Rancher Dragon, Terry Bolryder [acx book reading TXT] 📗

of fire and superheated rock into the basilisk’s face. It winced backward, eyes shut as it moved back a step.

Even though the damn things were basically immune to dragon fire, it still couldn’t possibly see through the hail of smoke and stone and flame.

Beck charged, not knowing if he’d get another opening like this, reaching forward and biting down on the thing’s neck. The basilisk’s neck was so wide he could barely get his teeth around the half of it, so he focused on the partially exposed throat, chomping with all his might.

The basilisk roared, yanking backward, dragging Beck forward as it shook and pulled, trying to wrench him free. But Beck just tightened his grip, ignoring as one huge row of claws raked across his side, cutting through his scales and sending rage-inducing pain scorching through his insides.

Beck was up on his hind legs now, his front claws digging into the monster’s shoulders, anchoring himself as he yanked back on its thick neck. He watched as the basilisk’s tail rose, sending two spikes flying toward him. To avoid it, he angled to the left, and one went over his shoulder while the other grazed his back leg.

The telltale hiss of basilisk poison punctuated the dull roar of the rain and wind, followed by a dull flash of pain in his side. But it wasn’t bad. Not nearly enough to end a mountain dragon.

Beck gritted his teeth as it flailed and started to lose its wind. “Give up, you fucking sunuvab—”

Suddenly, something rammed into Beck’s side with formidable speed, hard enough to knock his back legs out from under him. He didn’t see what it was, just heard a dull whoosh as it pounded his shoulder.

The basilisk knew Beck’s footing was gone the instant it happened, and it dug its feet in and threw Beck to the side with a heave of its giant head. When Beck looked up, he couldn’t see what had hit him, just thick, billowing storm clouds and bright arcs of lightning as they filled the sky above them.

And the basilisk in front of him, though bleeding from the neck, just bared its teeth and charged again.

Beck leaped forward and slashed the basilisk across the face, then spread his wings, hoping to get a moment in the air to position himself better before trying to face the emboldened beast.

Then, again, Beck heard the sound of nearly noiseless wings disguised by the rain above him. He looked up, still barely hovering above the basilisk, at the same time as a grey and blue shape with wings appeared from the thick clouds high above and sped downward. It was so unexpected Beck didn’t have time to dodge as it flew past him, hitting one of his wings with its tail and sending Beck falling to the earth with a crash.

As it disappeared into the clouds again, he heard a loud, familiar, eerie laugh that seemed to reverberate through the clouds above him, making the sound seem as if it were coming from everywhere and nowhere at once.

TJ’s dragon.

Apparently, the bastard didn’t believe in fair fighting.

Then again, if what Beck had heard back in the house was true, unfair fighting was the least of this bastard’s sins right now.

Beck got up, shaking himself off as the laughing continued.

“Having fun, loser?”

“Fuck you,” was all Beck had time to respond with before the basilisk appeared at his side, rushing at him with bloodlust in its eyes. Beck blew more fire, but it didn’t stop the monster’s warpath as its horns connected with his side. He barely deflected one of the long, jagged, telephone-pole-length points just barely with his wing, but the other pierced his side deep, making pain so powerful it nearly knocked the wind out of him, shaking him to his core.

Beck lunged for the basilisk’s neck, and it thankfully pulled away. He needed space, a second to fight either TJ or the basilisk, because taking both at one time was getting worse by the moment.

He heard TJ diving toward him this time, even as the rain dragon’s hide made him nearly impossible to make out amongst the clouds. He swung his tail, but TJ just spun to the side, much smaller and more agile than Beck’s mountain dragon would ever be.

“Keep trying. You’ll never catch up to me. You’ll always be one step behind,” TJ called down to him with glee.

Then there was a heavy thunk sound as something sharp and long pierced Beck’s shoulder, and with shock, he realized that while he’d been trying to fight off TJ, the basilisk had gotten a clear shot.

He stumbled back, using one claw to rip the spike out of his side, sending blood gushing down his dragon arm. All the better, there would be less poison that way, even if he was risking bleeding out.

The basilisk’s eyes narrowed, and if Beck wasn’t mistaken, it almost had a smile across its horrible face as it strode toward him with murderous intent. In the clouds, he could hear TJ still laughing, hidden amongst the thick black billows above.

This was bad. He looked over to see Sierra standing in front of her house, soaked to the bone, watching with horror as Beck put himself between her and the basilisk.

But no matter how he tried, he couldn’t shake the things TJ had told him. Couldn’t ignore a lifetime of betrayal that had led Beck to believe that he had been the monster all along, not someone else.

Deep inside, he knew he was still holding back. After so much time being at odds with his dragon, it was hard to not do so.

If he went all out, if he really accessed the monster inside him, Beck feared he wouldn’t be able to control what happened, even though in his heart, he knew he could never do his mate ill, not for any reason, not for a million years.

But as the basilisk advanced and TJ’s laughter got louder and closer, Beck braced himself for the worst, ready