Dragonfury 02 - Fury of Ice

psychopath in dragon form.
    All by her lonesome.
    “Okay,” she murmured, blowing out a calming breath. With a shimmy, she slid sideways, popped her head around the edge of the boulder, giving the terrain another sneak peek. “I’ll stick close to the rock face. There’s an overhang at the base of the rock wall on the right-hand side. I should be able to squeeze under it. If things go south, I’ll hide there. Good?”
    “Good,” Mac repeated, falling into their usual prebattle routine. It almost felt normal, as though they were headed into a perp’s house, not about to cross a clearing in dragon country. “Be safe.”
    “You know it,” she said, then completed their trash talk ritual with, “Don’t do anything stupid.”
    He snorted.
    She went commando, staying low, double-fisting her gun as she skirted the edge of a boulder. Entering the plateau on the run, Angela hauled ass, legs pumping, moving with more speed than stealth. A low growl slithered through the quiet, bouncing between the sheer stone walls surrounding her. A grinding noise echoed, the snick of claws scraping stone as dragons took flight.
    Her heart scrambled, going AWOL inside her chest. “Mac!”
    “Get the fuck down!”
    Two shadows flew in, hard scales glinting in the moonlight.
    Angela leveled her Glock at the brown Razorback. Mac beat her to it. Transforming into dragon form, he streaked across the plateau, heading for the far end where a cliff tumbled off the edge toward the ocean. Still running, she got low and slid sideways on stone, ripping her pant leg open at the knee. She raised gun again, trying to get a shot off, watching transfixed as Mac went to work.
    No training, her ass. Look at him go.
    Blue-gray scales nothing but a blur in the gloom, her partner leapt skyward. The enemy dragon stopped short, trying to compensate, hanging in midair. Mac struck, grabbing the SOB’s spike tail at the top of his jump. With a snarl, he yanked. The Razorback squawked as Mac dragged him out of the sky. As Mac’s talons touched down with a thump, the rogue slammed into the ground. Rock dust flew, clouding the clearing as the brown dragon slid toward the cliff edge.
    Mac leapt on top on him. Angela dove for cover, using jagged pieces of fallen rock to hide her movements. She needed to get to the other end of the open space. With her partner pummeling the bastard, she couldn’t get a clear shot at the Razorback’s head. A bullet to the temple would help Mac out, but only if she didn’t hit him by mistake.
    Adrenaline made her fast. Her mind made her lethal as she beat feet to the opposite end of the clearing. Her gaze narrowed on Mac, a plan took hold. She’d climb. Get to higher ground, protect her partner, and shoot the bastard from above. Even in the dark, she could see a stretch of rock she could scale.
    Holstering her gun, she sprinted toward the steep wall, looking for hand and toeholds. She checked Mac’s position, watched him push the Razorback toward the cliff edge, and yelled, “Mac, don’t go over the—”
    Ah, crap.
    With a snarl, Mac screwed up her plan, launching himself and the Razorback over the ledge. Her heart stopped beating as she watched them fall. Within seconds, the pair disappeared, tumbling through thin air toward—
    Splash!
    —the ocean.
    All went quiet.
    Not trusting the stillness, Angela searched the sky. Pinpoint stars winked at her, belying the seriousness of her situation. Mac had a hold of one dragon, but the other still hid, waiting to strike. Her heart in her throat, she backed toward the overhang, the narrow crevice that would protect her from Razorback claws. Loose rock crunched beneath her boot treads, sounding loud in the silence. Holding the gun against her thigh, Angela curled her finger around the trigger and waited, forcing herself to breathe through the fear.
    “Come on, Mac…hurry up,” she murmured, trying to make herself believe her partner was seconds away from reemerging over the cliff face. “Come on, man.”
    Ten feet from her hidey-hole. Now eight. She was almost there, but unease kept her eyes on the sky. She refused to turn her back on the clearing. The instant she did, the rat-bastard would make his move. So she backed up slowly, desperate to anticipate, knowing the sadistic bastard was out there…watching her, enjoying her fear, wanting her to feel it to maximum effect.
    “Here, kitty-kitty-kitty-kitty.” The awful hiss came from right above her head.
    Angela went