Which is the only real weapon they have against us.
“Watch out for their spears!” Theo bellows.
The ground is visibly shaking with each stride he takes.
My claws scratch at the scales, and I get in there with my teeth. I can see the place where the heart of the dragon is beating. I cling to him for dear life as he rises back onto his feet, and I can feel his fire burning the hairs on my back. I scrape and claw. I dig and bite. I finally peel enough of the scales back to expose the furious beating of the dragon’s heart, then I throw my head back and howl.
I want everyone in the Council to know who took down their dragon.
I sink my teeth into the pliable skin, and the dragon lets out a wild cry. Fire fills the air and smoke settles along the snowy battlefield the Council has chosen to die on tonight. Saliva is pumping from my glands and filling the puncture wounds I leave behind on Doryu’s skin. Robbing him of his ability to heal as I bite my way toward his heart. I tear at tissue and rake at veins. I dig through the fat and the gristle and the muscle until I find that pathetic little heart of his. The heart of the Primal who doesn’t care about who he hurts, so long as he can experiment and find a way for his race to live.
With his death, the dragons will be extinct.
“So long,” I growl.
I bite into the meat of his heart, and he goes crashing to the ground. I tear it from his body, then I stand on my own haunches and take another howl. Blood is dripping down my neck, and I haven’t felt stronger in my life. The child inside of me is rolling, and the strength in my bones is growing. The marrow in my body is growing more and more solid. Power, like I’ve never felt before, is rushing through the cells of my body. I crunch through the heart of Doryu before spitting it out onto the ground, and everyone watches in shock as the dragon morphs into his dead human form.
General Tera is wounded in the snow and Vlad comes striding to stand beside me. I look over at him. Our eyes connect, and I can see him studying me. His eyes fall to my stomach before taking in the sheer amount of blood my fur is covered in.
Then a grin trickles across his Wolfish face.
“Ready?” he growls.
I look back at the raging battle, and I see the Council standing there, wide-eyed. They’re shocked. Frozen in their places that I could single-handedly take down the only dragon in existence. The most powerful Primal race on the planet was no match for my strength, my claws, and my bite.
I can see the fear in their eyes.
They all know they’re in trouble.
My eyes land on Chief, and for a moment I feel conflicted. Chief is one of the reasons why we are safe. One
of the reasons why we have the intel we do. But he’s standing on the wrong side. He isn’t fighting with us. He’s fighting with them. Aligning himself with the Council instead of with us. His want to continue experimentation can’t be allowed. There’s no way to regulate it. No way to put it safely in the hands of someone we trust. I don’t believe in the annihilation of the human race, but I do agree with General Tera on one thing.
The experimentation can’t continue.
I leap into the air, over the heads of everyone else. My paws land onto Chief and knock him squarely into the ground. He morphs into the biggest bear I’ve ever witnessed. With claws six inches long and eyes beady and round with the want to fight. But I pin him to the ground so he’s unable to move. I can see the confusion in his eyes. I bare my teeth as saliva drips from my fangs, and from the distance I hear a piercing cry.
“Clarissa! No!”
I hear Theo’s voice, and it causes my gaze to rise up to the edge of the woods.
He’s standing there, with his shoulders rolled back and blood dripping down the front of his body. He’s fighting without morphing, and I’m not sure why. My eyes drop back down to Chief and I know I have to do right by Theo. I love him. And I know him watching me kill Chief will forever drive a wedge between the two of us.
“You have a choice,” I growl. “You can still stand with us.”
Chief’s eyes focus, and his claws come up and swipe my face.
“Chief! Stop!” Theo bellows.
“Kill her!” General Tera squeaks.
“Will someone get that bat?” I growl.
On it, Clarissa.
I look over and watch as Sebastian takes off after the flighty coward. Vlad’s already sunk his teeth into his next victim. A Council member I don’t recognize. My eyes turn back to Chief, and I can feel blood trickling down my face.
I lean in close and sniff his carotid before my jowls find his ear.