The doctor didn’t look at him as she whispered from the corner of her mouth. “Whatever Karey told you, forget it. She talks too much and is going to get herself into trouble for it. It doesn’t matter what she said or what you think you know. There is no way out of this place.”
“How do you know she said anything about escape?”
“Because she doesn’t understand. She’s an omega in the Pack, the lowest of the low. But her father is the Alpha. That affords her some measure of protection, so she doesn’t understand just how bad it is.”
Liam studied her, concentrating. Everything she said sounded so genuine. Was she really this good of an actress? Or could Karey really be telling the truth, that Utopia didn’t actually want to be here? That she was a prisoner the same as he was?
“What is phase two?”
Utopia rubbed the back of her neck, letting her head fall back. She let out a heavy sigh. “We’ll be starting the gene splicing. Your genes into lab rats. See how it affects them. If that’s successful, then we’ll start combining genes from you and another subject. If the Alpha is right about dragons being so much more powerful… well, he expects that your DNA will overwrite their DNA and turn them into a dragon, too.”
“And what do you think?”
“I think there is a reason dragons are so rare.”
She bent over him to check the heart monitor. Liam had a split second to decide; and if they were trying to get him to trust her, then why not play along with it? “If you can help me escape, I can get your son out of here.”
Utopia froze. She turned round eyes on him as her fingers lingered on one of the small round circles. Her touch was cooler than he expected. Much cooler. “I… I don’t…”
“Don’t have a son?” Liam arched a brow. “You told me Aiden was your son.”
“And how do you know I wasn’t lying about it?”
Liam shrugged the best he could. “I don’t. But I believe you. Aiden is your son, and you want him out of here.”
Utopia’s eyes closed. She pressed her lips tightly together and shook her head hard. “I am not going to betray the Pack. You can’t escape. The best you can hope for is your teammates to come save you, but that’s not going to happen. We’re moving around too much and the Alpha is not going to risk losing his dragon. You’re too important.”
“And what about you? How important are you?”
“That is none of your concern.” Utopia grabbed the gag. She roughly put it in place, no matter how he twisted and shook.
The gag tasted like old spit, and Liam growled into it. He’d touched a nerve, or at least appeared to have done so. He twitched against his restraints for a few minutes before he forced himself to relax. Clearly, the conversation was over. As Utopia moved around, moving things from one spot to another and back to the original place, opening drawers and staring blankly into them, occasionally looking at the door as though she expected Genghis Khan to break in, Liam watched her.
And before he even realized what he was doing, he had come to a decision. His plan had been to grab her and take her back to face justice when he managed to escape. Now? Now he knew it wasn’t going to be that easy. Now he knew he needed to get Aiden, too.
Maybe even get Aiden instead. If he grabbed the kid and got him out of here, everything else would follow.
In the meantime, though, he had to figure out how to escape. Without his fires, without being able to turn into a dragon.
Well, it’s a good thing Fiona’s been training us not to shift except in emergencies, he thought grimly, then started twisting his hand from side to side ever so slightly, trying to loosen the IV stuck in his arm.
Chapter Six
Utopia’s head pounded with exhaustion. Even though she knew the dangers of self-medicating, she was rapidly getting to a point where she was considering taking sleeping pills just to shut up the voices in her head wondering if Liam really could get Aiden out of here. If she could just be guaranteed her son’s safety, she’d find a way to destroy all the research she had given the Alpha.
There was no way that Liam could even start to free himself, though. He would need help. And if she were to help him? Then the Alpha would hurt Aiden as punishment. There wasn’t anything she could do. She had to keep her head down. Do as the Alpha told her.
Another week passed. Liam’s eyes haunted her at all times. Why he would affect her this much, she didn’t know. There were times when she had to send Karey out so she could break down crying. Right in front of him. And her heart hurt too much for her to even care if he saw her or not. Utopia didn’t know what to do. There was still some part of her that thought, maybe. Maybe Liam Young was the one who could save them.
That tiny flicker of hope faded more every day.
“Father is going to arrest half the guards in the medical wing.”
Utopia was so engrossed in her notes that she didn’t even hear Karey at first. She looked up, almost disoriented. “What was that?”
“I said, Father is going to arrest half the guards in the medical wing.” Karey was filling requisition forms for more drugs and supplies. “He doesn’t know that I know. Someone in the Pack has been slipping information to the Magnus Academy. We barely missed another raid yesterday. That’s why we were packed out so suddenly. Father gave them some false information, though, and he’s narrowed it down to the medical wing.”
Utopia shuddered, glad that she hadn’t been in contact with anybody who could slip information to the Academy. She’d be the Alpha’s prime suspect if she had.
“I hope they don’t end up punishing people who are innocent,” she murmured.
Karey nodded.
Utopia sighed as she bent over her work again—only for Karey’s words to finally land. They were already in a slightly confused state because they’d had to pack up and leave so quickly yesterday. Now, with arrests being made… Her breath caught in her chest. Now there might actually be a chance that this could work…
“Karey.”
Her nurse looked up.
“Can you go get Aiden out of class? I miss him, I want to see him.” Utopia’s heart pounded hard in her chest. “I’m sure the teacher won’t mind. He’s been doing excellently. No troubles lately. I’ve got a bit more to finish up, but I’ll meet you in the cafeteria.”
She forced herself to smile as Karey’s brow furrowed. Her nurse didn’t comment, though, instead just nodding. Once she left, Utopia forced herself to wait a full minute to make sure she wasn’t coming back. Then she darted for the door and rushed down the corridor. Liam looked tired and glazed when she entered the room. He wasn’t gagged, but he said nothing as she gathered a few needles and drugs.
“Wha—” He bit his tongue as she tugged the IV from his arm.
“There are some upsets going on right now. Guards being arrested,” Utopia breathed, the blood pounding so loud in her ears she could hardly hear her own voice. “These drugs will reverse the ones that block your fires. I’m coming back with Aiden, and then you have to get us out of here. Please.”
Liam’s brow furrowed, making a ‘v’ between his eyes.
“It’ll take about five minutes to engage,” Utopia pressed onward, unbuckling the restraints. “Just rest until your fires are back to full strength. Otherwise, you could overtax yourself.”
Liam gave an almost imperceptible nod.
Utopia closed her eyes and pulled in a deep breath, centering herself, and then turned out the door. She could barely restrain herself from running to the cafeteria. Just as she got there, though, smiling to see Karey there with Aiden, the Alpha suddenly entered.
Her blood ran cold.
The Alpha stormed over to Karey, gesturing at Aiden as the boy shrank back. Utopia’s stomach churned, but she quickly entered the cafeteria. The Alpha glared at her as she approached.
“Take him back to his class,” he snarled at Karey.
“But I want to spend time with—” Aiden hunched as the Alpha glared at him. “I want to go back
to class.”
Utopia reached for him as she reached them, but the Alpha grabbed her wrist and yanked her painfully away. She bit back a cry of pain. The Alpha’s fingers dug hard into her wrist as his eyes flashed a warning. The cafeteria was crowded, too crowded for him, apparently, because he dragged her from the room. He took her to her office and threw her inside.
“What the hell do you think you’re doing, Tennet? Did you think I wouldn’t notice if you took your kid out of school?”
Liam was going to be getting his fires back. If she didn’t have Aiden there… She had to stop him from escaping. She could say that it was one of the guards that gave him the reversal. Maybe he’d back her up, for Aiden’s sake.
“Don’t turn away from me.” The Alpha grabbed both of her arms. He shook her roughly. “I asked you a question!”
“I wanted to see my boy,” she gasped out. “I wanted to see him. These past few weeks have been hell. I’m on the verge of a fucking breakdown, and I needed to see my son. I needed to remind myself why I’m doing this.”
The Alpha threw her against the desk and backhanded her. Pain rang through her neck as she crumbled to the floor, clutching at her face.
“You’re pushing me too hard. I’m making mistakes,” Utopia continued, tears burning in her eyes. “I’ve caught them in time, but if I don’t get some respite then I’m going to make a mistake that can’t be undone.”
I already have. I need to get back to Liam. I need to bind him again!
“You better not,” the Alpha seethed. “Because if you do, then it’ll be your boy I try the new process on.”
“No,” she whimpered. “No, please.”
The Alpha seized her hair and yanked her head back. His lip curled over his teeth, and a dangerous light glowed from his eyes. She’d never seen him like that before. Her lungs caught and she knew. She knew she had made a terrible mistake and there would be no rescue, no undoing this. The Alpha dragged her to her feet and shoved her toward the door.
“Or have you already made a mistake?” he snarled, following her out. His hand wrapped tightly in her hair as he dragged her along. The heel of one shoe snapped and she fell, but he just pulled her along on her knees.
Utopia fought against him, grabbing his wrist in an attempt to loosen his hold on her hair. It was useless. A cry of terror and helplessness burst from her throat when the Alpha kicked open the door to the lab to find Liam standing there, leaning against his table. He looked up in mild surprise, glancing first at the Alpha then at Utopia in his grasp.
“Huh,” Liam mumbled. “Funny. I was expecting this.”
The Alpha snarled. He lunged forward, releasing Utopia. His fist cracked against Liam’s cheek—and then flames erupted from Liam’s mouth. The Alpha drew back, crashing into a table of instruments. Liam’s flames turned to smoke. When he turned back, he grinned.
“I’ve been waiting a while to do this,” he breathed, and a fist shot out.
Utopia scrambled to her feet as Liam and the Alpha fought. They traded blows, both moving so quickly that she didn’t know who was winning and who was losing. Bile rose in her throat. She kept trying to make herself turn, to run, to grab Aiden and get out of here no matter what it took. But she couldn’t. Her legs wouldn’t obey.
Liam let out a primal roar as he lifted the Alpha clean off his feet. He threw the wolf into the wall. The Alpha collapsed, growling. He shifted in the blink of an eye and leapt at Liam again, mouth gaping and teeth ready. Utopia cried out, not even knowing what she was meaning to say. Liam tried to dodge, but the weeks of captivity had weakened him. He went down with a huff.
The Alpha bit the dragon hard on the shoulder, making him cry out. Then he tore away, shifted once more, and pounded his fist into Liam’s face.
Again.
And again.
Arms were suddenly around her waist. Utopia screamed as she was yanked from the doorway. Two guards she recognized stood there. One of them was covered in blood. The other rose a gun, pointing it at the Alpha. He threw himself off Liam just as the gun went off.
The other guard pulled a knife and jammed it toward Utopia’s throat. She shifted into her snow leopard, just barely in time. The knife cut along her shoulder, but she was protected by her dense fur. She kicked the guard in the throat, then twisted herself around and sank her teeth into his arm. He cried out. The other guard fired twice more before the Alpha was on him.
Screams.
Blood.
Flames.
Liam burst out of the lab, throwing a punch at the Alpha’s back as he savaged the guard. The other guard threw Utopia aside, glaring at her hatefully before he leapt forward. He put himself between the Alpha and Liam.
“Run,” he shouted at the dragon, then tackled the Alpha. The guard shifted into a bear and the two grappled and snarled and fought. Liam sagged against the wall, smoke puffing from his nostrils.
He’d overextended himself. His fires hadn’t fully come back and now they were draining faster than they ought to. Utopia scrambled back to her feet. She grabbed the knife the guard had dropped, but who was she supposed to attack? Who was she supposed to help? The Alpha was quickly subduing the second guard, the first one laying there still, bleeding out. Probably dead already.
Bile choked her. She wasn’t a fighter. Never had been.
The bear shifted back to human form. “Run!” he called. “I can’t hold him off much longer! RUN!”
Liam pushed himself from the wall. He swung at the Alpha, only to miss and get his legs kicked out from under him. He growled as he looked up. His eyes met Utopia’s.
The first time they’d seen each other came back to her. Him with his gun pointed at her. Yelling. Screaming that she deserved to die. Her breath caught in her throat, and the knife she held clattered to the floor. As the guard gave another, terrible scream that sent shivers down her spine, Utopia turned. She fled blindly, only knowing she had to get away from that dragon before he killed her.
A roar filled the corridor, crashing against her ears.
Arms wrapped around her. The next thing she knew, those arms had become scaled legs. A pair of wings snapped out, and a huge, bulky dragon’s body punched through the wall. Utopia screamed, twisting this way and that as Liam stumbled out into the open air. His wings beat a few times, weakly, before he sprang into the sky.
Below, the Alpha howled in fury as he chased after them, but they were already beyond his reach.
But Aiden was not.
“Let me go,” Utopia screamed, kicking and clawing against Liam’s belly. “LET ME GO!”
But Liam gave no indication that he had heard. He kept flying, the compound below getting smaller and smaller as he took her farther and farther from her son.
Chapter Seven
Liam had hoped that the fresh air would clear his mind.
It did not.
When he became so dizzy that he didn’t know if he was flying right side up or upside down, he glided down closer to the thick trees and folded his wings in on himself. The fall was longer than he had anticipated, and he landed with a thud that knocked the wind out of him. He lay there, panting for breath as the trees spun around him. The only thing that grounded him was the soft warmth in his arms.
That soft warmth, though, was kicking and spitting, trying to get away from him.
His chest burned and his fires flickered low before he managed to get himself to actually release her. He turned his head to find Utopia staring at him. Tears ran down her face as her small fists rained down on the ground near his head. What was she so mad about? He’d gotten her out, hadn’t he? It was what she wanted… wasn’t it?
“How could you?” she sobbed. “How could you? Do you know what they’ll do to him now?”
Liam blinked, the closeness of her fists to his face not helpful. “Do what to who?”
Utopia screamed into his face, making him jerk away. She sprang away from him, and Liam lurched to his knees. So she didn’t want to be freed. Clearly, that mea
nt she was loyal to the Alpha. Which meant he had to get her back the Academy, so she could be tried for her crimes and—
As his arms wrapped around her, bringing her back down to the forest floor, he remembered. Aiden.
Oh.
Oh, fuck!
His arms tightened around Utopia. She turned with a furious hiss. He knew she was going to shift right before she did it, and he jerked back, avoiding her sharp claws. She made a dash for it again, but Liam caught her by her long, fluffy tail and dragged her back. She whirled, and he rolled with the strike. Her claws grazed him but didn’t do more than that.
Liam yanked her around, swinging her through the air, and she slammed into the ground on the other side. Using her moment of dazed pain, he threw himself over her and pinned her to the ground, both his hands over her muzzle to prevent her from biting him. She clawed at the ground and bucked but couldn’t dislodge him.
“Give it up,” he panted as he wrapped his arms more securely around her. “I’m a dragon. You can’t escape me, Utopia.”
The snow leopard went limp. She made a plaintive yowling noise and Liam flinched. Of course, she must be so worried. So frightened. Slowly, he started to release her, hoping that she would remain calm and he could talk to her about his. Leaving Aiden behind was his mistake, but panicking wasn’t going to help anybody.
As soon as he’d given her enough room, she’d wiggled her way free and taken off again. Liam grunted as he charged to his feet. He lunged for her again. This time as he pinned her to the ground, she shifted back into her human form. They fell together in a tangle of limbs, the sticks and twigs on the forest floor jabbing them both uncomfortably. Liam pinned her wrists down, using his bulk to keep her down.
He became uncomfortably aware that they were both naked. There were certain tricks a dragon could use to keep their clothes when they shifted, but he’d been in such a state that he hadn’t thought to use them. Utopia’s clothes were lying some distance away.
Dragon's Frenemy (Dragon Blaze Ops Book 2) Page 4
