“Aw.” Landon cut in. “Your first mission together. I’ll do the dishes. You two just skedaddle on out of here—”
“Stop,” Ryder said abruptly, putting a hand up to Landon and the other to his head. But after a moment, he shared a look with Kira, and the awkwardness was broken, if only in their agreement that Landon was being ridiculous.
Nothing could happen between them. So Kira simply gave Landon a hug for making breakfast and went upstairs to change, ignoring the feeling that Ryder was staring at her the entire time.
4
The drive out to their first mission location went by swiftly and in relative silence. Aside from a stop at a gas station halfway there, where Ryder swapped positions with Kira as the driver for the second part of the trip, everything had gone more or less smoothly.
And each time Ryder wanted to open his mouth and say something, he reminded himself that, at some point, Kira had been one of them.
But the temptation to ask what she knew about the hybrid program, to know if she’d ever interacted with him or Dallin, continuously picked at his curiosity.
“Make a left up here,” Kira said, interrupting Ryder’s thoughts and pointing up ahead. He looked hard but only saw a slight dip off the side of the road where she pointed. The barest hint of something that had been overgrown with tall grass and leaves.
“You sure?” Ryder asked, slowing the car.
“Positive.”
Ryder pulled the wheel, and the SUV wobbled as the tires worked over the uneven ground. Thankfully, as they drove a minute longer, an old, barely used path opened up before them, winding back and forth between large old oak trees, heading into the grassy hills.
“The fae really know how to pick their spots,” Ryder said drily.
“Yes, well, they were technically in violation of the treaty by building facilities here on Earth in the first place. It makes sense they didn’t want to get caught.”
A few minutes later, they pulled up to what looked like a simple steel plate with hinges and handles in the middle of the ground.
Once they were out, Ryder looked about, the nature around him unfamiliar and wild, full of new scents.
“So where’s the lab?” He’d expected at least a building or something.
Kira, who’d donned a small shoulder bag and was currently stuffing a few other things inside it while she got out of the vehicle, pointed downward.
“This is technically the back door,” she said, moving toward the steel plate that was about the size of a big rug. She grabbed one handle, and Ryder instinctively moved forward to grab the handle on the other side for her since it looked fairly hefty.
“I got it. I’m strong too. Fae, remember?”
“Don’t remind me,” Ryder replied, and together they pulled the plate upward until it fell back, revealing a ladder that led downward into a dark hole. “I’m doing my best to try and forget that fact.”
Kira flinched slightly, and Ryder felt instantly guilty.
“Sorry,” he said, rubbing the back of his neck. “This mission… I hate being reminded that these labs even exist.”
Her gorgeous, unique eyes turned to him, full of some emotion he couldn’t place. “So you don’t remember anything?”
“No, and I want to keep it that way.”
“For what it’s worth, I really am truly sorry,” she said. “For what you went through.”
Ryder waved away the uncomfortable feelings inside him. “If Landon can get over it, I can too.” He moved to the ladder, testing the first rung before starting down. “Besides, what I don’t remember can’t hurt me anyway. Time to move on.”
Kira sighed and nodded, moving to the edge of the hole. “I can head down alone if you want. I don’t sense any sign of another fae around.”
“No way,” Ryder said. “You may be a fairy, but you’re still my partner. We’ll go together.”
Ryder first, they climbed downward, and a couple minutes later, they were deep underground in a dark, almost pitch-black room.
“Here, let me get this,” Kira said, moving to a little panel and pressing a button.
Instantly, rows and rows of bright fluorescent lights lit the ceiling above them. But there were no lamps or bulbs. Instead, it was as though the room was lit from end to end by one giant panel that defied human conventions.
Despite being far underground, the ceiling was quite high, maybe twenty or thirty feet. The room was large but sparse, with only a handful of odd desks littered with unfamiliar equipment. Off to the side, steel doors led in different directions.
The whole place gave him a forlorn, empty feeling inside. Something sterile and clean yet altogether filthy at the same time.
Like he felt inside in his dark moments.
“Looks like they hadn’t quite fully set up shop here.” Kira strode forward confidently as she moved to another larger panel and started to hit more buttons that made no sense to him.
She pulled out a strange device that looked like a USB stick connected to a small metallic cube with multicolored wires poking out of the end. A strange amalgamation of human and fae technology.
“Did you make that?” Ryder asked.
“Yes.”
“Interesting.” He came alongside her, watching curiously as she plugged the device into a small port, and it started to glow and make a light buzzing sound.
“Is it?” She sent him a suspicious glance. “I thought you hated everything fae and didn’t want to know anything about them.”
“No, and I’m genuinely sorry if I hurt you. I just didn’t expect to have to confront all of this here on Earth. I thought when I woke up to Dallin’s angry face, in a world outside the lab, that would be it. I guess the past catches up eventually.”
“I suppose so,” Kira said, but there was something about the way she said it as she turned away from him that made him curious.
Damn, how could he be curious about a fairy?
“So what does that thing do?” Ryder asked.
“It essentially allows me to connect fae technology with—hm, how do I say this nicely—more primitive data storage methods so I can bring them back to the office.”
“And by primitive, you mean human,” Ryder added, and Kira nodded eagerly. “So essentially, we’re taking whatever secrets we can find so we can get ahead of the light fae?”
“And shutting down their bases of operation in the process,” Kira said, pumping her fist excitedly. For a moment, it seemed like the pink ring around the center of her irises glowed imperceptibly brighter, her face radiating a cheery resoluteness.
And Ryder felt his heart skip a beat, the traitor.
He sucked in a breath, focusing back on the task at hand. “A step ahead of the light fae. I like it.” He grinned at Kira, and when she grinned back, the oddest impulse went through him.
To kiss her right there in the middle of that forsaken, abandoned place.
He really was a messed-up dragon.
Ryder stepped away from her, afraid he might act on the rash impulse, and instead decided to peruse the lab while Kira went back to work.
He wandered aimlessly for a moment, staying in sight of Kira while he fiddled with curious doodads and trinkets that were as foreign to him as human smartphones had been when he’d first woken up.
Only now, after a few months in the human world, he felt comfortable living as humans did.
Whereas fae things would always seem strange to him.
“What’s this over here?” Ryder called to Kira, appraising a large white orb sitting in the corner. It was bigger than a car, and atop it, there was a smaller orb with one hollow black hole in the center of it. Like an empty eye watching them.
Kira looked up. “Oh, that? That’s just a golem.”
“Now you’re just making things up.”
Kira giggled, the sound light and ringing off the metal walls, warming Ryder from the inside out.
“They’re like… robot security guards. The light fae sometimes use them,
especially in smaller facilities that might not have access to stronger fae, in case of attack or a security breach.”
“What’s it do, stare people to death with its one eye?”
“I wish. Thankfully, they’re not very common, especially back in the fae world. I guess it makes sense they’d employ one here because this office is quite remote. That one must be defunct. After all, it let us inside.”
The thing still gave him the creeps.
“I’m almost done here,” she said. “Just need to cycle the last few systems before I shut off the magic powering this place. Without it, the whole room should just self-destruct and collapse on itself. But don’t worry. It’s on a timer, so we’ll be long gone before that happens.”
“Good,” Ryder said.
There was a pause as Ryder just listened to the clicks and beeps coming from Kira’s direction while she worked. It wasn’t until he started to hear—or maybe it was more like feel—an uncomfortable droning noise that reverberated in his chest.
He turned back to look at the golem sitting in the corner.
Only, the black hole was starting to glow. It was faint at first, then got brighter and brighter like a blinding neon-blue eye.
And the hum was starting to become a near-deafening whir in his ears.
“Uh, is that normal?” Ryder asked, pointing at the glowing blue thing.
Kira looked up, and shock showed immediately on her face. “Crap. Crap, crap, crap, it’s waking up.”
“Why?”
“I must’ve set off a failsafe or something. I’m going to try and turn it off.”
Ryder looked back at the big orbs sitting in the corner.
They were starting to lift off the ground now. The top orb, which was clearly its head, seemed to float above the body. And as he watched, two openings appeared at the sides of the lower orb. Metallic arms extended from the holes like long, thick metal wires, the ends extending into the shapes of hands while the whole thing began to levitate off the ground like some messed-up, half-built snowman with arms.
If Ryder had seen one of these before, he was glad he’d forgotten it.
“I’m not sure we can wait for that shutoff,” Ryder said, staring up at it. The golem let off a metallic growl as the blue eye affixed on him.
Ryder cracked his knuckles. He knew a fight when he saw one.
In a blindingly fast motion, one long metal arm whipped forward, slicing through the air as Ryder ducked beneath it. Desks and chairs went flying, but Ryder didn’t have time to think as the other arm came slamming down onto the ground with shocking force, making the whole place shudder from the impact.
“Ryder?” Kira called out to him, her voice barely audible over the noise.
“I’m okay. Just stay focused,” he replied, leaping off the ground as the golem tried to sweep his legs.
Using the opening, he lunged forward, throwing his fist into the golem’s eye. Its head flew backward, almost hitting the wall.
Then, like some sort of super magnet, the head zoomed back to its original place atop its body.
Creepy.
But worse still, the energy in the air, the feeling of this place, the urge to fight was making Ryder uneasy. Glistening green scales made their way up his arms, covering his hands. His body was starting to change in reaction to the threat in front of him.
Shit.
He didn’t have any doubts about winning this fight. Not with his unique power and full control over all his forms due to endless training.
No, what he feared was showing Kira what was inside him.
The abomination.
The golem reared back, bringing both arms down at once to slam into the ground, sending flooring and metal flying as Ryder leaped to the side, barely avoiding the strike. But when the golem’s blue eye rose again, it fixed on Kira as she punched buttons furiously on the panel.
“ACCESS DENIED,” it said audibly amidst the pulsating hum it emitted. Then it floated ominously toward her.
Rage burst through Ryder. Protectiveness. Even a hint of possessiveness.
My partner. Mine.
“Oh, no you don’t,” Ryder growled, rushing forward and grabbing one long, dangling metal arm. Using all of his strength, he flung the big magic robot backward, slamming it into the wall opposite Kira.
It stayed there a second, almost as if dazed, before levitating off the ground and looking down at Ryder, only a fist-sized dent in the side of its head as evidence it had taken a hit.
“Almost there!” Kira called, apparently unaware she’d ever been in danger.
Ryder just stared back up at the implacable fae monstrosity. No way it should have survived his hit. Of course the light fae had invented extra ways to make the world bad wherever they went.
As if dragon-fae hybrids weren’t enough.
Dammit, if shifting was what it took to protect Kira, then he’d do it, regardless of what came after.
He began to feel green and black energy swirling inside him, a fraction of a moment from turning when the blue eye suddenly went dark, and the golem simply hovered in the air for a moment, not moving at all.
Then, all at once, the body and head clattered to the ground, arms sprawled limply around the body as the head rolled away.
“Got it!” Kira called out, and when Ryder looked over his shoulder, she was giving an eager thumbs-up. “Told you it’d be okay.”
Ryder let out a long, pent-up breath. “Yes, you did. Good job, fairy.”
She smiled at him. “Not too bad yourself, dragon.”
Against all odds, he might enjoy this new assignment after all.
5
“Fancy place,” Ryder said, looking around him at the dingy rest stop restaurant Kira had chosen.
She’d been regretting it from the moment they walked in.
She’d been curious at first to see a dining establishment linked to a mini shop and fueling area, because fae treated food and eating very differently. Kira herself had grown up with pills, shakes, and supplements, along with IVs, though perhaps growing up around a lab had more to do with that.
But fae in general treated food as an afterthought. As fuel and nothing more. Kira kind of liked how humans treated it. As a reason for social gatherings, as pleasure, as a reason to slow down.
But not for food like this, though.
She stared down at the messy glop that had been labeled “biscuits and gravy” on the menu. The grease puddled around it, shining and clear and… a bit nauseating.
“Here, take my salad.” Ryder, who had clearly made the better choice, pushed his fresh-looking entrée over to her and took her ominous goop pile for himself.
And that was so much like the Ryder she’d known from the lab, so much like DFH 2.0, that it made her heart ache.
But she’d promised to leave the past behind, so she simply focused on pushing half the salad onto her plate as a compromise. He smiled at her, seeming to accept it.
Maybe she’d been foolish to take this job. How could she simply get over him when he was sitting right there, looking at her with those beautiful eyes?
She just needed to focus on their mission, the first part of which had been successful.
Pleased with herself, she took a bite of salad. It was delicious, crisp, and cool, and she was genuinely grateful he’d given it to her. “Thanks,” she said warily. “It’s a nice thing to do for a fairy…” She snuck a look at him to gauge his expression.
His eyebrow rose. “Is that a good thing? And as for you being a fairy, after today… I’ll just think of you more as my partner.” He smiled and took a bite of the glop, doing an admirable job of hiding his grimace as he fought to swallow.
“I’m so sorry,” she said, fighting back a giggle. “It’s all my fault. What a punishment for saving me from that golem…” His eyes jerked to hers at that, and she felt herself blushing. “What I mean is… thanks for keeping him busy.”
“You noticed? I thought you were too focused on that computer.” He poin
ted his fork at her. “You’re the one who turned him off. I might have been toast.”
She grinned, glad an easy energy had returned between them at least some of the time. If they couldn’t get back to love, they could get back their friendship. “I think you would have done fine. You’re really powerful. At least that’s what I heard.”
Ryder peered at her for a second, then nodded. “But thanks to the chaos inside me, I don’t have a lot of control. My other forms are… interesting.”
She shook her head because going any further in this conversation couldn’t lead to any good. “I’m sure all your forms are good. But yes, we make a great pair.”
His grin brightened, his handsome jaw looking even straighter, his beautiful green-yellow eyes twinkling in the light. It was so surreal that Kira wanted to stop for a moment and just memorize it. But surely, it would look weird to Ryder if she stared too long.
She averted her gaze. “I’m just glad you could overlook my past with them.”
He took another bite and pointed his fork at her again. “So why aren’t you still with the light fae? Some of them are still around, right? Were you just afraid you’d go down eventually?”
“No.” She shook her head. “I know it may be hard for you to believe this, but I never liked what I had to do there. As soon as I saw a way to atone for what I’d done…”
“A redemption mission,” Ryder said.
“Right. Only, I genuinely do just want to help. I never wanted anyone to be hurt in those labs.”
“But they were,” Ryder said pointedly. Then he sighed, leaning back. “Look, it’s still fresh, and I’m still bitter. But as far as I’m concerned, you’re not them anymore, and I’m going to keep trying to move forward and treat you just as you. Not as a fairy. Not as a turncoat. Just you.”
Her cheeks flushed even brighter. “Thank you. It’s more than I deserve.”
He snorted. “Stop that. I don’t want to hear you beating yourself up either.”
“It’s not your business,” she muttered.
“It is,” he said. “I’ve been told I’m a bit old-fashioned, but I can’t help standing up for a pretty woman.”
Dragon Redeemed (Reclaimed Dragons Book 2) Page 3
