LLLDragonWings Kindle by Lizzie Lynn Lee

cousin here to be raised as my nephew’s bride.”
    “Bequeathed?” Senior voiced his disbelief. “Surely, you’re not referring to our out-of-date practice, Chief Stonehearth? No respectable dragon would give away their offspring for any reason in this day and age. It’s illegal. Children are not items that can be given away. It is insulting that you even suggested it.”
    “Illegal? By whose law? Humans’?” Geoffrey Stonehearth let out cold mirth. He held up his palm. “Save the argument, Schwarzen. Our people are faithful to the old ways. Clarissa owed Norman and we’re here to collect the payment.”
    “What did she owe to you, Samhrain?” asked Walsingham to Norman, using his original name. “Who is she?”
    The sheriff flinched. He traded gazes with his cousin. Geoffrey Stonehearth hesitated to answer.
    Walsingham made a reproachful noise. “You came here demanding access to my esteemed guest and yet you cannot reciprocate our inquiry in good faith. Who are the chit’s parents?”
    “You don’t need to know,” said the sheriff, at last.
    “Then I regretfully must rescind my hospitali—”
    Rovik jumped in a flash. He grabbed the sheriff’s throat before Walsingham even finished his sentence and slammed him to the ground. “Who is she?” Rovik barked. “Who are Emily’s parents?”
    The sheriff growled and shifted.
    Rovik shifted to keep pinning him to the ground.
     
    Everything happened at once and chaos ensued. His father and Walsingham followed his suit and took on the unwelcome intruders. In the matter of a second, the farm became a battlefield. Senior took on Geoffrey Stonehearth. Walsingham swiped a few with his enormous tail. As an old dragon, Sir Walsingham dwarfed the rest of them in size. Rovik didn’t think that the gentle-mannered Walsingham could fight, but when dragon Walsingham locked his mighty jaw on Geoffrey Stonehearth’s scaly midsection and shook him like a rag, Rovik was convinced Walsingham and his father could take care of the rest while he focused his attention on Norman.
    His teeth penetrated the sheriff’s thick scales and the taste of blood on his palate jolted his primal sense like a live, naked wire. His Schwarzen instinct overpowered his mind.
    Blood.
    Fight. Kill. Eat.
    Norman snapped his jaw at him, trying to tear at his neck. Rovik clamped his bite, didn’t give him any chance to break free. He pushed Norman onto the ground when his opponent flapped his wings, trying to flee. Rovik realized that Norman wasn’t as agile or strong as he was in their first encounter. The sheriff had sustained internal injuries and hadn’t completely healed, which was working to Rovik’s advantage. Clouds of dust swirled around them, making the visibility low.
    From the corner of his eyes, Rovik saw fast movement coming toward him. He released the sheriff and countered the attack. He savagely swiped his claws and whipped his tail. The sharp spikes on his tail could slice and sever through other breed’s scales if driven by enough force.
    Cry of anguish.
    Shower of blood.
    The gore fueled his appetite. The last strand of his humanity was overpowered by his instinct, Rovik surrendered completely to his nature of the beast.
    Somewhere in his peripheral, his father let out a roar after gulping a large chuck of his fallen enemy. Seeing Senior had indulged himself, Rovik wasn’t going to hold back. Tonight was a feast.
    All is fair.
    Kill, kill.
    Eat.
    Rovik leapt into the sky and T-boned a youngling who had tried to swoop into Walsingham’s house. The two crashed to earth, straight into a chicken barn. The roof and walls splintered around them and hundreds of terrified chickens flapped their wings in panic. A taste of the youngling’s blood alerted him that he’d sampled it before.
    Dwayne.
    Rival. Fresh meat.
    Dwayne fought and the two encircled one another, treading the dance of death, trampling on the debris of the barn. Dwayne lunged at him. He grazed Rovik’s foreleg