Mack turned to Miracle, but she had already killed the other wizard, snapping him in half with her powerful jaws. In the firelight he could see her parents on the ground, shaking their heads and helping each other to stand. They’d been trapped in a strange blue orb, appearing to be unconscious. Killing the wizards had stopped the spell that trapped them. Miracle lowered her giant head and gave Mack a nudge and a questioning purr. He growled, nudging her back.
“Miracle, are you okay?” her father asked as he joined them, one arm around her mother and the other coming to rest on Miracle’s snout.
Before she could make any kind of answer, a great roar sounded, and another dragon, larger than Miracle and Tonya, rose into the sky. He breathed an arc of fire into the night, and Mack knew in that moment where her former mate had gone.
He’d shifted into his dragon and come back for a fight.
Mack knew he was no match for a dragon head-on, but he had some tricks up his sleeve. He wasn’t about to let Miracle fight on his behalf. Lifting his head to the sky, Mack howled, daring the male to come for them.
*
Miracle was feeling so many emotions at once she could hardly think straight. Mack had killed one of the wizards and set Tonya free, and now that the other males were dead, her parents were okay, too.
But they weren’t done fighting yet. Tais had shifted and was coming for them, his big dragon body covering up the stars in the sky as he blasted fire and battle-cried. Mack had fought well, but he was fur and flesh. One direct blast of Tais’s fire, and her mate would be nothing but ash.
She would fight for Mack, because he’d fought for her. She screeched, letting out her dragon’s fury at Tais’s actions. He circled the clearing once then tucked his wings and dove toward them. She braced for the fire that she knew would come. It would reflect off her scales, and the burn wouldn’t be severe. She lowered her body and curled one arm around Mack to protect him as best she could. When the fire came as he swept close, she heard two more roars join them, and lifted her head to see her parents moving on either side of her as Tonya blasted ice toward Tais. He didn’t stop his descent, or the fire that poured from him.
Mack slipped from her grip and raced up her shoulder, his claws scrambling on her scales as he moved. He leaped from her and landed on Tais’s neck as her ex curved in the sky by them, burning the ground with his fire.
Miracle roared in worry, but then she saw that Mack had climbed onto Tais’s head and was clawing at one of his eyes. Tais screeched, shaking his head to dislodge her mate, but Mack hung on. Miracle and Tonya lunged into the air and grabbed Tais, jerking him from the sky. Mack leaped safely from Tais’s head onto Miracle’s back. One of Tais’s eyes was torn out, hanging from the socket. Her ex rolled to the ground and reared onto his back legs. Miracle’s parents rushed in front of her and Tonya, ready to fight. For a moment, Tais didn’t move, and then he lifted straight into the sky to flee.
The sound of rushing wings filled the air, and she could see the darker shadows of other dragons as they moved swiftly through the sky, heading right toward them. Tais attempted to fly in the opposite direction, but the dragons caught him. They lifted him high into the sky, tearing him to pieces. She didn’t want to watch the gruesome sight, but she knew she needed to see him meet his end.
Mack perched on her shoulders. Her parents and Tonya stood with her, watching as the male who had tormented her for twenty years was destroyed by the king and the elders. She recognized the king because he was one of the largest dragons in the clan. His nephew was no match for so many males.
The dragons used their fire to turn Tais’s remains to ash, which they ate. Then the males circled the clearing where Miracle and her family waited, shifting smoothly into their human forms as they landed. Miracle, her parents, and Tonya shifted, but Mack didn’t. He’d told her that wolves had to stay in their shifts for several hours, but dragons had the luxury of being able to change forms back and forth without delay. She knelt next to Mack, resting her head against his neck.
“Thank you,” she said, her voice thick with emotion.
He growled and sat on his haunches, watching the dragons as they spoke quietly on the other side of the bonfire that the wizards had made. Her parents sat down next to her with a groan.
“That was fun,” her dad said.
“Dad!”
“What? I haven’t fought in ages. Felt good.”
“You’re ridiculous,” her mom said, smiling.
“I thought he was going to burn the forest to the ground, the asshole,” Tonya said.
Miracle lifted her head from Mack’s shoulder and asked the king and the elders, “Are you all okay?”