by J. Kearston
I hear a few shots ring out, jarring me to my senses. I pry myself away from her reluctantly, her pupils as blown with lust as mine no doubt are. One more harsh kiss and I pivot, gun drawn as she tugs her clothing back in place and gets prepared to fight alongside us.
“Think it worked?”
Cai snorts. “Yeah, I’m pretty sure it worked.”
Soren peers out of the tunnel first. He fires off a few rapid shots, giving away our position, so we prepare ourselves for the flood gates to open and them to start attacking us. Cai guards the direction we came from in case someone sneaks up from that way, trusting us with his back against the more obvious threat.
“We have armor, they don’t, so come on,” Ezra commands, seconds before spinning out of the tunnel to the left side, hugging the wall.
I catch the fist aimed at my face, shooting him directly in the stomach without a second thought and letting him drop. All my fear, all my worries, I shove in the box I usually keep thoughts of my family in. I suppress all of it, emotionally shutting down until I can think with cold precision, my movements a savage dance aimed to kill as quickly as possible.
I don’t worry about making them hurt; these bastards deserve worse than I could ever come up with. Instead, I just put them down like feral animals, each body that drops one less threat in the world. One shot, another. When I’m out of bullets, I tuck the gun in my pocket to reload later, withdrawing my dagger and picking up where I left off without missing a beat.
Blood, screams, and smoke; there’s nothing else. I take several blows, but I block out the pain. The armor holds up and no knives or shots pierce my skin. Cracked ribs, I can fight through. Bruises, marks of honor. I lost so much of it before coming to this country, before finding her. But now, I will earn it back and then some. If I die, it will be only after I take out as many of these men as possible. I will spend my last breaths making the world safer not only for my mate, but for the other dragons in hiding.
If they’ve been experimenting, there have to be other female dragons here as well; otherwise they wouldn’t have the blood to test out on the humans. Why haven’t we found them yet? Where are they? How many levels does this place go and what other horrors does it contain?
A hand wraps around my wrist on my next downward glide. I slam my head back on instinct, bashing it into a hard chest instead of a face like I hoped.
“Enough. Yri, that’s enough.” Soren’s voice is deep, quiet.
“Can’t stop,” I mutter, feeling possessed.
He twists my wrist until the blade clatters to the floor, his other hand on my shoulder and literally shaking sense into me. “You can and you will,” he commands, louder, voice laced with authority.
I blink a few times, fighting through the haze of my thoughts. There’s a gun a few inches from my face, and behind it, a shock of familiar red hair.
“You’re alive.”
Kahl looks back at me stoically, face a blank mask. “And despite my sister’s fondness of you, I’ll be staying that way. Take a step back.”
I shake out of my possessed stupor, looking around at the bodies piled up around us. Soren keeps a hand on my shoulder, tugging me back in a firm grasp. All four Veles brothers are nearby, eyeing me distrustfully. Ezra cautiously approaches, her hat lost and short hair brushing her shoulders. She’s splattered in blood and I frantically eye her head to toe, looking for a wound.
“Shh, hey, it’s alright. I’m alright.” She keeps her voice soothing, her steps measured and slow.
When she takes my hand, a flash of red in my peripherals forces me to look down, see the gore coating my body. And my hands, painted with the evidence of what I did. My vision wavers, the scene in front of me replaced by the battlefield ten years ago, but it was Cai shaking me out of it then instead of Soren. It’s just as quickly replaced by a few months ago, when we had to mow down friends we’ve known all of our lives to escape the country.
“I didn’t mean to,” I whisper brokenly. “I didn’t want to.” It echoes on repeat in my head, a denial of guilt.
Her hand settles on my cheek, leaning in so that I’ll meet her eye. My hands stain her shirt and I quickly wrench them away, but she uses her free hand to capture one and thread our fingers together.
“You did what you had to do. Repeat it for me,” she coaxes.
I mimic her words numbly, not feeling them.
“My flight is safe. I’m safe. If I did nothing, my mate would have died,” she continues softly, urging me to feel the words as truth.
I repeat the words, a desperate part of me clawing up to cling to them, but with it comes all of the horror and guilt I don’t want to feel, can’t feel yet. We’re not home, we’re not safe, so I can’t break down. I have to be stronger than that; for her and my flight. I need to keep it together.
As if she can read my thoughts, Ezra adds, “And my amazing mate has enough superglue to keep us all together.”
“Because she’s benevolent like that,” I whisper.
She nods. “The best, one might even say. So she’s going to hold your hand while you finish pulling yourself together and we get out of here. Okay?”
I nod without answering, just focusing on the pressure of her hand in mine. She keeps a firm hold, gently tugging to spur me into motion. We start walking as I work through which things need to be shoved in the box in my head and which parts of me are intact enough to be out.
I walk, but there’s a disconnect between my thoughts and actions. I’m going through the motions absentmindedly while lost in thought, trying to pull myself together. Another step in the right direction, both mentally and physically, with her as my guide.
When I’m finally in a better place, one I can function in, The air is on my face, but the smoke is worse. It’s so thick I can barely see, but yet I can breathe easier.
“Where are we?”
Ezra turns to me, smiling. “There you are,” she murmurs, “I knew you’d come back to me.”
I don’t even have enough sense to be embarrassed right now. I’m sure that mortification will come later, when I have to unpack everything, but for now I just focus on shaking myself out of the fog my brain put me in. It’s like it completely shut down, blanking out anything to save me from myself. I don’t even remember walking this far, don’t know how long it’s been or what was happening around me. All I knew is my mate was beside me and we were safe; that my flight would keep us safe.
“Sanctuary,” Cai states succinctly.
I glance around, seeing barely anything. “What happened?”
Kaiden looks at me with a single raised eyebrow. “You went on a murder spree and almost took down Kahl before the big one stopped you. We handled most of the rest before we ever found you guys; we’d been looking for Ez for a while.”
I look them over, seeing the four of them looking worse for wear, but they weren’t held nearly as long as we were and don’t look like they’re fighting the after effects of any drugs. They’re sporting some nasty bruises and gouges, are filthy and covered in blood and grime, but look like they’ll live.
“There were other female dragons, right? Besides the humans?”
Kinsley and Elias look away, a pained expression on their faces. The former is the one to finally admit. “We found them not long before you guys. They,” Kinsley breaks off, looking to Kahl.
Even his stoic expression cracks. “There were two. They were used as hostages as the men escaped, but they slit their throats anyway.”
I nod sharply, swallowing. “Any idea how many got away?”
Cai’s answer is clipped. “At least a dozen.”
I survey the area again, not seeing much. I don’t want to ask about Saige and the humans, not yet. I’m already barely holding it together as it is. Assuming we came up to see if there’s anything useful left, something to give us a clue about what the ritual entailed, I start walking away from the doorway we emerged from. I wasn’t even aware of us ascending this high, so thank fuck they found a path
, because I was in no shape to climb; still not, if we’re being honest.
The top of the mountain is a huge platform; a roughly hewn, imperfect semicircle beyond the rock behind us that the doorway is set in. A few steps out, the ground changes to perfectly smooth obsidian. I crouch down, running my fingers along the edge. It’s an absolutely perfect edge, and based off of the curvature, I’d bet a perfect circle.
We walk from one side to the other, but that’s it. There’s definitely no elders to guide us, no magical glowing stones to make us evolve; just a black circle inlaid in the rock.
“Think we just need to bang on it?” Ezra suggests, huffing in frustration.
“You’re disgusting,” Kinsley gags, walking off with the others.
Elias has a similar mask of horror on his face. “I would rather jump off this cliff than witness that again.”
Soren huffs, sitting down and contemplating. “Without the elders, the site would make no difference. We’ll have to seek out another sanctuary and hope for better luck.”
Ezra makes a strangled sound of frustration. “Someone has to know! Anyone that was mated at one point would! We just need to find a mated flight or some widows and force them to talk. Maybe there’s a way to do it without the elders or the stupid sanctuary!”
She’s let go of my hand now, storming around in agitation and gesticulating wildly. Cai starts walking over to try to settle her down before her clothes burn off, but she’s too far gone.
“Let’s just be happy we made it out of this relatively unscathed,” I state softly, making her pause.
She groans, wiping an agitated hand down her face. “You’re right, I know. I’m just paranoid we’re going to run into the same problem at another sanctuary, but won’t all walk away that time.”
“She means she’s extra bitchy because it’s that time of the month,” Elias teases and she flips him off.
A shot fires and I whirl around on auto pilot, sinking my knife through a man’s throat and coating myself in another onslaught of blood. I twist it as I knock the gun from his hands, making sure he’s dead before spinning around, horrified about what I might find.
I turn just in time to see Eli’s shadowy form falling and Ezra desperately reaching for him before the smoke consumes them both.
Chapter 22
Ezra
No, no, no, no, no! Not Eli. Please, Fates, take me instead. I can’t do it, I can’t live without him in my life.
My fingers brush his just in time, grabbing his hand before he tumbles over the edge. A sharp gust batters against us and I lose my footing, going over with him.
I refuse to let go. I tighten my hold into a bruising grip, pulling the two of us closer together. There’s no looking at how bad he was hit, no point. All I can do now is hold onto him, soak up a few more precious moments together.
“You’re going to be alright, Eli, it’s okay,” I openly sob, giving up all pretense of strength. “I’ve got you.”
His face is so pale, but his grip is strong in mine, or maybe that’s my hopeful imagination. “Love you, sister-mom.” His voice is a whisper, but it carries on the wind as if he screamed it.
Another sob wrenches out of me, blurring my vision. I hold him against me, refusing to look down. I won’t spend my last few moments terrified of what’s coming. I’m going to spend them holding onto everything dear to me, everything that made my life worth living.
My brothers, my mates; even stupid townspeople A through Z. They kept me safe despite not being close to me, and I’ll never be able to tell them I appreciated it, that I was more than the sarcastic bitch-face I showed them. I wouldn’t change a thing, because I love myself, but I could at least say thank you.
A burning tears through my back, making me cry out, and the air whooshes out of my lungs as our descent slows. I hold onto Eli fiercely, not letting him slip so much as an inch as we start to rise. My back screams and I feel blood coating my shredded skin, but I just use that as fuel to hold him tighter, not wanting him to slip from my grasp because of it.
My feet brush stone and we collapse in a heap, panting. I blink through my watery eyes, forcing myself to look at Eli’s face, to see him looking back at me. I reach out to touch him nervously, my hand shaking as I fear breaking the spell.
“You’re okay?” I whisper, barely audible.
He tries to snort, but it’s weak. “No, I was shot, don’t be dumb,” he wheezes. “Far cry from okay.”
I huff out an incredulous laugh, sitting up and wincing as my shredded back protests. The earth shakes and I pull my blade, hovering over Eli and defensive, seeking out the threat.
“You motherfuckers!” I shout, throwing my knife and getting to my feet.
Three absolutely breathtaking dragons surround me on the cliff as the triplets rush over to me and Elias. All three have variegated tones on their scales, ranging from light to dark for their respective coloring.
Emerald scales cover the smallest one, with a familiar set of blood red eyes looking back at me. He’s about twenty feet long from snout to the tip of his tail.
Golden scales and bright blue eyes adorn Cai’s form, just slightly larger than Vyrian’s. Soren is larger than both, azure scales glittering and shimmering in the light. Most of the smoke has been cleared away by now, between their wings and the fires fading out below us.
They can’t answer me like this, but I can see their amusement in their eyes. Cai’s talons are coated in blood steadily dripping on the stone, so he must have been the one to actually catch me. Obviously, he botched it a bit, but beggars can’t be choosers.
“The ritual was ‘yeet the mate’ and if you cared enough you’d save her?! Let’s just chuck a chick off a mountain and if you love her she lives, but if you don’t she fucking dies? We’re supposed to be dragons, not goddamn baby birds!” My voice is bordering on shrill, incensed and incredulous. “I didn’t even have sex with Yri, so what the hell?!”
I storm back over to Elias, checking on him before I blow a gasket. The bullet went clear through his stomach and out his back, so I cauterize the wounds and leave him in the hands of the triplets while I face the mythological figures in front of me.
“One of you change back and go jump,” I demand. Soren ignores me, coming forward and nudging me with his head. “Stop being cute, I’m trying to rage.”
Despite my words, I stroke along his jawline, still in awe. He opens his mouth, showcasing an array of wicked teeth, and gently bites my shoulder; ‘gently’ being used sarcastically here. Each razor sharp tooth sinks into my flesh with a lance of fiery pain that radiates bone deep.
I hear my brothers shouting behind me, even louder when Vyrian and Caius replicate Soren’s actions, leaving me a bloodied mess. My heart hammers and my blood races through my veins like pure adrenaline. My skin burns like never before, stretched too tightly and threatening to tear. The agony is like none I’ve ever felt as I shift and contort, power flooding my system as heavily as the pain.
Everything feels too heavy, too cumbersome. I see a flash of red scales as I bring one foot forward, testing my balance. My stomach feels like a pool of lava nests inside, just waiting to burst out of me. Twitching a heavy wing, I work the foreign appendages and underused muscles.
Then I jump.
I fall, hard and fast. The wind rushes by me, my tough skin not perturbed in the slightest. It’s a rush where I feel weightless, suspended in time even as the ground rushes up to meet me. Instinct takes over and I spread my wings, jolting as they catch the wind with an audible snap.
It’s everything I ever imagined and more. The strength, the freedom; they’re living entities that don’t have to war for dominance, two halves of a whole. For just a few minutes, everything else fades away. All of the pain, all of the problems we haven’t managed to solve. There’s nothing beyond this feeling, absolutely nothing.
There are a few flashes of color as the sunlight reflects off of my mates, letting me know they’re with me. I never want it to end, want
to carry on like this forever. But life doesn’t wait for the fancies of beasts and men, not this one at least. Despite my assumptions that nothing could hurt me from here, that I could fly high enough my problems couldn’t reach me, I was wrong.
Because part of my heart will always remain on the ground with my family, and I’ll always come back for them.
I land back on the mountain, shifting back when my feet hit the ground as if I’ve done so my entire life. I’m on hands and knees, panting and elated, when Kahl extends a hand to help me off. He whips off his filthy shirt, offering it to me and I suddenly realize how naked I am. I don it gratefully before embracing him, a sudden wave of tears threatening to rear their ugly heads.
“I was worried about you guys,” I admit softly. “Let’s go home.”
Kinsley clucks his tongue, looking at me inquisitively. “So hear me out; we love you too, so if I toss you back over, think we’ll also shift?”
I punch him in the shoulder, grinning. “Maybe wait until I figure out how to shift back in case you fail. Seeing as you didn’t shift when both of your darling siblings nearly plummeted to their deaths, I’m leaning towards no.”
We start heading back down through the tunnel system, all of us on edge in case we missed someone. After Eli got shot, it’s clear there are a few stragglers. We navigate the tunnels, Cai, Soren, and Yri as naked as the day they were born. They’re obviously uncomfortable, but no one is keen on stripping off the pants from a corpse to borrow either. We each have a change of clothes in my car, so they’re stuck until then.
We hear a shout and our hackles raise. A flame ignites in my palm as I move in front of Eli who is currently still clutching his stomach, sore, but hopefully without internal bleeding. This time a pained whimper meets our ears and the triplets rush past, running into another tunnel a little ways ahead.
We catch up just in time to see Kaiden literally beat a man to death, blood coating his knuckles as he caves the man’s face in. Kahl is lifting a battered girl off of the ground, one hand beneath her legs and the other under her back. He cradles her to his chest, hefting her for a better grip.
