by Chloe Cole
She murmured her thanks and then turned on her heel and headed for the door.
"And seriously, these grenades?” Dan continued, griping at Etienne. “Are they from the same war? Because they aren't that reliable when they’re aged."
"I tested one myself. It was delicious. I love the peppery bite of a good black powder explosion."
"No fucking way…”
The sound of the men’s bickering faded as Mina entered the mess hall biting back a smile. Those two were going at it like brothers. It was almost sweet, in a testosterone pumped way.
That's what soldiers did, especially those who had not yet bonded in battle. The Valkyrie in Mina understood this instinctively. The human part of her was clawing the walls at the thought the people she cared about had to go to battle at all.
Because of her.
When she’d seen Taya and Etienne in pain at the thought of losing one another, she’d convinced herself that love was more important than a stupid set of rules and feared Etienne might die of a broken heart.
Now they just might all die anyway.
She was both proud and horrified that Dan insisted on standing in the front line defense by the security hatch with Etienne. He was a soldier, yes, and displayed that even more so with the impressive array of weaponry he’d managed to pack on his magnificent body. But he didn't have the strength, agility, or senses that the shifters had. Hell, even Taya, as fresh as they came, could likely fell Dan if it came down to it. In a situation like this, being human was a horrible, life-threatening disadvantage. One that made her throat ache with emotion when she thought on it.
When you were in the woods it hadn’t seemed like a disadvantage.
Heat flushed through her as she recalled Dan's body under hers, his chest heaving as she bucked her hips taking every inch he had to give.
She shut the thought down as quickly as it came. This was not the time or the place. Besides, what had happened would never happen again. She’d allowed herself to be weak twice. Shame on her. But what they were feeling for one another wasn’t real, no matter what Dan said, or how it felt in this moment. Their emotions were out of control because they were looking death in the face. Even now, every nerve ending hummed with the urgency to detect a threat. And she needed to have every sense trained on the impending attack.
She passed by the table where her and Taya's crossbows, quivers and backpacks filled with Dan's Molotov cocktails were lined up. To her right, a makeshift medical station consisting of a stack of found towels and the first-aid kit Dan had packed. Mina pulled up a chair at the table where Taya was seated with a steaming cup of coffee before her.
"I thought I smelled coffee. I thought we were out?”
"We are out of regular coffee. Etienne had an ‘emergency’ stash of espresso in his duffle."
"That sneaky bastard,” Mina murmured, “gimme."
Taya went to the kitchen and came back with a small espresso pot and a cup.
"Seriously," said Mina, rolling her eyes. "He brought an espresso pot? We were only supposed to bring the essentials."
"Etienne claims these are the essentials."
"You've got yourself a handful with that one, girl. I don't envy you."
“I could say the same to you,” Taya said with a smile. "I could hear Etienne and Dan still going at it. I left once they started fighting over who got to carry the bigger machete."
Mina nodded and took a sip of the bitter but energizing brew Taya poured for her. "It breaks the tension I think."
"Do you think Etienne really ate a grenade?"
Mina laughed. "I've seen him eat many things, but mostly they are covered in delicate French sauces. No. He was just teasing Dan."
"There’s so much I don't know about him," said Taya. "One minute he's old world, and another he's new school. He'll be the fierce dragon and then the sweetest mate. Sometimes I don't know when he's teasing me or telling me the truth."
"I think that is a good thing, Taya. I've rarely seen Etienne this playful. And that's because of you. I'm grateful for it too, because he’s the best. He deserves it." Mina stopped short and sent Taya a withering glare. “And don't you dare tell him I said that. It’s the last thing that ego needs."
Taya laughed. "Your secret is safe with me."
"Thanks. You are a good friend, Taya. And I say that as a person who doesn’t have many. I appreciate exactly what you’re risking here."
"You don't need to thank me, Mina. If it wasn't for you those same assassins could have killed me, no matter how ferociously Etienne protected me. And because you risked everything for us, we got to spend more time together than we would have otherwise. That is the most precious gift anyone has given me. So I thank you, Mina. Anything you need, any time you need it, I'll be there."
Mina’s vision went blurry and her heart filled with something she rarely felt, the warm glow of friendship.
Taya sucked in a breath, and Mina noticed that her friend’s wide eyes were filled with tears as well.
“Jesus, is this what the empathy you were talking about feels like? I haven’t had this happen before."
“The Valkyrie’s curse.” Mina reached out her hand to touch Taya's. "I was wondering how long it would take,” she said with a rueful smile. “I’d almost hoped you’d be spared. The only consolation is that you can pull in the good stuff as well as the bad, and the older you get the more you can block out."
"I didn't know," Taya said in a whisper, "I didn’t realize…that you were so lonely."
Mina drew her hand away and blinked back the tears, suddenly feeling far too vulnerable.
“But Dan makes you feel safe. And loved.” Taya’s words were spoken with soft reverence. Not a question. Just a truth she accepted without hesitance. “What I can’t tell is how you feel about him. It’s like a mass of living color. Fear and anger and need and despair. Are you in love with him or not, Mina?”
Was she? Or was it the need to feel a connection--any connection--when all the world was going to hell?
Two loud cracks sounded in the distance and she and Taya jerked their heads toward the door. The sound was barely discernible through the thick walls of the bunker even with enhanced shifter hearing, but the bloodcurdling scream of a preternatural creature followed close behind, leaving no doubt that some of the tripwires had been activated.
Mina picked up the walkie-talkie.
"Dan, Etienne, did you hear that?"
"Roger that," Dan replied. "Seems like we got one good. Do you see anything?"
The only windows in the mess hall were the slanted skylights set at angles in the rock.
Mina unfurled her wings and pushed up to the ceiling, grabbing the ledge of a window with her fingertips.
She peered out the narrow patches of glass and spotted the forms of over a dozen shifters as they moved through the trees a few hundred yards away.
With eyesight sharper than an eagle's, Mina noted that one of them was bloodied and on the ground, being tended by a couple other shifters. He must have caught one of the bombs. She only regretted it hadn’t taken him out entirely.
Etienne and Dan rushed into the mess hall, both of them all business.
“There’s a lot of action out there. Dozens of them. One group is hauling a battering ram,” Dan said, his face grim. “Somehow they found out about the bunker and prepared for it. We can’t stay in here. There are too many of them to stave off and your collective talents are useless in such tight quarters. We need to get out so you guys can mount attacks from the sky.”
"How?” Mina asked, gesturing around them. “We’re basically sealed in and they’ll be waiting at the only exit for us. We’re strong, but even Etienne can’t tear through concrete and rebar. We can break those tiny windows, but none of us can fit through them."
Dan looked to Etienne, who pulled out a brick of something from his pocket.
"The dragon didn’t bring much of any use, but he pulled through here. A nice chunk of C-4."
"Put th
e trigger on it and I'll put it on one of the skylights,” Etienne said with a lethal grin. “Those sections of concrete will be weaker and we’ll blow them right off."
"We better split this in half and put it on two skylights, partner. I’ve seen your dragon form and there is no way your giant ass is fitting through one hole."
Etienne chuffed as Dan cut the C-4 in half with his Bowie knife and stuck the fuses in them. "See this?" Dan said, holding up the bricks. “This black is a wrapper. On the back is a white adhesive strip. Tear off the top paper on the strip and stick the brick on the glass in the center."
"Believe it, or not, I have a firm grasp on how adhesives work. They've been around at least as long as I have."
"Funny guy," Dan muttered.
"Give me," Mina said. There was no time for more jawing. They needed to get their shit together, and fast. She wouldn’t let it show, but the fact that there were so many of them had knocked her back on her ass emotionally. They’d prepared for half as many and even then, their chances had been slim.
She yanked the bricks from Dan's hands. "Etienne's dragon form will take up half the hall and we’ll all be squashed. I’ll do it."
"Here," said Taya. "I'll take the other one." Mina handed her one of the bricks of deadly explosive and, almost as one, the two Valkyries shifted.
The men stared at Mina and Taya as their wings unfolded, spreading out in an arc of glossy feathers. Mina nodded to Taya and they rose to the ceiling, each wrenching off the paper backing of the bomb, letting them flutter like leaves to the ground.
"Mon Dieu. Sont-ils pas beaux," Etienne murmured, the awe plain in his tone. Mina didn’t speak French, but his meaning was clear. He was mad about his mate, and seeing her fly made his heart ache with the beauty of it.
She cleared her suddenly tight throat, refusing to look at Dan as she glided back to the bunker floor.
Taya fluttered down after her, lighting next to Etienne who wrapped his arm around her. Her wings folded into the space where they could no longer be seen by mortal eyes.
“Ready?” Mina asked. But before she got an answer, a steady pounding on the hatch echoed through the room.
"We’ve got company," said Dan. "Time to fly. Everyone, out in the hall, away from the door. Put your arms over your heads and for god’s sake, cover those sensitive ears. Move!"
They scrambled into the hall and crouched to the floor.
"Fire in the hole,” Dan said, keeping his voice low as he pressed the detonator button.
And nothing happened.
“Shit.” Dan pressed the button again.
Same result.
Dan turned toward Etienne with a snarl. "This is what happens when you bring ordinance as old as time. I told you--"
"It’s not a problem,” Etienne muttered, rising to his full height and moving back toward the mess hall. “I'll just blast fire at it."
"That won't work. C-4 needs shock waves as well as heat to ignite."
"Shock waves?" said Etienne grimly. "Fine. On the ground. I’ll be back."
Etienne disappeared into the mess hall. A moment later, there was a palpable change in the air around them, as if something great and magnificent chose to grace the earth with its presence.
Even with their ears covered, Etienne's roar was deafening. It spread through the confines of the bunker like a black wave announcing imminent death to any that opposed the sky king. It eclipsed the sounds of shifters furiously pounding on the hatch with their battering ram, and the shattering of glass as the bombs exploded. The ground shifted under Mina as Etienne's battle roar shook every fiber of her body. Dan put his arm around her to steady her and she gave in to the urge to lean into him for one, blessed moment.
“We can do this,” he whispered, squeezing her close before releasing her.
They rose as one to stare at the massive, emerald dragon in the mess hall. All the tables and chairs were pushed aside in a jumble, and shards of glass were strewn around him. The dragon craned its neck, nodding his head toward the great, jagged opening in the ceiling of the bunker.
From the direction of the hatch, the sound of metal tearing echoed through the hall.
"They've breached the security door," yelled Dan.
Mina and Taya scooped up their gear and crossbows from the table. Etienne snaked his triangular head toward Dan and jerked it in the direction of his own scaled shoulder.
"Ah, fuck. You want me to get on your back?"
Etienne snorted a puff of smoke and lowered his head to the floor. Dan hefted himself onto Etienne and gripped his neck tight.
"Don’t think this makes you tougher than me," Dan said. “It takes a real man to ride another man and not feel threatened.”
Etienne regarded Dan with a golden eye over his shoulder and shook his head, jostling his passenger. Then, without warning, he leaped upward, using the great strength of his legs to propel them through the jagged opening in the concrete. Mina and Taya watched as he scored the air with a blast of fire sending two airborne shifters that had been circling the bunker crashing to the ground, engulfed in flames.
The scent of shifter assailed Mina's nose as more assailants closed in. Taya wrinkled her nose, probably trying to make sense of the confusing mixture of shifter musks.
Mina pointed to the ruined skylight. "Let's do this," she said.
The two Valkyries rose and Mina felt the rush that flight always brought her. The air current flowed around her wings as she caught an updraft. She and the sky were one, never separate, never apart. If not for their dire circumstances she would rejoice with the exhilaration this rare gift of flight granted.
She and Taya soared under the protective shadow of Etienne as the dragon sought the top of the ridge for them to make their stand.
Dan peered down over Etienne's shoulder at her, handsome face tight with concern as he frantically signaled behind her. She dipped her left wing to whirl in the direction he’d indicated and spotted an eagle shifter hot on their tail. She feinted right and the quiver full of arrows shifted on her back, unbalancing her. She had to change direction again to avoid a spin-out. An image, out of the blue, flashed into her mind of Etienne chuckling at her so many years ago when Rene was teaching them both battle maneuvers in flight. She’d made a sharp turn and lost it, landing gracelessly in the field behind the chateau.
She was grateful for her dexterity and years of practice now, as the eagle swooped above her and then dove straight down, talons extended in a kamikaze attack of deadly precision.
She barely had time to throw her arms up when the eagle made contact, its talons sinking deep into the muscle of her forearm. Searing pain shot through her and they tumbled through the air, neither one in control of their descent.
The eagle screeched a battle cry, tightening its grip, clearly prepared to go down with the ship if need be. She had to do something or land a broken wreck on the ground below. She lunged for the knife at her belt with her free hand, wincing in agony as the eagle tore at her flesh. With gritted teeth, she yanked the blade free and plunged it into the breast of the shifter. She felt the satisfying crack of hollow bones beneath her hand before the weapon found its mark into the bird’s beating heart.
Its cry of pain nearly shattered her eardrums before breaking off into silence as it took its last breath. The animal’s talons went slack and she desperately pushed him off, and, with a roll caught an updraft that her spread wings eagerly caught. With blood streaming from her wounds and her heart hammering in her chest she scanned the skies above for Etienne, Taya and Dan.
Dear God, please watch over them, she prayed silently.
So distracted by her search she didn't see a second attacker, this time a great brown vulture with a head and collar of white down, until he was almost on her. Its seven-foot wingspan blotted out the light of the fat moon hanging overhead. He glared at her with beady piss-colored eyes as he dropped to intercept her.
She rolled on her back as she fell through the sky and, with a concentration bo
rn from many years of battle, drew an arrow from her quiver and strung it on her crossbow. Mina ignored the roar of air in her ears and the angry protests of torn muscle and bruised bone as she cocked the action and sprung the trigger.
The arrow flew true and struck the beast in its lower chest. The shock of the feathered bolt spun the vulture off its trajectory and he tumbled toward the ground. Immediately Mina, with a groan as her abused body screamed at her, twisted flinging her wings out to catch whatever air current she could. Her efforts were rewarded with a warm draft of air, and against the pain she pumped her wings to work the current for all the height she could gain.
Her keen eyesight caught the unmistakable form of the dragon ahead. Etienne was just ten yards above the ground, spitting fire to the trees and shifters in human form hiding beneath them. Three were screaming their arms waving wildly as they sought any way to snuff the agony of fire from their bodies. Taya flew next to Etienne releasing shaft after shaft from her crossbow at whatever attacker she could hit.
It was only then that she realized Dan was no longer on Etienne’s back.
Dread washed over her as she frantically scanned the ground below. She nearly collapsed with relief when she saw him standing in a clearing of trees, seemingly unharmed.
She flew toward him, relief threatening to choke her. Why the hell had Etienne left him alone?
She was just moments from reaching him when she saw it. The timber wolf skulking toward him. Dan was wearing night vision goggles, so surely he saw it coming, but he remained stock still, like he had a death wish. With her heart in her throat she dove toward them right as the dog sprung, propelling him right at Dan.
"No!" Mina screamed. She tucked her wings tight in a dead drop, her only thought to protect Dan from the supernatural creature who would overwhelm him. There was a flash of something in the moonlight as man and beast met with a crash.
She was too late.
Dear god, she was too late.
Chapter Seventeen
Dan stood above the dying creature, breath sawing in and out of his lungs in great, heaving gasps.
