by Sophie Stern
She couldn’t think like that, she knew. There wasn’t time for regret or second-guessing. She should think about how she could make things work now, how she could help find the men who had broken into Kade’s house, how she could find the people who had violated the dragons.
She had been over the file so many times. She’d been over the file and looked at every word again and again and again. Those Deragon creeps had planned secret fucking passageways in the remodel. They’d planned everything, and they’d manage to hide it from the owner.
He worked from home sometimes and was able to be there when the workers were. He didn’t just leave them alone with his wife, whom Holly knew from the documents was a counselor on Dragon Isle. She had wondered, at first, how they’d been able to be in the man’s house for so long without arousing suspicion. Shouldn’t have Kade have smelled their anxiety and their poor attitudes?
Could dragons smell attitudes?
She learned, though, that Deragon had developed a body spray that masked a person’s true scent. It hid their emotions, which made it more difficult for the shifters to tell what someone was thinking or doing. It made it more difficult for them to sense someone’s poor intentions.
Holly didn’t realize how much shifters relied on scent to survive until she’d read the files on the flash drive. It was creepy, really, just how much information was on there about the shifters on Dragon Isle.
It made her uncomfortable knowing someone had been spying on the dragons for so long. It made her sad for them. It made her wonder if they lived in constant fear of something like this happening.
It made her wonder if they were ever going to recover.
Soon, the rain was pouring harder and she had to really focus on not sliding off Colton’s slick scales. She wrapped her arms tighter around his long neck and closed her eyes. Her hair was matted to her face and she knew she was going to look like hell when they arrived, but that didn’t matter.
All that mattered was getting to the gala in time.
She’d memorized the floor plans. She knew exactly where each room was, exactly what she needed to do in order to get to the room with the children.
The only thing she didn’t know was which route the men planned to use to escape with the children. That part hadn’t been clear. It had been unspecific, and she guessed she knew why.
It was because the flash drives were just flash drives. They weren’t really secure. Yeah, there had been a password on the one she was working on, but to a girl like Holly, passwords didn’t mean much. She was beyond that sort of thing. She was better than that.
She was a nerd at heart, but maybe this time, maybe her nerding out was going to pay off.
Eventually, she felt Colton begin to slow a little, and she thought they must be nearing Kade’s mansion. She carefully opened her eyes, trying not to let the rain blind her, and got a glimpse of lights down below. This was it, then. They were there.
Were they in time, though?
Emerson had come first. He had flown immediately and the rest of them had followed a few minutes behind.
Would he go in stealthily or was he going to go in guns-a-blazing and save his child?
What were the rest of them going to do?
She focused on holding on, on making it through each moment as he circled the mansion, then landed quietly. She was surprised at how softly they landed. She was about to try to climb off of him, about to figure out a way to slide off, when he shifted. It happened suddenly, almost instantly. He was a dragon, and then he was a man. He was big, and then he was small.
Well, small was a matter of perspective, she realized.
He was still much bigger than her.
She fell through the air when he shifted and began to wave her hands wildly around around, trying to grab onto something. He caught her, though. Colton caught her. He was a dragon, and then he was holding her. How had he done that? How had he moved so quickly?
He pet her hair, pushing her damp locks back from her face. Anthony was already running toward the mansion, but Colton was checking on her first.
“We have to go now,” he said.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Stay close.”
He put her down and turned toward the house. He took off running and she kept close to him. If he was surprised at that, he didn’t show it. Holly might be a small little human, but she could hold her own when it came to physical endurance.
She’d been a runner for years, choosing physical exercise as a way to burn off anger and energy. She used running as a way to move forward with her life, as a way to forget her past.
She used running as a way to forget about her fucking stepbrother and the way her family had let her down.
Now she was going to use that for good.
They darted into the mansion. Colton slowed to look around, probably to find his bearings, but she grabbed his hand.
“This way,” she said.
There were dragons all around them in beautiful clothing. She wasn’t sure how people had managed to fly here, but still end up wearing gorgeous gowns and tuxedos and have their hair done all nice, but it wasn’t the time for questions.
There was no time to stop and ask for directions.
There was no time to tell people there was danger in their midst.
They had to get to that children’s room now.
She was the only one who could do it.
Emerson was probably looking for the room and she knew Anthony was, too, but they’d need to find Kade or ask for directions and if they were too fast or too loud or too insistent, people would get suspicious and begin to freak out and then it would take even longer.
Colton looked at Holly and nodded, ceding control to her. She led him up the stairs to the second floor and pushed open one of the doors. It opened to a staircase that led upstairs to a newly-developed third story that now held guest rooms and the children’s play room.
Music was blaring from the first floor and there were people milling about already. The gala wasn’t supposed to start for an hour, but the mansion was already full. Holly thought it wasn’t going to be a gala so much as an over-packed party, but that was beside the point.
She ran up the stairs with Colton right behind her. She was still wet and her shoes slipped on the top step. She fell forward, but he grabbed her and righted her.
“Let me go first,” he said, and slinked past her. His skin was hot against hers. “Whatever happens,” he whispered. “You did a good job.”
Then he kissed her, hard and fast, and then released her just as fast. Her head began to spin, but there was no time for anything but moving.
Colton turned the knob silently and quietly opened the door. He stepped inside and Holly was right behind him as they hurried inside. Then she noticed the bodies on the floor and realized they were too late.
9
They were too late.
They’d flown too slowly, been too disorganized.
They should have known there was a problem before. They should have known ahead of time, but they didn’t.
Holly was the only one who even had an inkling of a feeling that there was a problem. No one else knew. No one else had any idea that someone thought they could come onto the island and steal children.
It sounded like something out of a bad horror novel or a terrible science fiction movie. It sounded like something from a nightmare, but it was happening.
Colton opened the door and saw the bodies on the floor.
Four human men.
Three dragons.
Kade, Emerson, and Anthony were all sprawled in various positions on the floor. They had tried to save the children and they had failed. He saw the darts sticking from their necks and realized they’d been drugged.
Fuck.
They’d obviously gone down guns-a-blazing, but someone had been too fast for them. Someone had been too quick. They’d taken out most of the humans, but they hadn’t accounted for the fifth man. They hadn’t counted
on the man with the dart gun.
They hadn’t counted on him being sneaky.
That was the problem with being disorganized in a time like this. That was the problem with running in to a situation without a fucking plan. They hadn’t had time to come up with a plan. They hadn’t had time for recon. They hadn’t had time for anything but a last-ditch attempt to save this little kid, and they had failed him.
They hadn’t been smart enough.
There was a man on the opposite end of the playroom holding a crying child. It was a little boy and Colton knew it was Emerson’s. It had to be. The man’s back was to the door and he was talking on the phone. He hadn’t heard them come in, which was good. It meant Colton hadn’t completely lost his touch. They’d been quiet, but they hadn’t been silent, and Colton knew the child’s crying had covered what little noise they may have made while pushing the door open.
Colton motioned for Holly to remain silent for a moment while they watched. Maybe they could learn something from the man before they killed the motherfucker. Colton didn’t think there were any more guys lurking around. Five seemed like the appropriate number. They had been planning on taking five kids, after all. You never knew, though, and Colton didn’t like loose ends.
He was going to enjoy killing the monster who thought it was okay to scare a little fucking kid.
He was going to enjoy destroying the beast who thought it was okay to steal children for money.
“There’s only one kid. No, listen…I’m telling you, they were tipped off… They had to have been because no other kids showed up and the dads all went fucking crazy here…yeah…yeah, I got the one.” The little dragon shifter couldn’t have been more than two years old, but he was screaming with the fervor of a newborn who didn’t get his milk.
He was absolutely wailing, but the man didn’t seem to notice.
“Yeah, I did. I tried to tranq him. Yeah, the drugs didn’t work on him. I guess they only work on full shifters, not on the half-breed ones. Yeah. Yeah I’m leaving now.”
Colton glanced at the other bodies on the floor. Blood had stained the carpet and he guessed that when Kade woke up, he’d be burning this part of the house down. The male bodies were sprawled throughout the room. Unlike the dragonmen, who were knocked out but still breathing, the humans were dead.
They had been destroyed.
Dragons didn’t take prisoners.
The man hung up the phone and turned around. He raised his arm and shot Colton and Holly without a word. His eyes were blank. He looked dead, soulless. He looked like he didn’t have a heart anymore, like none of this bothered him in any way.
It should have.
Colton was many things, but he would never understand losing your soul, especially when you sold it for money.
The dart from the man’s gun hit Colton’s neck. It stung, but it didn’t hurt the way it should have, and Colton simply looked at the dart before turning his gaze back on the man.
Holly plucked her dart from her skin and threw it on the ground.
“Hand over the fucking baby,” she said with steel in her voice that impressed even Colton.
Instead of answering, the man shot her and Colton each once more. Surprisingly, the baby saw them and calmed, as if he knew help was coming, as if he knew this was it, that they were going to save him.
They weren’t going to let anything happen to the kid.
Again, Holly plucked the dart from her skin. Colton simply looked at his, then shook his head. The darts fell from his neck and the man’s eyes went wide, as if he couldn’t quite believe his evil plan hadn’t worked.
As if he somehow still thought he was going to get away with it.
“Hand her the baby and I won’t kill you,” Colton said.
The man shook his head and spat on the ground with a hiss.
“Fuck you,” he said. “You have no idea who you’re dealing with.”
“I know you work for Deragon,” Colton said. “I know you think you’re going to run experiments on this little kid, but you’re wrong.”
“You don’t know anything. You and your group of little monsters think you can save the day, but you can’t.” The man turned and pushed a hidden button on the wall. A panel slid to the side and Colton realized it was one of the escape route secret passageways Holly had mentioned.
If the man went through it, there would be no stopping him. He’d escape with the toddler and that would be it.
Colton wouldn’t be able to live with that. He’d spend the rest of his days chasing down the monsters who stole the baby dragon. He’d spend the rest of his life filled with regret.
The man moved quickly toward the passageway, but before he could duck down into it, the toddler grabbed his hair and yanked, causing the man to cry out. Colton didn’t want to hurt the child by tackling the man, but the little dragon seemed to have some good instincts because he launched himself from the man and onto a pile of stuffed animals on the floor. As soon as the kid was clear, Colton threw his body at the fucking poacher and the two of them slammed through the wall.
He heard Holly grabbing the child and he knew she’d take care of him and get him to safety. Right now, there was something dark on his mind. Right now, Colton was ready for revenge. He already didn’t fucking like poachers. He didn’t like the fact that monsters were usually human. He didn’t like the fact that people were scared of dragons, but they just wanted to be left alone. The dragons weren’t the ones seeking attention or trying to steal peoples’ kids.
The dragons just wanted their privacy.
They just wanted to live in their own way.
This man had tried to take that.
Colton didn’t know for certain whose dragonling was in the other room, but he suspected it was Emerson’s, and that just chafed him even more. These people had come together to have a night of enjoyment. They didn’t want to have to deal with something dark, something deadly.
They didn’t want to have to deal with someone taking their kids.
The space the two men tumbled into was open and Colton saw there was a hole in the floor a few feet away with a ladder leading down. So that was how they planned to escape, was it? The men would take the children and slip out undetected, unnoticed. He wondered if the ladder led to an exit within the house or if the men would be able to go directly outside, but it didn’t matter. They’d never be going anywhere ever again. This was their last hurrah, and they had fucked it up.
You don’t mess with dragons.
Kade was never going to hire anyone to work on his damn mansion again, Colton knew that much for certain.
Colton had the man pinned in a matter of seconds. Blood poured from his nose, which was definitely broken. Colton thought the guy’s arm was probably busted, too. It bent at a weird angle. Colton couldn’t scent him, couldn’t tell what emotions were playing through his head. He figured the asshole was using some scent-covering spray. It was becoming more and more common for people who worked around shifters to use.
He hated the damn stuff. It made it harder to communicate. It made it harder to understand why the other person was speaking or reacting in the way they were, but that didn’t matter right now. Colton didn’t need scent to know what the man was thinking.
He was scared.
He had already wet his pants, was already shaking, was already starting to beg for his life, but Colton wasn’t going to listen to any of that crap.
Not tonight.
Not now.
“You came to our island,” he said. “You came to steal our children, to torture our babies. You came to us and you will not be leaving. Not today. Not ever.”
The man broke easily and Colton thought he should feel guilt, remorse. He thought he should feel something, anything. He thought he should feel sadness or regret, but he did not.
It was like putting down a lame horse or butchering cattle, he thought. It was something that had to be done. The man was a danger to every dragon in the world. The man was not someon
e who would make it off the island. There was no way any of the dragons in the house were going to let him escape alive, but Colton knew they would torture him before they put him out of his misery.
Colton didn’t regret what he did. He simply put the man down before anyone else had a chance to. He kept things simple, neat.
He might be a murderer, but he wasn’t a monster.
10
Holly held the little shifter to her chest and rubbed his soft, curly hair. He mumbled a few words, but she couldn’t really understand. She didn’t have to wait long before she heard footsteps on the stairs and a group of women burst into the room.
“My baby!” One of them screeched, pulling the child from Holly’s arms. The woman’s dark hair was piled in curls on top of her head and her pink ball gown made her look like a fairy princess. “You saved my baby.” She kissed the child, then yanked Holly to her feet and kissed her, too, square on the lips. “You’re an angel,” she said.
“Um, no problem,” Holly responded. She didn’t really know what else to say. Anyone would have done the same thing. Anyone would have done whatever it took to save the children of Dragon Isle.
“Those fuckers were going to try to steal all the babies,” the woman said to her friends. “Now come on, let’s get these men woken up.” The women moved into the room and began touching and talking to the dragonmen sprawled on the floor.
Holly wasn’t sure how they were going to get them to wake up, but soon another man showed up who seemed to be a doctor, and he administered an injection to each of the injured parties. Soon, they began to rouse, and Holly stared, mesmerized by the scene unfolding before her.
Colton appeared by her side and wrapped his arms around her.
“You were very brave,” he whispered.
“I could say the same thing about you,” she said. “You took care of the problem?” She asked, raising an eyebrow.
“It’s taken care of.”
She felt relieved. She felt nothing but complete, absolute relief. The man wasn’t going to be a problem anymore. He wasn’t going to go report to his boss that she had been here. He wasn’t going to give away any secrets about the dragons or send anyone to murder Holly when she went home.
