by Rinelle Grey
Verrian opened his mouth to reply, when the band leader stepped up next to him.
“How about we discuss this inside?” he said quietly.
How much did he know?
Crap. This was all falling apart.
He was right though. “Yeah, let’s go inside,” Lisa agreed.
Verrian didn’t argue, just stared up and down the street, looking right through people snapping pictures with their phones, then hurried her inside.
He did seem to have gotten the message though. He didn’t even try to talk as they rode up in the elevator. Lisa fumbled for her key, urgency mingling with fear.
What was Ultrima doing here? Had the newspaper article helped him find them, or had he known where they were all along?
Either way, what were they going to do now?
Raven and Verrian were right behind her as she opened the door and stepped inside. She locked it behind them, heaving a sigh of relief. Somehow, being inside made her feel a whole lot better.
Verrian sniffed the air, his eyes going wide.
That gave Lisa just a second of warning.
“I’m so glad you’re here, we have a lot to discuss,” Ultrima said, his voice smooth as honey as he stepped out of the bedroom.
Lisa’s heart constricted, and she could barely breathe.
What were they going to do now?
Chapter 40
Verrian’s body instinctively shifted into a defensive stance as he stared at his ancient enemy.
Ultrima’s clothes were impeccable, and there wasn’t a hair out of place in his silver ponytail. He looked like he was going out to dinner, not to a fight. Maybe he thought he was. He had said they had a lot to discuss.
Except the way the lightning dragon’s icy blue eyes bored into him, one eyebrow raised in a slightly haughty expression, said he knew otherwise. He was baiting Verrian.
And it was working.
Anger welled up, faster than Verrian could control, dampening out the inarticulate fear with its sheer power.
Who did Ultrima think he was, waltzing… no, breaking… into Lisa’s apartment, and lying in wait for them?
He was glad he’d had a chance to test out his powers on that other dragon at Raven’s. Now he knew exactly how satisfying it would be when Ultrima fell on his arse under the force of Verrian’s invisible sound. The Trima leader wasn’t going to know what hit him
Verrian took a step forwards, his fists automatically rising, even though this fight wouldn’t be the physical kind. He ignored the fact that Lisa had a firm grip on his arm and was trying to pull him back. The time for caution was long past. There was no avoiding this any longer.
Ironically, that helped him be calm. Whatever the outcome of this fight, it would be done. No more hiding.
“I have nothing to say to you,” he said, his voice tight.
While he spoke, he summoned his power, ready to unleash it all in the biggest blast he could.
“Probably not,” Ultrima allowed. “But I have a lot to say to you.”
Verrian didn’t even bother to reply, he just sent his power out in a directed, raw blast straight at Ultrima.
He knew it worked. The blinds flapped in the wind. The window behind them shattered. Even a nearby chair fell over from the blast wave.
Ultrima though, didn’t move.
Well, his lips did twist into a scowl.
Verrian felt all the blood drain away from his face. He blinked a couple of times, wondering if his eyes were deceiving him somehow.
“I take it that means you don’t want to listen?” the lightning dragon asked, his voice scarily calm. “Oh well, your loss.”
How? How had he failed? How had Ultrima withstood his most powerful blast?
Was he really that useless?
Except it wasn’t just him. Every attack had seemed to bounce off Ultrima in the battle three hundred years ago too. As they all prepared to enter the Mesmer sleep, his brothers and sisters had berated that fact.
Something was going on. If only Verrian could figure out what it was.
Before he could even consider out his next action, much less how they were going to get out of this, Ultrima rushed towards him as fast as the lightning he wielded. The Trima dragon’s hand transformed into claws, and before Verrian could dodge, the Trima dragon raked them across Verrian’s chest and down his belly.
Lisa screamed, the blood curdling sound only adding to Verrian’s panic.
This was it. He could feel the pain deep in his belly. More than just a surface wound. Not immediately fatal, but enough to put him down for the count. It didn’t matter. He had no defence against the Trima leader. The next blow would kill him.
But he couldn’t leave Lisa alone and defenceless.
He wouldn’t leave her alone and defenceless.
Summoning up all the energy he had, Verrian launched himself at Ultrima, his hands transforming into claws as he moved. If he was going to die, he was going to do his best to take the Trima dragon down with him.
All he reached was thin air.
Ultrima dodged around Verrian, his mocking laugh rang in his ears. “Good try, Rian dragon, but you can’t catch me.” He pulled open the door, and disappeared out of it, closing it surprisingly quietly behind him.
Verrian glanced down at the wound stretching from his chest to his stomach, blood welling up and staining his shirt. The adrenaline flooding his body meant the pain was a distant, irritating throb. Once the adrenaline faded, it would hurt like hell, but it wasn’t going to kill him.
Not immediately anyway.
Could he regenerate from this without entering the Mesmer?
It would be slow and painful, but it could be possible. But if he were in the lair, they certainly wouldn’t risk it. Not when the Mesmer ritual was so easy there.
Out here it wasn’t quite so easy.
“Are you okay?” Lisa’s voice was still unnaturally high, and she stared at Verrian’s chest with wide eyes.
She was unharmed. Ultrima was gone, and they were all still alive.
Verrian didn’t have the energy to try to figure out why the Trima dragon had left without finishing him off.
The relief flooded through his body, taking the last of the adrenaline with it, leaving only the pain. Searing, crippling pain that caused him to double up in agony.
“Here, lie down.” Lisa half caught him as he wavered, and helped him to the couch with Raven’s assistance. “I’ll…” Her voice broke off, and she stared at him, fear and panic written on her face.
Verrian knew why. This injury must look bad. It was far more serious than the previous one.
Blood rushed in Verrian’s ears, and he felt a little faint.
He could only see one way out of this. A way he couldn’t even consider asking her, even if he would take it himself in a heartbeat.
Maybe it was the pain speaking, but he was no longer afraid of the mate bond. Spending the rest of his life bonded to Lisa didn’t seem like the worst thing that could happen right now. And he wasn’t only thinking that because he’d just escaped death.
He opened his mouth to say that, just as screams and car horns echoed distantly from somewhere below.
Raven moved first, running over to the window and staring out. “Bloody hell.” His face went white.
“What is it?” Lisa demanded, looking from Verrian to the window, then back again, her indecision clear.
“A dragon, a big silver one.” Raven’s face was awed. “He’s just skimming across the top of the buildings as though he’s showing off.
That was bad. And Verrian’s consciousness was fading too fast for him to even figure out why.
He reached for Lisa’s hand, his fingers brushing hers, but he didn’t have the strength to even grab hold. His hand fell to the side of the lounge chair he lay on, the jarring movement sending more pain shooting through his entire body.
He bit his lip, but a groan of pain made it out between them anyway.
Lisa’s brow furrow
ed. “We need to get out of here. Fast. If the breaking glass and my screaming wasn’t enough for someone to call the cops, that dragon flying around out there is.”
Verrian opened his mouth to reply, then realised she wasn’t talking to him. Her face was turned towards Raven.
Not for the first time, he was glad the singer had come with him. Verrian couldn’t help Lisa right now. but Raven could.
He hoped.
Chapter 41
Raven stared at Lisa, then Verrian, his face an agony of indecision. “We should be taking him to the hospital. That injury is serious.”
The mention of the word hospital only increased the panic flooding through Lisa, making it hard to focus. Everything tumbled through her head in a jumble. Verrian injured. Ultrima flying over the city. Police coming, surely.
“I know it’s serious,” she snapped. “But it’d be suicide to go near a hospital right now. Don’t you get it. Our faces are already all over the papers. Now with a dragon flying around and dispelling any chance we had of convincing people that this was all Rita’s imagination and creative photoshopping, all the dragons are in serious trouble. They’re going to be hunting us down. Anyone who has any connection to the dragons is going to be a target, not only for the press, but for the police as well.”
“Do you think any of them finding you is more serious than dying from that wound?” Raven demanded.
He didn’t get it. Well, there was no way he could, really. He hadn’t been at this as long as she had.
“Do you think they’re going to care that he’s dead?” Lisa demanded. “They’re just going to want to cut up his body and find out how it works.” Her eyes filled with tears at the thought. “Even if they did want to help him, what do they know about dragons and what they need to heal?”
Raven’s eyes widened as she spoke. He obviously hadn’t thought this one through.
Well, Lisa had.
“Verrian would be the first to tell you that it’s not just his life at stake, but his entire clan’s. And anyway, dragon’s regenerate,” she said tiredly. Her mind shied away from considering how. She’d sort that out later. “It just takes a while and we need somewhere safe.”
“Where are we going to go?” Raven asked. “We can’t go back to my place, the other dragon already found Verrian there.”
“A dragon showing up is the least of our worries,” Lisa said flatly. “If Ultrima wanted Verrian dead, he’d be dead. I highly doubt he’s going to bother us again. For a while anyway.”
Hard as it was to imagine, the real threat right now wasn’t a Trima dragon.
There was a knock at the door, and both of them froze. Verrian tried to push himself up on one elbow, but he barely moved before his face went ashen, and he fell back on the couch with a grimace.
“What if that’s the police?” Lisa whispered.
“They wouldn’t have gotten here this fast, trust me,” Raven whispered back.
He had a point, but it did nothing to slow the pounding of Lisa’s heart. Her mind raced as she tried to figure out what they were going to do. There was only one way out of the apartment. Well, unless she could fly.
She bit back a hysterical laugh. Verrian could fly, but not in his current condition.
“Lisa? Open up. I know you’re in there!” Olivia’s voice called out.
Lisa almost sagged in relief.
“Are you alone?” she called out, her hand on the doorknob.
“Of course I’m alone. I’m not stupid.”
Lisa hesitated. What was Olivia doing here? There was no way she’d had time to come after hearing about the dragon. She must have been already here. But why?
She pulled the door open. Holding up a hand, she scanned the hallway in both directions, but it was empty. “Come on in,” she said quietly.
“Was that Verrian flying around?” Olivia demanded as soon as she was inside. “Way to keep his presence a secret.”
Her voice was filled with excitement, but she didn’t seem to even be that surprised. Then again, she’d had a bit of warning.
“No,” Lisa said shortly. “It was Verrian’s mortal enemy. What are you doing here? You can’t have come because of that.”
Olivia blushed. “I… well, even though you said that Verrian wasn’t a dragon, I couldn’t help wondering… I was going to come and ask you again.”
“Well, now you have your answer. If that’s all you wanted, then you might want to get out of here before things deteriorate any further.” Lisa hesitated, then added, “If you want to stay, I’d love your help, but it’s going to be dangerous.”
She didn’t need to elaborate. Olivia’s face had paled as she caught sight of Verrian on the couch. She looked at Lisa, then back at Verrian. “Is he okay?”
“No,” Lisa said shortly. “But he will be. We just need to get him somewhere safe.”
Olivia’s eyes widened. “I’d love to help. You can bring him to my place,” she offered immediately. “My roommate is away for a couple of days, so there’s no one there to bother you.”
Lisa hesitated, trying to concentrate around the panic flooding her mind. She needed to think—this was vitally important.
The police would already be on their way. Too many people would have seen Ultrima flying over the city for the dragon’s existence to be ignored. They would be searching for him. And the only link they had was her.
They’d talk to everyone at work. Her absence would be noted, and Olivia’s as well. That would probably be the first place they’d look.
“We can’t go to your place,” she said reluctantly. “They’ll connect you to me too quickly. I need to buy us at least a couple of hours to heal Verrian.”
There was only one person in this room who wasn’t already connected to Verrian. She looked over at Raven. “Right now, your place is the best bet, if you’ll have us?”
Raven stared at her for a minute, then swallowed. “Sure. There’s just one potential problem…”
Lisa frowned. More problems were the last thing she needed right now. “What?”
“Pete and Marlow, the other band members. They saw the dragon attacking Verrian back at my place, before we left.”
Lisa winced. “Do you think they’ll blab?”
Raven shrugged. “Probably. They were pretty freaked out by that dragon attacking Verrian. They ran. But if we warn them that one of them could come after them…” his voice trailed off.
Lisa got the message. “Good, you can do that on the way. We need to get moving before the police arrive.”
Raven nodded, and Lisa heaved a sigh of relief. One problem solved. They had somewhere safe to go.
Relatively safe anyway. Anything was better than here.
Now she just had to figure out how to get Verrian there. She crossed to the couch, and knelt down next to the injured dragon, putting a hand on his arm.
His eyes flicked open, but the pain in them twisted Lisa’s heart. “We’re moving you to Raven’s house. We should be safe there until you’re healed. Do you think you can walk?”
As she said it, she realised the question was pointless. Blood soaked his shirt, though it had slowed a little now. There was no way he could walk.
Verrian nodded and pushed himself upright, his face contorted in pain, his breathing ragged.
Lisa put a hand on his arm. “Don’t push yourself too much.”
The fact that he could move a little helped. Between the three of them, they could get him to the car. The trick was going to be doing it unnoticed.
Their best chance of that was to move now.
“Grab the robe that’s on the end of my bed,” she ordered Olivia. “We need to cover him up. Raven, can you get on the other side. Verrian may be tough, but he’s not going to be able to make this walk without support.”
With Olivia and Raven’s help, she managed to get Verrian upright and the robe wrapped around his body enough to cover the blood. The cover wasn’t going to help for long though, despite the blood having slowed,
Verrian’s movement started it up again. It would soak through the robe far too quickly.
But they didn’t have time for anything more. They needed to move, now.
Luckily, when they opened the door and peered out, the corridor was empty. So was the elevator. Even the carpark. It was only early afternoon, but the complete lack of people was a little unusual. Probably they were all out gawking at the sky.
They made it into the car and out of the apartment without notice, Verrian half lying in the back seat, his eyes closed, his face pained. Lisa tried to focus on the road, but she couldn’t help glancing back every few moments, just to reassure herself he was still alive. Olivia sat next to him, a worried frown on her face. Raven headed out to grab his bike to lead the way.
Unfortunately, getting out of the city was a little more difficult. Traffic moved at a crawl, nearly as bad as peak hour. Was everyone trying to flee the city because of Ultrima? Entirely possible.
Then again, Lisa also saw plenty of people standing on the sidewalk, staring up at the sky. One or two even had binoculars. Just as many wanted a chance to see a dragon.
Lisa gave a shiver. She certainly didn’t want to see the lightning dragon again.
They heard sirens in the distance. That was becoming far too familiar a sound. This time though, none were coming for them.
No one knew where they were.
Yet.
Lisa’s phone rang. She pulled it out of her pocket and glanced at the number. It was Barry. Her boss. She bit back a sigh, and handed it to Olivia, never so glad that she couldn’t talk while she was driving. “It’s Barry.”
Olivia stared at her for a moment, then answered the phone on speaker, holding it up near Lisa.
“Lisa?” Barry’s voice asked, concern in his tone. “I know you said that your friend wasn’t a dragon, but in light of recent events, I’m going to assume you were lying. Are you okay?”
Lisa couldn’t help a slight smile at his immediate concern. Trust Barry. “Yes, we’re fine. I’m going to have to take a few days off though.”
Barry’s reply was immediate. “Sure. Whatever you need.” There was a short pause, then he added, “If you ever need legal advice, say to prove that these dragons need to be treated as human beings, or, you know, if you end up in trouble, I hope you’ll call me. All on the house of course.”
