In Deep Shift: The Protectors Unlimited Book Three

by Blackwood, Keira

  But those were selfish thoughts, dreams of a life that wasn’t meant for me. I’d always known I wasn’t supposed to find a mate, to find love. To do so would be to give up my duty. For a brief moment I’d thought that I might have been able to have both. I was wrong.

  The weapon that had taken over my arm was going to destroy me. The catbird had said so, and even if it hadn’t, I knew it was true.

  Dragonkiller.

  It wouldn’t just be the death of me, but if I let Mia close, she could be harmed in the crossfire. I’d known it in the underground cavern, even if I hadn’t wanted to admit it. After the Tribunal ambushed us in the hotel room, I couldn’t deny the truth of it anymore.

  Had they not harmed her, I may have.

  Fire.

  She couldn’t withstand the flames. And that’s what I was—fire, devastation, pain.

  The ache in my heart would be a reminder of what I’d almost had. A reminder of her smile, of her sweet scent, of her soft body pressed against me.

  I tried to shake the memory, tried to let go of the feeling. It was hopeless.

  All I could do now was search for a way to destroy the device. To do that, I needed information.

  There was no sneaking through the window this time. No waiting to overhear something from the corner of the bar. I wasn’t looking for peaceful resolution. I needed information, and I was going to get it.

  With a flick of the tire, the bike jumped over the curb and onto the sidewalk. I hit the brakes. The bike skidded to a stop just in front of The Tipsy Claw.

  “What the hell are you doing here?” A mammoth-sized wolf shifter stalked toward me from his place by the door.

  “Ooooh, it’s the welcome wagon! Fun. You’re going to hit him, right, Zane? Tell me you’re going to hit him.” The shrill voice came from nowhere, as it always did.

  The bouncer reached out. He was big, but he was slow for a shifter.

  With a quick lean, I side-stepped away. His fingers coiled onto the back of my collar, pulling the fabric hard against my throat. I ducked and spun, swiping my heel into the back of the bouncer’s knee.

  On impact, his leg buckled and a snarl followed. The bouncer dove, throwing his full weight into his assault.

  I could dodge again, but I was ready to be done with him. The bouncer was a distraction, not my target.

  My fingers crunched as my fist hit the bouncer’s chin. I’d spared him a hit with my metal fist. Still, his jaw snapped shut, teeth clattering, and he fell back. With a bounce of his head, the big guy landed hard. He moaned, but didn’t move. I stepped over his legs and threw open the door.

  The room was dark and smoky, just as it had been the last time, and the scent of wolves filled the air.

  Bikers turned and half-naked women scattered. All attention was on me. Good.

  I scanned the half-empty bar. Eight wolf shifters, including the one with the orange beard— Roadkill.

  I headed for the bar, my sights set on the leader.

  He rose to his feet. The others followed suit, four of them circling around me slowly. I let them.

  “You’ve got some balls, dragon boy. I’ll give you that.” Roadkill lowered his head as he stalked forward. Even in human form, he showed the prowess of a wolf.

  Slow footsteps moved behind me. They could attack, but they wouldn’t. Not without the go-ahead from their boss.

  “Weirdass choice in armwear, too, asshole.” He nodded toward my gloved arm and his lip curled in a snarl. “What the fuck do you want?”

  “Answers.”

  “You think I owe you something?”

  “No,” I said. “But I think you’ll tell me who hired you so you have a bar left when this is over.”

  “You threatening me? Here? Now? While you’re all alone, and I have all my friends?”

  Two more shifters entered the room, filing in beside Roadkill.

  “Tell me who hired you,” I said.

  “You’re not even going to say please?” Roadkill laughed, and flicked his wrist.

  It was all the cue they needed. It was all the warning I required.

  Wooden boards creaked behind me as the wolves moved in. Bones cracked as others shifted.

  With the force of will, I summoned my inner dragon.

  A shot of air whooshed outward as my wings sprawled, knocking back the wolves on both sides.

  Another slammed into my back, with a sharp pointed force. My guess—an elbow.

  I faltered forward, but only a step.

  Fangs stabbed into my right calf.

  A hiss escaped my gritted teeth as I turned.

  All the pain was fuel to my fire, every scratch fanning the fury that boiled just below the surface.

  The weight of the glove seemed too light, the force of impact heavy. The metal turned crimson as if it were deep within the blacksmith’s forge. The Obsidian Claws were there, attacking, throwing themselves at me. Metal met fur and flesh, as the rage inside me brimmed over. I was distant from all of it, part of me locked away as the metal crushed delicate flesh and bone. It wasn’t me, yet it was all that I was.

  One after the next, the Obsidian Claws fell to the floor. They were beaten, bloody. I had done that. And I wanted more.

  My chest heaved from exertion as they lay unmoving around me. My injuries stung, but I felt better than ever, energized by the thrill of the fight.

  “You’re...you’re a monster.” Roadkill backed away, tripping over a stool.

  Adrenaline pumped through my veins, thrilling, exhilarating.

  “What the hell is wrong with you?” he asked.

  I smiled as I lifted the glove back and clenched my fist.

  He held up his hands. “No, wait.”

  There was a sound, a voice in my head, telling me to do it. To end him. It was the thrum of the device, the heartbeat that drowned out everything else.

  Do it. Do it.

  “Please.” Roadkill backed away, tripping over a chair. He fell to the floor and scrambled on all fours. “It was Drexel. Tribunal guy. I swear it. It was Drexel who hired us to go to that warehouse, told us where to find the thing.”

  Do it. Do it.

  In the wide, horrified eyes of my enemy, I saw my reflection. That of the glove that turned from silver to red. The distorted expression I hardly recognized. And flames—when had I called to the fire?

  With a shake of my head, I squeezed my eyes shut and took a step back.

  This wasn’t right. This wasn’t me.

  “Look, there’s nothing more to tell, I swear. The guy told us where to find the thing, but not what it was or what it’s worth. When we got it, we decided to try our luck, see if we could sell it for more than he’d offered.”

  I knew I should say something. Roadkill was spilling his guts, and I was supposed to say something. But all I could do was picture the monster I’d seen in my reflection. The red of the fist and the fire that burned over my skin.

  My hand was shaking, my only hand. I held my arms out and looked at my palms. The left was trembling. The right...the right was alien, a silver mass that moved when I willed it to, but it wasn’t mine. I followed the line of metal up my arm. It reached farther than before, encasing not just my bicep, but my shoulder. When this was over, would there be any of me left?

  Beneath my feet, the floor was blackened, charred as if I’d burned it, yet I hadn’t summoned flames. Forget about how much would be left of me when this was over...what was left of me now?

  I turned for the door.

  “I don’t have any way to reach,” Roadkill said. “I’ve given you everything. Just...don’t come back. Please, please don’t come back.”

  “I won’t.”

  As I stepped out through the door, the sunset was blinding. Bright golden rays shone between buildings as bruised shades of red and purple colored the sky.

  I climbed on my bike, unsure of where to go or what I was supposed to do next. Whatever it was, I was running out of time.

  “You ready for that wish y
et?”

  I looked down and found the little catbird on my thigh—Nona.

  “You’re just screwing with me, right?” I scowled down at it.

  “Nope.”

  “You really grant wishes? Like a genie?” It was too much to hope for. Too good to be true.

  “One wish.” It looked up at me with those giant black eyes, and I wondered what it was thinking. Pity—Nona pitied me.

  I looked up to the sky, and watched a patch of slow-moving clouds cross overhead.

  “I don’t even know where to start.”

  “I do.” Nona hopped back and forth on my leg. “Start with Mia.”

  My shoulders sank, and I let out a sigh.

  “I know you don’t want to hear it,” Nona said. “But she can help.”

  “It’s not safe for her to be near me,” I said. “Not now. Not anymore.”

  “You don’t get to choose who cares about you, dummy. We choose for ourselves.” Nona shook its little head and shrugged its wings.

  I closed my eyes and revved the engine. Maybe Nona was right, but that didn’t change anything. And I was still just as lost, maybe now more so than ever.

  “Talk to Mia,” Nona chirped, little wings flapping as the bike moved forward. “Mia, Mia, Mia. Talk to Mia!”

  I looked down at my metal arm, now silver instead of red. The plating crept across my shoulder, consuming flesh. Time was ticking, and I didn’t know how much I had left.

  Chapter Twelve

  Mia

  Long yellow strands littered the counter and sink. Staring into the mirror, I pulled another chunk of hair up and used a pair of dollar store scissors to gnaw it off.

  At first, I was just planning to cut off the bits that were burned. But the more I cut, the better I felt. It was like a weight was being lifted.

  As pissed and hurt as I felt, it was good to be in control, even if it was just over my damned hair.

  It was silly, I knew that. I had my shit together in every other aspect of my life. My career was exactly what I wanted, save for the reprimands. I was able to travel the world, take missions in Paris and Monaco, Dubai and Zurich. There were people looking out for me, a family to call my own, even if it wasn’t the one I’d been born with. Even if I didn’t have my mother.

  Her loss still stung, even though it was me who had walked away from her. She could have tried to find me. I’d sure as hell been searching for her.

  I pushed down thoughts of self-pity and abandonment.

  What I really wanted, what I’d wanted ever since I first caught a glimpse of one, was to find another dragon. I’d done that. I’d found him.

  There was more to it, though. There was more between us. Zane wasn’t just a dragon—he made my heart full when we were together. The push and pull, the arguing, the tension—I missed it all as much as I missed the taste of his lips, the feel of his skin, and the heat of his smoky scent. I missed Zane.

  It was stupid. It had only been a couple of hours, and I was a mess—a ball of anger and regret. He should have trusted me. He shouldn’t have left.

  I dropped the scissors and studied my reflection in the mirror. My eyes were dark, but fierce.

  Determination—that’s what I needed. No self-pity, no sorrow—strength.

  Zane couldn’t lose me so easily. He couldn’t just write me off and expect me to back down. I would find him, and together we’d stop dragonkind from being exterminated. Together, whether he liked it or not.

  Armed with a new sense of certainty, I marched from the bathroom and grabbed the hotel phone from the ringer. My contacts were all in my cell, which was broken and lost somewhere in the bowels of the freaking earth. I stared at the numbers, debating over who to call, then dialed one of the only contacts I knew by heart.

  “Hello.” The melodic answer of my brother’s voice made my smile.

  “Hey, Lincoln.”

  “Mia? What’s up, doll?”

  “You know me,” I said.

  “Trouble?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And you think I can help?” He laughed.

  “This time, yeah. I don’t have my phone, and—”

  “Did someone steal it from you? Outfoxed the fox? Tell me it isn’t so.”

  “It isn’t,” I said. “But I was hoping you could give me the general number for the Tribunal office in Fairview,” I said. “I’m looking for a guy who works there, Drexel.”

  “I can do you one better,” Lincoln said. “I know that guy. Scowly wolf, stick up his ass, all secretive like he belongs in a dark limo, kidnapping people in a mobster flick.”

  “Sounds about right.”

  “Lemme see. Ah, there it is.” Lincoln read off a string of numbers and I copied it down on the pad of paper by the phone.

  “Thanks, Lincoln,” I said.

  “Anytime. You know I’ve always got your back.”

  “I know.”

  “I’ve got to go. I’m in the middle of a vampire situation, but call me again sometime so we can catch up.”

  “Will do. And good luck with your—”

  “Hiiiiii-ya!” Lincoln let out one of his many battle cries, and with that the line went dead.

  I hung up and stared at the paper. What exactly was I supposed to say to Drexel anyway?

  There was the squad that had broken into Zane’s room, and then there was my entire mission. Did Drexel call in those guys to take Zane down? Did the Tribunal think he was a threat? I would set the record straight. Drexel would understand. He had to.

  This call wasn’t going to get any easier, so I dialed.

  My fingers drummed on the desk. I willed them to stop.

  “Hello?”

  “Drexel,” I said. “It’s Mia Blake.”

  “Mia, I’ve been trying to reach you.” His voice was cold, firm.

  “Lost my phone.”

  “What’s the status of your mission?”

  “Well,” I said, “I found the dragon.”

  He was quiet a moment as if taking that in. Did that mean he didn’t already know?

  “And?”

  This time it was my turn to be quiet. What exactly did I want to tell him? What should I hold back?

  “And I think you already knew that,” I said. “It was you that sent soldiers after him, wasn’t it?”

  “That dragon is dangerous. All dragons are dangerous. You know this, Mia.”

  “What exactly do you want from me?” I asked.

  “Have you found the device?”

  If he’d sent the soldiers, he knew I had.

  “He has it. Tell me, how does it work?”

  “Get close to him,” Drexel said. “And wait.”

  “Wait for what?”

  “Me.”

  With that, he hung up.

  I put down the phone and sighed.

  There was something about the way this was going that made me feel used. Being an agent meant being a tool of the system, just another boring cog in the overall agenda. But this felt different...wrong in some way. I didn’t like it.

  Maybe it was Zane’s distrust of the Therion Tribunal rubbing off on me, or maybe it was just me.

  Whatever the case, I was going to find Zane. It didn’t matter what Drexel said, or what anyone else wanted me to do, that’s where I was going. Too bad I had no idea where to start.

  “Ah-ahem.”

  The noise took me by surprise. I looked up and around for the source.

  On top of the phone sat Zane’s sprite, a tiny ball of fur and feathers.

  “Hi, Nona.”

  “Come on, Mia,” she said. “It’s time to go.”

  A tangle of hope grew inside of me.

  “Go where?” I asked.

  “You know, I thought you were the smart one.” Nona cocked her little head and narrowed her eyes.

  “Wow.” I was taken aback. “You are a sassy little thing, aren’t you?”

  “Zane needs you, now more than ever.”

  “I didn’t leave him,” I said. �
�He left me. And I don’t even know where to start looking for him.”

  Nona hopped down off of the phone and over to my hand.

  “I do.”

  “And why do you think he won’t just ditch me again the first chance he gets?” I asked.

  “Because you’re his mate, duh.”

  His mate. I didn’t know what to say. There was something between us, yes. There was a strong attraction, without a doubt, but mates?

  “He needs you before that thing consumes him completely,” Nona said. “It’s changing him, Mia. He needs your help.”

  I rose to my feet. “Sure, I’d love to help him. More than anything I want to help him, but how am I supposed to do that?”

  “We’ll do it.” The little sprite danced around the desk, spinning as she hopped.

  “No offense, but what can you do to help?”

  “Like my skills are limited to making people coo and fawn over my adorableness.” Nona snorted and shook her head. “I grant wishes.”

  “Wishes?” I weighed the sprite’s expression, the sound of her words. She didn’t appear to be lying.

  “One wish.”

  One wish. If I could have one wish granted, for anything to come true, what would I choose?

  “Zane’s not making his.” Nona dropped her head.

  “Can’t he just ask for you to destroy the dragonkiller?” I asked. It seemed the obvious solution.

  “Yes and no.”

  “That’s not helpful,” I said.

  “I can’t destroy it. And he won’t ask.” Nona danced across my shoulders.

  “Why won’t he ask?”

  “Um, duh. Haven’t you met him? He’s stubborn, a bull or ass or whatever is the most stubborn of stubborn animals.” She hopped down into my hand, wings fluttering.

  “Dragon,” I said.

  Nona nodded.

  “So will you help me help Zane?” Her big black eyes sparkled as they overtook her face.

  There was no need to consider the options. My mind was already made up.

  “Of course I will. Lead the way.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Zane

  Booming thunder rippled through the sky, and with it the earth trembled. The fractured tin roof above me did little to deter the rain as I sat on the dirt floor of the broken building where everything had changed. On this very spot, the deal between the Obsidian Claws and their buyer had commenced. This was where Mia’s and my paths had collided, where we’d taken the cube.