Page 48 of The Dragons’ Eternal Mate

The two of us snuck up behind the horde’s old doctor, silent as death until I was right behind the dragon. I grabbed his bag and threw it to the forest floor.

Jenkins screamed for half a second before I clamped my hand around his mouth, tsking at him as I said, “Ah, ah, ah. And just where do you think you’re going? I seem to recall someone saying if you ever set foot on our land again, we’d end your miserable existence.”

The dragon tried—and failed—to break free from my hold, pulling at my hand, his thin nails attempting to do damage, but not even breaking the skin.

“Let go of me!” his shouts muffled underneath my hand. “If Cyrus hears about this⁠—”

“Cyrus is hiding in Byron’s horde because he’s too much of a coward to come out and face us.” Griffin stood to my right, glaring down at the old dragon.

“The only thing that traitor is going to hear is that I tore your throat out.” I tightened my grip, pressing down on the side of Jenkins’s neck. “You were helping that bastard, and something tells me you knew all about his plot to kill Rowan, didn’t you?”

Jenkins’s eyes flared wide above my hand still covering his mouth, but then his sneer turned from shocked to evil, brows furrowing as he squinted.

And he bit me.

“Ah.” I yanked my hand away, tossing the fucker to the ground, where he landed with a hard thud.

Unfortunately, he was also near his bag. Hastily, he reached inside, wildly searching in the dark for whatever was important to him. Griffin was on him a moment later, seizing the back of his jacket as he cursed under his breath.

Turning the old dragon around, Griffin looked at Jenkins’s hand. I followed, immediately noticing the needle sticking out of his palm. In seconds, the guy began to convulse, slipping out of Griff’s hold as he jerked erratically, foam gathering at the corners of his mouth.

I rushed over to him, having seen enough of Rowan’s healing to know this was bad. Pulling the needle from his hand, I looked down at the label. From what I knew, this was a sedative—a human sedative. The plunger had been pressed in as far as it could go, and I had no way of knowing how much he’d administered.

Still, if this was for Allison, I had to imagine it was an adult dose.

“Fucking hell.” Griffin tried to hold Jenkins as he flailed, but there was no stopping the way he shook.

Until the movement ended on its own.

I jabbed my finger under his chin, checking for a pulse. Nothing. “Fucking hell, indeed. He’s dead. Stupid asshole was going to inject a human sedative into Allison. This one.” I tossed the needle into his bag. “It would’ve killed her, too. Goddammit. The moron was going to murder the person Byron wanted them to take.”

Griffin dropped Jenkins unceremoniously, letting him fall the few inches to the ground before standing and wiping his hands on his pants.

“That was… Wow, of all the ways I thought this fucker would kick the bucket. Though”—he shrugged—“dying because of his own hubris is kind of hilarious.”

I snorted. “Ha, you’re not wrong. But we should⁠—”

A roar bellowed out from the trees, coming from the direction of Allison’s cabin. Griffin and I exchanged looks, taking off without another word, running at a dead sprint now and not caring whether we were loud.

The pine trunks whipped past me as I rushed forward with everything I had. Griffin trailed, only a half a length behind me, and we made it to the cabin moments later, finding Grey and Bastian facing off against four enforcers.

“Stay the fuck away!”

I shot my attention to the door, where Colin was standing in front of it, his eyes glowing with rage as he protected his mate. Jenkins had distracted us for too long. We were meant to be here, bringing up the rear behind the intruders.

If he weren’t already dead, I’d kill the fucker.

Still, we didn’t waste time, hurrying up. Griffin got the one on the right side while I snuck up behind one in the middle, crashing into him and tackling him to the ground. The momentary stalemate ended abruptly. I could just make out Bastian, running forward and squaring up with the enforcer to the left of where mine had been standing.

Hitting the ground knocked the wind out of the guy I was on top of, and I shot onto my knees, flipping him over to drive my fist into his face. I landed a solid punch before he blocked the second, hooking his hand to my side and laying a blow to my ribs.

I grunted low, growling at the bastard and landing another shot to his head, then another. His head dropped back, the light officially no longer on.

I pushed to my feet, assessing the situation around me. Colin still stood at the door, and I pointed at him, yelling, “Get inside and barricade the door! Don’t let them in, no matter what!”

He nodded once and then disappeared inside. Once he was secure, I turned toward Griffin, the dragon he’d gone after facing off with him. Griffin was on the ground on his ass, and I pegged the flashing metal in the enforcer’s grip as he swiped at Griff.

A blade? Fuck.