Dragon Knight-Commander (A Cullen Rutherford Shapeshifter Romance)

Chapter 31

Whether the dragon's grimace was a smile or a snarl I had no idea, but my attempt at distracting him failed. He looked away and all his attention went back to pinning Cullen down in the balloon of light. Then the dragon angel sat up on his haunches and pulled back like he was going to do a smackdown on my future husband.

'Stop! Help - someone help me!' I screamed. 'Get away from my mate!'

I felt a jolt through my body and a warmth spread through me. I kept calling out to Cullen because the more I thought of him, the stronger I felt. I was bathed in the light I saw surrounding Cullen when we made love. I heard the music. There was nothing sensual about it, but the tune wound around me and relieved my heart. I looked around. The battle was still raging on except it was in slow motion. As the light and sound surrounded me, pain left my heart and moved to the triangle on my hand. My palm glowed like it did when I was in the midst of battle with darkspawn.

A rumble underneath the ground shook me onto all fours. It also pushed the black dragon back onto its feet. The earthquake had bought Cullen a few seconds. My heart soared.

The ground burst open. It erupted around me in a triangle. A giant triangle. Templars and soldiers standing on the thrown-up terrain were spat into the air.

Hundreds of demon spiders slithered out of the punctured land and stood around me. They all stared at me with their beady eyes. Their glowing mouths opened and closed and they fixated on me without moving.

A final straw broke.

Maxwell shoved me. 'You're glowing. You're literally yellow. Have you just brought an army of spiders to the party?'

The battle cries lessened as everyone turned towards the light that was apparently me. Cullen flipped over onto his feet as the attack from the templars ceased.

All the spiders' eyes were on me. I felt different. I felt strong. And I felt sick of spiders.

'You're still glowing,' said Maxwell, backing away. 'Did you summon these demons?'

'I don't know,' I yelled at Maxwell. 'I hate them.' I held up my hand. 'Leave me alone,' I shouted at the spiders. They turned and spread away. 'Come back' I whispered.

They came back and stood there, swaying, looking at me.

Crikey. 'Attack anything that is hurting the golden dragon,' I shouted.

They rushed at the Red Templars, tearing them apart like packs of dogs, ripping the deformed demons away. They beetled up the black dragon, biting and lancing with their sharp, armoured bodies. The dragon angel was covered in giant crawling, nipping spiders, making him turn away from Cullen to fight them.

A new wave of spiders burst up though the ground. 'Kill the black dragon,' I said to them.

Cullen said in my mind, 'You're hissing. It sounds like you're hissing at the spiders. Are you speaking to the spiders?'

'They can understand me.'

The bubble surrounding Cullen dissipated. He rolled onto his feet. 'My venom has enhanced your magic. Use it,' he ordered me in my mind.

'How?'

'Do you hear the music, feel the light that surrounds you?'

'Yes.'

'I draw extra power from that. I slow the music down when I'm fighting and everything loses speed so I can assess my next move. You control the music. You control the light and the magic.'

I let the magic rush through me. It came from the earth and stopped at my heart, entering me, mixing with his venom into my blood then dividing out into my cells, winding around my body just like the melody was spiralling around my brain. I could feel it happening. I slowed the tune down and ordered up more demons from the earth beneath me. My body wanted to flop onto the ground and let the magic have its way. I grabbed Maxwell for support. 'Anchor me,' I said.