“What’s a bakery truck doing all the way out here?” Eugene murmured as he pointed out the truck in question.
Liam grinned as he watched the wolves loading a large, closed box into the back of it. “Looks like they’re getting ready to give us a nice package.”
“Could be a decoy, though.”
Liam hummed under his breath then nodded. “We need that truck. And we also need to get into the building, hack into their mainframe and download all the information they have there.”
Eugene nodded. “Right. So what’s the plan, then? You get the truck and I get into the building?”
A rustling noise behind them made them both whirl, lifting their weapons. Liam cursed when he saw a man standing behind them. Not only was he upset that they’d let someone creep up on them—but he was even angrier when he saw that it was Evan who had crept up on them.
“Dammit, Specialist!” Liam grabbed him and dragged him down, to keep him hidden a little bit. “What the hell are you doing?”
“Coming after you, of course. You didn’t think you could say you’re going to visit a farm and not have the rest of us follow you out? Especially with how mopey and surly you’ve been. And by you, I mean Eugene,” he added helpfully. He grinned at them both as he took Liam’s binoculars and peered at the compound. “Besides, we all know that when it comes to tech, you two are hopeless. Ya’ll don’t have the skills to pull this off.”
“We have enough,” Eugene snarled.
“And what were you going to put the information on?” Evan rose a brow. “That little external hard drive? It’d fry it.”
“Then what do you suggest?” Eugene snapped.
Evan grinned. “Me, of course. I’ve got mad skills and this baby.” He pulled a small, boxy piece of equipment that was even smaller than the external hard drive they’d brought with them. “This is Melissa. Just plug her in and all we need is five minutes. Now, if you look at those boxes they’re loading, there is no way in hell those are network servers. Those are at best individual towers and monitors. No way the Alpha is stupid enough to transport servers like that.”
“Utopia did say that he was anti-technology,” Liam said.
“Doesn’t matter. You can hate technology and still make it work for you.” Evan lowered the binoculars and hummed. “Also, we got word that they were going to be moving their servers, so this is just the start of the setup. They want us to think we destroyed the research. I need to get into the building and plug Melissa into the mainframe. Gonna need a distraction for that.”
“And you’re sure that the truck isn’t going to hold the information we need?” Liam asked, his eyes on the truck. They were closing the doors now.
“Positive.”
“Right. Eugene, I need you to cause hell. Destroy everything.” Liam grinned. “Evan and I will sneak in the back. Just don’t get yourself shot, okay?”
“Wait,” Evan said as Eugene grinned blackly. His expression twisted as he grabbed Liam’s sleeve. “When I said we, I meant we. Adam and Patrick are on their way. I just fly faster and—”
“There’s no time,” Liam snarled as the truck started up. “We move now!”
Evan squeaked in protest, but Liam had already shifted. The Specialist flung himself onto Liam’s back and at first, Liam was confused, but it made sense—they were supposed to keep their abilities a secret as much as possible. Eugene climbed on behind Evan, and Liam took off. If the wolves thought there was only one dragon, they could use it to their advantage.
There were shouts as Liam hurtled toward the compound. The truck sped away and Liam threw out his front legs, knocking it off the road. He hit the ground and shifted back, the three of them rolling into the trees—and out of the wolves’ sight.
Eugene quickly shifted and sent a fireball at the approaching wolves while Liam and Evan crept through the trees, circling back and around the fight. Gunfire spurted through the air and Liam flinched. As long as Eugene stayed in his dragon form, he should be okay…
They got to the back of the compound quickly. Dragon fire burned the air, lighting up the whole compound. Liam broke one of the windows and scrambled in, gun at the ready. Evan followed him. They moved quickly, Liam remembering the layout from the first time he was here. They soon sound a room full of computer servers and Evan chose one.
“Hurry,” Liam urged as he crouched beside the door, peering out.
“I don’t care,” a voice roared down the corridor. A voice that put the hairs on the back of his neck standing straight up. The Alpha was here. “They can’t get their hands on that research. Where there is one dragon, there are more.”
A chill stole down Liam’s spine as he prepared to fire. His fires burned hot in his gut and for a split second, he wondered. Could he bring the Alpha in alive? What better bargaining chip would they have? What better way to find out what he had done to Utopia?
But then he was in sight and those thoughts disappeared. The Alpha would never talk.
Liam let the bullets fly. Two of the wolves crumpled with cries of pain. Another threw himself in front of the Alpha, using his body as a shield. The Alpha shouted in fury and triumph and threw himself around the corner again. His laughter filled the corridor as Liam stopped firing, not about to waste his bullets. Sweat built on the back of his neck while Evan hissed behind him.
“I need five more minutes,” he called.
Liam hissed. Why announce it so loudly? And wasn’t it only supposed to take five minutes? He must have run into trouble. Liam didn’t reply, keeping his gaze on the corridor.
“Captain Young, I presume,” the Alpha called. “I thought they’d keep you locked up for a while. It’s what I’d do. I guess the Academy isn’t as much of a threat as I thought. Or haven’t you figured out what’s happening yet?”
A bead of sweat dripped into his eye. Liam thought about tossing a grenade, but no. They would need that to give them time to escape. Five minutes. If he could just keep the Alpha talking for that length of time, then maybe…
That the Alpha was talking too meant he was stalling as well. Whatever he had planned, Liam could only hope it wasn’t going to happen in five minutes.
“I know you did something to Utopia,” Liam shouted. “Tell me how to save her and I might let you live.”
“The arrogance of a dragon. I expected nothing less.” The Alpha laughed again. “What are you going to do? How do you think you’re going to kill me?”
“By blowing up this building and taking you with me to hell. Why else do you think we’re here?”
Evan was suddenly by his hand. He waved Melissa around with a triumphant gleam in his eye. What happened to the five minutes? Evan continued to grin, and Liam frowned. No time to figure that out. He took a deep breath as he lifted the grenade off his belt.
“I’ll give you to the count of three,” he called to the Alpha. “One…”
“You won’t do that,” the Alpha laughed. “You won’t kill yourself over this. I know you too well.”
“Two,” Liam continued, pulling the pin from the grenade.
“If you think you know him,” Evan shouted, “don’t you know that Utopia’s his mate?”
A loud curse followed by several feet scrambling away.
“Three!”
Liam lobbed the grenade. The explosion ricocheted down the corridor, making them both flinch. As the flames ate through the air, Liam threw himself into them. The heat sizzled against his skin, but it wasn’t nearly as hot as the fires burning in his gut.
He sent a fireball toward the fleeing figures. As he made to chase them down, destroy them, Evan grabbed his arm.
“We don’t have time,” he urged, pulling him the other way.
Liam glared after the Alpha, but Evan was right. He turned on his heel and ran in the other direction. Eugene’s strength would be wearing thin, they needed to get out of here.
“Did you get the information?” he growled at Evan.
“Yep.”
“What
happened to five minutes?”
“I lied to throw them off,” Evan replied, grinning.
Liam rolled his eyes.
Soon they were back above ground. Two more dragons—Adam and Patrick—had joined Eugene. They all stood back-to-back, shooting flames at wolves that swarmed around them, breathing fire of their own. Liam saw the Alpha spring into the air, wings sprouting from his back, and snarled—but let the coward fly. He needed to get back.
To Utopia.
Then all at once, he was hit by a club of exhaustion. His lungs couldn’t draw breath, his fires snuffed out, and darkness enveloped him.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
From the information Evan had gotten from the servers, Erica was able to figure out what happened to Utopia and Liam. It turned out that the Alpha had put a ‘failsafe’ of sorts in them both. It was an enzyme blocker, and if they didn’t get the antidote to it regularly through food or drink, then it messed with their systems. It hit Utopia harder than Liam because she had been injured worse than he had.
Utopia shuddered as the flashes of pain still echoed over her skin. It had been a long six weeks to recover, but Erica had found out how to reverse the blocker, and then remove it entirely.
If it wasn’t for her, and for the Blaze Ops going after Liam once again, she’d be dead right now—and Liam would have followed her soon after.
“Are you okay?” Erica asked, glancing over her computer at her.
Utopia nodded slowly. “I think I am. I was just thinking…”
“Don’t want to do that,” Erica snorted. “Though I understand the trouble to stop yourself from thinking.”
There was a knock on the door and then Liam and Aiden came in. Aiden was on Liam’s shoulders, giggling as the cape he wore fell over him and Liam both, giving the impression of a weirdly tall, oddly shaped person. Erica smiled as Utopia got to her feet.
“Hello, Mommy,” Aiden greeted. “I’ve grown!”
“I can see that.” Utopia put her hands on her hips. “You’ve grown extra arms and feet, too.”
Aiden laughed as he kicked. Liam had to bend to one side to keep him from pitching off, then plucked him off his shoulders and set him down. He grinned as he wrapped an arm around Utopia’s waist, tugging her a little closer.
“We missed you,” he murmured, leaning in for a kiss. “Thought you might like to take an early lunch.”
“She can,” Erica said before Utopia could respond. “In fact, she can have the rest of the day off.”
Utopia turned back with a frown and Erica rose her brow.
The lioness had her no-nonsense expression on. “I might have cleared you for work physically and you might be desperate to figure out everything that happened with that research, but I can’t have you overexerting yourself. Remember how you were chastising Liam last week for sparring? That’s me right now. You’re going to take the rest of the day off, and you’re not going to do anything stressful.”
The idea of time off was still foreign to Utopia. The idea that she was allowed to say no, that she was allowed to take time for breaks, for food, for sleep. Just to spend time with her son and now her mate… It was so boggling to her that she almost asked Erica if she was certain.
The way the lioness glared at her, though, she knew she’d be in more trouble if she didn’t take the time off. So she smiled, thanked Erica, and grabbed her sweater.
The Academy grounds were much more open and inviting now that she wasn’t followed around by guards. Now that she knew that nobody was going to hurt her, that she was never going to be in the Alpha’s hands again. Now that she could watch Aiden chase after a butterfly, excitedly laughing as the first claws of his shifting were starting to peek through.
Utopia wondered what he would be. She hoped that he’d be feline like her, but you could never know until the first shift actually happened. She sighed in happiness as she watched him, reaching for Liam’s hand.
He kissed the top of her head. “What are you thinking about?”
“Oh, I’m just happy that I was able to understand and realize that loving you doesn’t mean that I loved Adrian any less. Doesn’t make that relationship any less important. And that I want Aiden to be a snow leopard.”
Liam laughed and kissed her again, this time on her lips. The taste of him was sweet and smoky, making her lips tingle in delight. She would never get enough of those kisses. Never get enough of having this man in her life. She wound her arms around his waist, pulling him tighter. He was, in so many ways, perfect for her. Strong, loyal, brave. Foolhardy in just the right way to draw her from being overly cautious while also being experienced enough in being foolhardy to be able to tell her when things might be going a little too far.
“What are you thinking about?” she asked him.
“Well, now I’m thinking that I’m lucky to have a mate and a son and that I get along with both of you.” His smile slipped. “But I was thinking about Eugene. He’s in a bad place right now. Anybody betraying the Academy would be hard on him, but he really liked Clementine. They had history.”
Utopia turned her gaze back to where Aiden raced across the lawn, his eyes bright and a grin on his face. Back with the Pack, children were never allowed to just play like this. Everything was formulated to make them the perfect little soldiers. Her hand tightened around Liam’s as she thought about the other children, the ones with parents who completely bought into the Alpha’s party line.
“I don’t understand why she would do it,” she murmured, keeping her voice low to make sure that Aiden couldn’t hear. “I don’t understand any of them. Why would she turn her back on the Academy? You’re trying to do so much good…”
“I don’t get it, either. Clementine was one of our best. And she always seemed to have such a strong moral compass. It just goes to show what a good actress she is.”
Utopia nodded, then sighed. “But then, who knows. There could be more to the story than we know. Goodness knows there was for me…”
She lapsed into silence, the horrors of what she had done pressing in on her mind. It was so hard not to think about it. Not to let herself get overwhelmed with the guilt. It took everything in her just to look in the mirror some days. Now that she wasn’t living every day for survival, the things that she did when she was there were a heavy weight to bear.
What right did she have to be happy when she had—
“Stop.” Liam pulled her toward him, stepping in front of her so she had to look at him. “I can see what is going through your mind right now. Stop. Remember what your therapist said. It’s healthy to recognize and have remorse, but it’s not going to help anybody to drown in your guilt. Focus on what you’re doing now.”
Utopia sucked in a deep breath. Right. Now. Now, she was working with the Academy. She was figuring out what the Alpha had done, so they could counteract it. She was figuring out how to undo the effects of the splicing that she had done on people the Blaze Ops had already rescued.
“I just need to remember that there is more to Clementine’s story than we know. Maybe she was in it for the glory, maybe she was in it because she believes the Alpha, or maybe she is in it for the same reason I was.” Utopia inhaled deeply again. She consciously pushed aside those feelings of guilt, focusing instead on Aiden as he raced back toward them. “It’s not up to me to judge.”
“No,” Liam agreed. “And I’ve learned my lesson there, too.”
Aiden came to a bouncing stop before them and held out his hands. “Guess what I caught!”
Utopia grinned at him and cupped her hands around his. “What did you catch?”
“Look,” Aiden breathed. “But gently, you’ll scare it.”
Utopia peeked through his little fingers to see something grey. She bent closer, trying to figure out what it was. “Is that a mouse?”
“No. Be quiet, you’ll scare it.”
Liam bent over, too, He suddenly guffawed with laughter and ruffled Aiden’s hair. “You little goofball.”
Aiden laughed and opened his hands to present his mother with a rock. Utopia plucked it from his palm. She had to laugh as well; it was just so ridiculous. Only a kid would think of something like this. She laughed and put it back into his hands, shaking her head. Aiden had been explosive with this sort of silly energy ever since she had gotten well enough to go for walks outside.
And she loved it. She loved that her son could finally live an open, free life. He didn’t have to be afraid of the people around them. He wasn’t being indoctrinated by racist propaganda all the time.
Liam wrapped his arm around her waist, grinning as though he could sense her thoughts. He nuzzled her cheek as he kissed her. “I love you.”
“I love you, too.” Utopia wrapped her arms around his neck, bringing her lips to his.
Aiden burst into giggles and ran in circles, screaming about how disgusting and gross it was. Utopia laughed at his antics and kissed Liam again, this time making exaggerated, cartoonish kissing noises. Liam dipped her, burying his face into her neck.
When he brought her back up, it was to dead silence. Aiden was no longer laughing and shouting. He ran back to their side, half-hiding behind Liam while clutching at Utopia’s hand.
“Hello, Sergeant Adam,” he called, although there was a note of caution to his voice. And no wonder, given the scowl on Adam’s face.
The Sergeant Major glanced at Aiden and forced a grin on his face, although it really did look more like a grimace. “Hello, Aiden. Can I talk to Liam and your mom for a bit?”
Aiden lifted his chin. “Nobody’s stopping you.”
“Aiden.” Utopia stroked his hair. “That was rude. Please apologize and then go find your new rock pet a friend, okay?”
She got a scowl in response to that, but Aiden muttered an apology and stalked off, poking through the grass.
“What’s the problem, Adam?” Liam asked, cocking his head to one side.
Adam had not warmed up to her at all. None of the Blaze Ops had, really, except Evan. Eugene was polite but often had his own thing going on, and the others… well. She understood why they didn’t like her. It was something that would take time, earning their trust and proving that she wasn’t a bad match for Liam.
Dragon's Frenemy (Dragon Blaze Ops Book 2) Page 17
