by Ava Mason
Her screaming, the blood and death.
And the baby.
I lurched forward, unable to stop the rush of emotion, the pain and agony. I could feel it in my bones, rippling just under my skin. Horror washed over me, remembering the glimpse of her pregnant belly protruding like a landmark.
I could’ve saved her; if I’d spoken up about my dream, maybe I could’ve stopped this.
Because it had not been a dream. It wasn’t something my brain conjured up to try and make sense of everything going on here.
It was a premonition.
Jerking up straight, I patted at the back of my jeans, frantically looking for my phone. I needed to call my mom, see if we had any of that kind of power in our bloodline.
Shit. I didn’t have my phone.
Grief hung in the air, palpable as rain drops during a rain storm, and then the thunder of anger boomed across the crowd all at once. As if it took a moment for them to react, for them to soak in the fact that another pregnant dragon shifter was dead.
And then I saw it. The words that had charged the crowd, streaming across the bottom of the screen like moving ticker tape.
Savage wolves murder another pregnant purebred dragon. She was seven months along before being brutally killed at her home in Wilkenshire… Savage wolves murder ano… the line began again like arrows that shot straight into my heart and I took in a stuttering breath.
Shame burned my chest and I tried to escape the growing crowd that was pressing me in from all sides. They were growling restless now, their anger driving them into action. I tried to slink through them but my moving only caught their attention, and soon all eyes were on me again, and I felt like an antelope among lions.
I couldn’t ignore the dragon power pulsing through the crowd, making the air taste acidic, or the way my wolf was responding in kind; the straightening of the hairs on the back of my neck or the low growl that erupted, unbidden, from my throat.
I clasped my hand over my lips, not wanting to make things worse. My wolf always had my back, getting me out of bad situations, but right now she was only going to get me into more trouble. I needed to make a quick exit without causing the crowd to erupt into an angry mob.
I gently pushed my way through the crowd. “Excuse me.” I tried to make myself as small as possible. “I’m sorry, excuse me.”
“You’re with that wolf, aren’t you?”
I halted, frozen, and then slowly turned around to face my accuser. He easily stood out, with a large bushy mustache and a tight black t-shirt covered by a black leather vest.
I folded my arms across my chest. “What wolf?”
“The one the Queen brought in. You’re with them, aren’t you?” His large bushy black mustache covered his whole upper lip and it moved like a caterpillar as he spoke.I tried not to snicker at it, though it looked ridiculous. Any humor I felt easily slipped away, anxiety replacing it as all eyes turned to me, glaring at me accusingly. A group of teenagers, probably skipping school, pulled out their phones, pointing them at me. Probably taking a video that would end up online within minutes.
I shook my head. “I’m sorry, I’m just trying to get out of here.” I didn’t need to cause any more trouble for Lizzy; she had enough on her plate as it was.
They didn’t budge but only stared down at me, their angry, flashing orange eyes meeting mine. My wolf rose to the surface, responding to the threat I felt, but I shoved her down.
You’re not helping! You’re just gonna get me killed!
I held my hands up in a supplicating gesture. “I’m sorry! I’m just trying to get by. Please excuse me.”
Mustache man stepped forward, blocking off my escape route, his hands on his hips. His voice came out in a low growl.
“I heard that Alpha wolf is pregnant with a wolf-dragon baby. Is that right?”
“Yes, she’s pregnant.” I swallowed hard, not bothering to add in the ‘Goddess’ part, seeing as that wasn’t going to help the situation. I was the only one in the crowd who seemed even a tiny bit excited about the pregnancy. In fact, they all seemed downright upset, no, angry about it.
“That baby’s going to be the death of us!” A voice called out from the background, stirring the crowd into agreement.
“She is going to be beautiful!” I protested. “And she is not the death of you. These wolves are to blame.”
“Wolves, kinda like you?”
Eep. Maybe not the best time to bring up wolves again.
The man stepped forward one more time, forcing me to take another step backwards. But there was nowhere else to go. The crowd had me blocked in from all sides. Most of them wore tailored suits or beautifully expensive dresses, with shiny, ankle-twisting heels but underneath their gilded exterior, I felt the power of their dragons. It would only take a second to reveal the beast hidden within each of them.
“I mean, not wolves in general but the terrorists. Not every wolf is a terrorist, you know.” I tried to correct myself. “Some of us are quite docile.” Not me but, there was always Harry. He was the poster boy for the docile wolf – which was possibly why they had sent him in the first place.
A grumble of discontentment moved through the crowd. “Look, I’m on your side. Someone needs to stop this, and I’m going to do what I can to help.”
“Yeah, right.”
“I promise! I’m the one who found the wolf terrorist in the first place. And I swear, I’m going to help find the rest.”
“Probably because you already knew where he was hiding. You wolves don’t have any honor. You probably betrayed your own pack member.”
I stamped my foot, frustrated now. “He was not a part of my pack. I had no idea who he was.”
“How do we know you aren’t the one who killed him? You were probably going in there to make sure the job was done.”
I gritted my teeth. “I was going in there to ask him questions, to find the truth. There could’ve been more wolves involved, and we needed to make sure that—”
“Oh, so now you’re trying to blame it on someone else? You know it was you!”
I sucked in a deep breath as panic began to seep into me. The people had no idea what they were talking about; they weren’t even making sense. There was nothing I could say that was going to change their minds, and I was beginning to fear for my life.
They only grew bolder. They began crowding me, screaming slurs, their expensive perfumes and colognes suffocating me. More shiny new phones were pulled out, all trained on me. Mustache man just stood there, talking on his cell, a gleam in his eye as he watched the crowd grow more excited. A phone was shoved in my face and I tried to take in calming breaths before politely moving it away. I tried to push through the crowd but someone pulled on my hair and I yelped, more in surprise than in pain. I tried to turn to run but the crowd was too dense, I couldn’t push past them.
My wolf came to the surface again, this time faster and with more force. I leaned over, gritting my teeth, trying to keep her under control. She ignored me, the shift threatening to spill over and rip from my skin right here and now in front of a threatened and angry dragon crowd.
This was bad.
Really bad.
Black boots stopped before me and I looked up to see the man with the bushy mustache standing in front of me, a serious look on his face. He pulled out a long, thin rope, whipping it from his pocket with a sadistic gleam in his eye. Suddenly my wolf ripped from my body - I fell to the ground as fur erupted from my skin. My nose grew into a snout and a deep growl bellowed from my chest.
“Get her! She’s going to kill someone!”
I had just enough of my human mind left to realize that if I attacked, even if it was in defense, that the news would only spin me as a killer. So I ducked low, desperately shoving my way through the crowd. Hands grabbed at me, pinching and pulling my fur. I pushed forward, trying to keep steady. If I could just get out of the throng of people, I could make a run for it.
Even if they shifted into their d
ragon forms, I could easily hide until I could make my escape.
Someone yanked on my tail. Instincts made me snap at them and the crowd roared. They grabbed my tail again, yanking me back into the crowd. I scrambled, nails futilely scraping against the cobblestone street, trying to get leverage to escape.
Suddenly, the crowd thinned, stepping away and I sucked in a grateful breath. But my relief didn’t last long; I was surrounded by men dressed similarly to the mustache man. Gone were the expensive watches and polished shoes, replaced by muddy boots, oil slicked jeans, torn sleeves that revealed muscled corded armed men, all looking down at me like this was their lucky day. The crowd behind them looked on eagerly, having no qualms over what was about to go down - I was a wolf, after all.
Attacking swiftly, the guys held me down while the mustached man knelt in front of me, the rope stretched through his hands like he was going to wrap it around my neck. Howling, I struggled against them, snapping my sharp teeth in their direction.
Mustache man sneered at me. “Calm down, little wolf. We’re just helping protect the race. We all have to do our part, you know.” That drew a chuckle from the crowd, while yet others stopped gawking and slowly drifted away, shaking their heads.
Maybe it was all the hands on me, pinching and pulling at my fur. Or maybe it was the indifference on the faces of the affluent; I was a good distraction but now they had to get back to their high-end jobs. Or maybe, it was the beast inside me, done with my human brain trying to control the situation.
My wolf fully took over and using all my strength, I jumped at the man, teeth bared, aiming for his throat. I easily slid through the hands holding me down and sunk my teeth into the soft padded muscle of his neck. The crowd grew wild, screaming in terror and excitement. His hand came down on the side of my face - slamming against it so hard that I dropped my hold on him and fell to the ground, ears ringing and dizzy. I tried to get to my feet but he smashed his hand across my head again, and again, and then one more time, hitting me so hard I couldn’t see. Horror washed over me - this guy wasn’t trying to protect the crowd from me; he was going to kill me.
I tried to stagger to my feet but my mind was too fuzzy. The crowd grew silent and parted one more time, revealing another man who eyed me speculatively. This new guy was a complete opposite to the Mustache Man. With light ginger hair and deep blue eyes, freckles splashed across his nose. He was dressed in a sharp suit that smelled like exotic sheep from the West Indies or some shit like that. It hugged his lithe but muscular frame perfectly. He looked familiar, like I’d met him before, but I couldn’t place him.
“What a coincidence, Gunnar.” The new man’s sharp eyes took me in appraisingly, a mocking expression on his face as he kneeled next to the man whom he’d called Gunnar, or Mustache Man. I noticed with a high level of satisfaction the coppery blood smeared across Gunnar’s throat. Jagged skin and muscle revealed where I’d bit him but it was already beginning to heal. Frowning and pressing his hand to his neck, Gunnar wiped at it.
“Nox. What are you doing here?”
“Look what I’ve just obtained.” Nox reached in his suit coat pocket and pulled out a strip of black leather - it looked like a collar. All the blood drained from my face and a low, warning growl sounded in my throat. The collar looked familiar.
It wasn’t a regular collar, like something you would put on a dog - as if that wasn’t offensive enough. It looked similar to the collars someone else had used against my pack to keep us from shifting. I had no idea if it was meant to do the same thing but I thought that if he got that collar on me, I was done for.
“How’d you get your hands on one of those?” Gunnar laughed, his large mustache moving upward, confirming my suspicions that this was a bad thing. He ran his hand through is hair, smearing blood on his cheeks, then he held up his rope. “As always, you and I make a perfect team, despite our differences.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” Nox grinned, leaning towards me, the collar in his hands. His suit moved fluidly, as if it knew his every movement and anticipated it. Ignoring my struggle, he clipped the collar around my throat, and I felt the buzz of my magic drain through my body. All my magic, witch magic included, was gone; I felt nothing. Growling, I buckled against them with my strong legs but there were too many of them holding me down as Gunnar tied his rope to the collar.
“Come on now, little wolf. Time to get going.” Nox pulled on the leash, trying to get me to follow him. I jumped to my feet, yanking my head back and forth, trying to jerk the rope from his hands. When that didn’t work, I held still, leaning back against his tug, giving him my most predatory glare. There was no way these guys were going to take me to some underground lair, where I would never be heard from again.
“She’s mine.” Gunnar yanked the leash out of Nox’s hand, trying to drag me across the cobblestone street. “Come on, you stupid bitch!”
“Gunnar, you’re not going anywhere with that collar.” Nox faced down Gunnar, his deadly eyes watching him closely.
Gunnar growled, swiveling around to face Nox, but Nox just raised his eyebrow in response. “I’m certain that we could find a way to both enjoy her, together.”
Gunnar grinned, then full out laughed. I bucked, trying to wrench the rope out of his hands. My mind was being taken over by my wolf as rage filled every sinew of my body. I jumped again, snarling and aching to take another bite out of his face. Magic moved over my body but the collar at my throat sparked, burning my neck. The smell of burnt hair stifled my nose and I gagged, shaking my head to try and ease the pain. Nox leaned over, grabbing my snout and holding it tight.
“Naughty girl. You sit still, while we work out an arrangement.”
I yanked my snout out of his hands but he grabbed me again, staring into my eyes. “Stay.” I felt the full force of his magic, bulldozing over me like a tidal wave. I sucked in a breath, knowing with certainty that he could kill me in one strike. I knew it, felt it, believed it.
And yet, there was something about him that made me want to trust him. He was too poised, too unconcerned about the crowd around me, as well as for Gunnar’s men. He had a certainty about him - that he would be respected. And obeyed.
He was either my savior or my worst nightmare.
When I had calmed, Nox stood back up, turning away from me to face Gunnar. He put his hands in his pockets, at ease as they talked about my captivity while I fumed, staring through the legs of Gunnar’s men to find a way out. “How about you call off your men, and we can take her somewhere in private.”
Gunnar chuckled. “That’s not happening. We capture her as a team, we claim her as a team.”
“I didn’t say you couldn’t return her to your men, I only said that I preferred to be with her and you alone. We’ve always played well in the past, I don’t see why we couldn’t do so today.” He glanced off in the distance. “After that, I could care less what you do with her.”
I gave Nox a snarl and he gave me a sharp look in response.
Gunnar tugged on my collar again and his men began to close in on both Nox and me. “I don’t think so, man. You wanna come along, fine, but I’m taking her with my crew. You’re welcome to join us, or I’ll be sure to return your collar when I have her under control.”
The lines on Nox’s face tightened. “I don’t think you understand what I’m offering you, Gunnar.”
Gunner leaned forward, sneering in Nox’s face. “I don’t give a shit about you and your money. I’ve got everything I need.”
“Get your hands off her!” A voice called out, loud enough for everyone to hear. Someone shoved through the crowd but when people turned to see who it was, they outright ran in the other direction, hobbling on their shiny high heels or loafers. I hoped it was Easton or Hunter but instead, the crowd parted to reveal Sawyer and a wave of relief washed over me.
Small but ferocious, apparently enough of a threat to make dragons run, she was my savior.
Nox folded his arms across his wide chest, unintent
ionally flexing his muscles. He gave her a cocky look. “What are you doing here, Sawyer? You haven’t been in this area in a long time.”
She threw her hands out in a shrug. “Just because I threw away my Gucci’s, doesn’t mean I’m not allowed in the downtown Drakenstad district anymore.”
I suddenly remembered where I’d seen this man - he was the one who had been staring at Sawyer that night in Crosby’s with as much hatred as he could muster. Not stopping to figure out what the hell the story was between the two, I snapped my head to the side, catching the rope in my mouth and chewing through it in only a few seconds. Now I just needed to Gunnar’s his hand off the damn collar. I wondered how he’d like another nice little snap of teeth in his hand. But Gunnar clutched my collar tighter and began literally dragging me off while his men formed a line between me and Sawyer.
She faced them down with a snarl while Nox just shook his head, a small smile on his face.
“Take one more step and you die.” Tallon’s voice came from behind me. I jerked my head back, squirming against Gunnar’s hold on me, to find Tallon headed straight towards Gunnar, his hands in fists at his side. Denver and Blaze flanked beside him, staring down the circle of guys as they came towards us. Denver, Blaze, and Tallon were all muddy, from head to toe, and looked completely exhausted. Their hair was halfway dried but flaked with more mud. Blaze’s eyes were raging, pinning Gunnar down.
“You’re protecting the wolf?” Pausing, Gunner raised his upper lip in disgust. “Some would say that’s treason.”
“And some say your dick is so small, you can masturbate through the tongs of a fork.” Denver stepped in front of Blaze and Tallon, walking straight towards us. His eyes scrunched to look at Gunner’s crotch. “But I’d say it’s more like the eye of a needle.”
Gunner growled, lurching towards Denver, but Denver didn’t give him a chance to get in a hit. Roaring with anger, Denver shot out a fist and slammed it into Gunnar’s face. Gunnar released his hold on my collar as he staggered backwards. Denver caught him with another left hook, and then Gunnar’s guys jumped into the fray.
