don’t get hurt. Get it?”
“Got it,” Leortis rumbled, giving Cardin a dragon smile. “After I finish here, I’ll allow you to inspect every inch of my body for injury.” After winking at his human, Leortis added, “Inside and out.”
Cardin’s eyes widened. “You’d let me—” He paused.
Leortis knew what the rest of the question would have been.
You’d let me top you?
“Any time you desire,” Leortis vowed. It’d been almost a millennia, but for his mate, he would bottom.
“See!” Ruldin roared, drawing Leortis’s attention. “I told you mating with a human has made him weak.” Peeling his teeth away in a dragon sneer, his half-brother snarled, “Letting a human top him. He’s no longer fit to be king.”
“I accept your challenge, Ruldin.” Leortis used a fore-claw to gently push Cardin toward Dagskon. “I would say that killing my own half-brother will bring me no pleasure, but that would be a lie.” Once Cardin stood close enough to his tracker that he felt he was safe, Leortis started forward, Vicar and Warzer moving to act as a buffer between himself and the rest of the entourage. “You’ve had it coming for a while now, partaking in activities that are illegal by human standards, risking attention to our kind.”
“Wait, what—” Rivenger called, his melodious voice holding concern.
His brother completed the sentence. “—are you talking about?” Regaldin exchanged a look with Rivenger, then said, “We have not heard—”
“—anything of that nature,” Rivenger finished.
“Because there’s never any proof,” Leortis admitted. Leveling a hard look on Ruldin, he added, “And I’ve had people looking.”
Ruldin’s smile was a creepy mix of smugness and satisfaction. “Do you accept my challenge?”
“I do.”
Leortis hadn’t even finished uttering the two words when Ruldin launched toward him.
While it had been a long time, Leortis had fought in many battles—for territory against other dragons, for the right to mate with a prized female, or even against human knights back in the day. On top of that, Leortis sparred with his guards on a regular basis—although he’d always been discreet about it.
Now Leortis was glad that he had been.
Spinning under the attack, Leortis ducked his head and tucked his wings. He swung his tail upward, managing to sink several of his tail spikes into Ruldin’s wing. As he finished his rotation and again faced his half-brother, Leortis heard him bellow.
Ruldin only paused an instant, then kept on charging... but it wasn’t at Leortis. Instead, his half-brother lumbered toward Cardin. Roaring in outrage, Leortis spread his wings and lunged after him.
The pinch of teeth around his tail near where it connected to his body made Leortis spin, a snarl escaping him. One of Ruldin’s lackeys had attacked him from behind. Leortis should have expected the move, but he’d been too focused on his half-brother.
Blasting a stream of fire at the other dragon, Leortis spotted the other three trying to circle him. He worked through the pain and swung his tail, embedding two of his spikes in the groin of the dragon that continued to hold him. Finally, bellowing in pain, the beast released him.
Leortis saw Misanrue and the twins moving, too. Except, they stopped Ruldin’s other three friends. Yanking his tail free, he lunged at the dragon and clamped his teeth around its neck just below the head.
Punishment for interrupting a formal challenge was death, and he carried it out with swift precision.
After tossing the dragon aside, Leortis turned and searched for Ruldin and Cardin. He spotted the dragon sprawled on the ground. From the amount of blood oozing from his neck, he knew he was dead.
Vicar stood over him, an expression of scorn on his face.
Then Leortis watched as the other dragons parted, revealing their human mates... and a clearly pale Cardin. After a couple of steps toward his mate, he paused and peered over his shoulder. He confirmed that Ruldin’s buddies were indeed subdued.
Misanrue tipped his red-scaled head in a slight bow, since he was still holding a purple dragon’s neck between his teeth.
Rivenger began, “We are sorry—”
“—to be involved in this,” Regaldin finished. The yellow dragon dug his claw deeper into the red dragon’s neck that he’d subdued. “We were—”
“—misinformed.” Rivenger spoke that last word on a deep growl.
Once again, Misanrue tipped his head, also growling.
Good enough.
Deciding to hear the rest of that tale later, Leortis nodded to them all before starting toward his mate.
Cardin rushed to him, eyeing his rear end. “You weren’t supposed to get hurt,” he stated, placing his hands on his hips. “How are we supposed to go home