Forbidden Embers

by Tessa Adams

  Logan! The roar came down the bridge. Are you all right?

  It was Dylan this time, and it had been a long time since he’d heard his king so frantic. But, then, Dylan had never been very good about sitting back and watching while any of his people were in danger. With her courage and determination to do right by her people, Cecily reminded Logan of his ruler.

  I’m fine. We’re fine.

  Dylan paused, and Logan could almost feel him evaluating the we he had just used. But the king didn’t comment on it. Instead, he said, Good. Because you need to get back to that lab. Now.

  Chills went through him at Dylan’s tone—a combination of cold, calculating rage and a fear the other dragon shifter couldn’t quite hide.

  What did Shawn find?

  They’ve created a strain of the virus based on the main DNA strands that all Dragonstars share. Quinn was speaking now. They’ve done the same for the Shadowdrakes. He paused. Do you know what that means, Logan?

  Spell it out for me.

  It means that all our research is useless, as is the vaccine we’ve been developing based on our own antibodies. Useless. They have a weapon that, if released, will kill every single man, woman and child with Dragonstar DNA.

  His world imploded. Right up there on the rooftop, as the battle raged around him in all directions. It simply crumpled in on itself and took a huge part of him with it.

  He sank to his knees beside Cecily, stared at her, and wondered—just for a moment—if she knew. If everything had been an act and she’d known what was going on in that lab all along.

  No. He wouldn’t believe that of her. Not of Cecily. He couldn’t believe it of her—not if he wanted to survive.

  Still, he found himself turning away from her, angry with her even though he knew the mess they were in wasn’t her fault. She simply hadn’t known. But a part of him felt betrayed, anyway, wanted to know why she hadn’t known. Why she hadn’t been aware of what was going on right under her nose.

  I’m going to head back to the lab, he told Dylan.

  Good. We’re leaving now. We should be there in a few hours.

  No! I don’t want you here, don’t want you anywhere near the virus!

  That’s not your choice, Dylan answered.

  Fuck that. You want to chance bringing it back to the caves? On your clothes? Your shoes? Stay put, goddamnit. I’ll take care of it.

  Be practical. You can’t bring the lab down alone, Dylan said.

  Watch me. Very deliberately, he broke the bridge between them. He was the only psychic in the group—without him holding it up, there would be no communication. Dylan, as king, had the power to communicate telepathically with each of his sentries, but not over great distances. He was on his own.

  He turned to Cecily. “I have to go.”

  “What? Now?” She looked at him like he was insane.

  “Something big is coming.”

  “Bigger than this?” She gestured to the fight going on beneath them.

  “Yes.”

  “Then I’m coming with you.”

  He shook his head. He didn’t want her anywhere near the lab. He had to move fast if he wanted to get it done before the other Dragonstars showed up; he wasn’t stupid enough to believe that an objection from him would keep them home. But that meant the lab, the virus, everything had to be gone before his king and fellow sentries made it to South Dakota. He might have broken the bridge between them, but he knew Dylan well enough to know that his king was already on the way. Logan was determined that there should be nothing left to threaten him—or any of the other Dragonstars—by the time he arrived.

  “No. You need to take care of your people. They need you.”

  “You need me.” She grabbed on to his arm, put her face right next to his. When he shook his head, she said, “At least tell me where you’re going.”

  What was he supposed to say? He didn’t have time to explain, and even if he did, he wouldn’t. He didn’t want to give her time to warn anyone at the lab. She might not condone the virus, but there was no way she would condone the killing of that many Wyvernmoons, either.

  He didn’t like it much himself, knowing he was probably going to get some innocents in the blast. But he couldn’t worry about that now, couldn’t let it get to him. Besides, if they worked in the lab, they had to know something was up with all the secrecy, had to know something about this damn virus. They’d brought about their own destruction.

  “There’s something big going on at the lab,” he told her. “I’m afraid the Shadowdrakes are gunning for it.”

  “The Shadowdrakes?” Her eyes grew wide. “You know more than what you’re telling me, don’t you?”

  “Cecily.” He grabbed her hand, but she shook him off.

  “I knew it. I saw your face when I showed you those invoices. You know what they’ve been up to and you didn’t tell me.”

  A blast of fire came soaring over the side of the building, nearly singeing off what little hair he had left. Things were getting worse out there, and if he didn’t leave now, he was going to be pinned down on this roof for the duration. “I can’t do this now!” he roared. “I have to go.”

  “So go!” She shoved him away from her. “Do what you have to do. But when this is all over, you’re going to answer to me, Logan Kelly!”

  In that moment, she looked every inch the queen, and he knew when the battle was done that he would indeed answer to her. And in doing so, would lose her forever.

  “Fine. But you need to get out of here, too. It’s too dangerous for you.” The look she gave him was imperious, commanding, royal. “You don’t get to tell me what I need to do. Go. Take care of whatever it is that’s so important to you that you can’t share. But don’t presume to tell me what to do or how to take care of my people.”

  Another energy blast came hurtling at them, and Cecily slammed her hand out, met it with a blast of lightning so powerful that the energy dissolved in midair. Then she quirked a brow at him. “Go, Logan. I don’t need or want you here.” And then she turned her back on him.

  Leaving her there on that roof was the hardest thing he’d ever done. He wanted to grab her and pull her to safety, to stash her somewhere where no one and nothing could ever hurt her again. Wanted to force her to look at him, to talk to him, to forgive him for what he’d done and what he was about to do.

  But in that moment, he couldn’t touch her. She was the queen and she was doing what she had to do—fighting to keep her people safe. He couldn’t interfere with that, couldn’t make her stop any more than she could turn him from the course he was on.

  He took one last look at her, and then he ran.

  CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

  For the second time that night, he shifted on the run. Flew back to Cecily’s house and got the bag of explosives he’d picked up for just this occasion. Then headed for the lab as fast as he could fly. But with every flap of his wings, something inside him was telling him to stop, to go back to her, to make things right with Cecily before it was too late.

  He ignored the feeling, focused on everything he had to do in the next hour. He shoved the future, whatever it might be, to the back of his mind. He would figure out what happened next after he ended the malignant evil of the virus once and for all.

  He landed about 250 yards from the door he’d broken into earlier, and just observed for a second. Everything was quiet and there were no Shadowdrakes in sight, but he knew better than to assume that meant anything. Dragons were sneaky—he should know.

  The guards were still in place around the perimeter, and, in fact, it looked like security had again doubled in the time he had left to check on Cecily. He wouldn’t be able to go ten feet without tripping over one of them.

  Fuck. Time for Plan B.

  Ducking behind a clump of big trees, he shifted as quietly as he could. Then pulled some clothes out of his bag and dressed quickly. He strapped on his daggers, tucked his Glock in the back of his jeans and then slung his scoped rifle over his s
houlder. It was going to take some doing to get into the lab this time around, but he would get in there. The fate of his entire clan rested on him not failing here, not failing now.

  He took a few steps forward, went over his planned distraction in his head, then whirled around as a twig snapped behind him. His gun was in his hand, cocked and ready to fire, before he realized that the person standing behind him wasn’t an enemy. It was Shawn.

  “What the fuck are you doing here?” he whispered viciously.

  “You didn’t think I was going to let you have all the fun, did you?” Shawn’s voice was light, but the look in his eyes was completely deadly. There would be no reasoning with his friend tonight.

  “You know you could be exposed to the damn virus, don’t you?” Logan demanded severely.

  “Yeah, well, everyone has to die sometime.” He pulled out his own gun. “Do you have a plan?”

  “You mean besides blasting the motherfuckers to kingdom come?”

  Shawn’s grin was fierce. “Yeah, besides that.”

  “Not really, no.”

  “Okay, then. We go on three.”

  “I was joking, asshole.” Logan pointed to the back of the clinic. “I want to do a quick sweep of the perimeter. They’ve added guards since I was here earlier, which is understandable, considering they’re under attack. But the door I want to go in”—he pointed to one on the far left of the building, as far from the actual lab area as it could get—“is over there. I think it’s our best chance of getting in undetected.”

  “All right, then. Let’s do this thing.”

  Logan glanced at the bag on his friend’s shoulders. “What’s in there?”

  “I assume the same thing that’s in yours. Enough C4 to blow a hole in the world.”

  Then Shawn dropped to his belly and began to inch forward, using the low bushes around the area as cover.

  Logan moved about twenty feet to Shawn’s right and did the same thing. He wasn’t sure how long they would go unnoticed, but he wanted to stay inconspicuous for as long as possible. It upped the odds of them bringing the entire thing down.

  No one gets out, Shawn. He sent him the order. We don’t know who knows what, and we sure as shit don’t have time to sort it out. If they’re in the lab or around it, they die.

  Damn straight.

  Okay. Just wanted to be sure we were on the same page.

  We are. A pause. Then: There’s a guard directly in front of me.

  I see him. Give me a minute to get in position and then give him something to look at.

  I’m on it.

  Logan scooted forward a few inches at a time, until he was within a couple of feet of the guard. The man looked bored, half-asleep, but he was carrying a weapon that could do a lot of damage.

  Now, Shawn.

  Shawn rustled a few leaves, let the red light on his scope flash for just a second. The guard straightened up, pointed his gun at where Shawn had been only moments before, and started forward tentatively. He’d taken three steps when Logan grabbed him from behind and slit his throat before he could so much as whimper. He let the guard fall where he stood.

  One down; forty-three to go, came Shawn’s ironic whisper.

  For the next fifteen minutes, they repeated the same scenario over and over. Sometimes Shawn was the bait, sometimes Logan was, but by the time they reached the lab, they’d left a string of bloody bodies behind them. More than once he’d had to use his psychic powers to rip their minds apart, but he’d tried not to do it too often. It took a lot out of him, and he had a feeling he would need every ounce of strength he could muster before this night was through.

  Okay, almost there, said Shawn, yanking a computer out of his bag.

  Too bad you can’t just blink yourself in.

  I don’t blink. Besides, even I can’t get through security like this. At least not without a little help. Logan watched in awe as his friend whipped up the lab blueprints and security codes.

  Where the fuck did you get that?

  The computer you hooked me into was one of the security ports, Shawn answered as his fingers flew over the keys. Give me a minute and I’ll get the door open for us.

  And to think I was just going to blast my way in.

  Yeah, well, I’ve always had more finesse than you. And this way, we maintain the element of surprise.

  Provided nobody steps in the blood out there.

  Naturally.

  Logan gave Shawn the minute he’d asked for as he concentrated on laying charges every few feet along the back of the building, especially the spots where he knew there were support beams.

  You ready? Shawn asked.

  Yeah. He stuck the detonator in his front pocket.

  Shawn pressed a button on the computer and Logan heard the side door click open. He opened it slowly, slid in, then waved Shawn inside with him. They were exactly where he’d expected them to be, on the administrative side of the building.

  We need to find the supercomputer, Shawn said. I want to download as much information from it as we can.

  I don’t know if we have that much time.

  We need to make the time. If someone manages to slip out, or if someone has already sent something to someone they know outside this lab, if one of these bastards took his work home with him one night, then parts of the blueprint for this virus could already be floating around out there. We need as much information on it as we can get.

  Logan cursed, low and long, furious with himself that he hadn’t thought of the arguments Shawn was bringing up. Okay, then we split up. If you have the blueprints, I assume that means you know where the Cray supercomputer is located.

  It’s in the room right at the heart of the building.

  It’ll be the most heavily guarded, so we go in there together. Then, while you’re downloading what you need, I’ll lay the interior charges. But we have to do this quick. The window of opportunity is not that large. Someone’s going to discover those bodies any minute now.

  So stop wasting time and let’s go.

  They made their way down the hallway, not taking the time to hide. The place was crawling with guards in civilian clothes, and Logan was counting on the fact that he and Shawn were shifters and could give any challengers pause. Hopefully, it would take them a couple of seconds to figure out that they didn’t belong, and a couple of seconds was all they needed to take care of the problem.

  They were almost to the main labs before they ran into trouble. Two guards were patrolling the corridor in front of a huge meeting room, a fact that piqued Logan’s curiosity even as he told himself it didn’t matter. He nodded to Shawn, and the two of them let loose their daggers at the same time. Shawn’s caught one guard in the eye, straight to the brain, while Logan’s sliced the other guard’s jugular.

  Messy, Shawn said, as they retrieved the knives.

  So sue me. He paused, sent out psychic feelers. We need to move now.

  As they picked up the pace, he got one good glimpse inside the meeting room. There were about twenty people inside, chief among them Julian, Luc, Etienne, and Gage—all Wyvernmoon factionnaires. The bastards.

  It took only another minute for them to get to the lab. Shawn had his computer in hand, and Logan left him to it as he picked up both bags of explosives and started laying charges where they would do the most damage.

  Within seconds, Shawn had unlocked every door in the wing, and Logan was inside the labs. In one he found a couple of huge jars of alcohol, and he carried them with him, dumping some of the flammable liquid over every piece of electronic equipment he could find. He had enough C4 to blow this place sky-high, but he wanted to make sure that whatever was left burned completely.

  Four times he ran into lone researchers. With the humans, he simply ripped through their brains, shredding them. With the two dragons, both of whom had mental shields, he didn’t waste time trying to break through them. Instead, he just slit their throats.

  Within ten minutes, he was back outside the supercompu
ter room, waiting for Shawn. Are you ready? We need to blow this thing!

  Almost. I’ve routed it to do a massive info dump to Phoebe’s Cray in New Mexico. But I don’t want to leave until it’s done.

  How long is that going to take?

  It’s going to take as long as it takes, Shawn snapped. Back off. I’ve already got the charges laid on the computer, so any information in here should disappear once everything goes boom.

  Okay. Logan took a deep breath, tried to calm himself down. He wanted to get this done, wanted to get the info back to Phoebe, wanted to get Shawn the fuck away from the lab before everything blew. He’d put extra explosives and fuel in the labs that contained live cultures of the virus, so that everything in there would incinerate instantly, but he didn’t want to take any chances with Shawn. He wanted his best friend as far away as possible before this thing blew to hell and back.

  He scanned the area mentally and froze as he picked up on two people in the hallway next to him. He tried to scan them, but they were blocked, which meant they were dragons. And their shields were a lot stronger than any he had seen in the lab so far.

  Hurry up. We’ve got a problem out here.

  It’s done, it’s done. I’m heading for the door now. What’s the problem?

  Logan ducked into the lab at the last second and stopped Shawn from hitting the hallway at a dead run. Putting up a quick mental block so that whoever was passing wouldn’t sense him or Shawn if they had powers similar to his own, Logan watched as two huge men in military gear turned the corner.

  Shadowdrakes, Shawn said.

  Yeah, I think so, too.

  No. I recognize them—they’re Shadowdrake sentries. What the fuck are they doing here?

  The attack on the clan. It’s just a distraction. They’re doing the same thing here that we are. Trying to kill the virus before it kills them.

  Do you blame them?

  No. But I don’t relish trying to explain to them that we’re on the same side.

  Shawn snorted. Especially since you stink of sex with the Wyvernmoon princess.

  Logan ignored him. They’ve got to know we’re here. The explosives are everywhere.