and slammed into him, plunging him toward the ground. Teeth bit into his shoulder area, and his dragon roared.
He slashed his tail around and struck the creature that held to him. It let go, and both spread their wings before hitting the water. If Ash had to guess, he would bet this was Tom’s animal. No wonder the man was a dickhead; he belonged to one of the most hated clans in Europe if the ring around his throat was any indication.
The dick might be the meanest, but he surely was not the most agile. That award went to him. Tom came for him, claws out, mouth open. Ash easily slithered through the air, sliding out of reach.
Tom roared and banked to the side, coming after him again. Ash flew over the top of the caldera to see what Smoke was doing. He had the men on their knees, hands behind their heads. But Valentina wasn’t there. Find her! He wanted to yell. He waited for Tom to follow him up over the top.
From the corner of his eye, he caught the movement of an almost shadow-like being. Tom surged up from below him, sneaking around the mountain. Claws dug into Ash’s sides, keeping him in place. If he tried to slide away, the claws would slash through his scales.
Instead, he whipped his head around to the side and struck the other dragon in the neck like a vampire. Tom bit into his wing, cracking delicate bones. Both creatures roared and pulled away.
The dark creature swung his feet up to rip at him with his toe-claws. Ash threw his head back, thrusting his shoulders toward the water, the rest of his body flowed in the same path like a ribbon floating in the breeze.
As he skimmed the top of the water and circled back up, he flew behind the creature and used his tail to slap Tom into the side of the volcano. The crash was violent enough for Ash to see rocks fall into the bowl from the ridge. He topped the crest, worried that their mate had been injured.
Smoke had her in his arms, carrying her up the side of the dip. Ash saw the hole where the steam and water had been shooting out. He was directly overhead, eyeing the first wisps escape the hole, signaling the coming eruption. The water rushed up at the same time Tom popped over the wall.
Ash rolled away, and the steam slammed into Tom’s dragon. As Ash watched, a silver object that looked suspiciously like a scuba air tank rocketed up and pierced the dark dragon’s eye, white and red tissue squirting out from the orb. It roared and tumbled through the air, shifting into human form before hitting the water.
Ash looped his body around to rush to the humans to protect them from the burning liquid. Of course, he would be too late as the water was already coming down. He shouldn’t have worried. His trusty, responsible, beta had them covered with his dragon. Their mate was safe.
Chapter Twenty
After shifting behind the volcano cone, Ash slipped on a pair of shorts from a stash kept inside one of the caves for times like this. He hated the amount of time it took to hike back to civilization, but he had to see how his mate was.
He saw the helicopter and security boats head out to where Tom had hit the water. His men would make sure all the treasure hunters were rounded up and held for questioning later. He dreaded that he would have to tell Kristin about her husband almost getting others killed by his greediness, but it might be the thing she needed to kick him out of her life for good.
When he reached the medical clinic, Niko, from security, walked out.
“Niko, did you find that son of a bitch, Tom?”
His security head wiped the blood from his hands. “Yeah, we found the low life bastard. His fall broke a few bones, but the worst is he’s missing an eye.” Chuckling, he went on. “He wanted to be a pirate. Looks like he’ll be wearing a patch on that eye for a while.”
“I guess you rounded up all of Tom’s crew.”
“Yeah, but we have a slight problem.” Niko looked away.
“What’s that?”
“What do we do about Mark? He was there, but he swears he was trying to help Val, but Tom threatened him.” Niko paused, waiting for Ash to answer.
“I can’t imagine him wanting to hurt anyone. Yeah, he’s