Betrayal Foretold: Descended of Dragons, Book 3 by Jen Crane

against me when life had seemed unfair. But these people really were against us. They rooted for our demise, our death. They had no interest in justice and weren’t seeking truth. Their minds were made up. We were dangerous, inherently bad, and the sooner we got what was coming to us, the better.
    “You’ll have to go through us both.” Ewan’s deep voice was confident, final.
    He stalked toward Gresham, and together the two formed a barrier between us and Gaspare. Gresham straightened at Ewan’s support, and the two stood side by side like a dark guard.
    “Very well,” Gaspare said and sighed. He lifted his hand dramatically, preparing to work some great magic. I’d seen the power those hands possessed. While Gresham might understand who he was defying, Ewan had no idea. The man could manipulate earth. He was some sort of telekinetic genius.
    I pleaded with Gaspare in the most personal way I knew. “ Please don’t do this. You said we were family. You said you’d protect me. You said it would be all right .”
    “ Don’t let the curveball throw you out of the game ,” he sent back. “ Adjust your stance and knock it out of the park.”
    I stood stunned, confused as I turned Gaspare’s words over in my mind, trying to determine their meaning.
    “ What are you say —” A deafening bellow jerked my attention back to the scene, which was dominated by an enormous dark wolf in mid-pounce.
    Ewan . Oh, God .
    He landed on top of Gaspare, taking him to the ground with a thud. Ewan growled and slavered, his desire to protect me overtaking his good sense. But just as suddenly as Ewan had pounced, there was nothing beneath him. Gaspare’s clothes lay flattened beneath the wolf’s substantial weight. Empty. He had traced away.
    Ewan’s lupine head shot up in surprise. He turned first to me, and then searched the area around us. I scanned the riotous crowd, my throat tight and my stomach roiling. It would be foolish to assume the ordeal was over.
    Time stretched like cold taffy as we stood in silence, waiting for the other shoe to drop.
    It didn’t drop. It stomped Ewan like a bug.
    Gaspare Shaw thundered toward Ewan with a speed that seemed impossible in the form he’d taken. His armored body was heavy; each stride caused the ground to tremble beneath us. His flat, gray skin seemed almost dusty, as if he’d been storming through arid African grasslands. One large horn monopolized the animal’s sparse features and dwarfed a second horn just behind it. When the rhino lowered its big head and scooped Ewan up like a doggie rag doll, I gasped with horror. He threw a yelping Ewan deep into the forest.
    I never heard him hit the ground. Whether it was too far away, or if he landed safely, I didn’t know. Worse, I had no idea what kind of damage Gaspare the Rhino’s thick horn had done to Ewan’s body. There was blood on the ground where Ewan had been standing before being hefted like a kitten. Too much blood. I was nauseous and shaking with fear.
    My voice was so strained it came out in hysterics. “What have you done?” I screamed. “What have you done!”
    Gaspare spun around to face me, his saucer-sized nostrils chuffing the soil around him. “ I told you to cooperate ,” he sent wordlessly. “ Why couldn’t you just cooperate? Don’t you trust me? ”
    “ Trust you? Are you insane? You’ve threatened me and my family. You just threw Ewan like a rag doll. If this blood’s any indicator, he’s lying somewhere dying. ”
    “ He’s a tenacious cur, isn’t he?” he said lightly. “I like him. I see what you see in him. I’m sorry you’ll have to lose him.”
    “ Why did you hurt him? Wait. What do you mean, ‘lose him’?”
    “He started it, if you recall. But don’t worry. The wolf will be fine. I just roughed him up a bit, got him out of the way.”
    “Out of the way. Out of your way. What do you plan to do with us?”
    “I’m going to get you out of here before this angry mob burns you