It took a few seconds for the full impact of what happened to hit him. In that time, Cole became acutely aware of the blood sliding down his face and dripping off his chin. Each drop hitting the gray stone floor sounded like a gunshot fired inside a steel room.
His head slowly turned back to where he last saw the father he loved so much. In the place of the man who’d been his dad, mentor, and best friend was only a pool of red liquid.
The man who broke through his unbearable grief over the loss of Cole’s mother and saved a lost boy who was drowning in his sorrow was gone. The man who, for a month after his mother’s death, had come into Cole’s room every night when he woke crying.
When Cole proved to be inconsolable, his father would carry him into his room and settle him in his bed. Nestled against his dad’s side, Cole would finally fall asleep again.
Over the following five months, his dad didn’t bother to put him in his room first but simply let him sleep beside him from the night's start. Cole had outgrown such things, but he still recalled those nights and the love sheltering him even after his mother’s love was gone.
His father was as broken by her death, but his love for Cole triumphed over his sorrow. During those troubled days, he nursed his son back to life while a part of him remained dead forever.
Then Cole’s shock and grief wore off, and a white-hot fury the likes of which he’d never known erupted through him. It was so intense that his claws lengthened and his fangs extended as the lycan broke free in a way it never had before.
He launched himself at the dragon. The creature reared back as Cole sank his claws into its throat. The dragon’s eyes rolled as Cole sawed at the wall of muscle surrounding its throat. The beast’s teeth snapped as it twisted its head to get at him, but Cole was wedged up beneath its head and out of the way of its powerful jaws.
“Stand down!” the Lord bellowed, but Cole barely heard the command, and he didn’t obey it.
Animalistic snarls filled the room, and it took him a couple of seconds to realize those sounds were coming from him. However, they were not enough to deter him. He was lost to the mindlessness of the wolf and the thirst for vengeance.
The dragon swiveled enough that teeth raked his arm. He ignored the agony and blood those teeth created as he hacked through sinew as thick as steel. Warm breath plumed against his back as the dragon twisted its head to snap at him.
Smoke burst from its nostrils, and seconds before it released a plume of fire, Cole slid to the side to avoid it. He was too lost in the bloodlust of the lycan to be able to control those flames. The dragon’s fire blasted against its neck but didn’t leave a mark on its flesh.
The blood soaking Cole dripped off and filled his mouth as he slashed through the monster’s flesh. The metallic liquid caked his nostrils until he could barely breathe, but he continued to avoid the dragon’s jaws while seeking to destroy the monster.
Around him, the slithering sounds of the others barely penetrated the beat of his heart rebounding in his ears.
“That is enough!” the Lord shouted. “Stay back!”
The command rebounded throughout the great hall, but Cole barely heard it as the dragon’s movements grew sluggish and its head tilted at a funny angle. Then its powerful jaws sank onto his arm and clamped down.
The pain the bite created only fueled his desire to destroy as he sank the claws of his free hand into the gap he’d made in the beast’s neck. His flesh gave way as the dragon’s teeth scoured his bone.
As the creature sought to tear his arm from him, Cole lifted upward with his free hand. Sinew and skin gave way, and a hissing scream issued from the dragon as he tore the thing’s neck upward.
Bone cracked and popped as a rending sound filled the air. The dragon bit down harder as its blood spilled over him.
Cole continued to pull upward until he severed its spinal cord and it couldn’t hold onto him any longer. The dragon released its grip on his arm seconds before Cole succeeded in tearing its head the rest of the way off.
When the dragon’s head fell to the ground with a wet thump, Cole released it and dropped down. His shoulders heaved as he spun on the Lord.