Max couldn’t breathe as he heard those harsh words and was instantly taken back to the day when Sera had surrendered him to her tribe for his harrowing. He still remembered the cold resignation on her face as they hauled him out to beat him.
The way she’d just stood there …
Like he deserved it. As if she didn’t care at all what they did to him.
A part of him had died that day. The biggest being his heart that had never completely healed.
Now, she was going to do it to him again. Only this time, Kessar would kill him. He knew it with every part of himself. There was no chance of survival.
Had this been her plan all along? Was that why she’d been so desperate to find her sisters while they were here?
You’re such a fool. When are you going to learn that you’ll never come first with your mate?
Seraphina saw the expression on Maxis’s face. In that moment, she knew what he thought and it slapped her hard. Not that he doubted her.
The fact that she deserved his doubt.
Reaching up, she cupped his face in her hands. “I made you a promise, baby. I intend to keep it.”
With those words spoken, she did what she’d never done before. She stepped back, turned toward her queen, and let loose a burst of fire at them all.
“And I’m fulfilling mine, Nala. Anyone wants a piece of my mate has to come through me. You want to fight? You better arm up, bitches.” She let loose one more shot before she grabbed Max about his waist and pulled him back the way they’d come.
He stumbled and almost fell as they ran. “You just attacked your tribe.”
“No. I just defended my mate.”
“You shot fire at them.”
She paused to glance at him. “Are we really going to waste time reliving it?”
“We’re definitely doing something.” He cracked an adorable grin. “Arm up, bitches?”
“You left me alone too long with Fury.”
He laughed at the same time her tribe was closing in and gaining ground faster than she cared for. Arrows shot past them. “Arm up, Strah Draga.”
With those words, he turned into his dragon form. She jumped into her saddle and held on tight.
Max rose up on his hind legs and used his wings to create a massive wind that sent them tumbling back on their asses.
In that moment, she loved him even more. “You don’t have to take mercy on them for me. They wanted to tilt the dragon. Let them tilt.”
“Are you sure?”
She leaned down over his neck and kissed it. “Positive. In this battle, you’re the only one who matters to me.”
“In that case…” Max threw his head back and let loose his Bane-Cry.
It was something no drakomas did lightly and was reserved for only when their lives were under dire threat, and they had no way out. In all the centuries he’d lived, he’d never made the cry. He’d only answered them.
Mostly because he’d never cared whether or not he survived a fight.
For the first time, he wanted to live. And he fought the Amazons and gallu with everything he had. They came at him with spears and claws, and he unleashed his fire and magick at them, while he whipped at them with his tail.
He banged at the ground, causing the stalactites to fall down on top of them. Several screamed as they were impaled.
Still they kept coming.
Max couldn’t teleport out. The gallu wouldn’t release the nether gates. Which meant none of his drakomai brethren could get in.
But it didn’t stop his demonic aunts from helping. They circled and ran at the gallu and Amazons, doing their best to protect him and Sera.
He kept inching back into the darkness, trying to find some way out of this mess and dark realm.
As he went back, he lost his footing and fell, and tumbled down the side of a ravine.
Sera’s gasp echoed in his ears.
For a moment, his heart stopped beating as he feared he’d lost her. Then, he felt her hands on his scales, near her saddle, clutching at his body. “I’m still here,” she breathed.
Reassured, he extended his wings and caught the light breeze so that they could ride it through the unseen black. The very edge of his talons scraped against the sides of the walls, but it seemed large enough to hold him. “Can you see anything?”
“No. You?”
“Nothing.”
Suddenly, he heard Kessar screaming out. “If you want me to release you, dragon, give us the Tablet and Bowl.”
Max let out a tired sigh at a demand he knew he could never meet. There was no way he could surrender either of those objects to a creature like Kessar. He would be too destructive with them.
“Looks like a nice vacation home. What do you think?”
“Sure,” Sera said in the same playful tone. “Put up some curtains. A little color. Shrunken heads. We can make do. Particularly if we nail Kessar’s hide to the wall. That would be a lovely decoration. Don’t you agree?”
“Throw in Nala’s scalp and … aye. Quite homey.”
Seraphina laughed. Only her dragon could manage to be so amusing when things were this serious and frightening.
“What’s your answer, dragon?” Kessar demanded again.
Max sped up.
And slammed into a net.
Terrified he’d crush or hurt Sera, he immediately changed forms and caught her against him. Unfortunately, when he did so, she’d already pulled out her knife to try and cut the ropes. A knife that went deep into his very human stomach.
Sera’s features paled. “Max?”
Unable to breathe from the unexpected pain and depth of the cut, he fell back and used every bit of magick he could to hold his human form. He had to. There wasn’t enough room in the net for the two of them if he were a dragon.
He’d kill her.
Seraphina shook as she saw how much blood was pouring out his side. “What have I done?”
His breathing ragged, he gave her a sad smile. “You have to run, Sera.” He handed her the small Tablet and placed it in her hand. “Don’t let them catch you.”
“I can’t leave you like this.”
“You have to. Think of your children. They need you.” His hand trembling, he kissed her. “I love you, Seramia.” And with that, he cut through the net with his claw. “Use your dragon form and fly.”
Sera fell through the rough hemp cord, and changed, but she didn’t go far. She couldn’t. Especially not when she looked back to see him lying inert in the net, waiting to die.
Alone.
And all because of her.
Refusing to let it end like this, she went back for him.
The instant he saw her hovering dragon body, he glared at her. “Sera! What are you doing?”
“We got into this together and we’re getting out that way.” As carefully as she could, she cradled him with her dragon arms to her chest, and gained a whole new appreciation for his restraint. He made it appear so easy to use his dragon body like a human’s, but it wasn’t. It required a whole different kind of dexterity and skills.
And as she flew, she prayed for a miracle.
One she knew wouldn’t come as his breathing grew fainter and fainter, and the demons came closer and closer.
“Don’t leave me, Maxis. Please…”
Just as she thought she might have slipped past their enemies, a bright flash in front of them blinded her.
And more enemies surrounded them.