by Cecilia Lane
She inserted the little tool into the hole on the door handle and paused. It was her last chance to choose family over Rafe. She could be caught between her home and the pit, she could be found setting the abomination free, she could be left behind if Rafe couldn’t forgive her. Even those risks were small compared to the risk of leaving Rafe to fate at the end of a gun. There was no honor in killing. The mercy of the dragons had convinced her of that.
She turned the pick and sucked in a breath when one of her brothers snorted in his sleep. The trio of snores returned to their normal pace and she eased open her bedroom door.
She ghosted through the home the exact same way she’d gone the night she met Rafe and began her transformation away from dragon slayer.
The night air was cold when she opened the door of her former home and shut it on her former life. She listened to the sleepy collection of buildings for anyone that might be on patrol. With a shifter in the pit, she expected lots of men out in the open. They’d be looking for any excuse to shoot something full of bullets under the guise of protecting their family. She hoped that something wouldn’t be her.
Surprisingly, no one was in sight. She kept to the shadows and felt like a spy on a mission as she ducked from home to home. She made sure to keep her head away from any windows in case anyone was on the lookout away from the cold night air.
Soon, and without any difficulties, she found herself at the last of the residential buildings and looking toward the pit where Rafe was being held.
It wasn’t truly a hole in the ground. But everyone had called it the pit for as long as she could remember. It was a sturdy building with cement block bones, just like the rest of the houses on their property. Inside, however, it was divided into two cells. The cells were lined with silver bars on all sides, so a shifter couldn’t dig through the wall if they slipped the silver shackles set into the cement blocks.
Her hackles rose when she didn't see anyone outside of the pit. She thought briefly of trying to circle the building to check for any guards posted on the other side but immediately trashed the plan. The area surrounding the pit was entirely open and she'd be easily spotted. It was already risky to approach the building at all and she didn't want to ask for more trouble.
She chewed on her lower lip and watched for a few moments longer. She couldn’t bring herself to turn around and lock herself back in her room. Rafe had snatched her out of her old life as surely as he plucked her from her free fall out of the tower. She owed it to him to at least try to free him.
She bolted from her position toward the pit. Her fingers scrabbled on the door handle and she flung herself through the opening before anyone could spot her.
The silence inside was as eerie and deafening as the quiet outside and broken only by her heavy breathing from her run. The back of her neck tingled with the unease of someone watching her every move. She was being silly. No one had made a sound outside. She would have heard anyone approaching her. No one would have just let her cross the compound and enter the pit without raising the alarm.
The keys to the cells always hung on the wall next to the door. She wasn’t disappointed when she plucked them from the hook.
She edged down the small hall between the door and the cells. The left side was empty, but the right side held the man she wanted.
He stood with his arms stretched against the wall. She breathed a sigh of relief when she saw him glaring at her. The silver chains holding his arms to the wall were short and allowed for little movement, but at least he was conscious.
“Lola? What are you doing here?” He snarled.
She pushed the key into the lock and swung the door open. Lingering just on the edge of the cell, she shuffled her feet. She deserved the anger that radiated from her but it hurt so much worse than she expected. “I snuck out. My brothers locked me in my bedroom. They have some man they want me to marry, that’s why they came back for me. You were just a bonus. And I… It would kill me to see them hurt you.”
“The only reason I haven’t wrapped my hands around your throat is because of these chains you vile people put me in.” His hands balled into fists and he pulled hard at the chains, wincing when the silver bit into his flesh.
She hesitated. She didn’t exactly expect him to welcome her with open arms. The pure fury on his face and in his voice should have scared her. It was what all the stories said. The dragons would lure the maidens in with promises of love and treasures and then turn into monsters with murder in their hearts.
“I hope you let me free you completely before you kill me.” She slowly edged closer. The keys shook in her hands as she raised them to the first shackle around Rafe’s wrist.
She inhaled sharply when the thick silver fell away from him. It was his chance. He could wrap his free hand around her throat and end her life. She raised her eyes to his and found him staring down at her.
“Why?”
There were so many whys he could be asking. Why was she helping him, now? Why was she putting herself at risk while they were surrounded by her family? Why hadn’t she told him about the tracker in her arm?
“Because I don’t want you to hate me.” She ducked her eyes and pricked the next shackle with the key. It, too, fell away from him and smacked into the wall. She sucked in another breath and waited. He had his freedom. Would he take her life with it?
“Come. We shouldn’t loiter here.” He rubbed at his wrists and stretched his arms.
Not entirely sure what he planned, she followed him. Even if he flew off into the night and left her, she at least wouldn’t be complicit in his murder. That alone should be enough to ease her guilt, but her heart still felt heavy. She didn’t want to lose him. He made her feel more alive than she’d ever felt before.
Rafe led the way out of the pit and shut the door quietly behind them. She watched his nostrils flare and his body stiffen. She felt like she was underwater and drowning. She turned through thick air and with muscles resistant to the panic that ignited inside her.
The glint of a gun was the warning she needed.
She knew the rounds she intended to make would pierce through dragon scales and deliver a payload of silver and poison. She didn’t know what the ones that were created after she abandoned the compound contained. She only knew it would harm Rafe and he needed to get free.
She flung herself in front of him just as the muzzle flashed. Pain like she’d never experienced shot through her and drove the air from her lungs. Warmth spread over her shirt and she raised a shaky hand. It was coated in a sticky wetness.
Rafe shifted faster than he’d ever shifted in his life. He’d seen Luca transform from dragon to human in the blink of an eye and he thought he beat even that sort of power. The rage that had been directed at Lola coursed through his body and whipped muscle and bone into the shape of his dragon.
He swiped a spiked tail at the attacker. He caught the man across his middle and flung him several feet away, where he stopped moving.
More puny humans appeared, shouting and running toward him. His sides were stung with their bullets, but nothing penetrated. Not like it had Lola.
Little bit stupid, little bit crazy, and a thousand percent brave.
He stood over her and roared a challenge to any who would try to separate them again.
The first building to meet his fire was the one he’d been kept in. It melted down to almost nothing with a single, sustained jet of flame.
He turned and sauntered through the crowd of humans trying to resist him. They had more buildings that needed to be destroyed. They would have no shelter from the storm they brought on themselves. He lashed out with clawed wings and his spiked tail, sending more of the little beasts into the air if they came too close.
He waded into the cluster of buildings and blasted them with fire. The flames jumped from one to another quickly. They didn’t melt as surely as the first had, but they burned.
Still, the stupid slayers tried to attack him. They streamed toward him in th
eir ridiculous formations that would do nothing to him. He was in his full dragon form, nothing would penetrate his scales, nothing would stop the inferno burning inside him.
They’d shot his mate and they would burn.
He swiveled his head toward the last building. It stood apart from the others and no flame had yet to scourge it. It needed to go.
He opened his great maw and spewed another jet of fire onto the structure. The roof ignited instantly and the walls started to cave in. Then, it surprised him. The insides pinged and blasted in a mockery of the weapons in the hands of the slayers. The men turned to see where the fresh assault originated, then turned and ran.
In another second, the building exploded. A cloud surged into the air and a blast rocked him backward. Some of the humans scurrying around the compound fell to the ground. They scattered like vermin as soon as they regained their feet.
The screams turned from animalistic rage to fear. Smaller bodies ran into the night, ones he recognized as women and children. They weren’t trained to fight. Lola didn’t know how to defend herself, and the women running from his flames stood no chance. They clutched small children to their chests and dragged along the kids too big to hold.
He couldn't kill them. They knew no other life than one of the slayers. If given a choice, they might take up arms against his kind. They might also choose a different path. That possibility kept his flames in check.
He didn’t chase any slayers down. He would be demoted and the mark on his chest would be seared away. He failed to track down those who attacked the royal family. He couldn’t. Not when his mate stirred behind him.
He shimmered with his shift. Dragon became man and Rafe strode through the chaotic night with panicked humans and burning buildings as his backdrop. He was fury and fear and he wouldn’t be kept from his mate.
Rafe knelt beside Lola. Her hand covered the wound through her middle. She slipped in and out of consciousness. She lived, but only just.
“Little bit…” he whispered, and pressed his palm to the gunshot wound.
He didn’t have much time. They were too vulnerable out in the open and every second he lingered pushed her closer to death.
With another blink, he resumed his dragon form. He wrapped her in one clawed foot and lumbered awkwardly forward.
Hours were shaved off by the lack of curved roads and speed limits. His giant wings beat swiftly and carried him back toward the tower, back toward his lair. He started to flag but his dragon pushed on. There could be no stopping, not when Lola needed help. He ignored the pain in his muscles and pressed forward.
Soon, the pure sky faded with the light pollution of the city. The buildings came into view and the bustle of the streets. Dragons swarmed the sky in their agitation. They’d been attacked during the coronation. They wanted blood and revenge.
Rafe passed through the cloud of dragon wings and coasted straight onto the ledge of his apartment. He shifted gently to take Lola into his arms once again.
Her heart sounded so weak. Even her breath seemed too shallow.
His door was beaten down as soon as he entered from the ledge. His Dragonsworn brothers entered, with Luca fast on their heels. Of course. The Dragon King would want to know where the guardian of his child’s life had disappeared to and why he returned with a dying woman in his arms.
“Where have you been?”
“What took you so long to return?”
“What happened?”
“Speak, Rafe!”
They demanded to know where he’d been in various volumes and choice words. He ignored their buzzing and dodged their attempts to stop his progress to bring Lola into their lair. They followed behind him, which rankled.
His dragon agreed. Even tired from their ordeal and the mad flight home, even confronted with the power of the King, the beast was full of aggression. They needed to leave him and his mate alone.
“I was ambushed and subdued. The compound is less than two hundred miles to the east. You’ll see the fires.” His Dragonsworn brothers turned immediately and he stopped them. One more request, that he had no right to make. It’d seal his fate as a soft-hearted traitor of his people. But he couldn’t let innocents die. “Watch for the children.”
Luca didn’t leave with them. He approached the bed where Rafe had laid Lola down. He took one look at her and turned his eyes on him. Rafe had never felt so small.
“She’s dying.” His king said flatly.
Rafe nodded. “She saved me. Threw herself in front of me to take a bullet.”
Luca stood at the edge of the bed and studied Lola once more. After a moment, he said quietly, “You left your charge to chase after this woman. Your loyalties will be divided until you know she won’t be easily harmed.”
Rafe didn’t know how to respond and remained silent. He had failed as Cassandra’s guardian. He’d done it to chase after Lola, no matter how he might try to say he was pursuing her brothers. He should have his Dragonsworn mark burned away and the connection to the child severed.
“Save her and mate her, Rafael Hart. You won’t be any good to me unless you do so.” He turned on his heel and shut the bedroom door behind him, leaving Rafe perplexed and unsure if he’d heard the order correctly.
Rafe crawled into bed next to Lola. He had expected an order to let her die and a dismissal of his position. Instead, he felt a kinship with his king. Mates did strange things to the heart.
“This isn’t how I planned to do this.” He stroked her hair away from her face. She was so pale. “I can save you, Lola. But you have to become my mate.”
The fast healing would knit together the damage of her internal organs. The fire in her blood would burn away any poison and infection that tried to linger and do her harm.
But would her heart beat for him? Would he be binding himself to someone who couldn’t love him? He’d burned her home to the ground and probably taken lives with it.
“Love you,” she murmured faintly.
“I love you too.” He didn’t know if she was delirious or not, but it was the best he’d get. There was no option of waiting for her to heal and lovingly mark her as his. It’d be more painful than he intended, but she’d be mated to him all the same.
He pulled her across his lap and tore her shirt off her shoulder to expose her creamy white skin. His gums ached as his fangs descended. He took one last look at Lola the human and sank his fangs into her flesh.
The taste of her blood rolled over his taste buds and he nearly groaned. She tasted sweeter than he ever imagined.
She twitched in his arms, gasped and stiffened. He groaned, then, for the pain he caused her. He’d make it up to her, combine the pain and the pleasure when—if—he was allowed to touch her again. When—if—she made it through the night.
Rafe pulled his fangs from her shoulder and licked the wound clean. His dragon roared with triumph and sealing the bond with Lola. It was a hollow victory for Rafe as he waited for the magic inside him to turn Lola into one of the dragon hearted.
Chapter Twelve
Lola cracked open her eyes and winced at the brightness. Everything seemed too sharp and in focus, almost as if her vision had suddenly become like binoculars. It took her a moment to recognize the high ceiling above her. She expected the old, worn, low ceiling from her bedroom.
She sucked in a breath and exhaled pain. She’d been shot by someone she grew up around, though she didn’t see his face. It could have been anyone. She was a traitor and had freed an abomination from the pit.
Somehow, she survived the night. Somehow, she made it back to Rafe’s apartment.
She had zero regrets.
Her next inhale brought her an entire apartment of smells. The dirty clothes in the hamper, the cleaning products used in the bathroom, the detergent used on the sheets… All of it felt like she was sniffing it directly from the source. The lovely smell of coffee and bacon overpowered everything else but didn't quite hide it.
The bacon really sent her stomach
rumbling. She couldn’t remember the last meal she ate. Meat, that’s what she wanted. If she couldn’t have a thick, juicy steak, then the thin strips of bacon would have to do. And she couldn’t wait much longer.
She flipped the blankets off her body and sat up. She’d been stripped out of her bloody clothes, but no one had tried to dress her again. She found a large shirt and a pair of loose sleep shorts folded on the nightstand. A quickly scrawled note rested on top.
Come out when you’re ready. -R
She tugged the clothes on and lingered with her hand on the door handle. She needed to strain a little to hear the voices in the kitchen above the sizzling of bacon.
“There were a number of them that wanted to give up that life. We’re housing them in a hotel at the moment. Luca might have some properties to move them in permanently.” It was a woman’s voice and it made Lola want to growl with jealousy.
“I don’t know what you expect her to do,” Rafe answered.
“Talk to them. Coach them. Anything. It might help to see a familiar face.” The woman paused and Lola imagined her tilting her head to listen. “She’s awake. Think on it and talk it over with her.”
Lola’s eyebrows drew together when she realized she could hear the soft depression of feet meeting carpet. The front door opened and closed and she still didn’t move.
What the hell had happened to her? Human hearing was not that good.
Something nudged at the back of her brain. Something about shifters passing on their abilities. Had she been bitten?
Still unsure of what she’d find on the other side of the door, she straightened her spine and turned the handle. There was no sense in hiding away all day, not when Rafe knew she was up.
“You’re awake.”
She lingered at the door. He didn’t approach her. They were stuck in a standoff that made her want to crawl back into bed and never poke her head out of the blankets. Did he find her so repulsive that he couldn’t even be in the same room? It was disheartening and she could only nod.
