by Ophelia Bell
She collapsed back, her elbow bumping the machine beside her. “Have you ever fucked someone in this lab before?” she asked, staring up at the grid of lights in the ceiling.
“Never, and I’m not going to start tonight, either.”
She propped herself on her elbows to look at him, pouting. “Aww, oral sex is fine but not fucking?”
“Making you come is always fine. It may sound weird, but I don’t want to make love to you without Simon and Javin.”
He licked his lips, his cat eyes gleaming with smug satisfaction at her languid pose. She recognized the sense of conquest in his posture and rolled her eyes, hopping off the table and slipping back into her pants.
She leaned down and whispered, “One of these days I’ll show you what it really feels like to be with a dragon.”
Val hooked an arm around her waist and pulled her off-balance, forcing her to grab hold of him or else fall. He vibrated beneath her in what she realized was an actual purr, his chest humming from her proximity. “I will relish any and every lesson you wish to teach, Astra.”
He nuzzled her neck and she sighed, surrendering to his embrace and sinking into his lap. She tried a few times to get into his pants, even offering to suck him off, but he kept refusing, so she finally relented, simply making out for the duration of their wait.
Val made it so easy to succumb to his attention that she didn’t mind. He worshiped her lips with his talented mouth until she was dizzy with desire, and when he pushed her hand away from his erection a third time, he said, “Let me love you my way. You’re a dragon. You can handle the heat, can’t you?”
He said it with a quirk of his lips and she sensed the subtle challenge. She narrowed her eyes and gave him a sly smile. “You’re damn right I can handle the heat. I just want to find your limit.”
Val laughed as he nuzzled the sensitive place behind her ear. She tilted her head with a sigh.
“I’m more than willing to share all my limits with you.” He nipped his way back to her mouth, her need to taste his lips again swelling to a fever pitch by the time he was kissing her once more.
She’d forgotten entirely about the tests they were waiting for, lost in the rhythm of their kissing, her dragon hypnotized by Val’s constant attention. When they parted for breath she kept her eyes closed, delving inward to that damaged bond. She found her dragon easily, the animal’s consciousness drunk from desire but happy—and easy to rouse and command if she had need. And all because she had held back from her desire for sex.
“What is it?” Val asked, brushing a knuckle down her cheek. “You disappeared there for a second.”
She met his concerned gaze and smiled. “I think you might be part of the cure. I haven’t been this close to my dragon in days.”
He searched her eyes for a second and she froze, regretting her admission that their closeness had acted like a balm. She didn’t want to give him any excuses to suggest mating.
But Val only pulled her close again and said, “That’s wonderful. The closer to the surface she is, the quicker the counteragent will work. You’ll get her back, I promise.”
She was suddenly overwhelmed by emotion strong enough for her eyes to burn. She kept her head buried against his shoulder, holding him tight to hide the signs. Mostly she felt gratitude that he understood her, but also love, and while her palms tingled with the need to mark him, her dragon was alert and attuned enough to her desires that it wasn’t overwhelming. She could control herself.
“I’m going to miss you,” she said when she finally got herself under control.
Val stiffened against her, and at the same moment, the faint pinging alarm on the machine went off. He urged her off his lap and stood, taking a moment to adjust his massive erection before taking a breath and opening the small chamber of the machine to withdraw a shining cartridge.
“Two down,” he said, giving her a sad smile. He stowed the cartridge inside a small, oblong black case, then put it into his lab coat pocket.
Astra rubbed her bare arms, suddenly chilly from his absence. He worked in silence, setting up the machine to produce the final counteragent for his father.
Her throat burned and she forced herself to swallow. She had to say something, but what?
“We’ll see each other again,” she finally said.
Val took a deep breath and folded himself onto a stool as if bracing himself to respond. “Not soon enough, but I guess I have to live with that. You guys happened fast. These feelings would take anyone time to process. More time than we’ve had. There’s no denying how I feel though. How we all feel. So if you don’t mind, I’d rather not think about you leaving just yet, okay?”
“Fair enough,” she said. They both turned to stare at the machine in silence, the moment taut with all they left unsaid. Astra refused to let herself say how she truly felt. What good would it do? He belonged here on Earth. She and Simon and Javin would return to Nova Aurora in a day or so. There was nothing either of them could say that would change that. Their lives were bound to different places.
Beside her, Val took a deep breath and reached out, clasping her hand in his and squeezing.
A loud beep interrupted their silent moment and Astra jerked her head up as the lab door swung open. Then all hell broke loose.
29
Val
Half a dozen mercenaries had streamed in by the time Val registered what was happening, but it wasn’t until his father appeared in the lab doorway that it sank in completely.
“What the fuck are you doing? This is my lab, Dad. You have no business coming in while I’m working. Or ever, for that matter.”
“I beg to differ, son. I own this lab and everything in it. I can do what I want with it. Besides, I highly doubt what you were doing was working.” He cast a look at Astra that made her bristle.
“You broke in and stole the formula for the drug. Twice. Do you have any idea the damage you caused?”
The mercenaries were closing in but he had to try to reason with his father first. It had been years since his mother had died. The distance from the event had to have given the older Carver some perspective.
“I know you’re an ungrateful son who doesn’t understand how to honor his elders. Do you have any idea the damage you have caused? The one thing I have that lets me get through a day, the one thing, and you’ve tried to sabotage it. I sent a team to the other lab. Your friends are likely dead by now.”
Val’s blood turned to ice. “You wouldn’t,” he said through clenched teeth. “You’ve gone mad. What happened to you? How is this honoring Mom’s memory?”
His dad’s face went red, his eyes flashing green, the panther’s slit pupils flaring. “Your mother is dead because you failed her!” He gestured to the mercenaries. “Take them both. I’m shutting down this lab for good.”
Val backed up, blocking Astra with one arm and pushing her back. She gripped his shoulder and whispered, “We can take them.”
But Val was too livid from his father’s words. “No, Dad, you were the one who gave her the drug before it was safe. You killed her. And now you’re taking EG-Alpha yourself, aren’t you? You’ve become a goddamn addict.”
The mercenaries closed in, palms resting on the holsters of their pistols. They were all big, burly men dressed in black fatigues, but they were human. Still, a bullet could put Val down in a blink if he didn’t play this right.
His father followed the men at a distance, fingers clenching and unclenching, and Val realized with horror that he’d partially shifted. His fingers sprouted sharp claws and his hands were coated in black fur. The fur began to peek out of his collar too and his face rippled.
“I’m more powerful than I’ve ever been. Did you know what the drug could do for shifters? I have more control, more agility, more strength than I ever have. My only regret is that it couldn’t help your mother the way it was supposed to.”
Astra shoved Val aside with a curse. “You bastard,” she spat. “Your fucking arrogance is k
illing shifters on my planet. My own brother was a victim of that shit you’re taking! Others besides him have fucking died thanks to you!”
Val’s father sneered. “Do you think I care what the greedy shifters on Nova Aurora do with it? All I needed was enough money to finance production off the books. The drug is mine now. I don’t need you or this lab to keep going. You and your smart-mouthed girlfriend are going to rot somewhere you can’t get in the way.”
“Dad, you’re not well. The drug has damaged your sanity. But I’m making a counteragent for you. All you need to do is take it, and you’ll be clean. Please, Dad, don’t do this.” He held up a hand to ward off the mercenaries, who had paused during the conversation, waiting for instructions.
Val grabbed Astra’s arm and had to grit his teeth against the heat that radiated off her. She was exuding raw dragon power despite not shifting, but he didn’t have time to marvel at how close her beast was to the surface while still under her control.
“Take them!” his father yelled and the mercenaries sprang.
No matter how well trained the humans were, Val was faster. He leaped to the side, trying to pull Astra with him, but she wrenched from his grip and was airborne before he could blink. She jumped, kicked one foot off the edge of a table, and flipped, landing behind the group of mercenaries. With two high kicks and a punch, three of them fell to the ground and she turned.
Val managed to sweep one man’s legs out from under him and pin him to the ground. Now Astra had the last two men subdued and was kneeling on one man’s chest, flames licking out past her lips.
“You guys really don’t want to fuck with me,” she said, her voice low and resonant. “You want to live? Get the fuck out and don’t come back.”
The ones who were still conscious seemed to agree, scrambling to their feet and hauling their unconscious friends out the door.
“I don’t need their help anyway,” his father said. He cracked his knuckles and slipped his jacket and tie off, then rolled up his sleeves. “I’ve heard about your arena league. You think I don’t know where the drug gets sold?” His forearms flexed, the dark fur covering them shimmering under the fluorescent lights. “And you, Ms. Midnight Star, are the crown jewel. It will be fun to take you down a peg.”
Val’s spine tingled with dread as a glint of rage flared in Astra’s gaze. “Astra, no. He’s my dad.”
Through clenched teeth, she said, “I don’t give a fuck. He owes me for Talon.”
Appealing to his father’s intelligence, he turned to the older man instead. “Dad, she’s unbeaten for a reason. Don’t do this.”
“She’s weak. I can smell her fear,” his dad said, his voice a low purr as he stalked closer and the pair began to circle each other. Astra’s skin rippled with shining scales of deep indigo, and razor-sharp talons stretched from her fingertips. Even though his dad had stayed fit, there was no mistaking the clear imbalance in simple grace between them. Astra’s left foot telegraphed her attack a split second before it happened and Val yelled.
“No!” But it was too late. She lunged at the elder Carver, claws outstretched, aiming for his throat, but to Val’s surprise, his father easily dodged, leaping to the side and rolling, coming up to a crouch on the other side of the lab table.
“I’m going to fucking burn you alive,” Astra said, spinning and crouching again. Val’s father seemed to realize his mistake, his eyes going wide.
And then Astra transformed.
Where the lithe, athletic blond woman had been there was now a sleek black dragon filling the entire space between him and the exit, and she had her snout aimed at his father.
“Astra! He doesn’t deserve to die!” He ran, vaulting over the lab table. He held up his hands, facing her down. “Please! We know he’s not strong enough to beat you. We can reason with him, get him to take the counteragent!”
She rumbled an impatient growl at him, flames spurting from her mouth and smoke from her nostrils, but the anger in her gaze seemed to ebb.
When Val placed his hand against her forehead, she began to shift, the dark scales fading as her body resumed its shapely curves and smooth skin.
“We’ll get through this,” he said, determined to reassure her, though he needed his own reassuring too. He lifted his hand to cup her cheek and her eyes widened suddenly.
“No!” She shoved him aside with surprising strength as the first shot rang out, pinging off something near the wall. Val spun in time to see his dad aiming a pistol at them.
In his periphery something caught on fire, but everything happened too fast for him to track. Another shot rang out just as an explosion filled the air, blasting him with heat and throwing him to the side. Astra’s back slammed into his chest, knocking him down. His head banged against the floor hard enough to daze him.
When he regained his senses he was aware of Astra’s warm weight in his arms, her naked body sprawled limp across him. He groaned, his nostrils filled with smoke. Searing heat blazed beside him and he blinked, cursing at the licking flames that covered one wall of his lab.
“Astra, we need to get out of here,” he said in a hoarse voice, nudging her, but she didn’t move. He slid his hand across her belly to roll them over and it came away wet. Holding her to him, he sat up and looked down, his throat closing up at the sight of the wound in her side, just beneath her right breast.
“Astra, no.” He reached with a shaky hand to her throat. She had a strong pulse, which gave him some relief, but she wasn’t responding.
Alive. She was alive, and if he wanted to keep her that way, they needed to get the fuck out of this lab. His dad’s shot must have hit one of the gas lines, which meant there wasn’t much time before the fire reached the canisters of other flammable chemicals he kept stored here.
He lurched to his feet with Astra in his arms and spun, searching out his father. The bastard probably deserved to burn, but Val wasn’t about to let that happen. He’d rather see his father live with what he’d done.
A prone figure lay in the shadows beneath one of the tables, broken glass sparkling across his torso. The explosion must have knocked him out.
Surveying the fire, Val realized he would have to make a choice. He couldn’t carry them both out, but maybe he had time to come back.
He would have to risk it. Turning to the door, he ran.
30
Astra
Astra came to with a searing pain in her chest, gasping for breath. Her body jostled through smoky darkness, then chilly air hit her skin and she gasped, the night sky coming into view overhead.
“What happened?” she murmured. “I saw fire. I swear I didn’t do it.”
“I know, love. It wasn’t you. You’re going to be all right.”
Val peered down at her, pausing outside the building beside his car. “Can I set you down? Can you stand?”
She took a deep breath, winced, then nodded. “I’m tougher than I look,” she said, sliding out of his arms. The world swam as pain shot through her torso and she leaned against his car while he opened the door for her. Val grabbed her shoulders and slipped out of his white lab coat, draping it around her bare shoulders.
“Sit,” he said, helping her into the passenger seat with a glance over his shoulder. He tore off his button-down shirt and wadded it up, pressing it to the wound in her side. “Keep pressure on it.”
Then he cupped the sides of her head with both hands and pressed a hard kiss to her lips. “I love you,” he said, looking into her eyes with an intensity she’d never seen before, and it terrified her.
“What are you doing?” she asked when he stood and turned back to the building. Alarms were going off inside and smoke billowed up into the night sky from somewhere near the back of the building.
“I have to go back for him. I can’t let him die in there.”
With a jolt of understanding, she lurched out of the car. “No! Don’t go!”
“I have to.” He gave her one last look before sprinting for the door.
Just as he disappeared inside, a window shattered somewhere in the shadows and flames lit the tree line behind the building. Astra took a few unsteady steps toward the doors and the world swam. She closed her eyes, begging her dragon to wake up again like it had before, to come to her aid, heal her, and let her go after him. She could withstand the flames if she shifted. She could make sure Val and his dad both got out.
But her dragon had gone silent again and she collapsed to the concrete. She huddled beneath Val’s lab coat, begging for her animal to wake up.
After a moment, headlights illuminated the front of the building and a pair of engines revved, roaring closer. Tires squealed to a stop, followed by rushing footsteps, and Javin and Simon appeared before her.
“What the fuck happened?” Javin said. “Are you okay?” He knelt down beside her, his face a mask of shock and worry. Simon peered into Val’s car, then looked around.
“Where’s the cat?” he asked.
“H-He’s inside. His dad came with men, attacked us. Please let him be okay!” She stared up at them both, pleading with her eyes as if they had any control.
“Fucking hell, he’s inside that inferno?” Simon said, gaping at the building. The interior was nothing but orange flames now, windows shattering in a sequence of horrific blasts that rang through the night.
Simon clenched his fists, his jaw working hard as he took a few determined steps toward the building. Part of her begged him to go, to save Val, but sanity prevailed and she reached for him instead. “No, Simon. Stay with me, please.”
Simon instantly turned and bent down, pressing a kiss to her brow. She hooked one arm around his neck and hissed with pain.
“Holy hell, Astra. You’re bleeding! What the fuck happened in there?” He eased her back into the car and shoved the lab coat open, tearing Val’s bloody shirt out of her grip.
Sirens filled the air, followed by flashing lights as a series of enormous emergency vehicles appeared. Her senses were bombarded by the noises, but she refused to tear her eyes away from the fire, wishing like hell that she’d see him appear again. But he never came.
