Weaving Fate - Nora Ash Page 0,100

fury blending into a desperate inferno as I shielded my blond mate from the dragon’s wrath, too.

Sweat beaded on my brow and my pulse drummed in my ears, muffling all other noise. My magic was draining. Fast.

Keep fighting!

I don’t know whose command lanced through my mind, but it gave me another surge of energy. I roared a challenge and gathered my power, thrusting it outward with all my might. The golden ball of energy soared through the air and slammed into Nidhug’s side with a low rumble.

The dragon staggered, and I had a moment’s worth of elation. He could be defeated!

Snarling, he swung his enormous head around, his alien eyes locking on me. He flapped his wings, the gust of it pushing both me and Loki by my side to the ground before he opened his maw and shot a burst of fire at us.

No! No!

Sickening fear that didn’t belong to me seized my body. From each side of the dragon, my mates shouted and beat at its impenetrable scales, lightning bolts bouncing off its flesh as they did everything in their power to take the beast’s focus away from me.

Nidhug ignored them as if they were nothing more than annoying flies.

I managed to raise the shield before its fire hit, groaning with the effort of keeping it up as the power of the dragon beat down upon me.

Hands grabbed onto my shoulder and shook.

I hissed, looking behind me at Loki, who was shaking me hard enough to disturb my concentration.

“If I drop this fucking shield, we’re both dead!” I growled between labored breaths.

“Hmmmmnng!” He released my shoulder, but held out his bound wrists, his dark eyes imploring as he gestured toward the still-fire-breathing dragon. Even without words, his plea was clear.

I stared at him, weighing my options. This was Loki, god of fucking everyone over. There was every chance he’d make a run for it the moment he was free, and I was in no state to stop him.

But… if we didn’t get help, we would be dead in a very short time, anyway. I only had minutes left of my magic reserves.

I pulled the sock from his mouth and yanked at the tight knots tying his wrists together. My divided attention made the shield above us flicker, heat from the flames encasing us slipping through.

“Shit!” I pushed harder, forcing my magic out again, until the heat eased. Only when the flames relented did I return to Loki, franticly pulling at his rope.

“Go for his tendons!” Loki roared at my mates, who were still fighting to regain Nidhug’s attention. “Quick!”

They moved as one, darting behind a hind leg each. They swung their swords in unison, hammering them in against the tendons above his heel.

The dragon snarled and turned his long neck toward them, whipping his tail like a weapon. They both sprang aside before he could hit them, and he turned to swing at them with his claws.

“Hurry,” Loki breathed. “They aren’t going to last long without your magic shielding them, and once they’re dead, he’s coming for us.”

“Noble to the fucking end,” I growled, pulling desperately at the knots. Whoever’d bound them—Bjarni, if memory served—had been overzealous in his execution. I had to grasp onto one of the flickering tendrils of my magic and shot a bolt into the rope to force the first knot apart. The rest came easier.

The rope fell to the ground by his feet and I stared up at the dark god, waiting for him to snap his fingers and disappear in a cloud of charcoal mist. Or possibly bats.

Another searing burst of pain along my back made me spin around to the horrifying vision of Modi falling to the ground, ruby liquid spraying from a long gash in his back. Nidhug pulled back his mighty claw dripping with my mate’s lifeblood, readying his final strike.

“Modi!” I screamed, throwing everything I had at him.

My magic sliced through the air and burst against the dragon’s leg, shoving him off course. He hissed and righted himself, but instead of coming for me, he opened his maw, focusing on my wounded mate lying gasping before him.

I tried to force another bolt of magic out, but all I caught were a few embers that sparked in the air around me before fizzing into nothing.

Panting, I collapsed, my vision swimming. I had no more to give.

Modi. Modi. No.

A cool hand wrapped around my nape and shocks of power rushed through my body like voltage rushing through a depleted battery.