Rhys was stunned, his heart stopping when he saw the dark stain of blood spread through Lily’s shirt. She looked from Rhys down to her stomach, her eyes wide with shock. Her fingers touched the blood. She looked skeptically at the red on her fingertips, then to Rhys.
Something fell into her hand from her sleeve. She palmed the knife and jammed it into Kyle’s leg. He bellowed from the pain, but Rhys couldn’t take his eyes off Lily. Everything had happened so quickly, and he was taken unawares.
The he watched her collapse and lie unmoving.
A new kind of rage built within him. He’d been provoked, riled to the point of no return. He became maddened, incensed.
Enraged.
The dragon inside him thundered for retribution, bellowed for justice at having his mate torn from him.
And he was going to exact his brand of reckoning.
The ground shook as dragon after dragon landed around him, but Rhys only saw the humans, the two mortal men who dared to take something so precious, so treasured from the world.
Lily. She was the only thing he’d had to hold onto, the only one who’d found a way into his soul. Without even knowing she did it, the mere thought of her had pulled him from the darkness when Ulrik cursed him. She alone had brought him back.
Rhys shook, not from his wound, but from his wrath. He climbed to his feet while Dennis and Kyle looked for an escape. But there was no escape.
Not now.
Not ever.
Rhys flung out his arms, his heart shattered beyond repair, and threw back his head as he roared. He started running toward the cottage, not realizing until he busted through the door and stood protectively over Lily’s body that he was in dragon form.
His brethren fanned out, encircling the cottage on the ground and in the air, blocking the two mortals. Rhys looked down at Lily. She had a hand on his front leg, touching his yellow scales.
Their gazes met as the last breath left her body.
Something inside Rhys snapped. He recognized the anguish and grief, but it didn’t touch him. How could it when he was now dead inside?
Rhys briefly thought about roasting Kyle and Dennis alive. There was nothing hotter, nothing that killed as quickly as dragon fire, but it would be too swift. He wanted something that lasted, something that would torture them as long as he wanted.
He spread his wings, knocking the rest of the cottage to the ground. Then he called the shadows.
Dennis and Kyle glanced around in panic when they heard the first whispers of the shadows approaching. Dennis, the fool, tried to run when he caught sight of the black mass, but the shadows ensnared him quickly enough.
Rhys didn’t look away until the screams of both men echoed around them. Then Rhys lowered his head to gaze upon Lily once more. His attention was pulled when he heard someone walking through the rubble. Somehow he wasn’t surprised to see Rhi. The Light Fae’s horrified expression showed what he didn’t dare.
She walked beneath him to kneel beside Lily. After Rhi touched Lily’s neck she looked up at Rhys. “I’m sorry. She’s gone.”
Rhys knew it, but hearing it spoken aloud broke his heart all over again. He needed to hold her, to bury his face in her hair. Uncaring if he lived or died, Rhys shifted back into human form.
He snorted. Fate always mocked him. When he didn’t want to die, he was on the brink. Now that he didn’t care, the curse was broken. And he lived.
“How fucking marvelous,” he muttered contemptuously.
Rhi backed away, stumbling over debris. “Rhys? I didn’t think you could shift.”
He ignored her and gently, tenderly lifted Lily in his arms. Rhys was going to carry her away from the screams of her brother and ex-lover, but as soon as he had her in his arms, he fell to his knees.
Rhys rocked her, the pain of losing her so thick and overwhelming he couldn’t breathe. He clutched her tightly. “You can no’ be gone,” he whispered. “Lily, wake up. I need you. I love you. Come back to me.”
“She’s gone, Rhys.”
He stilled at the sound of Con’s voice. Rhys lifted his face, uncaring that he had tears falling down his cheek and neck.
Con shook his head sadly. “I’m sorry I wasna here to save her.”
Rhys wearily got to his feet and adjusted Lily in his arms. “It was my duty to protect her. I let her down.”
“You couldna have known her brother would shoot her.” Con blew out a breath and looked beyond Rhys’s shoulder. “How long are you going to make them suffer?”
“It’s only been a few minutes.”
Con’s gaze softened when he looked at Lily. “It’s been hours, Rhys. We’ve been waiting.”
“We?” For the first time Rhys took notice of his surroundings. All of his brethren on the ground and in the sky remained in dragon form holding vigil.
Only Con was in human form, and since he was as naked as Rhys, he’d flown there as a dragon. Then Rhys’s gaze landed on Rhi. She stood off to the side silently waiting.
The screams of Kyle and Dennis increased. Rhys glanced at them over his shoulders. “I wanted Dennis to feel as much pain as he put Lily through. I wanted Kyle to know what it meant to have everything stripped from him.”