back one paw for a final slash.

He moved by instinct. Brady leapt forward with an immense thrashing of his wings and hooked his rear talons beneath the bear’s arms. He dug in as Wallace struggled to free himself, taking them both higher and higher with every flap of his wings. Brady knew what he might do, and he knew that he could not stop himself. His mind was clouded with thoughts of Casey lying dead in the water. And their child, gone before it could even live.

Brady flung