Silver(51)

Dammit. That hurt.

What I wouldn’t give for my dragon powers right now.

But dragon powers or not, Adrien had to fight to make sure nothing happened to Kelsey.

There was shouting from inside the office, then a loud, “Oof,” that sounded like Sever being tossed into a row of chairs. Then a moment later, Mercury emerged from the quickly clearing dust, striding toward Adrien with dreadful purpose.

“The metal dragons were fools to go looking for human mates. But you and the other noble dragons? Completely moronic, allowing your powers to be sealed away by some silly oracle you don’t even know. For what? In hopes of finding a weak mortal to share your power with?”

Adrien pushed himself off the ground, but he felt Mercury’s fist slam into his jaw, sending him reeling.

Mercury leaned over him, using his foot to push him into the ground.

“Dragon power isn’t meant to be shared. It’s meant to be taken, one conquest at a time,” he said.

Adrien was just planning his next move when he glanced upward and saw a couch, plush silver velvet with gold accents, raised high behind Mercury’s head.

Sever roared as he brought the sofa crashing down in a barrage of wood and cloth, knocking Mercury completely off. Adrien seized the opportunity to roll to the side, jumping to his feet as Mercury turned and hissed in rage.

“You all right, brother?” Sever said, grinning. Even with their powers sealed, it seemed Sever had a good deal of his impressive strength.

“I’m fine. We need to keep Kelsey safe and call in reinforcements,” Adrien said, moving between Mercury and the office where Kelsey was.

“Agreed,” Sever muttered as he squared off with their unwelcome intruder from the other side.

“You know you can’t possibly beat my power, unrestrained as it is,” Mercury said, grinning.

It wasn’t until Adrien heard footsteps from behind him at the exit of the hall that led into the office that he realized Kelsey wasn’t safe anywhere near this fight.

“Kelsey, get out of here. Call Citrine!” Adrien called over his shoulder. Anywhere but here was safer right now.

For a moment, Kelsey looked unsure, but then she nodded and turned to make for the exit.

“Sorry, but I can’t let you do that,” Mercury said, whirling on Kelsey, who was thankfully still on the other side of the fairly spacious room.

He waved his hand, and from nowhere, huge gnarled metallic spikes erupted from the ground, knocking Kelsey’s phone out of her hand and trapping her where she stood.

Adrien turned and ran for her as Sever attacked Mercury from behind, grappling with him. It only took a second to reach her, and he started to pull at the large, dark-silver barbs, hoping to free his mate.

“Are you okay?” Kelsey said, shaken. “That guy said you’re a dragon. Is it true?”

Adrien pulled, but the clearly magical cage wasn’t going to budge.

“Yes. It’s true,” he said, still focused on his task. “I didn’t know how to bring it up. You mean so much to me. I didn’t want to ruin it by sounding like a crazy person when you have already had so much to go through.”

Panic was racing through Adrien now as he tried to find some way to get Kelsey out, when he felt her hand reaching through the bars, touching his.

“I believe you,” she said, green eyes bright and accepting. “Don’t ask me how. I just do.”

Adrien’s heart practically melted right there. Then he felt a different hand on the back of his neck, gripping with claw-like nails, ripping him from Kelsey’s touch and throwing him backward.

This time, Adrien braced for the impact of the floor, catching himself and standing quickly. Mercury was now between him and the woman that was his mate, and if Adrien had his powers, that would be a very bad place for Mercury to be.

But he didn’t have his powers, and he needed them if he was going to win this fight. Citrine could be anywhere right now, and they couldn’t just sit around praying he showed up.

Adrien whipped out his phone, finding his contacts list and dialing the oracle’s number.

But by the first ring, Mercury had already shot forward, knocking the phone out of his hand, sending it skittering over the marble toward Sever, who was standing by Kelsey.

Adrien ducked, his fists raised to protect his sides and head as Mercury continued to rain down blows mercilessly.

Thankfully, Mercury seemed to be enjoying himself as Adrien ducked, dodged, and tried to retaliate against his unhindered enemy. And even though his power was still mostly sealed, Adrien partially retained his quick healing ability. So even though Mercury’s hits felt like cinderblocks in his sides, his face, Adrien kept fighting, even with the odds solidly stacked against him.