Free Her Dragon Hero by Angela Castle

drop the shield. Let’s move away. The humans may not have been able to see us, but they could still hear.”
    Amber’s eyes widened at the news. “What?!”
    Brim swept her up into his arms and she gasped with him actually throwing her, splashing into the middle of the waterhole. When she came up spluttering, there were people around them again. Some were huddled together, whispering about the screaming they heard and staring in the direction of where they had more mind-blowing, amazing sex.
    Heat infused Amber's cheeks. Brim continued to grin. She glared, sudden anger tightening her chest, angry at him and herself for letting it happen. “What you are is trouble! Now, leave me alone, I’m going for a real swim and a think about things.  I’ll meet you back at the bus.”
    She ducked under the water and swam away from him, heading towards the waterhole ramp. She needed time away from the overbearing, dragon man, time to clear her head and figure out her own feelings.
    A bony hand grabbed her ankle. She didn’t have any time to react. It pulled her under and down, deeper and deeper, water around her turning pitch black and ice cold. Panic raced through her, and she kicked and struggled. Her lungs heated with the need to breath, desperation and fear swallowing her with the sudden realisation she was about to die.

Chapter 7
    Everything was going so well. He marked her and, by the dragon gods, he could scarcely believe what a beauty he had been gifted. However, the angry glare on her face made him pause and his smile fall. The backlash of what he did hit him and he realised she may turn on him and rip off his balls for basically mating her without proper consent. Demon crap!
    Slade always warned him about blundering through situations, where, in some circumstances, more tact was needed. Brimstone didn’t have a tactful bone in his dragon body. He wanted her and was tired of waiting to mate her. He should have done it last night, but he’d held back, trying to find some of that ‘tact’. Fucking lot of use it was.
    From the furious glare which could scorch the paint off a wall, he thought it best to give her some space, but not much—he wasn’t going to let her out of his sight.
    He watched her dive under and licked his lips, his cock hardening, it hadn’t actually deflated. Her body clad in that little outfit made him want to rip it off her, and at the same time shield her from other prying eyes of the human men nearby.
    The ripple of energy caught his attention and he scanned around for the source, taking his eyes off Amber for a split second. The feel of her panic gripped him, and the realisation hit when he glanced down to see the sudden, black water where it once was clear. He felt the distinctive kind of dark magic of...“Demons!” he growled, his own powers charging like electricity in the air, his eyes bleeding back to their normal colour, not caring if any human saw him.
    How dare demons snatch his mate from right under his nose! Rage, like wildfire, raced through his veins; he and his dragon roared as one. No one and nothing took what was his and lived.
    “Brimstone!”
    He caught sight of Slade who, no doubt, felt the power of the teleport and raced through the water, alarm on his face. There was no time to wait. He took a lung full of air and dived into the water, letting his dragon burst free while he followed the teleport into the darkness.
    Although teleporting was an easy way to get around, it left residue magic which faded after a short time. So, a magic creature who could teleport himself could follow another.
    He wasn’t called Brimstone the Crusher for no reason. First, he would tear their limbs off and beat them with them, before slicing open their chests with his talons, ripping out their hearts, and crushing them between his claws.
    * * * *
    Twice, Amber squeezed her eyes shut, only to open them and find the same thing. Did she hit her head and now was living through a plot from one of