bedeviled & beyond 05 - bedeviled & besmirched Read Online Free Page B

head. Balanced on her haunches, she spun frantically, her short, thick forelegs flailing on the air before her. Her scary red eyes rolled backward, as if she were trying to see something on her back.
    The dragon’s massive tail hit Slayer and sent him flying across the building to crash against a half-crumpled wall on the far side. The dragon’s tail continued its sweep around the room, carrying with it large metal boxes with sharp edges and smashed air vehicle parts. The babies leapt into the air to avoid being smacked by the flailing tail, their tiny wings just barely holding them upright. I leapt upward too, landing on the other side of the thick, spike-covered tail as it continued on its deadly arc.
    When I landed I pulled my power forward, intending to shift onto the dragon’s back. Just before I made the shift, my incredulous gaze found the source of mama dragon’s hysteria and I pulled my power back.
    Darma, are you crazy? Do you even know what you’re doing up there?
    My sister turned to me, one hand on the dragon’s head and the other clutching the large, incredibly sharp spike at the top of the dragon’s back. Amazingly, she smiled. No. But that never stopped you, Astra.
    She sent power into the dragon’s brain and the enormous female stopped, dropped and rolled onto her side, a ten-foot-long purple tongue smacking wetly onto the floor.
    Darma leapt gracefully down and rubbed her hands together, looking way too proud of herself.
    Giving the angry young male a wide berth, I joined her, crouching down to check that the female was still alive. She was, though I wasn’t entirely sure she’d be able to form a cogent thought ever again after Darma’s electrical lobotomy.
    I stood up and looked at my sister, confused by the new side of her that I’d never seen before. “Who are you and what have you done with my sissy assed, magic phobic sister?”
    She glared at me. “Where’s Slayer?”
    We heard a groan on the other side of the building. It was coming from beneath a pile of rubbish. Hurrying over to free him, Darma and I pulled huge chunks of wood and metal away and found him, bleeding and pale at the bottom.
    He had a thick splinter of wood sticking out of his chest and was covered in bleeding cuts of varying sizes and depths. He was a mess.
    “You look like hell, Slayer.”
    “Hardy, har, har, Astra.” He yanked the massive splinter ruthlessly from his own chest and then closed his eyes, his chest heaving and blood pouring from the wound as he pulled his power forward. White light, filled with heat pulsed from his skin, sending an electrically charged breeze to spin around us. The breeze was filled with yummy, Slayer scent.
    My Settling rose in a wave to soak me with need.
    As Slayer healed himself, cutting off the bleeding and knitting his wounds with the efficiency of an unplanned injury unit physician, my panties dampened and my nipples hardened in inspiration. My mind formed a picture of how Slayer might look like naked, and proceeded to envision my hand reaching down and caressing his...
    I stood up with a small cry, shaking my head to dispel the delicious vision. Fortunately for me, Slayer was too preoccupied to notice.
    Slayer’s eyes fluttered open and his gaze slid from me to my sister, where it caught and widened in surprise. When his sexy lips tipped upward into a self-satisfied smile, I glanced at Darma and gasped.
    Outside of an actual sexual event, I’d never seen naked lust written across someone’s face...especially when that someone was my cranky, judgmental sister.
    Her lips were parted, her eyes were soft and her hands were clenched tightly at her sides, as if she were fighting some huge, inner turmoil. Her gaze was locked on Slayer and filled with something that made me intensely uncomfortable.
    I cleared my throat and gave Darma a mental nudge. She jerked and closed her mouth, climbing to her feet. She studiously avoided Slayer’s gaze.
    “Okay, what was your idea for getting