The Arena novel Chapter 45

After waking up alone the morning after claiming Tana again, I have an inkling of how she felt when I left her. I wanted her to know that I was claiming her, that I wanted her, that she was mine. But she left me.

I’ve come back to this spot as frequently as I can. I’m hoping that she’ll come back, that maybe I’ll be lucky enough to be here when she does, and we can finally talk, but she hasn’t returned.

After the first couple of times, I started looking over the mountain wall that looked staged. What I found shocked me. It’s a cave of treasures, art, sculptures, and gemstones. There are so many gemstones; some of them are larger than my fists.

When I first moved the boulder that was blocking the cave, I smelled it. This must be her family’s cave. Since she’s the last of her kind, it would be hers now, but the scent of the others lingers here. Her scent lingers here.

I’ve moved around this space, smelling everything, finding the pieces that smell more like her. She’s partial to the gemstones. A deeper smell, more like volcanic lava, surrounds the paintings, her father, maybe? A softer scent, that of a forest fire, mostly surrounds the sculptures. Maybe a mother or a sister.

So, I find myself laying among the gemstones, taking in her scent and wondering how she found these treasures. If the humans ever found this place, they’d have it stripped in no time. So, I’m very careful to cover the cave when I leave, making sure that her treasures stay safe.

And here I am, back to my favorite addiction. I’ve just reached the top of the mountain when I hear it. It’s a different sound from others that I’ve heard, but I know the sound now – the sound of a dragon.

I’m moving before I’m consciously aware of what I’m doing. I don’t think as I leap off the side of the mountain, skidding down the vertical surface that I’ve grown accustomed to. I hit the bottom, and I’m running as fast as my Lycan legs will take me.

I hear it again and this time it’s a roar of anger. Something is wrong. I am still several miles away from where I can hear the commotion when I hear the sickening sound of a harpoon launcher, followed by the screech of pain from a dragon.

I push myself faster, and as I finally come up to where I can see, I feel my stomach drop. There are hundreds of hunters on the ground. Tana is laying, unmoving, with a harpoon in each wing, and ropes around her mouth. There’s a huge net over her body, and the hunters are nailing metal stakes into the ground.

There is another smaller dragon that they are pulling to the ground beside Tana. This one is red as well, but she has a black stripe down each side of her body. As I watch, trying to figure out how to help, I hear him.

I turn to see Troy standing on top of one of the hunter’s vehicles, shouting orders. A feral snarl rips from my mouth. He will die for hurting my mate.

In an instant, I’m racing toward him. Some hunters make the mistake of getting between me and my prey. I take them down easily. They may have guns, but they are human and no match for me.

Troy turns, seeing me. His lip curls. “Get him!” he shouts.

It diverts some of the hunters from the dragons. The little one is still thrashing around, screeching, trying to get free and help Tana. I can’t think too much about Tana’s much too still body on the ground. If I do, I won’t be able to focus. My dying won’t help either dragon.

I feel an arrow lodge into my thigh. I snarl as I feel the silver arrowhead make its impact. I ignore the pain shooting up my leg, ripping the arrow out and throwing it, arrow first, into the eye of one of the hunters, taking him down. Keep shooting me, assholes. I’ll just send them right back.

I see Troy’s eyes go wide. He wasn’t expecting me to be able to resist the silver. I don’t have time to wonder why it’s not impacting me as much as it should be. Another arrow comes whizzing at me, this one aimed at my head. I grab it mid-air, quickly turning it and throwing it at Troy.

It misses its mark, but he tumbles off the truck he was standing on, falling to the ground before quickly pulling himself back up and looking at me over his shoulder. He turns to get in the truck. I leap, sliding over the hood of the truck to get to him just as he jumps in and starts the engine.

I slam my claws into the window of the driver’s side as he throws the truck into drive and begins peeling out. I rip the window out of the truck, shattered glass flying everywhere. Arrows begin whizzing past me, and I duck to escape them. Troy takes that opportunity to race away. I want to go after him, but I need to help the dragons.

I turn just in time to see every hunter focused on me. They’ve managed to bring down the smaller dragon, wrapping her up just like Tana. I’m a strong fighter, and I can take on my share of shifters, even more when it’s humans, but there are hundreds of them. So be it. I have to protect my mate, or, I have to die trying.

Just as I’m about to jump into the fray and what will probably be my death, I hear it. The screech of another dragon. From the corner of my eye, I see Tana’s emerald eye look to the sky. I glance up and see a shimmering white dragon. She smells like freshly fallen snow, and her scales look like opals glimmering in the afternoon sunlight. When she opens her mouth, it’s like a tornado was let loose. The air dragon.

The hunters begin scrambling to find something to hold on to as her wind buffets us around on the ground. I get down on all fours, using my claws to anchor myself to the ground and begin making my way to Tana.

Just as I reach her, I hear another screech. I look up to see sapphires glimmering in the sky. Kaylani. I watch for a moment while she sends her water toward the air dragon’s wind, making a waterspout.

I turn back to Tana, looking into her eyes. They are full of panic. “I’m here, Tana. I’ve got you.”

‘Help her.’

I look at her. “You think that’s funny, huh?”

She snorts at me. I release her head and neck, and she lifts them up, turning her head to watch me. “You know,” I say, continuing my chatter as I work, “I had never seen a dragon up until about 4 years ago. And now, I’ve seen all five of you. Although, I admit I thought there were only four of you.”

I turn, looking at her. “I’m going to release your tail now, so don’t knock me over with it.”

She nods her head at me, twisting her neck to watch me. Once I’ve got all the stakes out of the ground, I turn to look at Little Red again. The ground continues to shake, making my progress slower than I’d like. I really want to get to Tana, but I can tell this dragon is a juvenile, and I don’t want to startle her by moving too fast.

“Okay, Little Red. For me to get this net off you and get those harpoons out, I need to get on your back. Are you going to let me do that?” I ask her, and her large head comes over and nudges me in the direction of her back. Goddess, this little dragon is so sweet. She makes me want to pick her up and hold her, which is ridiculous because she’s about twenty times my size.

I carefully move up her back, trying to move softly to avoid hurting her wings. I begin pulling the net over her back, rolling it up as I go. I’m careful when I pull it off the harpoons, finally tossing it off her body.

I turn back to her. “Wow, you’re gorgeous. I mean, don’t take this the wrong way; my heart belongs to Tana, but I can appreciate beauty when I see it. And you, Little Red, are beautiful,” I tell her, totally fanboying again.

Even in her pain, she reaches her snout around, touching me gently and taking a deep sniff of me while I stand very still on her back. When she’s done, I look at her. “Ready for the painful part?”

I don’t understand her cry, but I’m assuming it’s something along the lines of not wanting to have to go through it. “I’ll be as fast as possible. Then I need to start getting Tana out of her bonds.”

Her head whips around, looking at Tana, still tethered to the ground. She turns back to me and nods. I walk to the first wing, bending down to get a grip on the harpoon. “I’m going to count to three. One … two …” I yank the harpoon out.

Her cry of pain is sharp, and it pings something in my heart. I toss the harpoon and quickly walk to her snout, putting my hands on her and doing what I can to be there for her while she recovers. When she’s ready, I lean my head against hers, looking her in the eye. “One more, then we’re done.”

I get into position, and I look at her. “On three. One …” I yank it out, not giving her a chance to get too tense. As she cries in pain, I toss the harpoon, jumping off her back and going to her head. I wrap my arms around her snout as best I can, leaning into her and trying to lend her my strength. “I’m sorry, Little Red, but it’s all done now. Time for me to help Tana.”