by Jadyn Chase
My heart soared. Yes! The alarm worked and Los Diablos came to back me up. I reared off the ground shifting in mid-stream. I rocketed at my adversaries spitting my wrath in jets of torrential fire.
The red dragon unleashed at the same moment. A few Longtails rounded on me, but some remained riveted on their attacker.
I streaked skyward spraying my flame in all directions. I didn’t care anymore who I hit. Smoldering fury tore out of me to devastate my enemies. I broke through the hole in the roof to find several dozen more dragons converging on The Zone.
Longtails shifted en masse. They shot out of the yard to meet Los Diablos on the wing. More of them soared out of the broken roof to engage us.
My people returned fire for fire. More dragons rushed to the site from nowhere until they dodged and dove going every which way over the building. I zoomed through their midst spitting flame on every flash of yellow I saw. Everywhere I turned, I discovered my comrades pressed back by the enemy.
I circled over the house. Down in the ragged hole, Carlos flailed in the bedroom beset by dozens of Longtails. They writhed all over him. They bit and clawed and slashed him and beat him with their wings.
He cracked his tail sideways and knocked one off, but another took its place. Men charged down the hall and into the room, shifted, and joined the fight until they dragged him to the floor.
I couldn’t watch this anymore. If this went on, we would lose and we couldn’t do that. We had to get out of here, regroup, and build a new strategy. At least we didn’t have to worry about Morgan getting caught in the crossfire.
I tilted down the hole and whizzed into the room shrieking to raise the dead. I collided with a dragon perched on Carlos’s back. It tumbled over and knocked two others loose. I disengaged and launched at another sinking his teeth into Carlos’s neck.
I seized the shrimp by the leg and yanked for all I was worth. The joint gave way and the leg came off in my mouth. I spat it out and trained my ire on the hapless twerp. He let go of Carlos and came at me spraying blood from his disembodied joint.
I veered around him and made a dive for another creature biting Carlos’s foreleg. I pummeled him sideways and tore his wing in half before I danced away.
The other attackers swiveled around to converge on me exactly the way I planned. When I did, Carlos rocketed through the roof and into the air. The instant I saw him escape, I fled.
I zipped out of the building with two dozen dragons burning along behind me. I didn’t care anymore about making a good showing. I wanted to get out with my life.
All over the battlefield, Los Diablos fell back toward the barrio. Carlos thumped his wings and led the retreat. A few Longtails hurried to catch us. Skirmishes broke out in the rear flank, but when we crossed our boundary, the enemy dropped away.
We flew over our home neighborhood. The closer we got to safety, the slower I flapped. Now that I left the danger behind, the pain of my injuries caught up with me. My stomach hurt. My whole body hurt. I didn’t feel it in the heat of the moment. Now I questioned if I could make it home at all.
Carlos cast a glance over his shoulder to check if anyone followed us. When he did, his gleaming red eyes scanned the ragtag bunch of dragons at his tail. I hardly dared to look at my comrades.
He dropped into the yard outside the warehouse and shifted. I landed next to him and immediately noticed blood staining his clothes and arms. A wicked cut down his cheek smeared blood across his face.
He glared at the sky as one dragon after another descended in front of him. Tomas collapsed as soon as he hit the ground. Kane and Cisco had to support him inside, but Kane hugged one arm against his chest and Cisco limped.
I came to rest a few paces from Carlos. When my feet touched down, I folded onto one knee. I huddled there pressing one elbow against my side. Fuck, it hurt. Breathing hurt. I must have cracked a rib or something—or maybe more than one. My head swam and I wanted to pass out.
Carlos surveyed his troops, turned on his heel, and strode inside. The others straggled after him into the warehouse, but I couldn’t bring myself to rise. I should go in there, but just keeping my eyes open demanded all my concentration.
A few seconds later, Logan came out of the building. He crossed to my side and knelt down next to me. He put his arm around my back and murmured in my ear. “Come on, Brayden. Let’s get you in there. Carlos wants to hear your report.”
Oh, great. My report. What could I say to him—that I was lying on the couch holding Morgan in my arms when the Longtails attacked?
I couldn’t protest when Logan wedged his shoulder under me and hoisted me to my feet. I groaned in spite of myself, but I managed to stay alert enough to walk into the warehouse.
Carlos stood shirtless by the strategy table. He held a gauze square to his neck while Martín worked on his back. Tomas lay stretched out on the couch with three more men attending to him.
Logan helped me to one side of the room. When he let me go, I slumped against the wall. I would have given everything I owned to close my eyes at that moment, but Carlos’s ferocious glare wouldn’t let me. “Now tell me what happened. How did they get through our perimeter?”
Every man in the room turned around to stare at me. I really did close my eyes then. I couldn’t do this with them open. “I don’t know how they did it, but they sure did. The guns never went off. The alarm sounded. The next thing I knew, they blew out the glass door and invaded the house.”
Carlos rounded on Logan. “Get on the computer and bring up the records from the security system. Find out what went wrong. Did they hack our system? How did they disable the guns?”
Logan scurried to Carlos’s office. “Yes, Sir.”
Carlos confronted me again. “What else? Why would the Longtails attack The Zone? What reason could they have?”
I took a deep breath. “Excuse me for saying so, Sir, but they were after Morgan. She had a flashback right before it happened. The Longtails killed her father. They killed him right in front of her. Don’t ask me how she got away, but they must be after her to silence her. That’s all I can figure. It wasn’t La Muerta at all. It was the Longtails all along.”
He gritted his teeth and snarled low. “If it was the Longtails after her, what the fuck do you say she was doing in The Desperados’ prison cell? Huh? How do you explain that, Brayden?”
I gulped. I didn’t want to do this. I wanted to crawl into a hole and sleep for the next twenty years. Maybe once I told him the truth, he would let me do just that. “Excuse me, Sir. This is just a theory, but if one of the Desperados saw her tat, they probably kidnapped her to sell to the Longtails. You have to admit The Desperados wouldn’t beat her like that and probably try to kill her. They were just holding her while the Longtails interrogated her or maybe tortured her. I don’t know, Sir. I’m just guessing here, but it makes sense, don’t you think? The Desperados couldn’t have any beef with her. If they saw her tat and figured out she was Los Diablos, they would hand her over to us. They wouldn’t deliberately antagonize us by harming one of our own.”
Carlos’s fiery eyes pierced me to the core. I didn’t like that look at all. I dreaded what he would say next. He glanced around the room, but no one moved. Every man standing stared at me with wide eyes for daring to say as much as I did.
The longer the silence lasted, the more uncomfortable I got. Any second now he would turn against me, and I couldn’t stand up to him in this condition.
He waited a second longer. Then he stormed across the room toward me. He halted with his nose inches away from my face and hissed under his breath. “Where is she? What did you do with her?”
“She’s…..” I stopped. I didn’t want to tell him where she was. I trusted him, but my drive to protect her overrode every other loyalty. “She’s in a safe place. I got her out through the secret exit before the Longtails found us.”
“Find her,” he snapped. “Go get her and bring her back here, and you can give her these. We don’t need them anym
ore.” He handed me her phone and wallet. “You say she’s in a safe place, but she won’t be safe anywhere but here. The Longtails will track her. If they found The Zone, they’ll find wherever she is now.”
I bowed my head. “Yes, Sir.”
He rotated away and returned to the table. He barked orders at my comrades, but I didn’t hear what he said. I didn’t want to go get her. I didn’t want to go anywhere. I wasn’t even sure I could.
The first job that presented itself was standing up off this wall. I braced my hand and pushed. I teetered on my heels for a moment before I took the risk of wobbling out of the building.
The cooler air outside soothed my fevered brow. I wavered in the yard for a moment. The fragrant breeze entered my nostrils and brought back memories of Morgan’s scent. Morgan. She was out there somewhere.
We lost to the Longtails. Our defeat would inspire them to redouble their efforts. I was the only person alive who knew where she was. I couldn’t contact her and I couldn’t leave her undefended.
Even knowing that, I took a long time before I found the ability to shift. I burrowed deep into my soul in search of my dragon self, but I couldn’t locate it. Pain and confusion and uncertainty obstructed my every move.
Morgan. I had to hold her in my mind at all times. She and she alone could motivate me to dig down to the very bottom of my being and find the strength to take flight.
If I stayed here much longer, I would lose consciousness and I would never get there. I had to do it now or never.
At that thought, my wings unfolded. The pain and uncertainty submerged under a tide of ferocity that enveloped my awareness. The dragon knew no pain and no uncertainty. The dragon knew only dominance, conquest, destruction.
I levitated off the ground. As soon as I spread my wings, my regenerative powers kicked in. I would live. I would be just fine as long as I could still fly.
I veered north and swept up the coast. Morgan sent out a beacon to guide me where I needed to go. I scanned the shoreline for the slightest indication where she might be. My dragon brain couldn’t remember the address from my phone.
The sun dipped toward the western horizon and the air cooled even more. Unwavering instinct steered me around the coast and I saw it. I might not remember the address, but I couldn’t mistake the house.
I stooped toward the beach, but the toll of flying here caught up with me. I shifted in spite of myself and crashed into the sand. I barely tucked in my shoulder enough to roll and I came to rest flat on my face.
I lay there panting and reeling for a while. I didn’t want to move for fear of the pain, but I couldn’t stay here. The rising tide hissed at my heels. It would drown me in a little while.
I forced myself onto my hands and knees. I shuddered with my eyes closed before I built up the reserves to get to my feet. I blew out a long breath and braced myself for the last few yards’ walk to the house.
Now that I examined it upright, it looked even more beautiful and magical than in Logan’s pictures. White morning glories draped over an arbor shading the porch. Beaten wooden steps lead onto the sand. Double glass doors stood open to the tempting sea breeze. Anyone would be lucky to live here.
I stumbled up the beach. When I got within a dozen paces of the back door, a slender figure materialized out of the shadows inside. Morgan stopped on the threshold. She saw me, but she didn’t react. Did she care at all that I came all this way to find her?
10
Morgan
I sat on the divan while dusk crept over the landscape. Not even the beauty and stillness all around me could compensate for the aching worry in my heart. I glanced for the thousandth time at the phone in my hand. How could Brayden contact me without his phone? Was he in danger right now? Was he already dead fighting those dragons?
I never should have left him alone. I should have stayed and fought with him. At least then I would know where he was. I wouldn’t have to sit here dwelling on him and eating myself up with guilt.
Just for a fraction of a second when I first woke up and realized he was there in my arms, I could almost swear I loved him. I fell asleep holding him. I never felt safer in my life. When I woke up with him, I knew everything was going to be all right. I wanted to kiss him. I should have taken the chance, but I never got to.
What if he died in that battle? What if the only man I ever loved died the instant I realized how I felt about him? How could I live with that? He died saving my life. He sacrificed himself so I could get free. He took on all those invaders to protect my getaway.
I couldn’t keep sitting here all night waiting to hear from him, but that creeping chill took hold of me the way it did at The Zone. It froze my limbs in place so I couldn’t move. I should get up. I should make a plan. I should assess just how safe I was in this house, but I couldn’t even do that. Where would I go? What was my life worth without someone as fine and selfless as Brayden in it?
I tossed the phone on the divan and stood up. I paced around the house. In a fit of angst, I stepped out onto the porch and spotted Brayden standing there. The setting sun glimmered over the far horizon like something out of a movie.
At first, I wasn’t sure he was real. Did he really come out here to find me? Was he really standing there the same as always? Was he real, or did I just dream him?
He studied me for a long time. He didn’t move. Then he blinked. He was real. He was really here…. with me. I couldn’t hold back my relief. I ran to him and threw my arms around his middle. I hugged him close and laid my ear against his heart the way I did last night. He was all right. I was all right as long as he was here.
His big hand came to rest against the back of my neck. His mouth touched my hair. Everything was all right. I didn’t care about the rest of the world. I didn’t even care about this house or my inheritance. I only wanted him. He was the prize.
When I let go enough to look up at his face, I wanted nothing more than to complete that moment on the couch. I couldn’t live without touching my lips to his and feeling the rightness of having him near me.
Why did I struggle so hard to push him away? Why did I spend so much time thinking of him as my enemy when I could have felt like this with him instead?
He clasped me against his iron frame. His hard, rough clothes did nothing to disguise the softening underneath. His warm lips welcomed me into a cosmic sea of bliss dreamier and more intoxicating than the one out there where the sun slipped beneath the haze.
I cracked my eyes open to see him opening his at the same moment. He appeared so tender and attentive in that moment. How could I think of him as harsh and hateful? I could hardly remember now.
I found my fingertips drifting toward his face. “You’re all right!”
His eyes pinched at the corners when he smiled. “Yeah, well, it was touch and go there for a while.”
“What happened?” I asked. “How did you get out?”
“The boys came and got me. The alarm alerted them to the attack and they held the Longtails off long enough for us to get out.”
Relief and overwhelming happiness consumed me. I nodded toward the house. “Do you….do you want to come inside?”
He chuckled under his breath and his eyelids dipped closed. “Yeah. That would be great.”
I took a step, but he didn’t let me go. He leaned on my shoulders. I couldn’t understand until he tried to walk. He lurched. His weight crushed me and I had to stop to steady him.
His countenance went ashen grey. What was wrong with him? My hand flew to his chest to hold him up and he winced. “You’re hurt!”
“I’m okay. It’s nothing. I’ll be fine.”
“If you’re fine, why can’t you walk on your own?”
“Yeah, well…..” He coughed behind pursed lips. “I guess I just wasn’t flying long enough.”
I couldn’t understand what he meant, but that didn’t matter. I picked up the pace moving him toward the porch. He tripped on the steps and groaned through locked teeth. Now he was
starting to scare me.
His knees buckled the minute he got inside. I steered him onto the divan and he pitched over backward on it. He crunched up his midsection and howled.
I sat down on the edge of the seat, but I couldn’t figure out what to do. “What’s wrong? Where are you hurt?”
“It’s nothing,” he snapped. “It’s just a few broken ribs. That’s all—nothing a couple hours in the air won’t fix.”
“What are you talking about? Do you need a doctor?”
“Oh, look—my phone.” He pulled the device out from under his backside. “Here you go. Here’s yours.”
I took it, but I didn’t look at it. I threw the phone and the wallet away and tried again to touch him. “Is there anything I can do?”
“Not unless you want to fly back to LA right now.” He started to laugh and succumbed to another coughing fit.
I bolted upright and narrowed my eyes at him. “How can you make a joke out of this? This is really serious.”
He swallowed his laughter and looked up at me. His eyes sparkled and he smiled showing all his teeth. “I’m not joking, darling. I’m just trying to cope. That’s all, and I’m too happy to see you alive and unhurt to go tearing back to LA where they might separate us again.”
“What are you talking about?” I demanded.
“Nothing.” He held out his hand. “Come here and sit down again. This is nothing. I’m telling you the truth. I’ve been hurt a lot worse than this and healed up in no time. The longer I stay in dragon form, the quicker I heal. I just want to sit with you for a while. That’s all. Come on. Sit down.”
His words won me over and I sank onto the divan next to him. He reclined back and closed his eyes with a shaky sigh.
“What’s this about us going back to LA?” I demanded.
“Don’t talk about it anymore.” He closed both hands around my cheeks and towed me toward him. “No more talking.”