And then the dragon tipped its head and roared again, an eye like gleaming honey and amber blinking.

Mate, she cried in that thunderous voice.

Mairwen.

I answered the desperate call, a great echo of triumph, shock rippling through me in equal measure with joy and wonder.

That dragon was my mate.

My mate was rushing closer, headed to join me in a fight against three other dragons.

Suddenly, it didn't matter that I'd known a moment ago that she could outclass me. If a single one of the betas around me so much as scratched one of those perfect golden scales, I would tear them to pieces. My wings drummed, and I charged at Gamesby, grabbed his neck in my jaw, and shook him hard, hearing his fangs rattle together.

Behind me came a crash of claws and scales, and a roar that vibrated through my bones announcing my mate's arrival to the fight. I twisted, swinging Gamesby by my grasp on his throat, just enough to watch Mairwen land on Cambeth's dragon, to hear his rough yelp of pain as her body bore him down to the ground. Julian swirled around her head, the fool, and she butted roughly into his belly, her deadly crown scratching at the sensitive scales there.

Fools! her dragon snarled, jaws snapping. Dead fools.

Gamesby scratched a claw up my ankle, and I tore my focus away from Mairwen. Well…most of it. But she was magnificent! I could've left her all three of them, and she would've held her own. Now I simply wanted to make her proud. I tossed Gamesby from my jaws and then rose high, catching him once more by the shoulders before he could plan another attack. He screamed, thrashing in the grip of my claws, but he couldn't fly with the roots of his wings held tightly.

On the ground, Tybalt Dunne had transformed back to a man, his wings folded in close and hands lifting up to his mouth. "Come down, Julian! We're better off running now. Gamesby hasn't a chance."

Rivals as the brothers often were, Julian listened, rising up out of Mairwen's dangerous reach and then diving down to his brother. Cambeth surrendered too, slack in Mairwen's grip, his lack of resistance and her strength carrying them down to the ground. Which left me with Gamesby.

I should kill him, I thought, shaking him in my grasp. On the ground below, Mairwen's dragon watched us, glowing eyes narrowed in anger.

My father would've killed a man like Gamesby for challenging him, for planning a mutiny outside of any legal and honorable channels. Which cleared some of the fog in my mind. I was not my father. And Gamesby hadn't chosen a challenge. He'd chosen a murder attempt. With men on the ground that could testify as much and be charged as well. I grinned toothily at Mairwen as I looked down to see her spiked tail curved around the Dunne twins, preventing their escape.

I raised my own tail, striking it roughly against the side of Gamesby's tough face, hearing his scream as one daggered tip scratched his eye. A distant roar heralded the arrival of more dragons, and the dark inky-blue wingspan was that of an ally.

Gamesby groaned and shuddered, and I dropped him to the ground as he transformed. I followed him down, noting the bloodstains on his shoulders and side, the eye I had scratched, and then pinned him carefully under one clawed paw. Mairwen huffed a breath of fire in his direction, singeing some of the honey-blond strands and drawing a whimper from the man. Her jaw lifted, and I ducked my head down to hers, nuzzling her chin, avoiding her dangerous spikes and puffing my breath, catching some of that warm scent of hers, now candied and darkened with dragon's fire.

"I yield," Gamesby wheezed beneath me.

I spat near his head, and it sizzled in the grass. Yielding was for legal fights.

"Ronson! Fang's fire, who is that?!" Niall shouted from above.

I looked up to see my brother on DeRoche's back, Torion's dragon not far behind. They were headed straight for us, and DeRoche's fangs were exposed as he snarled at Mairwen's dragon.

I transformed quickly, kicking Gamesby hard in his wounded side to keep him down, nodding at Mairwen when she put her own claws on his back.

"You're too late for a fight," I called back, then pointed at the deep blue dragon barreling closer. "Don't you dare let your fire loose, DeRoche, or I'll skin you for hurting my mate!"

DeRoche floundered for a moment mid-flight and then slowed to cruise, Niall leaping from his back to finish his journey down to the ground.

"Mairwen?!" he gasped, jogging closer, wings occasionally lifting him for a few beats.

He gaped at Mairwen's dragon, who blinked slyly back at him, a burst of sea blue beneath her golden gaze. From my perspective on the ground, as a man again, she was even more remarkable than before. The red of the other dragons' blood that had spattered her form glowed against her scales, each one painted in shades of fire and treasure. Her horns were like sapphires in precious metals, the faintest iridescence at their ends.

"What happened?" Niall asked me.

I stared at Mairwen and shook my head. "I haven't the faintest idea. She just arrived and made quick work of the fight. Gamesby said he yields. Didn't you, my lord?"

"Get it off me," Gamesby snarled weakly, and I thought Mairwen might've been using more of her weight than was strictly necessary. Cambeth transformed back and crawled out from under her, but he fell slack to the ground, bleeding and pale.

Seamus and Torion approached from behind, staring up at Mairwen.

"It can't really be…" Torion murmured, dropping a sack to the ground with a heavy thump and the rattle of metal. Black steel, I suspected, to cuff the men before us, keep them from transforming back into dragons.

"It's her," I said.

Seamus's lips just twitched, and his arms crossed over his chest. He spoke to Mairwen directly. "We found a dragon barely alive in the sea near the castle. Was that your work?"

Mairwen huffed in confirmation and her wings stretched and flexed, Gamesby groaning beneath her foot. My brow furrowed, and I hurried to her. "A dragon? Who was it? What happened?!"

She rumbled and shifted, head tossing, and I realized the woman was trapped in the beast, unable to answer me when our forms didn't match.

"Grab them," I said, pointing to the betas. Torion dragged the bag of chains over, and Mairwen released her prey one by one, sighing as I stroked a hand over her side. "Mairwen, darling, can you shift back?"

Mairwen's feet stepped restlessly over the ground, wings rising and lowering in a shrug. This was new for her, and if she'd been fighting, if she'd transformed because of a threat, her dragon had likely taken over for her. I spread my arms, and her head lowered, breath hot on my belly as she huffed and let me embrace her snout. Around us, the men watched, the betas and even Torion, with disbelief in their eyes.

"It's all right now. You're safe," I murmured. Mairwen grunted and nudged me gently, nearly knocking me off my feet. I laughed and rubbed firmly between two horns. "Fine. I'm safe now. See? They're all secured in steels. Give me back my pretty mate," I said in a low whisper, just for her.

Mairwen grumbled and then shuddered. I'd never been so close to a dragon when they transformed before, and I winced, bracing myself at the pound of magic sweetened with Mairwen's scent. Wind struck me hard in the back, air filling the place where Mairwen's dragon had been, and I ran forward, catching the woman in my arms as she reappeared.

Catching her…and finding a slight impediment.

Wings.

Mairwen's wings were a slightly more burnished shade of gold than her scales, and they flailed briefly, lifting her off her toes before snapping shut and dropping her back down again.