Rogue (The Talon Saga Book 2)

by Julie Kagawa

  “Come on, Firebrand,” Riley urged as I sat there, blinking at him. “We’re sort of on a time schedule, here. Get your ninja suit on, and let’s go.”

  “Right.” Shaking the final cobwebs from my brain, I grabbed the backpack from the corner and hurried to the bathroom. Unzipping the top, I rummaged around until I found what I was looking for and pulled it out.

  The sleek black bodysuit unfurled in my hands like a spill of ink, shaking free of wrinkles, creases, everything. It had been a final gift from my trainer when I’d “graduated” basic training and would’ve started my real education. The formfitting suit was specifically tailored for me and would not rip or tear like normal clothes when I Shifted into my true form. The constantly warm, clinging fabric seemed to melt into my skin when I changed, and still covered my body when I turned back, so it was probably the coolest thing I owned.

  It was, I’d discovered later, the outfit of the Vipers, Talon’s deadly and notorious assassins, which was what they’d wanted me to become, too. Needless to say, I had issues with hunting down and killing my own kind simply because Talon ordered it. Talon’s rule was absolute, and the Vipers were used to silence dragons who weren’t loyal to the organization. Dragons like Riley who had gone rogue. I couldn’t do it. And because Talon wouldn’t accept no for an answer, I’d gone rogue, too. That was the main reason I’d left the organization. I would not become a Viper like my trainer, Lilith—ruthless and unmerciful, willing to kill without a second thought. I refused to turn into that.

  But the suit definitely came in handy.

  I slipped into the outfit, shuddering as the fabric sucked at my skin, melding to my body. Yeah, the magic ninja suit was awesome, but the way it felt almost alive was still creepy as hell. After putting on my shoes and shoving my normal clothes into my backpack, I left the bathroom and nearly bumped into Riley on the other side of the door.

  He put out his hands to steady me, but quickly pulled them back with a grimace. I frowned in confusion.

  “What? Do I smell or something?”

  “No,” he muttered, not meeting my gaze. “Sorry. It’s not you, Firebrand, it’s just…” He made a vague gesture at me. “That thing. Brings back fun memories, if you know what I mean.”

  I suddenly realized the problem. “I look like a Viper,” I said, and he nodded.

  “When you’ve been out of Talon as long as I have, the last thing you want to see is that outfit. Because it usually means you’re fighting or running for your life.”

  “I’m a rogue now, too, Riley.”

  “I know.” He reached out and brushed the base of my neck. A jolt of heat surged through me from that spot, as his fingers lingered on my skin. Riley’s gold eyes almost glowed in the shadows. “I’m glad you’re here, Firebrand,” he said, his voice low and soft. “I’m glad I won’t have to meet you down the road someday as a Viper. That would kill me, having to fight you.” His mouth twitched in a faint smile. “You have no idea how relieved I am that you left the organization. That you saw Talon for what it really is.”

  I swallowed, the warmth spreading through my whole body as the dragon rose to the surface, pushing against my fragile human shell. The Viper suit tightened, flattening to my skin until it felt like I wasn’t wearing anything at all. I could Shift, I realized. Right here in this tiny hotel room. What did I have to lose? No one would see me but Riley and Wes. And then, if I Shifted, Riley would probably change, too. I wanted him to. I wanted to see his true self, his other self, the one who called to my dragon and who peered down at me with gleaming golden eyes.

  Cobalt.

  Get it together, Ember. I breathed deep to cool my lungs, to calm the fire spreading through me, and tried to grin back. “Yeah, well, I bet you didn’t know what you were getting into,” I said lightly.

  “Doesn’t matter.” Riley dropped his arm and stepped back as if he couldn’t bear to touch me anymore. Or perhaps, if he kept touching me, a large blue dragon would suddenly make a very explosive appearance in the middle of the hotel room. “But if we live through this, you owe me, Firebrand. Big-time.” He glanced at Wes, who was packing his laptop into a shoulder bag, his jaw set. “Everyone ready? Once we start, there’s no turning back. Wes?”

  “Piss off” was the sullen answer. “Like I have any sort of choice. When you’re killed by St. George, don’t expect me to babysit two dozen bloody hatchlings the rest of my life.”

  Riley ignored that. “We’ll take two vehicles until we’re a couple miles from the base. From there, we’ll go the rest of the way on foot. Wes, how close will you need to be to pick up their signal?”

  “Bloody too close,” Wes muttered. “But it shouldn’t be hard to find, since they’ll be the only ones within a hundred miles putting one out. The challenge will be jacking in without raising any kind of alarm.”

  “If you do have to move closer, don’t go in the van. Last thing we need is for them to see headlights cruising toward them across the desert.”

  “Oh, really? Is that what I’ll want to do, then?” Wes zipped his bag ferociously. “Silly me, here I was thinking we needed big neon signs that said Here We Are, Shoot Us Please on top of the roof.”

  Riley rolled his eyes but didn’t comment. “ETA at the St. George perimeter will be zero three hundred. Once we’re finished inside, we’ll meet at the rendezvous and get the hell out of Dodge. Ember…” He turned, and his gaze met mine. “You’re with me. Let’s go.”

  * * *

  The drive to the Arizona/Utah line was silent and mostly empty. Few cars passed us on the long stretch of highway across the Mojave Desert. Overhead, the moon peered down like a sleepy, half-lidded eye, surrounded by a billion stars that stretched on forever. Out here in the desert, many miles from cities or lights or civilization, the sky called to me. I thought of Shifting, of leaping off the bike, changing forms midair and soaring through the empty sky. Annoyed, I pushed all tempting thoughts to the back of my mind, willing my dragon to settle down. In a couple hours, we would be sneaking into a heavily armed base filled with soldiers whose main goal was the complete genocide of our species. There were more important things to focus on than midnight flights in the desert heat.

  Garret. I hope you’re okay. Hang in there, we’re coming for you.

  It felt like a thousand tiny snakes were writhing in my stomach, and I breathed deep to calm them down. Was the soldier going to be there when we came for him? Was he still alive? What would he say when we finally found him? I would think that a dragon showing up at a St. George base in the middle of the night wasn’t something that happened often, if ever. Would Garret be happy to see me? Would he accept help from a dragon, the creature he’d been trained to kill on sight?

  Or would he turn around and alert the rest of the base to our presence, having concluded that dragons were the enemy after all and needed to be destroyed? It had been days since that lonely night on the beach where I’d almost died, attacked by my own trainer. Garret had saved us, but he was also a soldier of the Order. According to Talon doctrine, St. George couldn’t be reasoned with, accepted no compromise and showed no mercy to their enemies. Garret was back with his own people now. What if they’d convinced him that he’d been wrong after all, that dragons were the enemy, and the next time he saw one he’d put a bullet in the back of its skull?

  Garret wouldn’t do that, I told myself. He’s different than the rest of them. He saw that we weren’t monsters. And he…he promised me that he was done killing. He wasn’t going to hunt us anymore, that’s what he said.

  I had to believe that. I had to believe Garret would keep his promise, that the soldier who’d helped fight off Lilith and let us go was the same person I’d gotten to know over the summer. The boy I’d taught to surf, who’d played arcade games with me, whose smile could make my stomach do tipsy cartwheels. Who had kissed me in the ocean and made all my senses surge to lif
e, who’d made me feel like I wasn’t a dragon or a human, but a strange, light creature somewhere in between. That person was not a soldier of St. George, a cold ruthless killer who hated dragons and slaughtered without mercy. No, when Garret was with me, he was just a boy who, at times, seemed just as uncertain and confused as I was. I’d seen a glimpse of the soldier on the bluff, when he’d pointed a gun at my face, his eyes hard and cold. But even then, he hadn’t pulled the trigger.

  Would he pull the trigger now?

  I sighed and pressed my cheek to Riley’s back, trying to stop my brain from looping in endless circles. Rescue Garret first. That was the looming issue at the moment, the thing I had to focus on right now. We could deal with everything else after we were clear of St. George.

  Riley made a sharp left turn, pulled off the highway and headed into the desert. Startled, I tightened my arms around his waist, and we sped between rocks and cacti, following the van ahead of us. Abruptly, Riley flipped off the lights, as did the van, and we traveled in darkness for a while, only the faint light of the moon guiding the way. Finally, the van slowed and pulled behind a shallow rise, skidding to a halt in a billowing cloud of dust. Riley swerved, cruising beside it, and killed the engine.

  Heart pounding, I sat up as the absolute silence of the desert descended on us like a glass dome. Except for my own breathing and the soft creak of the motorcycle, the complete absence of noise was chilling, and my dragon bristled. I didn’t like it. It reminded me of my old school in the middle of the Great Basin, the place my brother and I had spent the majority of our lives, learning how to be human. Surrounded by desert, open sky and a whole lot of nothing. You could go outside and stand for hours in the same spot, the sun blazing down on you, and your ears would start to throb from the eternal, looming silence. I’d hated it. Sometimes, it had felt like the silence was trying to steal my voice; that if I went too long without making any noise, I’d become as still and lifeless as the desert around me. Dante had never understood why I was always so restless.

  Dante. A lump rose to my throat as I clambered off the motorcycle, and I forced my thoughts away from him. One problem at a time.

  “Still up for this, Firebrand?” Riley whispered, jolting me out of my dark musings. With a mental shake, I nodded as my heart resumed its painful thud against my ribs. Riley gazed at me, then turned and pointed across the desert to where a scattering of distant lights winked at us in the darkness.

  “That’s the base,” he said quietly as I stared at the glimmers marking our objective. Garret was somewhere behind those walls, and with any luck, we’d get to him and be long gone before anyone from St. George knew we were there. “We’re about two miles away,” Riley went on, “but we can’t risk driving any closer and having them see us. Stealth is our only chance to pull this off. From here, we walk.”

  Wes slipped out of the van, ski cap pulled low over his head, and stalked around the vehicle to yank open the back doors. Riley joined him and dragged a black duffel bag out from under the seat. My heart lurched as Riley casually pulled out a small black pistol, checked the chamber for rounds and holstered it to his belt with easy familiarity.

  I swallowed at the sight of the gun. “Riley?” I ventured, suddenly terrified and angry about being terrified. “Tell me the truth,” I said as he glanced over. “And don’t think for a minute that I’m backing out, but…how dangerous is this really going to be?”

  Wes snorted. “Oh, sure, now she asks. On bloody St. George’s doorstep.”

  Riley sighed. “Truth, Firebrand? I wouldn’t agree to do this if it was complete suicide,” he said, holding my gaze. I blinked at him, surprised, and he gave a weary smile. “Wes might preach doom and gloom, but trust me when I say I know what I’m doing. We’ll be going in when most of the base will be asleep. This particular chapterhouse is extremely remote and well hidden; they’re using isolation to deter unwanted guests, so security should be minimal. If no one knows where you are, why bother with a ton of guards and patrols? And trust me, two dragons sneaking into a St. George compound doesn’t happen often, if ever.

  “But,” he went on as I relaxed a bit, “that doesn’t mean it won’t be dangerous. These types of missions usually go one of two ways: without a hitch, or spectacularly wrong. Hopefully, we’ll be able to sneak in, find what we want and tiptoe away without anyone knowing we were there. That’s the best-case scenario. I think you can guess the worst-case scenario. So, on that note…” He held out a pistol to me. “Ever shot one of these?”

  Numbly, I shook my head. I’d handled a gun before, both in my training with Lilith and then briefly when I’d disarmed the Glock aimed at my face, but I’d never fired one. Certainly not at a living creature.

  Riley smiled grimly. “If it gets to the point where we’re shooting at people, then the mission is FUBAR and we need to get out of there as fast as we can.” He held up the weapon. “These are only to be used as the very last resort. But if the mission does go south, you’re going to want something to defend yourself with. The problem with claws and teeth is that you have to get in close to attack, and that might be tricky if they’re all firing M-16s at you.”

  “I’ve never fired a gun before, Riley. I don’t even know if I could…shoot someone. Not for real. I’ve never killed anyone before.”

  Riley’s lip curled in a hard smile. “Yeah, well, you’re gonna have to get over that, Firebrand,” he stated bluntly. “We might not be part of Talon anymore, but St. George doesn’t give a damn about that little fact. To them, all dragons are the same. Rogue, hatchling or Viper, it makes no difference to the Order. They’ll kill us regardless of faction or sympathies.” He lowered the gun, his gaze almost accusing. “This is still a war, but we aren’t just fighting one side anymore. Not only do we have to be on the lookout for St. George—Talon will be breathing down our necks, as well. We kind of got the shit end of both sticks, if you haven’t noticed by now.”

  I blinked, stunned. I’d never heard Riley sound so bitter. Although, ever since we’d left Crescent Beach, he’d seemed…different. More serious and take-charge. This was not the cocky, insufferable, devil-may-care rogue I’d met before. He was not the mysterious lone rebel I’d thought he was, but the leader of an entire rogue underground, with who knew how many dragons and humans depending on him. I suspected now that the dragon I’d met in Crescent Beach had been putting on a show, a mask, the perfect identity for the current situation. I wondered, yet again, if the Riley I faced now was the real one.

  At my silence, Riley gave me a weary, sympathetic look, his voice going softer.

  “Sorry, Firebrand. I didn’t mean to jump down your throat like that. I know you’ve never killed anyone, and I don’t expect you to. Not tonight, anyway.” He sighed and raked his hair back. “I’ve just…seen a lot, you understand? From Talon and St. George. I’ve lost friends and hatchlings to both organizations, and some days it feels like I’m pushing a boulder up a never-ending cliff, and if I let up for one second, it’ll roll back and crush me.” His brow furrowed and his eyes darkened as he looked away. “One day it will roll back and crush me.”

  His gaze flicked back to mine. “What I’m trying to say is, if you’re going to stand against Talon, you have to do whatever it takes to stay alive. And one day, that might involve shooting someone. Or incinerating them. Or tearing them apart. Yeah, it’s ugly, it’s messy and it’s not fair, but that’s the truth of it. This is our world, Firebrand. This is the world you live in now.” He held the gun out to me once more. “Unless you want to go back.”

  I swallowed. “No,” I said, and reached out for the weapon, curling my fingers around the hard metal. “I’m not going back.” Riley tossed me a holster as well, and I slipped it around my shoulder, feeling the weight of the gun, cold and deadly, against my ribs. I hoped I would never have to use it.

  “All right.” Riley shut the van and looked toward the distant base. I
saw him take a short, furtive breath, as if steeling himself for what was to come. “I think we’re about ready. Just remember…” He shot a firm glare in my direction. “We do this my way. If I tell you to do something, don’t question it. Don’t even think about it. Just do it, understand?”

  I nodded. Riley glanced at Wes, who watched him with the grave, resigned expression of someone who thought they might never see him again. “We’re going. If I give the word, get out and don’t look back. Wish us luck.”

  “Luck?” Wes muttered, shaking his head. “You don’t need luck. You need a bloody miracle.”

  And on that inspiring note, we started across the desert.

  Riley

  One mile to the gates of hell.

  I shoved the thought away as I led Ember across the dusty plains, heading closer to that ominous glow looming ahead of us. Fear and second thoughts were dangerous now. This insane rescue was officially under way, and I had to focus on what was important; namely, getting us in and out without being discovered and gunned down. When I was a Basilisk, I’d been taught never to ask questions or think too hard about what I was doing. I didn’t need to know the whys, I just needed to complete the missions.

  Of course, it was when I’d started asking questions that I’d realized I couldn’t be part of Talon anymore.

  Ember walked behind me, silent in her black Viper’s outfit, gliding over the sand like a shadow. She made no noise, moving like a Basilisk herself, graceful and sure without even realizing it. Lilith had taught her well. The only thing she hadn’t taught her was the Vipers’ ruthlessness, that apathy toward killing that Vipers were known—and feared—for. I was glad of it, but at the same time, I knew it wouldn’t last. Not in our world. There was too much at stake. Too many factions that wanted us dead, too many people to try to protect. Eventually, the day would come when Ember would have to kill someone and when it did, she would have to make a choice as to what kind of dragon, and person, she really was. I just hoped it wouldn’t change her too drastically.