Dragon's Mercy
16.

"You got caught on purpose?"

"Of course. You think Nestor would catch me if I didn't want him to?"

"No, I guess not." She smiles as her inner dragon roars with pleasure. "But I'm nervous Nestor will try to kill you before we get a chance to escape."

"No, he wants your flight to love and accept him. Which means he's going to make a public spectacle of my death. But we'll be long gone by then."

Suddenly, the door opens and Nestor stomps inside. He strides right up to Ryker and punches him in the face.

"Nestor, no!"

"Fuck off, Maria. You chose this loser over me."

"Yeah, she should choose the guy that's about to execute her, instead."

Nestor punches Ryker again.

"Nestor, you're weak as hell for punching someone who can't hit you back."

He turns her his glare to her and punches her in the stomach.

"Fuck, I'll kill you!" Ryker goes crazy against his chains while Nestor hits her.

He looks back at Ryker and gives a cruel laugh. "You're going to watch as I gut Maria in front of you." He punches him one last time before leaving.

"Ryker, are you okay?"

"I'll be better after I kill that son-of-a-bitch." He wipes a spot of blood from his nose. "If I can get us out of the cuffs, can you sneak us out of here?"

"Yes. I don't think Elena knows about our secret tunnels."

"Good. Because I've enlisted the help of your friends."

"What friends? I have no friends."

"I found Crispin in the woods by my house. He's agreed to help us. We just need to be patient."

"Well, I've got all the time in the world."

Ryker gives her a smirk before his tone turns serious. "Tell me how my brother kidnapped you."

She gives him every detail about how Mason dressed like a dragon hunter and gave her over to Nestor. He pulls against his chains in anger. "My own fucking brother. I should've known."

"No, you shouldn't have. Family is who you're supposed to trust."

"Yes, but I knew Mason was next in line to be dragon lord."

"At first, I thought he was only after me. But once I saw him working with the dragon hunters, I knew it was him who set you up all along."

"That means my mother is also in danger. She was kidnapped with me the first time. And he'll need her support if he wants to take over as the dragon lord."

"Your mother hates me, so I think she'd support getting rid of me but not getting rid of you too."

"No one's getting rid of you. My flight will be on my side." His tone changes to one of contemplation. "Mason seemed to be excited when I became dragon lord."

"He had to be. You were the older sibling and much stronger than him. You were raised to take over as the leader. He had no choice but to follow."

"But why turn on me now?"

"It's possible that it's the first time the opportunity has presented itself. Nestor may have gone to him with a deal."

Ryker shakes his head, his eyes searching her face. "My own family betrayed me and here I am, in a dungeon with the woman who used to be my greatest enemy."

"Ryker, I wish we could've settled our differences sooner...." she pauses. ".....before my parents and your sister and father had to die."

"It could've been worse. You and I could've met on the battlefield." He looks away for a second. "There's something I need to ask you."

"You can ask me anything."

"I'm not sure what's going to happen with our dragon flights. All I'm sure abut is when this is over, I want us to be together."

Butterflies flood her stomach as she processes what Ryker is asking her. "So, you want us to somehow stay in the same flight?"

"Yes. We will take back your flight and save your people from Nestor and Elena's lies. But after, I want us to stay together. I'm not sure if that means merging our flights, but all I know is that you're my mate and I can't be apart from you."

She stares into his gorgeous eyes as he waits for an answer. "Ryker, I don't want to be with anyone but you. You have my heart, please don't break it."

"I promise, I won't. You always were meant for me. It's why you didn't marry Nestor. We were supposed to be chained together." He pulls on the chains, trying to get closer.

"Yes. Couples that are kidnapped together, stay together."

Ryker lets out a small chuckle and her heart warms. "Oh, yeah? So this is like a relationship test for how well we communicate under pressure, then?"

"Yeah. And I say we work well together. You're a great partner."

"I'm going to be your partner forever."

"Forever's a long time, Ryker. That's quite a commitment coming from you."

"I know it is, but I also know there will never be another person for me."

"You're quite romantic for a dragon lord."

"No, I'm not. I just need you to know how I feel incase I die."

"We aren't going to die."

Their eyes lock and a powerful energy passes between them. She feels as if their bodies have merged. "Do you feel that?"

"Yes, I feel so much stronger."

"It's our mate bond, our strength is increasing." Holding Ryker's gaze, she uses their combined energy to pull on the chain. It loosens an inch as he does the same. They loosen enough for his lips to touch hers. "Kiss me, Maria." She opens her mouth, desperate for his kiss. Ryker groans as his velvet tongue sweeps in, dueling with hers. She kisses him with just as much intensity and their strength increases even more. Ryker's chains loosen another inch and he pulls back in shock. "Our skin-to-skin contact is making me even stronger. I bet we can use our mate bond to get out of these chains. That would give us more time to get away."

"The more time, the better."

"Crispin's cousin won't be here for a few hours."

"I don't want to wait. Let's get the hell out of here." They lean toward each other, kissing with a passion that only true mates could kiss with. Slowly, the chains inch away from the wall. As the chains loosen, their kiss deepens. A bolt of energy passes through them and the chains burst out of the wall. "Ryker!"

He wraps her in his arms as she falls to the ground. He rolls her over onto her back and checks her for injuries. "Are you hurt?"

"No, I feel amazing. More powerful than I've ever felt in my life."

"Me too." Ryker leans in and kisses her hard.

"Ryker, we're going to win this war with Nestor."

"Yes, we are going to destroy him. But we need to get back to my flight before my brother kills my mother. We don't have the manpower to kill Nestor right now."

"You're right. Once we expose Mason, your dragon flight will be on our side."

"Now let's get the fuck out of here." Ryker takes her hand and leads her toward the door. "Come. Crispin is waiting for us in the woods. He said you'd lead us out through the secret passage."

As soon as they walk into the hall, they're approached by two of Nestor's guards. "Hey! How did you get out?" She reaches out and kicks the guard closest to her in the groin. He falls to his knees with a groan. "Ah!" The other guard raises a hand to punch her, but Ryker steps in and snaps his neck. She turns back to the guard she kicked, who tries to stand. Before he can get back to his feet, she nails him in the stomach.

"Finish him, Maria." She slams the guard's head into the ground, killing him instantly. "I love how good of a fighter you are." As they keep walking, another group of guards walks by. Ryker pushes her into a dark corner. He holds her close as she calms her breath, hoping not to be caught. The guards pass and she lets out a relieved breath. Ryker's staring down at her like he wants to kiss her again. Leaning close, she pulls Ryker's head down to hers. He takes her lips in a hot, searing kiss. Pushing her deeper into the corner, his hands move over her body, then pulls back. "I can't wait to get you to safety and have you to myself again." They get to the entrance of the secret passage. "Is this the way Crispin said to take?"

"Yes. We should get to the woods without an issue. The other way is most likely heavily guarded."

"I don't mind fighting, but we don't need to take the risk of getting caught again. This seems like our best option."

"Only Crispin and I know about it. And now you do too."

"You can trust me, Maria. I won't tell anyone about this." Ryker's eyes burn into hers, waiting to see what she'll decide.

"Okay," she sighs. "Let's take the secret pathway." She rushes inside with Ryker right behind her.

"This means that you must really trust me. I know how hard that is for you."

"You've proven yourself worthy, Ryker." Then gives him a playful smirk. "Besides, we both know I'd beat you in a battle."

"What? No way."

"You may be stronger, but I'm a better strategist. But I guess we'll never know since we'll never fight each other."

Ryker kisses her soundly, then he pulls back and they move down the path. "When all of this is over, we may need to have a mock war where you take half the flight and I take the other half."

"You're on, when this is all over. Do you really think it'll be over soon?"

"Yes. Because I truly believe we've been mated to save the livelihood of all dragons. Mason and Nestor are not strong leaders. If they take over, the dragon hunters could overrun the flights."

They get to the end of the path safely. Just as they get outside, the alarm sounds. "They know we're gone. We need to get the hell out of here." Knowing her land like the back of her hand, she leads Ryker through the trees where Crispin waits. "I will never be able to repay you for your bravery and loyalty."

"You don't have to. It's an honor fighting with you. Come, we need to get to a safe place."

"You're not going anywhere." Nestor and his guards run at them.

Crispin hands them both guns. Maria starts shooting the guards closest to her when Nestor tackles Ryker. He elbows Nestor and shoves him off. "I've been waiting a long time to kill you."

"It's you who's going to die today." Nestor and his guard flank Ryker as Crispin takes a few guards behind her.

She moves to help Ryker when Elena jumps on her back, attacking her from behind. Maria throws her legs out from underneath her and leans back as hard as she can go. The enemy dragon cries out in pain when her back hits the ground with Maria on top of her. "Ouch! This isn't over, bitch!" Maria pops up quickly as she struggles to her feet.

She looks back at Ryker and sees him ferociously fighting with Nestor and his guards. Her brain tingles with a mindlink from him. "I'm going to lead them deeper into the woods so you can get away."

"No! We are leaving here together. Let me kill Elena, then we'll get the hell out of here."

Elena pops up and rounds on her. "You're never getting out of here alive."

"Watch me. I'm a much better fighter than you. While I was training, you were seducing my father during his grief." Not wanting to waste any more time, she shifts into her dragon, swings her tail and slams Elena into a tree.

"Shit!" Elena shifts into her dragon and runs at Maria, who waits until the last minute, before twisting and slamming her to the ground. "Ah!" Elena rounds on her and bites her ankle, taking her down.

Maria looks at Ryker, watching as he struggles under Nestor's guards. She lunges at Elena, but the dragon dodges to the side. The enemy dragon twists and scratches her on the side. "Ah!"

"Take that bitch!" Maria crouches low, pretending to be injured. Elena runs at her. Just as she's about to rip her throat out, Maria steps to the side and the dragon runs right past her, right before she jumps on her back and tackles her to the ground. "Get off!" Maria swipes a claw across her stomach, drawing blood. "Nestor, help!"

"No one can save you now."

The dragon tries to punch her, but before it can, Maria leans down and bites her head off.

"No!" Nestor looks at Elena's dead body and starts to fight uncontrollably. Ryker gets a hit in and Nestor falls to the ground.

He runs toward her and she follows him deeper into the forest. "Fuck yes, Maria. Way to get your revenge. Elena deserved that." She shifts back into her human form, knowing they'll be harder to spot now. Nestor and his guards chase them, but she easily leads Ryker and Crispin away. They run and run until she's sure they're not being followed anymore. "We need to find a good place to rest for the night."

"Oh, I don't think I'll be able to sleep."

"I don't either, but we should try. We're going to need our strength."

"We need to split up. We'll be harder to track that way." Crispin nods to them.

"I agree. Thank you for your help, Crispin."

"I'm going to hang closer around here since no one is looking for me and see what I can find out."

"We'll be in touch soon." Crispin runs one way while the pair run the other. "Ryker, what about your dragon flight? Do you think with you gone, Mason will go back and try to take it over?"

"Yes, I do, which is why we need to keep moving."

~W~

Two hours later, Maria and Ryker find a case to hide out in for the night. "I need to go out and hunt for food. How are you at building fires?"

"I'm decent, but I could use some advice."

"It's recently rained, so don't use the wet wood. I saw a few dry logs outside. And I'm hunting boar, so we'll need a decent fire." Ryker leaves to go hunting. While he's gone, she takes some leaves and lays them down so they have a soft bed to lay on. She walks around the cave and is relieved to see there's only one entrance. When Ryker comes back, he's caught and killed a wild boar. "I found the fattest boar I could find."

"You look very proud of yourself. I'm so glad I have a big, strong dragon lord to hunt for me."

"I hope you can cook because I can't."

"Oh, I can handle the boar."

"I'm sure. You handle me quite well. And I love boar. I'm excited to see how well you cook it."

"I'm going to make you the best boar you've ever had."

"I can't wait to taste it."

"Why don't you skin it while I collect some herbs?" She walks outside and picks a few herbs, then returns to the cave and rubs them on the boar. After adding the spices, she sticks the boar with one of the spears she made, then lets it cook for an hour.

"I think it's done, Maria."

"No, not yet. It needs a little more time." She lets the boar keep cooking, but Ryker was right. It didn't need more time. When she takes it off the fire, it's burnt and hard. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to burn it."

"That's okay. I'll just try to eat around the burnt pieces."

There are so many burnt pieces that they can only take a few bites. Once they're done, Ryker pulls her into his arms as the fire rages, then turns her so she's facing him. He looks vulnerable and she knows he's about to reveal something important.

"What is it, Ryker?"

"This may not be the right time, but I may never get another time to say this." He take a deep breath. "I want you to marry me in truth."

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