The Escape

“You are going to pay for this heavily!” Alburn warned. “This girl is in my debt and needs to stay in my mansion till she pays her debt. So, if you take her, then you better understand that I will take it personally.” 

“I don’t care!” replied Brishor as his lips curled in disgust. “We are leaving from here at this instant. I don’t care if the talks fail, but you don’t touch the hair of that girl, because if you do, then I am going to rip that rutting head of yours. Do you understand?” 

Alburn shot a dark glare at Meryl and the to Chezzal. While Meryl was looking like a lamb between three massive giants, her eyes wide with fear and her skin flushed, the two dragons looked too fierce to be countered. This was not the time to discuss further. He had to take this up when there were no threats hanging on his head. He was going to stir so much noise that the treaty would break forever. And he would blame Brishor for it. “Wait and watch, Brishor,” Alburn snarled. “If this girl steps out of this mansion, I am going to wreak havoc.” There was a lot at stake at this point of time. 

“Then watch me take her,” Brishor snarled back, baring his fangs. “And I will see what you will do!” Saying that he gestured with his chin to Chezzal to take the girl out of the mansion and into the garden. They were going to leave right now and take her to Galdere with them. 

As Alburn watched, Chezzal held the girl’s hand and pulled her towards him. While still showing his sword to Alburn, he walked with her towards the exit of the meeting room, even as she resisted. Brishor followed them closely behind, his eyes darting for threats. But there were none in the room, for all had dropped dead on the floor. However, as soon as they reached the garden, they heard Alburn shouting orders at his guards to attack them. Chezzal lifted the girl in his arms like she was a weightless doll and ran. He ran hard with Brishor at the heels. 

“Let me go, please!” Tears welled in the girl’s eyes as she tried her best to escape from the madness, from the chaos. But the man was so strong that he didn’t even budge when she elbowed him or kicked him. She was like a cat against two lions and that too massive ones.

The man who had held her spoke to her in a dark and gravelly voice, “We are taking you to safety, girl.” Suddenly, she saw something that snapped her shut. 

A shock of jade green wings, black and red and green scales sprouting was seen in the next few moments over the longest garden in the estate of Duke Alburn. Chezzal had transformed into his massive dragon form and before doing that he had handed the girl to Brishor. The dragon king held her waist in his arms as she shrieked out of fear and thrashed against him. He caught one of the long spikes on Chezzal’s neck and climbed atop him. First, he made her sit and then in one swift move, he mounted the dragon. The girl’s shriek stifled in her throat as she watched them and her mouth fell open. A rumble vibrated the dragon’s chest, his neck turning red with fury. He turned to look at the guards behind him who were still chasing, and he let out his fury that turned into fire at the guards. Painful shouts echoed in the estate. With one last look at the nearest charred body, Chezzal pushed his hind legs in the ground and lifted in the air taking his riders up along with him. 

And this time the girl screamed. She was out of her wits. Arrows shot in the air, which broke upon impact with the hard spike. Brishor covered her with his body and leaned down over the neck of the dragon in order to take all the hits. The arrows shot past them, whizzing through the air at hair’s length. But Brishor had covered her fully and so well that while his skin bruised, he didn’t let a single arrow touch their mate. 

—Ours— 

Brishor hummed. 

—Yes, ours—

Chezzal agreed. He roared another blast of fire across the sky with content, with satisfaction. They found their third mate. He flapped his wings hard to get out of Alburn’s estate because he knew that the duke was sure to send more soldiers after them. They had to get out of the human realm as soon as possible. 

“Leave me!” the girl thrashed against Brishor. “I have to go back to my home. Please can you take me to Windley? Please.” She looked with wide eyes at him. But the man looked at her with his intense green eyes and pulled her tightly in his arms. Their hair whipped against the chilly gusts of wind. She started shivering in her dress. With one hand, Brishor removed his cloak and covered her. She struggled against him, but her struggle was ineffectual, which the dragon king found… adorable. 

“Calm down, little one,” he said in a lilting voice. But the girl only started crying, and it was like iron claws in his heart. “Don’t cry. We are here to protect you forever.” 

“Why?” she asked, as she sucked in a sharp breath and scrunched up her nose. She stilled as if she had never heard those words. 

Her heart accelerated and Brishor said, “Calm down your heart.” But she was so panicked that it was totally understandable. Not only did she see a dragon shifting for the first time in her life, she mustn’t have known that such creatures existed. Her shock was natural. He stroked her arms lovingly. “What is your name, little one?” he asked, trying his best to distract her from the shock. He was dying to feel her skin under his lips. 

“Meryl,” she replied. 

“Meryl…” he said her name with a rolling tongue, which sounded like a purr, like reverence. The way he spoke was soothing to her nerves, the way he stroked her calmed her, the way he held her made her feel secure. But then he asked, “What is Windley?” And her trance broke. 

“You have to leave me there,” she said, as her fear returned. “That is where I live.” 

“Now, no more, little one,” said Brishor. “You will live with us.” 

“What?” she shouted over the booming beats of the wings unable to believe what he said.