Dragon's Challenge

by Jasmine Wylder

  No. For now, this was the best choice. Go along quietly. Keep her head bowed. Play into the beaten aspect. Don’t challenge him. Don’t make him angry. Wait for the video to be sent out, hope that Stephen would be able to somehow contact her before he made his move, so they could work together.

  She exhaled, lowering her head even further as she settled on that thought. As soon as this message was sent out, Stephen would come for them. She just had to hold on until then.

  Chapter Nineteen

  Across the country and at another farmer’s house, Stephen drummed his fingers against the desk as the computer booted up. This one was slower than the ones he’d used at other farmers’ houses. He should have known it would be from the dumpy exterior of the house. Clearly, this was one farmer who was having serious financial problems.

  “Finally!” Stephen grumbled when the desktop booted up. He wasted no time getting into Maura’s email.

  His stomach twisted. The account looked almost exactly the same as he had last left it, with no sign that Maura had been there.

  The email he’d sent back to the account remained unopened. He checked it, just in case there was a reply attached—still nothing. So he left it, marked it as unread and looked at what was new. Just an email from the governor.

  Stephen skimmed that email. The governor was getting angry at being jerked around, having meetings where Maura didn’t show up and state her demands. Stephen had been doing his best to keep that going, but he didn’t know how to blackmail people. Didn’t even know what the information she’d sent him was.

  He had tried to look at the sent messages to get that information, but the files wouldn’t open up. They required passcodes and security keys that he was unable to crack.

  “Okay, so what are we going to do, then?” He glared at the governor’s email, his lips pursed and a heaviness weighing on his chest. After a week, he expected something from Maura and Evan. There had been no news of their capture, so did this mean that they were just deep in the wilderness, cut off from the internet?

  Or did it mean they’d been taken by an off-the-books team that didn’t need to report their capture?

  If that was the case, then the only way to get them back was to go to this meetup. It could be a trap, sure, but he’d done his research. An adrenaline shot would counteract the blockers if they tried to sneak-inject him, giving him enough time to get away before they took effect. He’d already gotten his hands on a syringe and a vial of adrenaline.

  As he was typing up a message to the governor to arrange another meeting, this time stating that Maura’s ‘associate’ would be the one to meet with him, a sudden buzzing and a green phone call button appeared in the middle of the screen.

  He glanced at the name attached to the video call—his heart jumped. It was Maura! Finally, she was getting back to him!

  Hurriedly, he clicked it open. Only for his heart to plummet as Maura came onscreen. It was her, that was clear. Her bright eyes, her red hair, her exquisite face with those plump cheeks, shaped just right for smiling, and her cupid’s bow lips.

  Only, that cupid’s bow was cracked and bleeding. Her cheek had a deep purple bruise along the cheekbone, her red hair was ragged, greasy and dirty and her bright eyes were clouded with tears and fear.

  “Maura,” he breathed.

  Her lips twitched into a farce of a smile. “Hi, Stephen.”

  His hands clenched as his fires flared hot through him. “Who did this to you?”

  He’d find them. He’d rip them to pieces. Whoever dared lay a hand on Maura would get their face torn off. He’d rend them limb from limb for bruising her delicate skin. He’d roast them. And if they had done even worse than the damage he saw here? They would be begging for death by the time he was done. A snarl ripped from his throat as he leaned forward, a glare heavy on his brow.

  “Who did this to you? Where are you?”

  Maura glanced to her right. The room she was in was so black that all he could see was her. The light shone directly on her face and he didn’t think she’d be able to see anything behind it. Did she even know who caught her?

  “We were right about one thing,” she murmured. “There is someone trying to rebuild the Pack. He wants the information I sent to the governor. Everything that’s on the flash drive I gave to you before we parted ways.”

  Stephen blinked once, forcing his racing heart not to show on his face. Of course. They wanted information to be able to blackmail or destroy everyone Maura had blackmail material on. She must have hidden it before she was captured. Then told whoever it was that he had it.

  “So what does this Beta want from me?”

  “To bring the flash drive here. To ransom me back. He’s going to send an email with the coordinates for the meetup, and he says you have to be here in an hour. Otherwise, he’ll kill me.”

  “But—” Stephen started, but before he could explain that he’d been traveling across the country, the feed went dead. He slammed his hand against the desk. “Fuck!”

  Emotion swept through him, so powerful and quick he didn’t know what to feel. What pounded through his brain over and over again was that he shouldn’t have been so stupid. All this time, he thought that Maura and Evan had abandoned him. That they hadn’t cared enough to wait for him, to contact him. It was only recently that he had started to consider other possibilities.

  Only to find that if he had been smart and actually looked for them before now, he might have been able to find them. They might not be so badly beaten—or at least, Maura… Bile rose in his throat as he thought of what she had said. Always ‘me’ never ‘we.’ Was Evan already dead?

  Stephen closed his eyes and pushed aside that worry. If he was dead, then there was nothing Stephen could do about it. He had to set aside the things he couldn’t change and focus on what he could. Maura was alive. Maura needed his help. He couldn’t let himself freeze up now.

  No matter what mistakes he had made with her and Evan and no matter what she had done and how hurt he’d been over having different expectations from their relationship than she did, he had a responsibility. He wasn’t going to get out of this situation by himself, that much was certain. But he would be able to get Maura out of her situation.

  The email dinged and Stephen opened up the message that came through. All that showed up was a set of coordinates.

  They must have been waiting for him to log into her account in order to send him this message. It was the only reason that they’d be able to get to him now… which meant… He let out a long, slow growl. Which meant they could see everything he’d been sending and receiving. And they could have sent even more information…

  He closed out the draft he’d been writing to the governor and checked the sent messages. There, at the top of the list and from just half an hour ago, was a new message to the governor. He opened it up, holding his breath.

  And it all went out in a single huff, despair but not surprise sweeping through him.

  Dear Governor,

  Miss Alice Bishop is no longer available to meet up with you. I will be taking over further communications, as I now possess the information that she had previously sent you. If you do not wish for this information to be leaked to the public, I suggest you sit tight and wait for me to get back to you.

  Signed, A friend.

  Stephen frowned. Alice Bishop? Who the hell was that? Did Maura lie to her captor? But no… if they were smart enough to know what she was doing, they were smart enough to know who she was. So why…?

  It didn’t matter. Stephen shook the mystery off. It didn’t matter who Alice Bishop was or why the Beta was calling Maura that. What mattered was that he got her back. Which he would, not matter what he had to do…

  He grabbed the rotary phone sitting next to the computer and began dialing, his lips pulled back over his teeth in a fierce grimace. Time for one of his trademark reckless, stupid moves.

  ***

  The trade-off location was nicely isolated, the perfect
place to murder two people and leave their bodies to rot. He circled the clearing twice, not bothering to keep himself hidden, as he checked out the area. Lots of places for hidden ambushes. Lots of available places for snipers and other gunmen. Basically, only a total idiot would land here for a clandestine meeting.

  Well, Stephen thought wryly as he angled himself downward, I’m nothing if not an idiot.

  He landed harder than he needed, flapping his wings to stir up dust and debris toward the half dozen wolves that loitered around a couple of all-terrain vehicles. He shifted back to his human form, standing in the middle of the clearing where any third-rate rookie with a gun could pick him off. His dragon form was defensible against bullets; his human form not so much.

  Someone got out of one of the vehicles and started striding over. Stephen narrowed his eyes at the newcomer. Shane Carter. He recognized him from the surveillance that the Shadow Ops took of the pack before they were shut down.

  “Hello,” he called cheerily. “Where is Maura and what have you done with Evan?”

  Carter smirked at him. “What makes you think we have Evan?”

  “Because if you don’t, that means he’s dead. Otherwise, he’d have contacted me by now. And you’re smart enough to know that if you killed him, you’ll be charbroiled roast before the end of the day.”

  Carter shrugged. “Perhaps. Where is my flash drive?”

  “Where are Maura and Evan?”

  Carter narrowed his eyes, then waved his hand vaguely. “Safe. Now. Do you have my flash drive or not?”

  “I do. Not with me, but I do.”

  Carter narrowed his eyes at him. “Then why don’t I just put a bullet in your precious Maura’s head?”

  Even the suggestion made Stephen snarl, giving away his bluff. Carter smiled, satisfied he was once more in charge. He waved his hand and Maura was yanked from another of the vehicles. She limped as she was dragged over to meet them, and Stephen had to bite back a mingled cry of horror and happiness. She was just as heavily bruised in reality as she had been in the video but at least he could see her, alive.

  “You know,” Stephen said, reaching for her but stopping when several guns were pointed in his direction. “I’m glad that you decided to meet up with me. You see, I’m terrible with negotiations—usually, I just break the door in and start burning things. Not too smart, you see. But I’ll negotiate now. Give me Maura here and then we can trade the information for Evan.”

  “Or maybe I’ll shoot her in the kneecaps and—”

  “Trust me, you don’t want to do that.” Stephen grinned at him, letting his flames flicker in his teeth. “I’m depressed, vaguely suicidal and right now, my entire existence is dedicated to this woman. Hurt her and I’m gonna just let those suicidal tendencies take over. Not to mention that I called the FBI and told them this meeting was happening, so we have maybe five minutes before there are helicopters and other crap coming down on us.”

  Carter’s eyes widened. His jaw dropped open and he made a gasping, gagging noise.

  Stephen smiled at him. “Like I said. Not too smart. I’ll be taking Maura now and you can call me about trading for Evan once she’s with me to stop me from doing more stupid things.” He winked at Carter. “Unless you want to just surrender everything right now?”

  The radio on the belt of the wolf who had brought Maura over crackled and a panicked voice came through. “Sir! We’ve got SWAT on the way!”

  Carter pulled back his teeth, fury in his eyes. “Fine.” He thrust Maura into Stephen’s arms, then drew a gun. “But I’m getting one shot off—just remember if you hurt me, your precious Evan dies.”

  Stephen didn’t so much as flinch as the gun was pressed to his shoulder. Maura screamed, the sound drowned out by the gunshot. Pain blasted through his body, a wave of darkness washing over his vision as he was thrown back. Sweat dewed his brow as he collapsed. Maura fell beside him, her hands pressed over the injury.

  The chopping sound of helicopters reached his ears and Stephen grabbed her, pulling her into his arms. It was excruciating to shift but he did it as he rolled over. He sprang into the air, wings beating hard. The helicopters angled toward him, but he shot straight up, too high and fast for them to follow, and headed south.

  The rushing of the wind was the only thing he heard, pain and Maura in his arms the only things he felt. He flew hard and fast, not bothering to check the distance between him and his enemies—all his energy was focused on one thing.

  Getting Maura out of here.

  Chapter Twenty

  By the time they landed at the familiar site of Fort Stinky Butt (Maura had long forgotten its real name, the guys called it that so much), Stephen’s shoulder had healed up, keeping the bullet inside. From the grimace on his face and the way he favored that arm, Maura knew it had to be causing him a lot of pain.

  Still, he cupped her face in his hands so tenderly it just about broke her heart, and he gazed deep into her eyes. “Are you okay?”

  Wordless and breathless, Maura nodded. There was so much going on in her brain she wasn’t certain at all what she was meant to be thinking, but she knew one thing. Now that she was with Stephen, she was okay. Just having him with her again meant that somehow, it was all going to work out.

  She wanted to collapse into his arms, but in order for things to work out, they had to work at it.

  Taking a deep breath, she straightened herself. “Why did you decide to come here? Fort Stinky Butt is compromised, they’ll be able to find us here.”

  “Yeah, they will,” Stephen agreed. “But we have no supplies and we need to take care of your injuries. This place was basically abandoned, but we still have basic first aid stuff and canned food. Generator’s gone, but we have enough to reset so we don’t fall over from starvation.”

  Maura hesitated but nodded. It was smart, after all. Her stomach hurt; she was certain because of the flash drive still stuck in her gut. She rubbed her skin above the spot of dull, aching pain and let out a sigh. “What I really need is a hospital and surgery. You, too. We need to get that bullet out of you.”

  “Surgery?” Stephen peered at her worriedly. “What do you mean, surgery?”

  Maura sat, wincing. “I mean I swallowed the flash drive and with the way Shane Carter starved me, it’s gotten stuck in my gut. I need surgery or laxatives to pass it.”

  How long would the condoms hold up? She pushed that thought from her mind—right now it didn’t matter.

  “So that’s what happened,” Stephen murmured. He opened the cupboard, bringing out rubbing alcohol, bandages and other first-aid equipment. He set them all over the table, gathered a bunch of candles that he lit with a small spurt of flame for each one. Soon the cabin was filled with a warm glow, augmenting the natural light from outside.

  He grabbed a steak knife and tossed it into a small bowl. “Can you fill that with the rubbing alcohol? I’m not going to risk cutting you open, but I need this bullet out of me.”

  Maura grimaced, knowing what that meant, but emptied the rubbing alcohol over the steak knife. They needed to take risks if they were going to get out of here, and the sooner Stephen was able to fly again, the better.

  As the knife soaked, she got to her feet. “I’m going to check the bedroom, see if there was anything left there that we can use. Maybe some bedding…”

  It would probably be crawling with mice if there was any bedding left, but they were going to need something to keep from getting too cold at night—or rather, she was since Stephen, as a dragon, was naturally so warm that the cold never bothered him, anyway.

  Just like Elsa, Maura thought, a giddiness winding up her head. Oh, that’s the shock wearing off.

  She took a moment to breathe as she leaned against the wall in the bedroom, away from Stephen so he wouldn’t worry about her. She prayed that Shane Carter wouldn’t take his anger at Stephen’s trick out on Evan, but she had the uncomfortable feeling that Evan was going to pay dearly for what happened today.

&nb
sp; She shook her head and moved to the bed. There was bedding, covered in dust and mouse dirt. Her stomach churned as she picked it up, shaking it roughly to remove the grossness—although that would not be enough to shake off the germs or the knowledge that mice had been on it. She gagged, the emptiness of her stomach nearly getting the best of her.

  But under the blanket was a laptop. Maura’s eyes widened as she dropped the blanket to one side. Not just a laptop. There was also one of Evan’s contraptions that allowed him to connect to the internet in the most unexpected places.

  She snatched both up and rushed back to the kitchen. “We can see what’s happening,” she exclaimed, putting it down before Stephen. “See? We’ll be able to figure out what’s going on.”

  Stephen stared at it blankly. She could see the exhaustion weighing down on him and winced in sympathy. He was probably too worried about Evan to see what a break this laptop was. Maura opened it up, hoping that the dust and everything else hadn’t broken it. Not to mention that it wouldn’t likely have battery left.

  To her relief, it started whirring and the screen lit up.

  It took her a little while to figure out how to plug in the internet contraption and Stephen had to help her.

  “You think after watching him do it so often, I’d have figured it out myself,” Stephen complained as they finally were able to open up the browser. They both hunkered over the computer, while Maura typed rapidly to find out what had been going on since the last time she’d been able to check on the news. The first thing she saw had her heart sinking even while relief washed over her.

  “Successful raid against a hideout of notorious fugitive Evan Collins, in which he was taken into custody.” She shook her head in disgust. “Well. I guess being held prisoner and being locked up in a cage isn’t enough for them to believe that he wasn’t the leader of that little group.”