He wasn’t able to see, but all their enemy had done was to swallow the light. Everything else was as it had been.
He shifted back into his human form, then reached out. Two steps forward—and his fingers encountered the door.
For a heartbeat, relief welled up in him.
Then he realized that the door was open.
Terror pounded through his body. He made his way inside, remembering the layout. There were stairs at the back that led up to the guest rooms. He still couldn’t see anything—and he didn’t dare to call out for Chiara.
He couldn’t alert her attackers. No one knew he was here. If he could surprise them...
There was a muffled sound above him, like something heavy dropping to a carpeted floor.
A second later, he was up the stairs, all secrecy forgotten as his heart pounded with fear and anger.
He didn’t know in which room she was staying, but something was pulling him forward now. He ran, faster and faster, feeling something pierce his heart like a sharp hook, pulling him towards the end of the corridor...
And just when he pushed open the final door at the end, the darkness lifted.
The room was empty. Chiara was gone.
The room looked as if she’d put up a fight. A chair was turned over. A lamp had fallen and smashed on the floor. Her bed was empty.
And the window stood wide open.
Jared rushed towards it, but he knew what he’d see even before he thrust his head outside. There was a strange smell lingering—the scent of burning wood, of smoke and ashes.
And there, barely visibly against the dark sky, a dragon soared, clutching something in his claws as he flew towards the towering mountaintops.
Even against the night sky, the dragon looked black. Jared was too far away to make out details, but he knew what he’d see.
A dragon’s body covered by shadows. A fire dragon tainted by darkness.
Steele. Or someone just like him.
And whoever it was had Chiara.
Chapter Five: Chiara
Chiara couldn’t breathe. The only sound she could hear was that of her panicked heartbeat, as loud as a drum in her ears.
They were high up in the sky. Far below, she could make out the scattered lights of the tiny mountain village—and they were quickly leaving them behind.
I’m in the air. I’m flying. I’ve been kidnapped by a dragon.
Nothing made sense anymore.
Her run-in with the werewolf had turned her life upside down. She’d thought she’d never forget the terror of that night.
But now, with huge claws wrapped around her body, she was frozen with fear, unable to believe what was happening.
To believe in werewolves and vampires was one thing. She’d seen a werewolf, after all.
But never once in her wildest dreams had she believed that dragons were real.
The creature’s claws were hard like steel, gripping her tightly. Even so, all the dragon had to do was loosen his grip—
Her heart skipped a beat, and she tore herself away from that thought. There was nothing she could do. She couldn’t fly. She had no one she could call for help. And how did you even fight a dragon?