Page 45 of Her Silent Knight

Trusting his dragon, Kaede slammed into the door. It bowed under his strength and then went crashing to the ground. Standing on top of the toppled door, Kaede stared down the hall to the front door.

What he saw nearly stopped his breath. A shredder was holding his mate’s limp body in the air. Behind it, more shredders were approaching the house. In his line of vision, he counted four. They usually roamed in packs of ten or more.

Kill them all.

“With pleasure.”

The shredder holding his mate let out an ear-piercing shriek when he spotted Kaede. Too late, Kaede was already rushing toward him. Kaede flexed his fingers, releasing his claws. The creature started to retreat.

Not today.When Kaede reached the creature, he wrapped one arm around his mate’s body and with his other hand, he sank his claws deep into the shredder’s side. His claws tore through rotting flesh and muscle.

He grabbed as much as he could then pulled his hand back, taking with him a handful of the shredder. This time the screech the creature let out wasn’t as loud. It was a deep guttural sound. One that denoted pain.

That’s the sound we like to hear.

“Indeed.”

Hurting, the creature retracted his claws from his mate’s neck. Kaede already had his arm around her waist and easily caught her when the shredder released her. Absorbing his fire back into his body, Kaede backtracked into the house and slammed the front door.

Locking it, he retreated to the back hallway with his mate’s unconscious body in his arms. He stumped out flames as he went. Fuck. He’d lit up in her house and left flaming footprints from the bedroom to the front door.

He didn’t have time to put them all out. And her bedroom door, that was on fire, was already filling the house with smoke. The sound of the pack of shredders were closer. The locked door wouldn’t keep them out.

Kaede couldn’t put his mate in the bedroom with the broken door and the smoke. He decided on the second room. He carried her there and laid her down on a cot. There were five puncture wounds in her neck.

They’re deep.

“I know.”

We haven’t claimed her yet. Our fire won’t heal her.

“I know. Fuck!”Snatching a portion of the sheet from the cot, he ripped it to shreds and wrapped a piece around his mate’s neck to stop the bleeding. She was so still. Too still.

She’s still breathing, right?

“Yes,”Kaede answered as he tied the ends of the fabric into a knot.

She’s immortal, right? Only immortals can be banished here. A little blood loss won’t kill her.

Kaede didn’t have time to respond. The front door crashed in. The shredders were in the house that was quickly filling with smoke. He had to finish off the pack and get his mate out of there as fast as possible.

With one last glance at his mate, he left the room, locking the door before he exited and closed it behind him. He broke the doorknob. Not that it would help. Maybe it would buy him a few seconds. That was it.

Fire. The shredders hated fire. He placed his palm against the door and lit it up. Even if his fire burned down the entire house, his mate would survive. But could she survive the smoke?

She should. Just like we can.

“She’s not a dragon though.”

There was no time to debate with his dragon. A shredder stepped into the hallway, sidestepping the flaming door. It wasn’t the one he’d wounded. This one was taller, larger. Its shoulders were bent to keep its head from hitting the ceiling.

The bigger they are, the harder they fall.

Indeed. The shredder strained its neck and let out a shrieking call, letting his pack know it had found food.

“Flame up,”Kaede ordered his dragon.

His beast eagerly obeyed. Two more shredders stepped into the hallway.