Page 3 of The Ice Prince's Fated Mate
Even from this distance, with a window between us, I could sense her dragon rising up from the depths of her mind, shattering the bonds that had held it out of her reach. It arched and stretched, and then it preened. For me.
A further growl shook the landscape and dropped needles from nearby trees as the beautiful dragon showed off, loving the attention from such a big, strong dragon like me. As she should. That was my mate.
Fangs descended from my upper teeth, sharp and ready to bite her, to claim the woman as mine for the rest of eternity. For a thousand years here, and a thousand more when our human sides moved on and we took our place as Pure Dragons. An image of our beasts winging west over the Great Abyss filled my mind. The final journey, made together.
At last, I was no longer alone.
“Dirk?” a male voice sounded from nearby, yet far away. “Are you okay?”
I barely heard them. The only thing I had ears for was the pounding of my heart and the victorious cry of my dragon. I took a step toward the chalet, just as a heavy hand landed on my shoulder.
Spinning wildly, wings exploding from my back, I snarled viciously.
Noneshall interfere with me and my mate.
Surprise filled Caz’s face at my reaction, causing me to assume for a moment that the sudden spike of alarm I felt must have come from him.
But that wasn’t true.
Whipping back around, I stared at the chalet just in time to see my mate’s eyes roll up into her head and her body go limp. She fell out of sight behind the counter, taking my entire soul with her.
“Ella!” I roared at the bloodcurdling screams coming from inside the chalet.
The intensity of them froze my feet in place, but only for a second. Something was wrong with Ella. She was hurting from the awakening and the realization of the mate bond. Or was it something more? Why had she fallen out of sight? Had someone attacked her? Hurt her?
My dragon and I were in immediate agreement. If anyone laid a hand on her, I would kill them.
The air around us crystallized as moisture turned to ice, adhering itself to my skin like a set of armor. I broke out into a run toward the house as more ice clustered around my hand,forging itself into a blackened ice blade that glinted under the midday orblight.
A moment later, dark shapes came darting out of the trees on either side of the chalet.
“Reds!” Caz bellowed as the attack we’d feared materialized right in front of us.
The fear I’d been feeling suddenly coalesced into perfect understanding. The fire dragons were in the house. They were hurting my mate. I would destroy them all. No threat to my mate would be allowed to survive.
I surged across the open ground with death in my eyes.
Two
Ella
Run.
As far as I could, as fast as I could.
That, I told myself, was the only thing I could do. Nothing else would bring me the space and the time necessary to think, and process. I had to run, from everything, but more importantly, everyone.
Including him.
But I couldn’t. The slow, agonizing march of pain up my side had left me on the floor. I was reduced to a pathetic crawl across the kitchen floor. Above me on the stove, eggs splattered and began to burn.
My plan for breakfast was ruined.
The idiocy of that single thought threatened me with laughter that formed into sobs before I could process it any further.
Shouts came from out front. I tried to focus on them, but a fresh wave of agony swept up my ribs, carving its white-hot hooks through my skin as it went. I thrashed on the floor, trying desperately to pull myself to the back door as screams tore themselves free of my throat until I tasted blood.
It was too much.
