by Ava Benton
I managed to keep hot, shame-filled tears to myself until I was alone in the cabin the men had begrudgingly offered me.
Alone.
Just like I’d always been and always would be.
10
Gate
I sat with my back to the railing and fought to control myself.
My body ached and sizzled for her, and the dragon demanded satisfaction until my head rang with his protests.
I pushed his protests away. She didn’t even know who I was. What I was. And she was Mary’s daughter. I couldn’t pretend to forget these things just because her body was ripe and ready for me. Oh, was she ready. I could’ve taken her right there on the deck, if I’d been weak enough to do so.
But my dragon didn’t tend to follow logic. He was a creature of instinct. And his instincts told him that she was our mate. Our fated mate. Was it true? Was it even possible?
I wished there was somebody I could talk it over with, but Miles wouldn’t want to hear it. He was too angry with her, still, to listen to my ramblings with any degree of impartiality—and I had the feeling he’d be just as concerned over her parentage as I was. Mary would have my balls in a sling if she knew I’d been with her daughter, no matter how uncaring Martina thought she was. I might jeopardize the clan’s relationship with her.
“Damn, damn,” I whispered, tapping the back of my head against the side of the boat as if it would be enough to silence the dragon’s ongoing protests.
Why did it have to be this way? As though a mission as dangerous as the one we were one wasn’t enough.
Morning came fast.
Almost too fast.
Before long, the moon had set and the sky began to lighten into a stunning array of pinks and purples, and the purest gold.
Watching the sun rise had always been my favorite part of guard duty, but not a single morning I’d ever witnessed had anything like the sunrise in the Caribbean.
My heart ached with the beauty of it. The sheer majesty. And it was something so simple, too, the sort of thing money couldn’t buy. I wondered what Martina would think of my feelings on this, since she’d questioned whether or not I was a mercenary. Would a mercenary take such pleasure in nature’s wonders?
I stood, stretching out the kinks in my back. We had to move on the compound, and early. No sense in letting ourselves be discovered. I headed below, where Miles was making coffee and frying a steak until it was just barely charred on both sides.
“She clued into the meat situation,” I muttered, jerking my head in the direction of her closed cabin door.
“So what?” he snickered. “She’s the one who invited herself along on this little adventure. Serves her right, learning things she didn’t want to know.”
“I’m just saying, let’s be cautious.”
He eyed me up. “You think about her a lot.”
“And?”
“I’m just saying.” He barely turned away before I caught sight of his knowing grin.
I was about to ask if he’d like me to wipe it off his face when Klaus emerged from the cabin he’d shared with my cousin.
From the looks of it, the night had not gone well.
“If I never sleep so poorly again, it’ll be too soon,” he grumbled, pushing past me in his quest for the coffee pot.
“You lost the coin toss,” Miles reminded him. “And I offered you the bed, anyway. As the boat’s captain.”
“And I refused it. I know, I know. Stupid me.” He groaned, rolling his head on his shoulders. “I’ll be glad when this mission is over, I’m not ashamed to say.”
I cleared my throat. “Sorry to break into your recap of the night—I’m fine, by the way, going entirely without sleep is a real thrill—but I wondered if there were any maps of the island around here.”
“There are. You think Mary would send us unprepared?”
No, I did not, which was why it seemed a good bet that there would be at least one outline of the island’s terrain onboard.
He fished around a drawer and pulled out a folded map, spreading it over the table and using his coffee cup to hold it in place.
I leaned over to study it, gnawing on a steak of my own as I did.
“We’re here,” I murmured, pointing to the little cove. “And here’s the approximate location of the compound. Damn it, I wish we had online access out here.”
“We would if—”
“Enough of that.” I slammed my palm against the table, making Miles jump. “We all know what she did, all right? And I don’t mean I wish we could ask Mary to look things up for us. I wish we could. Big difference. Got it?”
“Sure, sure.” He exchanged a look with Klaus, but said nothing.
I turned my attention back to the map. “This would be the approximate location of the clearing where the compound entrance sits. If we take the path we took last night, with one of us going this way…” I slid my finger around until it sat at a ninety-degree angle from where it had started, “… one of us could advance from the front, head-on, to distract the guard while the other comes in from the side. But it would have to be fast, before he can alert anybody else.”
“What if three of us went?” Martina stepped forward.
I looked up, across the table. Our eyes met.
My dragon growled, remembering the taste of her lips and the feel of her body and the utter certainty that she belonged to us.
I frowned. “Three of us?”
She frowned back. “You know what I mean.”
“Ridiculous,” Miles chuckled. “Way too dangerous.”
“You told him about me?” she asked, glaring at me as though I were the one insulting her.
“Nothing specific. Even so, I don’t like the idea any more than he does.” Though for completely different reasons. I wouldn’t consider putting her in that sort of danger, no matter how valuable she may or may not prove herself to be.
I shook my head slightly.
She turned away, slamming the cabin door behind her.
There was a twinge in my chest, which I pushed aside in light of the situation. I’d deal with her later, once everything was over.
“Well. There goes that.” I found the bag full of antidote under the sink, where I’d left it, and shoved a handful of syringes into my pocket.
“Why aren’t you taking the entire batch?” Miles asked.
“The bag would only weigh down whoever carried it—and I wouldn’t want anybody getting a hold on the entire stash, if the worst happened. This is plenty to inoculate enough of us that we could overpower them, no matter how many there are.”
“Good thinking.”
We loaded rifles with fresh clips and went up on deck, where Klaus waited. He used binoculars to study the tree line.
“Looks safe, as far as I can see.”
Safe. A funny word to use when referring to the jungle. Anything could be in there, waiting for us. He accompanied us to shore, and the three of us stood on the beach together.
We could speak privately away from the boat, where Martina was clearly listening to every word she could overhear.
“Do you have the flare gun?” Klaus asked.
Miles patted his pocket, where I could see the butt protruding over the top. “If I see it, I’ll go out for backup.”
“Good enough.”
We shook hands before Miles and I turned to each other.
“Ready?” he asked.
Strangely, I didn’t feel ready. I knew I was as ready as I would ever be, but some deep yearning to go back to her ate away at me.
The feeling that there was too much left unspoken.
That I should’ve said something to explain why I’d ended things so abruptly.
That it wasn’t her fault. That I wanted her so much, it unnerved me.
It was no use, and there was no time.
I nodded. “Yes. I’m ready.”
11
Martina
The thing about using a map was knowing how to read it—and
being able to get one’s hands on it when everybody else was up on deck.
I had to wonder if any of them gave me any credit at all, leaving me alone on the boat, hanging out on the beach, while I lowered myself over the side and waited for Klaus to board before going ashore to follow Gate.
I had to laugh at the thought of Klaus finding out I was gone as I hiked through the jungle, uphill, to where the map told me I would have a clear vantage point of the compound’s approximate location.
There was a bluff overlooking the valley in which the compound appeared to sit, and I would perch myself on top of it and watch. For what, I had no idea. But I couldn’t sit back and let things happen without doing anything.
My bow was armed and ready, the bolt firmly in place though I hadn’t yet drawn my arm back in order to avoid tiring it out. I swung the weapon back and forth in front of me as I scanned the area for threats.
It didn’t look as though anyone had been through, at least not recently. There were no broken flowers, no trampled shrubs.
Sweat rolled down my back in spite of the bandana around my neck as I continued to climb, sweat from exertion and the strain of not knowing who I was up against.
Bugs landed on my bare shoulders, and I rubbed them against my jaw rather than lose control of the weapon in my hands.
What a miserable situation.
But I couldn’t let Gate go in there without at least backing him up. I’d hunted enough in my life to know how to make myself invisible while watching for game. If anyone threatened him, I had a surprise for them.
Why I cared so much, I couldn’t have explained even with a gun pointed at my temple. There was something about him that brought out a protective instinct in me. Totally laughable, seeing as how he could’ve broken me like a matchstick without trying. He should’ve been the one protecting me from the Big, Bad Wolf, not the other way around.
I shuddered to think of his reaction if he found out I was shadowing him from high above where he and Miles slinked through the trees. Even so, I was willing to hike a mile through dense jungle full of God only knew what while carrying a heavy bow just to be sure he didn’t come to any harm.
I supposed it had to be the kiss that did it. That kiss could’ve done just about anything. The best kiss of my life, bar none. All encompassing, so much more than a kiss even though so little had really happened. Everything had changed in that single moment. Even in the middle of my hike, bow in my hands, I felt warmth spreading between my legs at the memory. It had been that powerful, no matter how pitifully it had ended and how I’d tossed and turned all night afterward.
The bluff came up fast—so fast that I had to reach out and grab onto the nearest tree to keep from tumbling over the edge.
I pressed myself against the trunk, facing the direction from which I’d come, catching my breath and willing my racing heart back to a normal rhythm before looking out over my shoulder. The staggering beauty all around made it difficult to believe there could ever be something dangerous going on in the middle of it.
The sky was deep blue, setting off the lush green of the mountains at the far side of the island. Like something from a postcard.
And there, in the clearing below, was the entrance to the compound. Just as described.
I sank to the ground, flattening myself as best I could with the bow poised for action.
A single guard paced back and forth in front of a door, a rifle in both hands.
If he were the only one they had to face, they could take him without a problem. It wouldn’t be that easy, of course. Nothing ever was.
I looked off to the left, where Gate and Miles would approach from, watching intently for any signs of their presence. They had to be close by now.
Sure enough, after only a few moments, I noticed the rustling of one tree, then another. They were trying their best, I had to give them that, but they were also big men. They were bound to make their presence known to someone who knew what to watch for. Anyone on the ground would miss it—at least, that was what I hoped.
They stopped.
I held my breath, waiting to see what they would do while my eyes kept cutting back to that guard. Did he know? He didn’t make a move to give himself away. He hadn’t changed at all, not even the speed at which he paced. He seemed oblivious. I could only hope that was the case.
The trees shook again, this time as one of them moved around to approach the guard from behind.
I chewed my lip, willing the guard to remain oblivious. If he was to begin with. Was he only toying with them? I couldn’t help but wonder, as I kept him in my sights.
Miles and Gate burst into the clearing simultaneously, both of them with rifles aimed at the guard.
Miles hurried from behind to throw an arm around the guard’s neck while Gate stripped him of his weapon.
I rejoiced, but didn’t fall back.
It was too easy.
A heard the whistle before I even knew the guard had sounded it. It floated to me on the breeze, so faint, but loud enough on the ground for those who’d been waiting for it to come on the run.
“No…” I breathed, the bow still aimed straight at the chest of that first guard. But there were more and more of them pouring from the mouth of the compound.
Three, five, eight.
I lost count. It was like they had been lying in wait for this—and their nearly joyful expressions told me they were relieved things were finally coming to a head.
I wished I could hear them.
Gate’s mouth moved, but anything he might have said was carried away by the breeze.
Straining my ears didn’t help.
He held his hands high in the air, as did Miles.
The two of them looked fairly calm, considering the situation, but there was tension in every line of their bodies.
My thoughts raced as I struggled to come up with a way out of this.
We were too vastly outnumbered, though. Any hope of an attack was pointless and always had been. What was my mother thinking, sending two of them into a situation like this?
Even if Klaus were with them, there was little he could’ve done to even the odds.
Not only were there more of them, but they were armed.
My heart sank when I examined their rifles. The bow suddenly felt like a toy in my hands when compared to them—still, I kept it carefully aimed, just in case.
“Take ‘em.” The guard who’d faced down Gate turned away with a satisfied sneer as the rest of them closed in.
I was barely able to hold back a cry of grief when I realized this was it. I might never see him again. They would take him and do things to him, whatever it was they did, and the version of him that was left might be nothing like the version I had forged a delicate, improbable bond with.
I wanted to scream, to run down the hill and charge them. Like that would do anything. But it would be better than crouching, helpless, as they took Gate away while my heart broke.
Everything happened so fast after that.
Gate threw a punch which connected with the jaw of the first man who touched him.
The guard went sprawling while a second lifted the butt of his rifle to slam it against Gate’s face. He caught the end before it made contact and used it to pull the man closer so he could head butt him. I could hear the brutal crack of their skulls smashing together from where I watched in growing panic.
The guard went down while Gate whirled on yet another attacker.
Miles took on two guards, but a third planted a kick to his lower back which brought him to his knees.
I wanted to warn Gate to watch out, but what I saw next robbed me of the ability to speak, much less scream.
He started to grow. Swell. Expand. His clothing shredded to pieces, almost bursting from his body as he changed.
I had to be imagining it. I told myself it was all a trick, something my brain was doing to compensate for what I was seeing and how panicked I was for him. People didn’t change shapes. But that was wh
at he was doing.
His body elongated, and soon he fell on all fours. His neck grew longer, along with his skull. I fell back in wonder and horror and shock as wings unfolded from his back, seeming to grow from his shoulder blades. His firm, tanned skin turned to scales of the purest green.
I was looking at a dragon where only moments before, Gate had stood.
But that isn’t possible.
Dragons didn’t exist, damn it.
You’re losing your mind. Some sort of jungle disease. Bug bite, bad water, too much heat. Something. Dragons aren’t real.
Every scrap of common sense in my mind fought back against what my eyes reported as being true.
That I was looking at a dragon, one who stood three times taller than even the largest of the guards and spread its impressive wings to their full span as it glared down with eyes the same color as those I had fought so hard against staring into, back on the boat.
Those eyes saw what I saw: Miles, with cuffs around his wrists and three rifles pointed at various parts of his body.
The message was clear. It was either go along peacefully or witness his cousin’s murder.
I could almost sense the dragon’s heavy sigh as he changed back to human form in the blink of an eye. The guards, who had fallen back in fear, charged him once he was human again and wasted no time in placing shackles around his wrists and ankles.
I waited until he and Miles were being led inside before I turned and ran.
Running was hardly the word for it. I threw myself forward, through the trees and shrubs, not caring anymore about leaving a trail. I didn’t have time for that.
I had just seen the most inexplicable thing imaginable, not to mention the fact that Gate and Miles had been captured. But it was the dragon that stuck at the forefront of my mind. A dragon. A flying, snorting, scaly dragon.
So many things made sense that hadn’t before. The raw meat, the probable explanation for why the others had been kidnapped and why they were being held hostage.
They were all dragons. Miles, too.
Somebody was using them for terrible things in that underground bunker, and Gate and Miles had come to the rescue.
