It spoke volumes about Jocey that she had not asked after her sister once, not when Gordon said Tatyana was fixing things and not when he’d announced his presence in her life. She wasn’t worth a minute more of anyone’s time. “Take yourself off the screen. We have things to do here, and you’re being distracting.”
“How dare you.”
Robbie pushed Gordon forward. “Keep moving. We have things to do. Think of her as background noise, like the stupid alarm you haven’t turned off.”
They ran quickly through the hallways, ignoring the outbursts and orders from the woman on a video screen. Her voice grated on his nerves, but after a while, he couldn’t hear her anymore. If she was who the humans chose to lead them, it was not surprising they had to leave the planet. She’d drive them all into a pit they couldn’t escape out of soon. Narcissists had no business being in charge. He was going to speak to his mate about her and convince Tatyana to stay put.
She’d be safer with the dragons in charge than the woman the humans chose.
They finally reached the top of the compound. The room stunk of mold, it had clearly been a long time since anyone had been inside the small area. Other than a computer screen with Jocey still hollering about whatever, there was a ladder hanging from the ceiling and a burst of cooler air told him it led outside.
He pointed upwards. “Tatyana there?”
“Yes. She’ll be resetting the battery pack.”
“She’s coming back here.” He rushed toward the ladder. “Auggie, stay with Gordon. Don’t let him leave. I’m getting her. Then I’ll do whatever resetting needs to happen. In case I have questions, I want you close.”
Robbie was going to toughen Gordon into a stronger male before he was through with him. Pound a little backbone into the guy’s trembling spine.
He took the ladder two rungs at a time until he crawled out on the roof. His mate was a distance away, on her hands and knees, fiddling in some kind of electric box. Wind whipped around him and, for a second, he was blinded as dust hit his eyes. He wiped it away, focusing solely on Tatyana and whatever she needed.
“Hey.” He shouted as he crawled toward her. She could be killed simply being there. A good gust of wind could take her and, unless he was greatly mistaken, humans couldn’t fly. “What the fuck do you think you’re doing?”
“Putting the barrier back to full energy before it falls and exposes all of us.” She shouted back. “Get off the roof before you fall and kill yourself.”
“Female, what do you think I’m about to say to you?” He narrowed the distance between them.
She shook her head. “See? Your response is why I could never be a werewolf. I’m not going to sit and stay because you tell me to, wolf boy.”
Wolf boy? He couldn’t help his grin. His mate had a mouth on her and, while he did want to throttle her for putting herself in danger, he had to admit listening to her tell him to shove it made him proud as hell. Who wanted a lady who obeyed all the time?
He reached her. “I want to talk about what you said, only not here. You’re getting off this roof. I’ll compromise on anything except your safety. My firm line is something you’re going to have to deal with.”
“For four more days? What’s the point of a relationship between us?” She shook her head and looked away but not before he saw the tears in her eyes. Her sadness was his fault. He’d left her after they’d made love. She was feeling insecure, and she was doing it on the damned roof.
He outstretched his hand. “Come with me. We’ll talk about it inside.”
“Someone has to fix the barrier, or we’ll be exposed.”
“I’m pretty sure we’re exposed currently, aren’t we? If the dragons flew by, they’d see us wouldn’t they?”
She nodded and didn’t look at him. “Would be great if you’d remove yourself then, wouldn’t it?”
“As if I’m going to leave you on here.”
“Then shut your mouth and let me finish.” Her hand shook and he reached out to hold it for a second.
“Tatyana, you’re mine, okay? Whatever you’re thinking, stop. I promise you, we’ll work it out.”
She twisted her hand away and returned to her work. “A long distance relationship from space.”
The change in the air caught his attention. He looked upward knowing what he would see. The dragons were coming, three of them.
“Tatyana, we have to get down from here.” He tugged her toward him, and she resisted.
“Why? I’m almost finished.” She shook her head. “So stop overprotecting and let me do my work.”
“Too late, sweetheart.”
Her head shot up, and she saw the creatures. He knew the second the danger they were in registered with her as her eyes got huge. “Three of them.”
“Five.”
“I only see three.” She jumped to her feet and nearly fell over before he caught her.
“If you could turn around, you’d see the other two.”
“We need to run.”
“Too late.” He repeated it so she understood. Only she wasn’t going to be caught. Not while he could still live and breathe. Robbie pulled her against him. He kissed her forehead before he scooted her forward and before she could stop him shoved her down the hole in the roof. In the way he always knew things, Robbie had no doubt Auggie would catch her. She didn’t even have time to scream.
He didn’t close his eyes when the dragons took him.
****
She landed in Auggie’s arms, her whole body vibrating from the impact—she knew she was going to hurt later, although his catching her was better than her actually hitting the floor— and they both skidded to the floor. There had been dragons. Five of them and Robbie had tossed her. Oh, damn it. Was he okay? Where was he?
“August.” Tatyana struggled out of his arms and he let her go as he darted to his feet.
“Fuck no.” Robert’s twin brother darted toward the ladder. “Gordon, round up my crew. Tatyana, make yourself safe. Now. If anything happens to you, it’ll kill my brother faster than the demon beasts will.”
Gordon scampered off leaving her standing there watching him as he ascended the ladder. Oh, what the hell? She wasn’t going to do nothing while August battled for Robert.
She rushed to the computer. What had Gordon been thinking, running off? There were much faster methods to find help. Seconds later, Dougal’s face appeared on the screen next to Tate, one of her assistants.
“What’s going on?” He shouted much louder than he needed to as Tate adjusted the monitor.
“The dragons have Robert, and we’re in breach. Everyone go into lockdown and, for the love all things holy, sound the dragon gun. Let’s bring these assholes to the ground.”
August jumped down the ladder. “They have him and the dragon with him has taken off like a bat out of hell. Your system is working again. The dragons can’t stand to be here, I bet. They’re going to want him to explain it all to them. Why are you still here?” She’d never heard August speak so many sentences together all at once. “I told you to find safety.”
“August.”
“What, damn it?” He ran for the door.
“Cover your ears.”
The dragon cannon sounded and August crumpled to the floor. He’d not covered his ears fast enough. She took a deep breath and the dread she hadn’t let herself feel since she’d been thrown off the ladder caught up with her.
Tatyana sunk to her knees. She’d had Robert—finally. And now the dragons had him. Her hands shook. He’d thrown her off the roof. If he hadn’t taken the time to do it, he could have easily gotten away himself.
She tried to breathe through her nose. Nothing was going to be accomplished if she freaked out.
August roused next to her. One second he was out cold, the next darting to his feet. How the hell did he recover so quickly? She grabbed his arm. “Go outside and drag a multicolored dragon back inside. The ones who can talk.” The more colorful the dragon, the smarter they were.
&n
bsp; Robert’s twin nodded before he spoke. “Always happy to drag the dragons around. Why in this case do you want me to get it?”
“I’m going to torture the beast until it tells us where Robert is.”
She stood and walked toward the door only not before she saw August’s eyes widen. That’s right, she was a rough bitch when she needed to be. The dragons weren’t getting Robert.
August rushed to walk next to her. “We’ve tried multiple techniques to make the dragons talk. However, none of them worked.”
“You don’t have my abilities or my equipment.”
The dragon was going to talk, and it would deliver the information she needed, one way or another.
****
The dragon screeched on the table. August had dragged in a mostly green dragon with purple spots. The creature should be able to speak the werewolf language, the multi-colored ones always could. As she watched from next to the table, the beast bucked trying to get out of its restraints. She didn’t have to speak dragon to know the beast didn’t enjoy captivity. She hadn’t touched the dragon yet, other than to tie it.
Some of her earlier gumption fled when she got the thing on her table. Whatever her feelings about the dragons, the creature lived and she was a doctor. Tatyana had never deliberately caused anything pain.
She held the syringe in her hand. A single dose of the medicine through the creature’s wing would make the dragon feel as if it burned from the inside out. Two would actually start true burning. She gritted her teeth.
Robert was out there and the video screens couldn’t find him. The dragons had him and she would retrieve him.
She lifted her hand ready to dose and when August grabbed her arm.
“Don’t.”
Tatyana turned to regard Robert’s twin. “Why not? We need information and you and I both know the monster is not going to give it to us without being properly motivated.”
“Let’s try something else first.” He squeezed her hand and she dropped it to her side. “I need to give you back to Robbie in the same condition he left you in. He finds out I let his mate do something which will haunt her for the rest of her life when there was another choice? I’m going to have a pissed off twin on my hands, and I make it a policy never to piss off Robert if I can avoid it.”
They’d always been incredibly close. She’d watched them whenever she could. Robert and August, who everyone seemed to mix up, looked so different to her. August was colder than Robert, his eyes more remote the shape of his chin sloped inwards whereas Robert’s jutted out. Others didn’t seem to be able to tell.
“What do you have in mind?”
A knock sounded on the door and he smiled, a slight raising of his mouth before it vanished. “Perfect timing.”
“Come in.” He called over his shoulder and the door opened. Dougal stepped in and then nodded behind him. Caitlyn followed him. She smiled at the gesture. Those two had been made for one another and, although Taty wasn’t sure she herself would ever fit in to werewolf culture, she could certainly see how having Dougal so protective would be a constant comfort to his mate in the frightening times they lived in.
Shit, she was really going soft. She’d rolled around with Robert and suddenly started thinking about needing to be saved. Were strong Alpha males addictive?
“Caitlyn, can you make the dragon speak to us? We need to find out where Robert is.”
“I hate when she needs to talk to them.” Dougal answered for her. “It hurts her. And I’m not going to watch her made sick over it. Let’s be clear, the dragon either talks fast or I’m shutting it off.” He paused. “I want Robert back, too. We found the two of you again after thinking you dead. However, Caitlyn comes first to me always.”
Always. She turned away while they all talked and walked to the window. Tatyana had no good reason for doing so and she probably couldn’t come up with one if she tried. Hearing Dougal use the word, always, made her feel as if her insides were ripping apart. Dougal and Caitlyn would have forever, even if it meant getting to be with each other for a single day more. They’d mated. It would never be broken apart.
“Tatyana?” Caitlyn came behind her and placed her hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?
She forced her nerves back where they belonged, somewhere deep in her gut where she didn’t have to focus on them. “Absolutely.”
Caitlyn nodded. “Good. I’ll see what I can do here and, also, I’ve fixed one of the cannons. We have two.”
“Great news.” She smiled at Caitlyn, who was sweeter than she had seemed in the few viewings Tatyana had done on her over the years. Or maybe being with Dougal and having a child let her show her softer side finally.
“Are you sure you’re okay? You seem kind of off. Your smell, I mean talking of scents must be weird for you to hear since you’re a human, only your scent has changed. Are you sick?”
“I’ve been...” She wanted to say tired only the words didn’t pass her lips. The room spun and seconds later it went black.
****
She came to in stages. At first, the light penetrated her eyes and then finally sound followed. As she’d never fainted in her life, she wasn’t exactly sure the protocol for dealing with the aftermath. Tatyana tried to sit and a strong arm stopped her. When her eyes finally decided to make sense of the figure in front of her she saw the worried features of her cousin Gordon. His eyebrows were slanted downwards and his mouth formed a frown.
“You’re awake.”
“I am.” She pushed away his hand and rose despite the room threatening to spin again. “How long have I been out? “
“A couple of hours. I knew you weren’t feeling a hundred percent. I didn’t realize it had gotten so bad.”
“For the last year. My blood work is clear, so I have no explanation.”
Her cousin shook his head. “I know what’s wrong.”
“Do tell.” Gordon was a great assistant, yet a medical genius he was not. If he had some kind of insight she didn’t, she’d be downright shocked.
“I asked you if you read the study by Longhair and Lovelong.”
Maybe it was the names but that particular medical paper, from almost two hundred years earlier, had never garnered very much attention. “Tell me what it was about again. I don’t think I read it when I was doing wolf physiology. It wasn’t assigned, and I probably only skimmed their words.”
“No one reads it because it’s about wolves mating humans.” All noises in the vicinity halted. She stared at Gordon as her mouth fell open. He kept speaking. “All of it was very risqué and you know how our people prefer to deny sexual needs. Anyway, it all got swept under the table. Two hundred years ago, a group of ten researchers—all women—fell for werewolves they were studying. They mated, eventually. For some of the women, it went very well. Others? Not so much.” He held paper in his hand and tangled in front of her face. “I’ll leave it here for you to read. My guess would be a year ago, when you were finally in his presence, the change started in you. The sex I’m going to guess you had pushed it forward. You’re changing. It won’t take a bite. If you live through the next days, you’ll be a werewolf.”
Her head pounded and the dark bliss of fainting didn’t come. “You’re saying I’m changing internally. Wouldn’t the shift have shown in the bloodwork?”
“No. Not if we don’t know what to screen for.” Gordon kissed her on the forehead. “The other bad news is your sister has ordered us to leave tonight.”
“I...” She finally found the courage to speak the words she knew she had to say. “I’m not coming.”
“I know.” He nodded. “Caitlyn’s going to take care of you when you change. The males have gone after Robert.”
“The dragon we captured?” Her mind had to make sense of the time she had lost.
“He’s dead. Caitlyn and Auggie got him to speak.”
She was going to be a werewolf. How was she supposed to reconcile herself to all of it?
“Be careful, Gordon. I�
�m always going to miss you. Don’t let my sister give you a hard time.”
He grinned, some of the wariness leaving his eyes. “Don’t die, cousin. And make the werewolf of yours treat you the way Knox women should be treated—as the gem you are.”
Robert. She settled on the medical table. He had to be okay.
Chapter Seven
“We understand you have the humans.”
The Queen dragon hissed in his face, and Robbie winced at the fish smell assaulting his nostrils. Nothing about his captivity bothered him except the stink. His younger brothers survived worse than his treatment, though he didn’t know why the dragons handled him with kid gloves. If anything, they should be beating the crap out of him and cutting off his limbs. As far as targets went, werewolves didn’t become much more valuable than him to the dragons. If he were in their shoes, he’d be tormenting himself.
“We asked you a question.”
Yeah, he knew. “Huh? Humans? I’ve never met any. Haven’t spent any time with unicorns, either. Or space aliens. Have you? Do little green men run amok where you’re from?”
He leaned back on the floor of his cell and stared at the ceiling. They needed to repair the water leak or the dragons were going to find themselves with mold. Not that he planned to tell them. Let their castles rot.
Robbie—Robert, his love called him his full name in her sweet voice. Never Robbie. He’d never thought of himself as a Robert before she used the name—would die before he told the dragons what he knew. Death first. Pain didn’t matter in the least when protecting Tatyana came into play.
The other humans? Well, he didn’t give a shit about them. They mattered only because she cared about her people. Otherwise he’d be tempted to let the dragons have them—the cowards who hid in the shadows.
“I can make you hurt as I did with your brothers.”
Robbie snorted. “Sure. Devon seems to have recovered beautifully from his time with you and, yes, Dougal is missing an arm. The three-legged wolf, but he lived through your sweet ministrations, too. So bring it on, baby. Have at me. Maim my body, screw with my soul. If I know any secrets, they die with me.”
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