Bridges Burned (Going Down in Flames #2)(97)

All around her, people kept screaming. Valmont acted as her personal navigator, helping her avoid surprise aerial attacks and directing her where she was needed most. She did her best to save everyone she could. Inside her, fury raged. Who would do this? These were people, innocent people who shouldn’t be used as pawns in a dragon war.

“Bryn, over here. Now.”

She recognized her grandmother’s voice and followed orders. Her grandmother was building a wall of ice to keep flames from crossing a road to an undamaged section of town. Bryn reinforced the wall as her grandmother built it, exhaling ice until her throat felt raw. By the time they were done, she could barely flap her wings.

“What’s wrong?” Valmont asked as she set down on the ground.

“Tired,” she said. “So tired.”

Her grandmother landed next to her. “You’ve overexerted yourself. You need to eat. Follow me.”

She started to shift, but her grandmother took flight, so she pushed off the ground and forced her wings up and down, traveling to the edge of the forest, where she gagged. Deer, cows, pigs, and any other animals killed in the fire lay lined up like a bizarre buffet.

“No way.” She closed her eyes.

“Eat,” her grandmother ordered.

“I could shift.” Bryn said. “I’m sure—”

“Think of it as a big hamburger,” Valmont said.

“Are you serious?” Had he lost his mind?

“The others are doing it.”

Bryn looked and saw several Blues chomping down on deer and cows. And her stomach growled…oh gross…now the deer looked good. Wait, what was she thinking? She couldn’t eat Bambi….saliva pooled in her mouth.

“It’s in your nature.” Valmont said. “You are a carnivore and a predator.”

Okay. True. And the deer was already dead. But still…could she really do this? Roaring in frustration, she settled down by a small deer, grabbed it in her jaws, flipped it and swallowed it whole. She tensed, waiting for it to come back up.

“Everything all right?” Valmont asked.

“Besides being disgusted with myself, I’m fine.”

The Blues spent the next hour putting out fires. The enemy, whoever they were, had retreated. Once the flames were extinguished, all the refugees gathered on Main Street. Bryn, her grandmother, and other Blues joined them.

“Can we shift back?” Bryn asked. “Because I really want to brush my teeth.” She could swear there was deer fur stuck between her molars.

“Not yet,” her grandmother said. “We’ll wait for the Directorate’s order.”

The freaking Directorate. Which had failed to protect people she cared about. Again.

Wait. Had she said that out loud? Because people were staring. But if she’d said it out loud, her grandmother would have had a fit, so that wasn’t it. “Any idea why I’m the main attraction?”

“You’re the only dragon with a knight,” Rhianna said.

“And I’m spectacularly handsome,” Valmont added.

Bryn laughed. “That you are. Are you all right?”

“Tired and hungry and mad as hell, but other than that, I’m great.”

Bryn’s grandfather stalked down the street in human form.

“That’s our signal that it’s safe to shift back,” her grandmother said.

Valmont hopped off her back and removed the saddle. A strange sense of loss overcame Bryn, like she’d lost a piece of herself. She shifted and held a hand out toward Valmont. “Do you feel it?”

He dropped the saddle and pulled her into a hug, whispering into her ear, “Being linked to you felt right. Now I miss you.”

“Bryn.” Her grandfather’s tone was like the crack of a whip.

She stepped away, expecting her grandfather to blast her about inappropriate behavior.

“Come with me.” He headed down the street.

Hopefully he wasn’t taking her somewhere to yell at her in private. But he’d never been shy about yelling at her before, so what the hell did he want? Only one way to find out. She followed him down a side street and then wished she hadn’t.

Bodies. There were human bodies and dragon bodies lined up on the street. Burned bodies. Bodies with severed wings. Body parts still oozing blood with ragged flesh hanging off broken bones. Coupled with the sickening smell of burned flesh, it was all too much. Prickly heat broke out on her skin. She gagged. Oh God. She could not throw up. She closed her eyes and focused on not projectile vomiting deer parts all over the road.

“Bryn,” her grandfather roared.

“I need a minute.” Slow, even breaths. She could do this. Her grandfather was asking for her help. She needed to be up to the task or he’d never take her seriously again. “Okay. I’m good.” She jogged over to where he stood by a Red dragon’s corpse.

“I want you to use your healing abilities to scan this dragon. Tell me what he is.”

What was he talking about? Then she saw it. The red scales weren’t charred in places like she’d thought at first sight. The black color was uniform on each scale, like a pattern. Like the way she looked in her natural state when her scales were red with blue tips.

Maybe she wasn’t the only crossbred dragon after all.