Free Lovestruck, a Dragon Story by Bonnie Vanak

legion of angry, battling dragons? Yet she wasn’t going to stand here and wring her hands while her mate and her father battled for their very lives.
    Shifting into dragon, she flapped her crimson, gold and silver wings and flew into the skies above the castle compound.
    And she saw the most amazing sight.
    Barlow had aligned with Michael, red fighting alongside black. With her father’s smaller, more agile form, he served as Michael’s wingman, guarding his right flank as her mate flew into clusters of fighting red and black dragons. As Michael touched the fighting dragons with the tip of his wing, halos of blue surrounded them and they tumbled downward. Anna looked to the earth and saw the dragons land safely, but they looked dazed. They no longer fought.
    Whatever magick Michael wrought, it was working to end the fighting!
    But how could one powerful dragon stop all the bellowing hatred that had simmered for years?
    If Papa could serve as Michael’s right wingman, she could be his left. Anna darted among the fighting dragons, zipping in and out, like a car weaving through slower traffic. She arrived at Michael’s left side.
    What the hell are you doing, Anna?!
    Helping to protect you, my love.
    You’re vulnerable .
    She reached out and bit a red dragon intent on snapping at Michael’s left side. The dragon snarled and flew away.
    Not that vulnerable.
    The skies filled with black and red dragons, so thick it seemed like a sea of crimson and dark. Intent on protecting Michael’s side as he worked his magick, she almost did not see Monroe. The red dragon flew toward them, snarling, and opened his mouth to breathe fire.
    The fire would not hurt Michael—if it were ordinary fire. But she knew Monroe had been eating Lumen seeds secretly, and they enhanced his powers and made his fire burn hotter.
    Michael, duck!
    Monroe breathed a line of dragonfire, but Michael ducked. The dragonfire slammed into her, directly into her vulnerable belly of human skin. White-hot pain burned through her, a line of fire streaming through her veins.
    Screaming, Anna fell from the sky, writhing in agony as the fire burned through her stomach.
    Michael was right. She was far too vulnerable as dragon for battle.
    And now would pay with her very life.

    His love, his mate, had tumbled downward like a rock. Michael tried to turn, but he was too big and awkward. At his right side, Barlow saw his daughter fall and winged to the earth. He took several hits of stray dragonfire to his wing, but grabbed Anna in his front claws before she hit the ground.
    Michael breathed a small sigh of relief as he executed a wide turn and headed downward. Spotting Anna, he landed and then shifted back to skin and conjured clothing. He ran to her side. Barlow had shifted back to skin and clothed himself. Tears streamed down the man’s face.
    He looked up at Michael. “Help her, please. You have worked with the wizard. You must have powers to heal my little girl. She’s hurt.”
    Anna had shifted back to skin. Too injured to clothe herself, she lay naked upon the parking lot, writhing in tremendous pain. Michael rolled her to her back and horror pulsed through him.
    A huge hole, seeping blood, had seared her belly. He looked upward and shouted at the skies.
    “You bastards! Look at what you did!” he screamed, holding Anna close. “She’s wounded.”
    No one paid attention. Barlow ran over to King Falmouth, who ignored his entreaties.
    He looked at the two kings, who watched the action in the sky with pride. “Stop this! Both of you have the power to command your forces to cease this violence!”
    But neither king paid him heed.
    Michael laid Anna back upon the ground and did the one thing Xavier warned him never to do, the one thing he knew would rouse the wizard’s immediate attention…and the attention of the entire Brehon.
    Attack the ruling king of a rival clan.
    He breathed a line of red dragonfire in King Falmouth’s direction. Dragonfire powerful