Her chest heaved as she tried to breathe through the pain and her skin grew pale. Once more she took the small black parcel she pulled from the pocket of her leg and opened it. She grabbed a white packet and tore it open using her teeth. She briefly closed her eyes before pouring the tiny granules over her wound.
A gasp passed her lips as she jerked from the contact. Kellan had never had much to say about humans, but he had to give the female credit. Her hands were coated with blood, her arms shook, she was weak, and it was dark, yet she never gave up.
His interest was piqued when he saw her pull out a curved needle and thread. With her wound on her left side, she had to twist to see it, yet she managed to get several stitches done before she slowly fell unconscious.
For long minutes, Kellan stared at her. The female was slumped to her side, her breathing low and irregular. He knew that a fever could soon overtake her.
If it were up to him, he would forget her. She’d die—as all mortals did. Then Kellan remembered why he had chosen to sleep. He had made a vow once, a promise he had broken because of his hatred of humans.
Con could have ended his life, but he had allowed Kellan his sleep. He seriously doubted Con would give him another pass. Constantine was the King of Dragon Kings. He was the ultimate law—though that never stopped any other Dragon King from doing what he had to do.
Con took their duty of protecting humans seriously. If it had been up to Kellan, he’d have wiped the world of mortals long ago. They were an infection that stained everything. Look what they had done to dragons.
Everything known about dragons was nothing more than a myth, feared and fantasized into something that wasn’t even close to resembling what life as a dragon really was.
Kellan vividly remembered standing after a battle with the humans to find his beloved Bronzes littered upon the ground. The bronze dragons were the Bringers of Justice.
While Kellan had ordered them to protect the humans, the humans had in turn killed them. A betrayal that even now, thousands of millennia later, Kellan couldn’t forgive.
Because even though dragons were supposed to defend mankind, mankind had never wanted their protection. The mortals had sought early on to betray the very beings that had ruled the land first.
But Kellan hadn’t been the only one betrayed. Ulrik, King of Silvers, had been deceived by a human female—and then by the rest of the Dragon Kings.
Kellan squeezed his eyes closed as he thought of that day. If he’d known what would become of his Bronzes, he’d have sided with Ulrik.
In the end, the dragons had been the ones to lose everything. Con had sent them to another realm.
And the Kings remained behind.
What good were they though? The few times Kellan woke from his sleep and faced the world, he found his brethren hidden away in plain sight, waiting until cover of darkness or a storm to dare to take to the skies.
Flying was their right, their privilege, and even that had been taken away. Because of humans.
Hours ticked by while he mused over his hatred of man, but still the female didn’t so much as twitch. Kellan would have no choice but to bring her to Con, because he didn’t trust himself to try and see to her wound.
Hatred didn’t so easily dissipate through the centuries.
He wasn’t ready to wake from his sleep, but with the two humans invading his mountain, Con would want to investigate. Kellan also found himself curious at the intrusion.
Using the telepathic ability between all Dragon Kings, Kellan called out Con’s name, knowing his friend would arrive quickly. With barely a thought, Kellan shifted into human form. He rotated his arms and shook out his legs. There were no clothes for him to don because he’d had no intention of waking for many more millennia.
He walked naked to the woman and squatted beside her. Kellan didn’t have the power to heal her as Con did. The bleeding had slowed, but it hadn’t stopped.
Kellan shifted the woman onto her back, noting how hot her skin was to the touch. His body, however, responded instantly to the softness of the female, and it infuriated him. His body needed release, but it wouldn’t be by this woman.
Promptly ignoring his thickening cock and the soft curves of the female’s breast, Kellan picked up the needle she had been using and finished stitching the wound.
The male had managed to miss any of her vital organs, but the wound was long and deep. As delicate as humans were, Kellan knew Con was needed if she was to live. The choice of whether she died or not would be Con’s.
Once Kellan finished, he bit the thread with his teeth and tied it off before lifting the woman into his arms. The feel of her curves reminded him of the yearning for a release clawing at him. He had to see to it. It wasn’t because of this particular female in his arms. It had just been too long.
Kellan told himself that once more for good measure before he strode from his cave.