Aries

by Kim Faulks

  I had to get us out of here.

  Screams filtered down the hall, followed with gunfire. I scurried to the bank of computers, tearing a tower from its place and lifting it. If I could get out of here. If I could find X…I could somehow get Zadoc free.

  The thought of him loose filled me with fear. But I had no other choice. I had to try. I heaved the tower above my head. My stomach clenched tight. Agony raced down my spine and welled in the small of my back as a woman’s rage-filled scream tore through the air.

  The hard drive wavered in the air above my head as blurred shapes moved without a sound, passing the glass door and headed along the hallway. Behind me, those hooves pounded the ground. He wouldn’t wait…not for long.

  The faint scent of smoke drifted on the air. I lifted my gaze to the white tendrils that danced around the ceiling.

  Jesus. I stumbled, wrenched back my arms and heaved the tower in the air. It hit the door with a bang and bounced, cracking against the floor, with the glass door still intact. The room blurred. I spun. I needed something heavier. Something steel. The machines lined the far wall, too big for me to lift…

  A deafening shriek shattered the room. I slammed my hands to my ears and crouched. A hurricane was born as the beast flapped his deformed wing, slamming it to the ground.

  The crack of glass cut between my fingers. I jerked my gaze toward the glass; tiny cracks tore along the wall. I glanced to the door. Fractures ripped across the center and branched off like a roadmap to freedom.

  Harsh breaths tore from my chest as the fissures stilled. The night seemed to stop along with it. The silence was thunderous, until the chink of glass followed.

  The door cascaded like a waterfall to shatter on the ground. A howl tore through the air, sound now filtering through the haze of my mind. The sound of a voice, deep and raw, slipped along the hall.

  The image of soldiers took flight in my mind. They were coming for us…

  We’d never escape…not a pregnant woman and…a beast. I scrambled for the glass and grasped the sharpest one I could find.

  The savage sting was instant. Sharp edges cut into my palm. I’d lived with pain. I knew pain…and this pain I could live with…this pain I’d welcome, if it meant keeping us alive.

  Dark blurs crept along the corridor. The beast stumbled, flapped that gigantic wing and slammed it to the ground. The stranger stepped over the glass, his gaze searching, tracking, lasered.

  “Come closer and I’ll gut you.”

  His dark gaze settled on me as I moved in front of the beast. I’d not let them take him…not without a fight. I hacked the air as the beast flailed.

  He lifted his gaze to the beast, but there was no malice…there was no hate.

  “My brother,” he whispered. “What have they done to you?”

  17

  Zadoc

  I slammed my wing to the ground as he took a step. There was something about him, an echo that resounded in that ancient part of me. The part that resounded…kin.

  But that knowing was muted, floating under the disease inside my mind.

  “You know me…I’m Evander, your brother,” he whispered.

  His eyes changed, dark gave way to embers that burned orange. He was not wolf…not human. He was like me. Dragon…brother. Warmth rushed, carving through the cold, until I stilled—no…no he wasn’t.

  I pulled away, lifting my head and screamed. He was not like me—he was not THIS. This festering existence. This was not Dragon…this was not man.

  This just was…a nameless existence. A festering shell of what had once been a man, had once been a Dragon.

  Fire lashed along my blistered throat. I slammed a mangled wing into the ground and pawed the ground with a hoof. Don’t come any closer. Sick. Infected…not safe…not safe for you.

  Bits of ceiling fell from the cracks. Evander lifted his hands, palms out in a sign of surrender. “Easy…easy now. You’re hurting. Let me help you…let me help both of you.”

  A boom came from my left, a soft bang followed. I swung toward a woman as she barged through a door at the end of the room. A human woman, carrying…files in one arm and a gas can in the other.

  Her white coat flapped as she stumbled into the room. Plumes of smoke slipped in behind her. She wrenched her head up and stilled. Black soot covered one cheek. A faint splatter of blood dried on her neck.

  “You?” Victor snarled.

  “You?” A woman dressed in khakis snapped, stumbling in behind Victor with an unconscious male draped across her shoulders. Her shirt was torn open, exposing the top part of her breasts. Something glowed on her skin, some silver mark that shone brighter as she roared. “Fucking bitch. You, Doctor, started this…you…did this.”

  “I didn’t know.” The doctor shook her head. “I didn’t know what they were doing. I swear to you. All they told me was to check vitals, draw blood, and log the details. That was all…that was all it was supposed to be.”

  “Until Manduck shot her,” Victor muttered.

  The doctor’s eyes brimmed with tears. Her shoulders slumped. The gas can slipped from her grasp and hit the ground with a bang. “It was my fault…all my fault.”

  The ceiling cracked, bits of rubble hit the ground.

  “You may not have pulled the trigger, Doctor,” the female soldier snarled, “but you sure as fuck loaded the gun.” She lifted her head to the cracked ceiling and scanned the glass. “We have to get out of here, Victor. Now.”

  Pieces of ceiling rained down. A talon gouged the floor as I dragged my wing higher. Pain lashed deep, grinding bones. Black blood dripped from my shoulder to splatter against the floor.

  Flashes of light carved through the murkiness of my mind. The Wretched screamed and thrashed, fighting with tooth and nail. I could hear him, screaming, tearing, burning, howling with rage. He was desperate to get to her…this tiny pregnant human.

  A chunk of plaster hit the ground, and shattered at her feet. Protect her. A voice filtered in, drawing from a dark hole somewhere inside my mind. Protect her…like she protected you.

  The ceiling shuddered, with a crack it caved in the middle, dropping boulders in the air. My muscles trembled. I clenched tight, driving the blackened mess through the air and over her as the ceiling hit.

  The squelch from the two-way ripped through the room. A voice came through, faint at first, and then grew louder. “Gunny. Gunny can you hear me?”

  “Ace? Ace is that you?” the female soldier snapped. Her shoulders sagged as she clung to the unconscious soldier and gripped the radio tight. “Thank God. Thank God. I thought I lost you.”

  She released the button, his voice blasted like gunfire. “Building…down…out….now.”

  “Get the truck! On your left, Ace. Hot-wire the damn truck. We’re moving out.”

  “No, I can’t leave.”

  I dropped my gaze to the woman under my wing. Joslyn, howled the Wretched. Her name is Joslyn!

  Joslyn…turned, shadowed by deformed bones and thick, crusted skin. She met my eyes. “I won’t leave. Not without X.”

  Shouts cut through the corridor, and the sound of boots followed. “You get yourself fucking killed, human, and I’ll bring you back to life, just to kick your damn ass!”

  “Joslyn!” A male shouted as he ran. “Josly—” He skidded on the glass and stopped. His gaze flitted around the room from the doctor to me and then stopped.

  My pulse picked up speed as he lowered his gaze. “Joslyn?”

  He stepped between my brother and the woman. “Joslyn, is that you?”

  His eyes widened, chest heaved. His gaze skimmed her body, lingering on her stomach. “You’re big.”

  “Nice one,” Joslyn snapped. “I’ve been kept in Hell for fucking months and the only thing you notice is my damn weight?”

  His eyes sparkled, lips curved. He held out his arms. “Just keeping your trim figure in mind.”

  “Trim figure my ass. You’re right. I'm a damn balloon,” she growled, stilled
for a second, and then lunged toward him.

  He met her first, wrapping his arms around her and drawing her close.

  A growl slipped from my lips. I took a step, rising to my full height and hit the ceiling. He was making her cry. She blubbered and clung to him. I wanted to hurt him, wanted him to know she was…

  “Zadoc?”

  A blast of heat ripped through the room as a woman moved into view. My body clenched tight, a tang of fear filled my mouth.

  “Zadoc, is that you?”

  Black eyes focused, pale skin shone. Her energy lashed the room, and left a sting. A hiss filed the room. The seas parted, backing away as this woman stepped close.

  “Xael, he’s not…” Victor reached for her arm.

  But she sidestepped his touch, moving closer, holding my focus and answered. “Yes, he is, Victor. Yes, he is.”

  She raised her head, throat muscles rippled as a pulsing throb filled the room. The sound vibrated, growing louder, piercing the void inside my head and cleaved the darkness. The Wretched lifted his head and echoed the sound. The call joined by another, a deeper hum that shuddered my walls and bent my world.

  I dropped my head and swayed, drawn into the sound as it lifted and swayed, and then finally ended.

  I sucked in a breath and raised my head. Both stood there, waiting, hoping, until the ceiling shook. A crack widened, running from the door at the end of the room. Something gave way with a crash and the thick white haze of smoke followed.

  “We’ve got to get out of here,” Gunny growled, staring at my sister. “Dragons and pregnant women first.”

  “No,” Joslyn broke away from her brother and shook her head. She coughed and slapped a hand across her mouth. “There’s someone still here, someone I need to find.”

  A crack tore from the garage door behind us. “Gunny, Gunny. Are you in there?”

  The soldier stumbled, heaving the unconscious male with her and crossed the room. “We’re in here. Ace, can you hear me? We’re in here. Irwin’s hurt, and we found the Dragon. I’m gonna find some way to get this door up, okay? So just back away.”

  “Move,” Xael growled and closed in. She turned and took one look at me before she closed her eyes. Her face changed, softened edges turned hard. Her body rippled with an energy that called to me. Her hands lengthened and her body grew. I was caught by her face, and those dark midnight eyes.

  She swelled, growing taller. Fabric ripped, and something dark tore free. Her skin shimmered, pale darkened to silver and hardened to black. She was the same, but different, scurrying movements carried her toward the door.

  A long segmented tail curved up behind her body and hung over her head. A barb hung low, the end honed to a deadly point.

  Evander moved with her, his energy slower, calmer, rushing at me like an incoming wave, but every bit as dangerous. He opened his arms as his body thickened and grew.

  “I’ve got this,” Xael growled, her voice warped and strange as she cocked her barb.

  “You do,” he murmured, thick arms flattening, growing, fusing fingers into claws. “But it’s been decades since I’ve shifted with my sister, and time is running out.”

  “She out there somewhere. I can’t leave.” Joslyn tried to pull away from her brother.

  He gripped her arm tight. “Even if she’s in there, she’ll survive. She’s a shifter, Joslyn, you're not.”

  Her gaze hardened as she dropped her arm. “I don’t give a damn if she’s a shifter, Finn. To me she’s family. I’d not leave you behind and I sure as Hell won’t leave her. So you can either help me, or get out of my damn way.”

  He dropped his hold and stiffened. “I didn’t mean… I—”

  “I’ll find her,” growled a soldier as he strode into the room. “What does she look like?”

  “Alpha!” Gunny whipped her head toward the sound. “Jesus, thank you God. Ace is alive. He’s alive.”

  She hefted the man higher in her arms as a whack followed a screech of metal. Xael pierced the steel and drew her barb before jabbing the door once more. Each time left a gaping hole. Evander stepped close and opened thick, massive claws.

  “The shifter,” Alpha urged, his face a mask of pissed-off determination.

  “She’s Cherokee,” Joslyn answered drawing me away as the screech of metal cut through the room. “Long dark hair. She’s wearing clothes like this, and she’s young…seventeen, eighteen at the most.”

  Alpha nodded. He looked to roller door and winced. “If she’s in here, I’ll find her. You get on that truck. There will be more Marines coming, and you can bet your sweet sorry ass they’re already in the air. You hearing me? Pregnant or not, I’ll put you over my damn shoulder and carry you out myself, if I have to.”

  “No, I’m hearing you,” Joslyn murmured. “Just…”

  He was already turning, grabbing hold of his rifle and nodding to the others. “Get on that damn truck, Joslyn, and take the Dragon with you. Dragons…I mean Dragons.”

  He turned and was gone. Glass crunched under his boots as he turned left instead of right and headed deeper into the collapsing building.

  “Ready?” Evander called lifting his claws into the air. “Joslyn you’re first, and then Zadoc. And you…you’re coming with us.”

  The doctor flinched and shook her head. “No. I mean, I can’t I’ve got work to do…I.”

  “You can either get in the rear with me, or you can ride up front with Gunny, either way, you’re getting on there.”

  Gunny sneered, top lip curled.

  “Okay…okay…” The doctor spluttered.

  My brother eyed me. “You ready brother? You ready to go home?”

  “Home…” Joslyn whispered. She left her brother’s side and stepped closer. “Let’s go, Zadoc. I really like the sound of that, and God knows I could use a hot bath and a good ten years of counseling.”

  “Shrinks are overrated,” Gunny growled and shuffled to the side. “I’ll just take you out to the range and teach you to shoot shit.”

  Joslyn headed for the ripped open door, stopping long enough to look over to me. “Come on now, we don’t have all day.”

  I dragged in her scent as she stepped through the door and disappeared. The loss was an ache somewhere in the center of my chest. I dropped my head and followed, needing to see her, needing to be near her.

  You’re not like them, not anymore…kill them, whispered the diseased. Kill them all.

  I dragged in a breath, smothering the sound and followed. Sharp steel scraped my scales. I dragged my wing behind me and climbed the steel ramp into the truck.

  Footsteps echoed behind me. The familiar scent of my family filled the space. A squeal tore through the air followed by a bang. I stepped into the cage, only this time no one locked the door.

  “You’re not an animal,” Evander murmured and followed. Claws morphed back into hands. He flexed his fingers and raised his head. “I don't know what happened to you, brother. But you are one of us.”

  “Demon’s blood. They infected him with demon’s blood,” Joslyn answered. “They hurt him. They tortured him…they…”

  She looked away, unable to meet my eyes.

  “No…” Xael whispered and shook her head. She reached out her hand, wanting to touch. “What would that do to someone like us?”

  A growl reverberated through my chest, stilling her hand.

  “He doesn’t recognize us,” Joslyn whispered and stepped into the cell. She pierced her fingers through the cage as the truck shuddered and shot forward. “But he’s in there. He’s fighting to get back.” Her other hand went to her belly. “He needs to come back to me.”

  “Come back to you?” her brother snapped. “What are you saying? You and the Dragon are what, in love?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m saying,” she whispered, never taking her eyes from me.

  The truck shuddered and the grind of gears followed. Gunny’s voice cracked through the speaker. “Twenty minutes and we’re home free. I’m h
eading to an airplane hangar not far from where we live.”

  No one spoke as the truck surged forward. Joslyn crawled sideways to the seat against the wall and sank into the seat. Her face was tight with strain, breaths fast and uneven. Her shirt clung to her thin frame, but her stomach was big…bigger than I noticed before.

  “Are you okay?” Her brother stepped into the cage and stumbled with the sway as he neared. “I mean apart from… Jesus, I just can’t believe it…pregnant.”

  “Well, I guess you better get used to it, and fast. Cause this baby is coming.” She sighed and dropped her head against the side of the truck.

  “You’re exhausted. When was the last time you ate?”

  She opened her eyes, it took everything for her to meet his gaze. “I don’t honestly know. I don’t know anything anymore.” She turned her head to me. “Except for him…I know him.”

  The truck swayed, turning tight and slowing.

  “Okay, we’re here. And, Joslyn. I just got word from Alpha, your wolf’s been found. She’s taken on a fair bit of smoke, but Alpha’s taking care of her. He’s gonna meet us inside.”

  The truck crept forward, and the howl of metal on metal cut through from outside.

  “Okay, Doc. You need to take care of Joslyn,” Evander commanded and raised his hand, piercing Joslyn with a stare. “I don’t want to hear it, whatever it is you have to say. You come back when you’re checked over and have eaten something.”

  Joslyn growled and heaved herself to stand. She cut one look at me. “But—”

  “Xael and I will take care of Zadoc. We won’t let anything happen to him, I promise. But if anything happened to you or that baby, he’d never forgive himself. I know my brother a little better than what he thinks, don’t I big guy?”

  The truck jerked, the hiss of the air brakes followed. We waited, listening to the blast of the two-way. The rear doors opened and the ramp descended. Joslyn and the doctor were the first to leave. I rose as she descended the ramp and took a step toward the open door.

  “Easy there, easy. She’s going to get checked out. She’ll be back soon. Look at me…hey, I’m over here.”