by Amelia Jade
“What do you think I expect you to do?” he asked, his face carefully masked with a tight smile. Despite his commitment to what he was about to do, Hel was still terrified that it was going to blow up in his face.
“I’m not sure,” she admitted. “Bungee jump? Wingsuit? Parachute? Walk a tightrope to the next building? I could maybe do a zipline, if that’s an option.”
The mask he was wearing cracked and Hel laughed to himself. “You don’t have to worry about any of that. It’s much simpler.”
“A helicopter? That would be great.”
“No, but I did think about that. They’d notice it and be able to follow us. No, this is something else entirely. Something very simple, though not something you believe possible.”
“I’ve seen a lot of crazy things over the past week and a half, Hel. I’m really not easily surprised anymore.”
He chuckled, taking her hand in his and giving it a squeeze. “Want to make a bet on that?”
“A bet? You want to make a bet now?”
The doors opened and he led her out onto the roof. The helicopter pad was there just like Palin had said it would be. Night had fallen over Barton City, and despite being in the heart of downtown, it was quite dark this high up. There were no other buildings for light to look down on them from.
“Sure, why not?” he said, stopping at the stairs up to the helipad.
Wind whipped at them. It was a little chilly, and he was glad he’d had Megyn bundle up before coming up there. He wasn’t bothered by it, but with what was to come, she was going to end up cold. Still, it was the best plan he could think of.
“No thanks. I’m not a betting woman. Besides, you seem awfully confident you’ll win.”
“I would.”
“Why is that?”
He contemplated his answer for a moment. “What are your thoughts on the paranormal?”
“Paranormal?” she asked, confused.
“Things that are, but shouldn’t be. That don’t quite make sense. Do you believe in any of it?”
Megyn’s attention was riveted to him now, making Hel a little uneasy with her intensity. She was supposed to be confused, not knowing where he was going with things.
“No,” she started to say, then caught herself.
“What is it?” he pushed, wanting her to open up about it, to start talking.
“I don’t know. Things I saw with Ian. Sometimes he spoke a little…off. Used words that seemed weird. Like you earlier when you called them a pack. Or the word mate, he used that a lot too. Sometimes he seemed a little too fast, or too strong. I never really thought much of it, but yeah. Then there were the wolves that always seemed to be around, like he or someone could speak to them, though they never showed their faces, but boy could you hear them. Stuff like that, nothing I could prove, but you understand.”
Hel did.
“Why? What does that have to do with our rooftop escape plan?”
“Everything,” he whispered. “I wish I didn’t have to do this. Not yet, at least. But it’s the only way without anyone down there getting killed, and I suspect you don’t want that.”
“No,” she said. “I hate him. Despise him with all my body after the way he’s acted, but I don’t wish death on him. Just loneliness. And some pain. If you wanted to kick him in the nuts, I’d be okay with it.”
Hel threw back his head and laughed. Gods, he loved this woman. She had the perfect amount of compassion and feistiness for him. He couldn’t wait for them to be able to openly and comfortably be with each other.
“Then this is the only way to escape them without them being able to follow,” he said, taking a step away from her toward the helipad. “They might let you out without harming you, but I doubt it. He’d probably hold you hostage to get to me at that point.”
“Yes. I feel safer staying with you,” Megyn said, giving him one of her little happy, flirtatious smiles.
“That…might change,” he said unhappily. “It shouldn’t, because you aren’t going to be in any actual danger, but I won’t blame you if it does at first. It’s going to be a shock.”
He started backing away from the stairs, watching her the entire time.
“What’s going to be a shock, Hel? What are you talking about? What’s going to change?”
“Not my personality, or who I am,” he promised, now almost in the middle of the helipad. “I swear to you that no matter what you’re about to see, it is me. Do you understand?”
“No.”
“Listen to me. Close your eyes. Good. Keep them closed,” he said as she did as he asked. “Just listen to my voice. I need you to know that no matter what happens, I’m still Hel.”
I can’t believe I’m about to this.
“What are you going to do?”
He closed his eyes and let the power of his dragon flow through him. Limbs shifted and grew. Scales and spikes jutted from his body, throwing back the landing lights of the helipad as they bounced off the shiny, smooth surfaces. Wings longer than a bus burst from his back, spreading wide as they stretched to their fullest span before settling along his flanks.
“Can you still hear me?” he asked.
Megyn jerked, but nodded. “I can. You sound…different. Your voice is deeper. More…more…flowy? I don’t know how to describe it, but I can hear you.”
“It’s still me. Still the Hel you’ve known for a decade.”
“Okay?”
“Can you repeat that?” he asked, terrified of what he was about to ask her next.
“You’re still the Hel I’ve known for a decade, even if you sound really different.”
“That is the truth.” He inhaled deeply, the sound audible across the roof with the size of his lungs bigger than most people inflated. “If you’re ready, you can open your eyes.”
She did.
“Hello, Megyn—”
Her scream cut off any more words.
Shit!
Hel shifted back immediately, just as she clamped her hands over her mouth and cut off the noise. He rushed to her side as her knees wobbled and gave way. Grabbing her, he lifted her from the ground and held her tight. “It’s just me,” he whispered into her ear as she shook. “It’s just me, I promise. The same old Hel, nothing new. I’m here. I have you. You’re safe with me, Megyn. You’ll always be safe with me.”
She subsided eventually, but didn’t try to get out of his arms. “That was a mean trick.”
He swallowed, trying to respond.
Megyn looked up from where her head had been buried in his face. “I didn’t know you knew magic.”
“It wasn’t magic,” he said gently but forcefully. Now was not the time for humor. He had to convince her of the truth, and quickly.
“You’re telling me that you actually just turned into a dragon?” she scoffed. “Ridiculous.”
“I’ll do it again if you promise not to scream this time.” He set her back on her feet.
“Do it. I dare you. This time I want to watch though. No tricks.”
Hel grinned as the Megyn he knew and loved surfaced. “Okay, but when I prove you wrong, you’re going to owe me a kiss.”
“I’m not kissing lizard lips!” she exclaimed. “Gross!”
“I mean when I’m like this,” he argued pointlessly, leaping back onto the helipad. “Remember though, I asked you if you believed in the paranormal. I had a reason for that!”
Then he spread his arms wide and let the change come over him again.
“Holy shit,” she said in a tiny voice, emphasized by the fact that she was now very, very small compared to him. “That’s some good illusion stuff there.”
He snorted. “It’s not illusion. Come here and see.”
To his surprise Megyn ran up onto the helipad and came over to him. “This is some next-gen shit, Hel. Good for you. I can’t even tell until I…” Her hand made contact with a scale.
A real scale. Solid and existing, not faked.
“Uh…” She started to f
eel her way along his side. “No, you just faked this.” She darted underneath him and repeated the process. “Um.”
“It’s hard to believe, I know,” he said, lowering his head until it was at her level. “I shouldn’t be real, so you’re trying to find a way to justify it.”
“Animi…anima…fuck it, the things they used in Jurassic Park! That’s what you are. You’re one of those. You had it hidden up here.”
“Why the hell would I go through all that effort when we have much bigger problems to fry right now, like the gang of men downstairs waiting to hurt us?”
“Because.” She didn’t elaborate.
“Dragons aren’t real,” he supplied for her.
“Exactly.”
“Sorry to break it to you, but we are. And I don’t mean to be rude, but I really shouldn’t be hanging out in the open like this for too long. We need to get going.”
Megyn stepped back. “Going? What do you mean?”
He wanted to grin, but giving her a big toothy smile right now would likely backfire. Badly.
“This is how we leave, Megyn. We’re going to fly out of here.”
“Fly. Right. Of course. Why didn’t I think of that?”
Chapter Twenty
Megyn
“THIS IS AMAZING!” she shrieked as he leveled out high above the city. “HEL, I CAN’T BELIEVE WE’RE ACTUALLY DOING THIS!”
That was the truth. She didn’t actually believe it. Megyn was still trying to adjust her worldview to accept that there were things like dragons in it. That she was currently astride the back of one wasn’t as much help as it probably should have been.
Wind pulled at her clothing and she hunkered down lower, glancing off down the curve of his long neck to look at the city far below. Everything was so small. Buildings looked like little models to her, and the vehicles were barely more than grains of sand, only visible because of their lights.
“You doing okay back there?” Hel asked, glancing back at her for the fifteenth time.
“Yes, I’m fine,” she assured him. “Still in disbelief, and kind of chilly, but you made sure I was dressed appropriately. I’m sorry I doubted you.”
Hel’s dragon lips pulled back in a very humanlike smile, his yellow catlike eyes bouncing. Were they bouncing? It seemed like it. They nearly glowed in the dark, so bright and inhuman.
“You’re flying on the back of a creature you’ve only ever read about. You’re forgiven for doubting me,” he joked.
“Does that mean you can tell me where we’re going now?”
“Somewhere safe. I hope.”
“Fine. What can you tell me? Are there more like you?”
Hel banked left, forcing her to hold on tight.
“Yes,” he said as they evened out again. “There are other dragons. Different species too.”
“Different species?”
“For starters, your ex and his family are wolf shifters.”
“Oh.” She thought about it. “I suppose that would explain the chest hair.”
Hel laughed. She was used to his big, booming laughter and loved the way he always relaxed when he did. This, however, was entirely different. The dragon’s laughter rippled all the way down its back. Scales bounced and shook as his entire core moved with the sound.
Screaming, she clutched the spike she’d been sitting behind tightly, making herself as flat as she could to his back, trying to ride out each wave of laughter as it tried to fling her off.
“Megyn?”
The giant dragon head was suddenly almost right next to her, curving back to look at what was going on even as his wings continued to beat and push them forward. Okay, that was creepy.
“I’m not really secured in very well here,” she said, recovering as the shaking stopped. “Your laughter is pretty violent to someone riding back here.”
“I’m sorry. It’s been a long time since I’ve carried someone.”
She thought she detected a bit of wistfulness.
“We aren’t allowed to fly very much, not with cell phones and video cameras being so prevalent. Too much risk of being caught.”
“You’re taking a big risk today,” she countered.
“And I’m breaking all sorts of rules to do it,” he explained, facing forward once more. “I’ll be in a lot of shit if anyone finds out.”
She still lay on his back, looking up at the sky above them. Then she turned to glance back as they left the city behind, looking down at it as the lights faded.
“Why do it then?” she wanted to know, trying to pick out the apartment building they’d left from, but it was too small now.
“For you.”
“Well, thank you, Hel. It’s nice to hear you say that. I…” Her eyes narrowed.
“Megyn?”
“You didn’t tell me you brought friends,” she said as two shapes descended from on high toward them.
Hel’s neck came whipping around. “I didn’t.”
She swallowed hard. “Those are the people you talked about, aren’t they.”
“Yes.” His yellow eyes met her brown.
Suddenly fearful, she flattened herself back against his silvery scales once more. “What do we do?”
Hel’s wings beat harder.
“Hold on.”
She clung tight as they dove. The ground rushed up at them, dark and ominous this far outside of the city. With no idea of what sort of terrain they were flying over, Megyn could only hope that Hel could see in the dark better than she could.
All at once his wings folded in next to her and they dropped like a stone.
“HEEELLLLLLLLL!” she screamed, her voice trailing off behind them as she floated an inch or two above his scales. Her fingers dug in deep, trying to pull her back down against him, but it wasn’t working.
The dragon ignored her after a quick look back, focusing on his piloting skills. Flying skills? She didn’t know the proper term.
“Oomph,” she grunted as his wings snapped out, slamming her into his back as he banked hard to the right while also stopping his descent.
Two shapes whipped past them, razor-sharp talons reaching for anything they could grasp. They missed by inches, unable to mimic Hel’s sharp, unplanned turn. Suddenly, in the face of such danger, her own discomforts didn’t seem all that important. Megyn kept her mouth closed and let Hel do the flying.
The wings were wide and beating strong now, carrying them over what she thought was a farmer’s field, but the moonless night made it impossible for her to tell with any sort of certainty. Even the stars were dim, helping keep the skyborne chase hidden from sight. Even anyone who saw it would likely write it off as something else.
None of the dragons made any noise as they jockeyed for position, Hel trying to outmaneuver them while also keeping her safe. It quickly became apparent that she was limiting his ability to get away. Bit by bit the other dragons were forcing them to the ground.
Something had to change. There wasn’t anything they could do about the other dragons. The only thing that could be done was to separate the two of them, so Hel could use his abilities to the fullest. That meant she had to get off. They had to split up.
“We’re not going to make it,” she called. “Put me down, so that you can get free. They’re not after me, Hel. Let me go and you’ll escape. I know you will.”
“I’m not letting you go. I just got you,” he growled.
Megyn was too busy processing what she’d just heard to keep arguing.
“But you’re right,” he said. “We have to put down. Brace yourself.”
“With what?” she asked, wrapping herself around his horn as Hel came in for a hard landing.
Chapter Twenty-One
Hel
He landed without warning, and the other two overshot him.
“Off you get,” he said, dropping as far down as he could.
Megyn slipped from his neck, dropping the last few feet to the ground with a mild yelp as the dragon disappeared out from undernea
th her. He needed to be back in his human form if he was going to fight them on the ground, and prevent Stoen and Kase from using Megyn against him.
The pair of quicksilver dragons circled above before coming in low. Their wings spread in unison twenty feet off the ground, and they shifted, dropping from midair to land lightly on their feet in a show of timed grace that took practice. There was no denying its impressiveness.
Fortunately, it was also all show, and no practicality. Even as they landed both of them had to fling themselves aside as quicksilver spikes zipped through the space they’d just occupied. Hel didn’t bother taunting or shouting, he just charged, narrowing in on Kase, whom he knew to be the less superior fighter.
Twice more he flung foot-long darts of quicksilver, both times in Stoen’s direction, keeping the other shifter from getting set and launching his own attack. Kase meanwhile brought his hands together and a long staff flowed from his palms, liquid forming itself into a hardened weapon.
To his left Stoen got himself oriented and started to charge across the distance. Hel waved his hand and quicksilver shot out in a long line, like a whip, forcing Stoen to duck and slowing his charge.
Then he was on Kase, more quicksilver rising up from his palms, coating them in a liquid layer of armor that kept going, reaching his biceps and spreading across his torso. It covered his entire body, a living defense against the powers of the others.
What a day Megyn must be having. Dragons. Powers. Flying. Possible life or death scenario. She was holding up rather well. Hel was proud of her.
Kase jabbed with his staff, bringing him back to the fight. Hel whirled around, tapping the back of his palm against Kase’s exposed fingers. The other shifter hissed and pulled back, the skin blistering as the cold killed it dead.
Hel didn’t give him time to recover though. He drove in, tapping his hands, shins, forearms, whatever he could against Kase’s skin, burning skin everywhere. At one point he grabbed the staff in both hands, knowing his armor would provide protection for a few seconds. Using that he pulled Kase in close and slammed his head against him.
The other shifter fell back, howling in agony as the skin on his face withered and died in seconds, burnt from the extreme cold of the quicksilver. Kase was the best aerial fighter of the three dragons there, but he lacked skills with powers.
