“It is fine,” Arsenic said. “Whatever makes her more comfortable. I don’t have to be known to do my job. I can stay in the shadows. That’s what makes me an effective assassin.”
Casey stared at him in shock, then giggled. “I like you, Arsenic.” When Cadmium let out a growl, she stroked her mate’s chest. “Yes, I love you most, you big beast, but Arsenic is doing a good thing right now. Let’s give him credit.”
Cadmium sighed. “I do. You are a good man, my friend.”
Arsenic raised an eyebrow, unable to believe his usual nemesis was complimenting him. “Thank you.”
“Should we perhaps consider changing his name?” Cobalt asked. “They will have to be introduced at some point, and being named after a well-known Earth poison will probably not engender trust.”
“True,” Lead said. “That is a good idea. How do we do that?”
“There should be some way to shorten it,” Zinc said.
“Arse,” Cadmium said, smirking, and Arsenic gave him cold look. There was the Cadmium he remembered.
“Sharp words from someone whose name could be shortened to Cad,” Arsenic shot back.
“Hey,” Cadmium said, stepping forward.
“Aren’t we getting distracted?” Cobalt asked, shaking his head.
“Right,” Casey said. “What about Nic?”
Chromium, who’d been quiet up until then, nodded. “Nic is common.” He looked at Arsenic. “Do you like it?”
Arsenic shrugged. As with his hair, whatever made Farrah more comfortable was fine with him. She could call him “noodle” for all he cared.
“Well, that’s settled, then,” Casey said. “Oops, I’m going to go make sure she’s ready. Marina, are you prepared to make the portal?”
“I am,” Marina said, touching the collar on her neck, a thin chain that Arsenic suspected she used to communicate with the oracle sometimes. “When I get upstairs, the oracle will send me the coordinates. Shall we go?”
“We shall.”
“And me?” Arsenic asked.
“You as well,” Marina said. “Come on up when you’re ready.”
Arsenic nodded, gathering up all his things. When it came to protecting others, he was always ready.
Chapter 5
Farrah was sitting on her bed, packed and ready, when she heard a knock on her bedroom door.
“Come in,” she said, expecting Marina.
She supposed, given her talk with the oracle, that she should have expected the tall, handsome dragon who’d rescued her to come upstairs as well, but seeing him was still a shock.
“This is… Nic,” Marina said. “He volunteered.”
Farrah looked up at the huge man, heartbeat flooding her ears, making her feel faint. Did they all have to be so big?
He had a hard face, coldly sharp and handsome, with olive skin, dark hair that waved to his collar, and piercing, vivid green eyes.
“So you’re a… dragon?” she asked nervously, not sure what to say.
He nodded.
She told herself not to be afraid of him. The oracle had said the dragons here had an extremely high sense of honor, that they could never hurt her. That their purpose was protect. Sort of the guard dogs of the shifter world.
But this man didn’t look like some kind of safe puppy at all.
The air in the room seemed to crackle from just his presence, and Farrah felt that if he came any closer, she might just pass out.
But his expression was cool, free of any of the predatory energy the shifters at the prison had possessed. He assessed her with folded arms, then slowly nodded. “I’m a dragon. Yes. Nic.” His lips curled slightly with distaste at the sound of his own name, and she wondered what that was about.
But no matter. She was going home.
“And no matter what, you won’t hurt me?”
Another curt nod.
“Good enough,” she said. After all, what was her other option? Staying in this fancy mansion surrounded by terrifying men like this or taking the word of those who had rescued her and deciding to trust Nic?
And Nic couldn’t be all bad because he’d been one of the ones to rescue her.
“All of the Drakkaris dragons were there,” Nic said, almost as if he’d read her mind.
She jerked up to look at him in shock and gasped as Marina hauled back and whacked the back of his head.
Barely fazed, he looked at her with open offense. “What was that for?”
“No mind reading, idiot!” Marina said. “Her privacy has been violated enough.”
“Mind reading?” Farrah asked, feeling faint again.
“He can turn it off,” Marina said. “Make sure he doesn’t do it. Isn’t that right, Nic?”
Nic gave her a glare, rubbing the back of his head testily. “Of course. I apologize,” he said, looking into Farrah’s eyes.
Then he looked away and stood tall again, and she got the feeling this wasn’t someone to be crossed. She wasn’t sure if she should feel afraid or relieved he was so dangerous.
“I’m ready to go,” she said.
“All right,” Marina said. “Everyone stay back for a moment.”
The energy in the room turned cold as the air crackled, and Marina stepped forward, waving her hand in front of her as blue sparks lit the air.
Nic stepped between Farrah and Marina instinctively, and Farrah could feel the protectiveness radiating off him.
A glowing, purple portal lit up the room, and when Farrah focused through it, she could see a scene that lit up her heart.
“Home,” she murmured, walking forward, forgetting her bags on the bed.
She heard rustling as Nic grabbed them and stepped up behind her. She looked at Marina for instructions on what to do now.
“Just step through.”
“Thank you,” Farrah said, looking at Marina gratefully. “For everything.”
“Of course,” Marina said. “I’ll see you again. I know it.”
Farrah didn’t know whether to be happy about that or not. She wasn’t going to remember any of this someday, so there was no point making friends here. Still, she appreciated Marina’s kindness.
“Thank you,” she said simply, again, and then, holding her breath, she got ready to leap through the portal. Her hands clenched into fists, and she felt her heart hammering.
She could also feel Nic waiting impatiently behind her, holding her bags. It suddenly struck her that once she went through this portal, she would be alone with him. Back in her world but without anyone to make sure he really behaved.
She hesitated, nearly stepping back to not go in the portal, wondering if this really was the best idea after all, when she felt a little nudge at her back.
She looked over her shoulder, offended, to see Nic pushing her forward with the side of one of her suitcases.
“Stop hesitating,” he said sharply. “You must go now.”
“I’m not ready. I—”
But before she could say anything, she felt herself pushed forward into the swirling, cold void, hurtling into space. She let out a scream as her hands flailed in front of her.
Panic rushed through her faster than the swirl of the air in the vortex around her, because once again, she was going to be alone with a shifter who could try to take her choices away.
Perhaps dragons weren’t so honorable after all.
Arsenic cocked his head at the little scream that echoed from the vortex and then picked up his foot to step inside.
“You shouldn’t have done that,” Marina said, looking offended.
“She was going to freeze up. You know what would happen if she did that midway through the portal closing or something?”
Marina bit her lip and shook her head. “No?”
“Neither do I, and I’m not going to take chances finding out,” Arsenic said.
“She’s going to be pissed,” Marina said.
Arsenic shook his head. “She’ll understand reason, I’m sure.” He gave Marina a small salute
. “Now I have to go.”
Before Marina could even finish scoffing, he was gone, hurtling through space in one of the portals he’d gotten fairly used to using. A few seconds later, he felt himself fall onto soft, cold ground and roll a few feet, sending Farrah’s suitcases tumbling in all directions.
He wanted to shout at Marina for the rough landing, but the portal was already closing above them, leaving nothing but cool, black sky.
He looked around him. Wherever Farrah lived, it was fairly remote and dark enough to see stars twinkling in the sky.
He stood and spun, taking in his surroundings. When he squinted, he could see small houses, set fairly far apart, with little odd lights humans called Christmas lights along the rooftops.
He didn’t even see any sign of a normal road, just a wide path of dirt and gravel that seemed to wind through trees and connect the small houses.
Farrah was standing in front of him, legs apart, short red hair whipping in the wind as she looked at the small building in front of them. Unlike the ones on either side of it, it didn’t have lights.
She fell to her knees, and he began to walk forward, wondering if the portal had hurt her.
But, as if she heard him approaching, she quickly stood and glared at him, and in the soft light glittering from the stars, he saw tear tracks on her cheeks.
He instinctively felt as though someone had sent a dagger into his chest and walked forward, wanting to comfort her. Needing to ease her pain with everything inside him. But her expression stopped him.
Pure fear.
He’d faced many foes in his life, had adversaries stare in terror when he was about to end them, but he’d never experienced anything like this.
That small, pale face. Those big, luminous eyes. Looking at him as if he were a monster.
He moved carefully, slowly, gathering her suitcases and avoiding her eyes in the hopes that would make her more comfortable.
He started toward the door, but she put a hand up, stopping him.
She opened one of the suitcases and pulled out a small bag, then opened it and pulled out what looked like keys. The suitcases contained what the oracle had been able to teleport out of the prison using Farrah’s bio signature and anything touched by it.
Farrah took a moment to look down at the keys, as if she still didn’t believe where she was and what was happening, and then she walked to the house, up the rickety-looking porch steps to the door. She took a deep breath and unlocked the door, then pushed it open.
Then she went inside and shut the door behind her.
Huh?
When she didn’t come out, Arsenic looked around him in confusion, wondering about his next move. He’d assumed that in going with Farrah, he’d obviously be staying with her, even if he stayed out of her way.
That didn’t appear to be how Farrah understood it.
He picked up her suitcases and carried them to the porch, brushing them off and setting them there.
“Farrah, I—”
“Leave them,” she said from the other side of the door in a muffled tone.
“Now see here,” he said.
“No,” she said. “You shouldn’t have pushed me through the portal. You’re… just like them.”
Rage moved through him at that accusation. Sure, he was a little gruff, and maybe pushing her had been a mistake, but he’d been worried about potential decapitation…
“I—”
“Just go away,” she said softly.
The pain in her voice nearly broke him. He’d experienced a lot of rejection in his life. Had to overcome a lot of people’s bad opinions of him due to his birth and upbringing.
Usually, he was able to cling to being stubborn, difficult. Obnoxious.
But now, with her soft, pleading words, he found himself beaten.
“I understand,” he said, pushing her suitcases closer to the house. “I’ll be outside if you need me.”
He walked away from the house just as snow began to fall from the sky, twinkling in little specks all around him.
He rubbed his hands over his shoulders and stared at the sky. Just great.
He heard the door to the house open behind him and turned around hopefully, only to see Farrah pull the suitcases in and shut the door again, this time a little louder.
He walked to the road and looked down it, through the winding trees that seemed only to lead to more darkness. He supposed if he followed it, he could find shelter, but he couldn’t very well leave Farrah unprotected.
Then again, he was a dragon and, as a cold-blooded creature, not sure how well he’d last in this environment.
He felt for the phone in his pocket, wondering if he should call the others, but cringed at the thought of Lead yelling at him for making the human mad at him already.
He would handle this himself, somehow.
He blew dragon breath in front of him, warming his hands in it, but then a little spark lit on a nearby leaf, setting it aflame. Arsenic quickly moved to stomp on it but realized that using his fire wouldn’t be the best option in this wooded area.
Undeterred, he scanned the land around him as he walked back in the direction of Farrah’s house.
As an assassin, he was trained to stay in the shadows. But what did one do when those shadows were so cold?
Chapter 6
Was he really going to just sit there, looking not unlike a lightly dusted Christmas tree as the snow continued to fall on him?
Farrah stared in consternation, trying to decide what to do.
Every few minutes, he would brush irritably at the snow on his jacket and backpack, and then he’d go back to standing stoically with his legs spread in a warrior stance, eyes pinned on the horizon, unless he was making a slow scan of the entire area.
A hint of pity began to penetrate the icy wall of self-preservation around her heart as Farrah thought she could see he was shivering. Or perhaps she was just imagining it.
Weren’t shifters supposed to be larger than life? Strong, impervious to the elements?
As a dragon, he should be more impervious than most, right? He had scales, right? Then why had his skin looked so… normal. So… touchable.
She shook her head as pain waved through her. No more touching. Not ever again. She’d been touched enough for a lifetime. She just wanted to forget all that and settle into a quiet, regular life in her small town, get back her job at the big hospital in a neighboring town, and let life pass by like the snowflakes fluttering past her window.
It was dark and isolated enough out here that she felt safe, despite what she’d just been through. Already, the time at the lab was feeling like a distant memory. Or was that just her coping mechanisms? What was the point of thinking about it anyway? She felt her heart trying to push all of that down as deep as it could into a dark well where it could rot at the bottom.
She wrapped a soft blanket around her shoulders and sighed as she watched “Nic” shake off another wave of snow.
She’d been treated cruelly. Could she really do the same to another? She exhaled shakily, hearing her heart pound again at the idea of letting a stranger into her house, but what choice did she have?
She’d been captured and destroyed by monsters, but that didn’t mean she had to become one herself. At least she could let him explain what he’d done at the portal. And let him warm up. Maybe give him some blankets or refer him to a hotel or something.
She felt guilty at that thought, knowing the only reason she’d been sent back here was because she’d agreed to let him watch her. Still, she thought, taking a sip of the hot chocolate she’d set on the side table next to the window, she didn’t owe anything to anyone in the shifter world.
She’d never been meant to be caught up in their affairs, and in doing so, she’d lost nearly everything.
She set down the hot chocolate and walked through an emotional barrier that felt like a black wall of pure fear as she put her hand on the doorknob and turned it slowly, deliberately.
When it was open, the man—dragon—looked over his shoulder, appraising her sharply, his glittering green eyes clear even at this distance. She picked up her mug with one hand and straightened her shawl with the other. Then she waved quickly for him to come closer.
The way he walked was so like a shifter, so purposeful and sure of himself, that she wanted to change her mind right there, slam the door, run away, beg the oracle for any other options.
He walked onto the porch, and she felt even guiltier as she looked over him. His clothing was frozen into stiff folds, and his nose and cheeks were reddened. His eyebrows and eyelashes had gathered crystals.
But his gaze was the same as when she’d first seen him, striding into the prison main hall, ready to obliterate anything in his way. Cold. Hard. Calm. As if he saw everything through an impenetrable mask of reason and never stepped outside it.
There’d been rage emanating from him when he’d rescued her, but it had only been a feeling in the air, nothing in his expression, which had been blank and implacable as it was now.
“Did you need something?” he asked, and she realized that despite his attempts to stifle it, he was definitely shivering.
But apparently, she wasn’t the only one who could be stubborn, and he wasn’t about to admit he needed her help.
“I’d…” She’d been ready to attack him, yell at him about the portal, tell him why she didn’t want him inside, but watching the big man shivering, covered in ice crystals, chin lifted haughtily as he sought no quarter, she wondered if she hadn’t encountered a creature maybe even more pitiful than herself.
At least when it came to trusting others.
“I’d… feel safer if you were inside.”
His expression changed, melting from hard pride to one of confusion, which looked a bit hilarious with the icicles on his brows. “Why do you say that? Don’t you fear me?”
She chuckled slightly. “Not so much now.”
He raised to his full height, clearly ruffled, and she resisted the urge to full-on laugh.
Arsenic Dragon Page 4