Page 80 of Red Dragon’s Flame

And then chaos swept over them.

Four soldiers ran towards them, and Michelangela went wolf, ripping through her clothes and attacking. She drove them off, ferociously defending Devon. One of the Allohim dropped down and flung lightning at her. She dodged and it missed, singeing her flank, but the force threw her backwards.

The Allohim swooped in and grabbed Devon, carrying her toward the one large vessel that was still empty. With her last bit of consciousness, she realized what they were going to do.

They were going to fuse her with the new queen egg. Bind it to her so that it couldn’t get away. It was wrong, wrong, and she couldn’t even struggle or fight.

They were almost there when a flash of white went by underneath her, knocking the vessel out from under her. Mikey again, fighting for Devon’s life. An Allohim took aim at her with a crossbow, and a black wolf leaped at it out of nowhere, slamming the crossbow aside. The bolt went wide. The black wolf landed and nuzzled Mikey, then turned to fight.

The Allohim holding Devon tried to fly upwards toward the descending queen egg, and Devon heard a mighty roar. A red dragon dropped in from behind them and raked its talons across the Allohims’ wings, ripping one of them clear off.

It shrieked and plunged downward, and the dragon snatched Devon out of its arms.

Mikah.

I’m here.

He Changed to human and landed, throwing a spell at two approaching soldiers and knocking them head over ass. Michelangela and the black wolf leaped on them. Mikah pulled a golden disk out of his pocket and slapped it against Devon’s chest.

She could breathe. Her heart beat. She still couldn’t move anything below her neck, but the air moving freely into her lungs was like heaven.

Mikah cradled her in his arms, trying to get them to the wall, to keep them out of the battle. The room was in chaos—phoenixes were being born everywhere, little balls of fire that burned whatever they touched. Banarak were trying to grab them, trying to stuff them in their mouths as their hands burned to the bone.

The mother phoenix—Devon’s phoenix—had burned out with the birth of her babies, and drifted to the ground. The queen egg landed in the dying flames. They blazed up again.

Out of the cauldron burst the Allohim leader, crackling with power, wings alive with dark fire. He flung a rope of it towards Devon. It snaked around Mikah’s neck, yanking him backward, cutting off his air.

Another rope shot out and encircled Devon’s waist. The Allohim reeled her in, dragging her away from Mikah as he fought the magical rope that was strangling him.

Before he could reach out with his magic, the rope around her disappeared, and Devon dropped straight down into the center of the dying phoenix.

She burst into flames.

Mikah saw Devon fall, saw the fire flare up around her.

She didn’t have her phoenix anymore, for protection. All she had was his necklace, the heart of his hoard.

It wouldn’t be enough—not to protect her from a fire elemental.

Using strength he didn’t know he had, Mikah ripped the Allohim’s magical rope out of its fucking evil hands and dove for the fire. But a pillar of flame had shot up around Devon, burning hotter and hotter, melting the stone and sending everyone diving for cover.

It might be too hot even for a dragon. Devon would never survive.

From above, Emon dove down and attacked the transformed Allohim, going for the wings as Mikah had done. It screamed and fought, but it was no match for the Darkwing Dragon in a rage.

Emon tore it apart, and the phoenix inside sprang free. With a great ringing cry, it dove at Mikah—and then it was inside him, Changing him back to human, bearing him down into the heart of the phoenix fire.

Everything else around him seemed to disappear. All he could see were walls of flames with an impossibly large space in between them, as though he’d been transported somewhere else. Devon stood as though suspended, back arched and arms outstretched, head lifted to the sky.

Her flesh was burning.

Without thinking, Mikah leaped at her, catching her in his arms. He could feel her disintegrating and he tried to hold on, but she was slipping away.

Merge with her. The bell-like tone resonated through him. Your flames must become one.

Merge with her? But how?

his dragon said. His fangs manifested, and they bit into the place between Devon’s neck and shoulder, like the animal shifters did.