by Cecilia Lane
“You can’t fight,” he said and released her.
Shaking, Lola straightened again. “I could if you taught me.”
“Quit it. It’s not your place. You’re lucky we let you in the lab. Soon that will be over and you can get on with your duty.”
Her duty. It made her stomach turn. There were very few marriage prospects inside the compound. She’d kept her distance from anyone who she might be paired with, lest the idea get planted. Her brothers might try to make an alliance with another group of slayers and offer her up to sweeten the deal. She’d have to move away from everyone she’d ever known and play wife to someone she’d never met.
It was her job to marry a man with the right mindset and make little boys that would continue their war. The truth was, she hated the role she was expected to fill.
She knew it was important to kill shifters, and dragons especially. They stole women and children and made them into their slaves. They would take over the world if they could and make every human being a subject of their perverted dragon court. The rumor that a large host of the beasts had moved into the city just a few hours away made the threat all the more pressing.
She just wished she could be on the fighting side instead of waiting at home.
She peeked out the window. The boys loaded into the truck and John Jr. slapped the roof. They sped out of the compound, leaving her and a trail of dust behind.
Lola placed the test tubes back on the counter and prepared to make a new set of bullets with them. She’d prove her worth and keep herself from falling into a marriage bed. Even if it meant testing everything out herself.
Chapter Two
It was too easy for Lola to sneak away from the compound. She waited until her brothers were all asleep before sneaking out of her bed at the end of the hall. They always left the keys to the truck on the kitchen counter.
In a bulky hoodie and her thick hair piled under a hat, she looked much like any of them. She shouldered one of their packs and threw it onto the passenger seat of the truck. No one stopped her at the gate. No one made her turn around.
It took only a few hours before the bright lights of Azra Valley marred the night sky. The faint glow blocked out the majority of the stars she could see clearly from their home in the desert.
With her time running short, she drove straight into the city. The tallest tower, it was rumored, that’s where the dragons were moving. She felt sorry for the people living nearby. They’d either been duped or entirely subjugated to allow the beasts free reign in the city limits.
Parked behind some store, she watched and waited. The building had all the conveniences needed for dragons. She’d never seen a building so tall. The height meant the beasts could fly in and out with ease. The sides were pocked with black maws that would be dragon lairs.
Just when she was about to give up, she saw a huge shape glide toward the center of the building. Wings snapped closed and the sinuous body disappeared inside. Lights dimly glowed from the interior moments later.
Dragon.
She opened the door and tugged her stolen pack with her. Inside was the chute that might save her life and all the weapons she could need. She made sure her new bullets were already loaded and she circled the building to find an entrance.
The main door was too obvious and too well guarded. A doorman opened for anyone who wanted entry, as far as she could tell. But entering the building lobby would be entering the belly of the beast. There was no guarantee she’d make it out alive. No, better to find a discrete way inside.
The building was lined by busy streets on three sides. But the fourth was dark at ground level. Lola waited by the single door that led to the alley. A larger bay door she assumed was used for deliveries remained sealed shut.
It wasn’t long before the single door opened as someone exited with a cart of filled trash bags. She snuck into the back entrance and darted around a corner. As she expected, she found a stairwell with a big sign ordering the door to be kept clear. The city folk were big about safety standards, her brothers always mocked, and the kitchen staff would need a way to access the upper levels.
She quickly pushed through the swinging door and hiked up the first flight of stairs before pausing. She didn’t hear any steps but her own. With a smug grin, she started the climb upward.
Her legs started to ache after the second flight, but she pushed on. She wanted to be up several flights before she attempted to hail an elevator to the higher levels. From her view from her truck, it looked like the higher levels were still mostly unused. She stood a better chance of catching a solitary dragon unawares up there than at the busier lower levels.
She would prove her weapons and poison worked. She needed to prove it. If she could just get the scale piercers to deliver the poison, then the war against shifters would turn in their favor and she wouldn’t need to be married off.
She paused on the stairwell and tried to catch her breath. It was no wonder why the men trained so hard. Four flights of stairs left her winded. She’d always been a curvy girl and the lack of fighting experience only made the stairs that much more challenging. But if she succeeded, the men would have no choice but to let her train.
Lola eyed the stairs that seemed to spiral into oblivion above her. She wiped at her forehead. There was no way she’d be able to make the entire climb. She peeked through the glass on the door that led into the main building.
The hall was clear. Three doors were on either side and the elevator was straight across at the other end of the building.
Lola took a deep breath and let it out slowly. She gathered all her courage and tugged open the door. She could say she was lost if she was caught, or try to go forward with her plan. But she needed to try.
“Rafe, you should come check this out.” The voice crackled in his ear.
He placed his finger on the knob at the center and twisted to lower the volume. The voice was one of the building’s security guards stationed in the box below.
Rafe took stock of the crowd gathered in Luca and Penelope’s apartment. Two other couples were present to throw Cassandra the first birthday party that any normal child would receive. There was more cake and icing on the small girl than clean skin.
But he wasn’t present as an attendee or guest of the King and Consort’s inner circle. The guard chimed in on his earpiece because he was in charge of the Dragonsworn that night. Levi aided, while Brody had the evening off. They worked out a schedule that allowed them all equal duty.
He nodded to Levi to take command should anything happen. He doubted the warm gathering would suddenly devolve into bloodshed, but there was no being too careful with the life of Cassandra de Rege.
He exited through one of the secret doors in the apartment meant for the Dragonsworn. The top floor was for the royal family, while the floor below housed the three guards, a guest apartment, and the small security office.
He jogged down the steps and into the room below. A bank of screens switched views from one camera to another. The guard on duty was to watch for anything suspicious and determine if the threat was enough for the regular security of the building or something that would threaten the royal family. Those threats would be handled by the Dragonsworn.
“What do you have?” Rafe asked as soon as he eyed the bigger screen. There was a single girl easing down a hallway. The camera on that level caught her looking over her shoulder and repeatedly punching the button the summon the elevator.
“I can’t tell where she’s going. She doesn’t look like she’s a threat to the residents below. I thought I’d bring it to you to decide what to do.”
He’d have to thank the man later. It was exactly how he wanted the tower’s security to run. “Any idea who she is?”
She dressed in black from head to toe. It wasn’t uncommon, especially in the modern world with a small gothic subculture. But instead of the flowing skirts or the ripped fishnets he expected, the clothes were tight against her curves. He spied a backpack whe
n she turned to enter the elevator.
The man shook his head. “None. Going back through the tapes, she snuck in up the stairs in the kitchen.”
A quick button press and the camera view switched to the one inside the elevator. The footage showed her eyeing the close quarters and almost rocking from side to side. She was certainly agitated.
“What level is she on?” Rafe asked as the woman exited the elevator. He put his hand on the door handle.
“Just a few floors down from here.”
It was a good thing the top floors had their own passes and elevators. A private system went from the ground floor straight to the de Rege apartment, but the Dragonsworn floor was on its own. From the highest regular level, a special key card was needed to access the elevator or stairs to reach the top floors.
Rafe watched the woman for a moment more before leaving the box to confront the intruder.
The smell of fresh paint overwhelmed Lola as soon as she stepped out of the elevator. The hallway was dark but the emergency lights were bright enough for her to see the active construction on the floor. Most of the doors stood open and revealed shells of the rooms they would be when finished. The outer ledges were open to the outside, she noticed. Good for an escape if she needed one.
She needed to go down a floor, it seemed. No test subjects would be found on her current level.
She turned to the elevator and frowned. The lights above it marking the current level were ticking down. There hadn’t been a higher button to press when she was inside.
She jogged toward the stairs, determined to get off the floor before anyone discovered her. She ignored the stitch in her side that forced the breath from her lungs.
Behind her, the other elevator dinged open.
She ducked into one of the open doors. The stairs were still two doors and half a hallway down. Damn.
She didn’t dare try to close the door. One closed door would look too suspicious when all the others remained open. And her pursuer would know exactly where to look if the noise of a closing door gave her away. She hoped whoever exited the elevator would see the hallway empty and leave.
“You’re sure it was this floor?”
The voice rumbled softly. She bit down on her lower lip. Someone had spotted her, it seemed.
She listened carefully. When she could no longer hold her breath, she breathed with her hands over her mouth. Dragons, like all shifters, were known for their enhanced senses. She didn’t want to give herself away through her breath alone.
She tread further into the apartment. If she could just hide…
The door creaked further open and thudded softly into the wall behind it. She’d been smart to move when she did.
But she wasn’t quick enough to duck into the bathroom still under construction. She turned to try hiding inside the closet bigger than the room she had at home and found her way blocked by a large figure.
“Who are you?” The man demanded.
Damn. Lola wet her lips, all speech totally lost. She'd been an idiot to think she could pull off anything like a hunt. It'd been years since the last dragon was killed by her compound and a group of men had still sustained injuries despite the amount of training they did to prepare.
Her new bullets were her only hope.
Her hand reached behind her back and found the gun settled there. But her fingers felt thick like she wore winter gloves.
“Tell me who you are.” The man made his demand again.
She struggled to raise the gun. Her hands shook. She had no combat training. It was more difficult than she imagined to shoot somebody at such close range.
Even if that someone was likely a murdering beast.
He hadn’t given her any signs of his shifter nature. She chewed on her lip. Could she kill someone in cold blood for being associated with shifters?
He approached her when she didn’t answer. He drew nearer and she thought his eyes darkened. In the low light, it was difficult to tell.
His hands reached for her but she was quicker. She raised the gun and pressed it to his middle. Her finger squeezed the trigger just as he shoved the cold metal away.
The bullet didn’t pierce his skin.
Dragon.
“What the—?”
She didn’t wait for him to try grabbing her again. Her flight instincts kicked in. It was run or be captured and killed. She had no intention of giving herself to death so easily.
She ducked around him and tore toward the open hole in the side of the building. It was intended as a landing strip for the shifters in their dragon form.
“Stop!” He called after her.
But she didn’t. She didn’t even turn and look over her shoulder. Her escape was directly in front of her. Her death was directly behind.
She’d seen the men of the compound jump a thousand times. She’d been allowed in the helicopter once or twice. It was as easy as pulling the cord and directing the chute over the city that spread out below her. As long as she didn’t think about how high she was above the ground.
The dragons didn’t even have railings for her to climb over. It was a straight shot out the building and into the air.
She ran and threw herself over the edge. The wind tore away the man’s voice.
She pulled the cord on the pack. Nothing happened. She pulled it again and it fluttered uselessly at her side, smacking her in the face. Panic rushed through her.
Emergency cord. Her fingers scrabbled at the other side. Each pack had two cords, just in case the first failed. She made sure it’d been packed correctly before setting off that night. The cord just hadn’t worked.
The ground rushed up at her. The wind gusted her terribly close to the side of the building. And the chute still wouldn’t deploy.
Just when she accepted she would die, claws wrapped around her and caged her inside. A scream ripped from her throat. Her fall jerked to a stop. The sound of wind buffeting around her was loud in her ears.
She peered through the cage that saved her. The claws were cool to her touch. The dragon that had caught her flew higher, leaving the ground behind. Then it changed direction and landed gently on the ledge where she’d tried her escape.
She stumbled away as soon as the claws set her loose. The wide head of the beast wheeled around and snapped long fangs to keep her from hurtling over the edge again. As if she’d try. She knew her chute was faulty. She was trapped but she didn’t have a death wish.
The hair on her arms raised with…something. Something tingled against her as the dragon started to twist and change. It took only a second before the large man stood before her with fury on his face and nothing on his body.
Her cheeks flushed red and she turned her eyes to the ceiling.
He wouldn’t let her have a moment of embarrassment. His finger dug into her shoulder and he hauled her toward the door, pausing only to snatch a plastic card out of the tattered remains of his clothes. She thought she heard him grumble.
She’d have bruises on her shoulder by morning. If she lived until then. She frowned. Dragons were bloodthirsty creatures and she’d been caught trying to kill one in their own tower. There was no chance she would escape them alive, but she didn’t know how long they would try to torture secrets out of her.
He pressed a button and the elevator sprang open. The plastic card was slammed into a slot near the buttons for the floor and a green light shined briefly. The elevator moved upward.
Lola pursed her lips. She tried to get a better judge of the man through the reflection of the shiny walls. His dark hair was cut short, but the shadow on his cheeks was at least a day old. His shoulders and chest were broad with muscle and tapered down to a tight waist. Her mouth dried and she jerked her eyes upward when she made the mistake of following the lines of his hips.
She didn’t know where he was taking her, but she did know that he made her insides boil and quake with cold all at once.
Chapter Three
Lola stood before the Dragon King and
Consort, if her captor’s intonation could be trusted. She had no reason to doubt the beasts would fancy themselves up with titles and faux majesty. It was all an illusion to blind their victims to their true, murderous ways.
She tried to take in as much of the room as possible without turning her head. She’d expected a large, dark cave lit only by the fires the beasts breathed from their mouths. In her imagination, bones of their kills littered the ground around the piles of hoarded treasure.
Instead, it looked like a normal office. Richer than anything in the compound, but exactly what any human would expect of a workspace. A desk with a computer guarded one wall and bookshelves lined another. The wood appeared dark and finely crafted.
The dragon who had plucked her out of the air stood at her side, thankfully clothed. Another stood at her other side. To the front were the dragons that would decide her fate.
The man, Dragon King Luca if his title was to be used, had a face drawn with fury. The black of his eyes had bled into the white until almost no other color existed.
The woman, Consort Penelope, studied Lola with a raised eyebrow. “What is your name?” she asked.
“Lola Moreau.” Lola held herself still and with a stiff spine. They could torture her all they wanted and she’d probably tell them everything they wished to know. But until the pincers and the pokers started, she wouldn’t even let them see her blink in fear.
“She was found on one of the floors still under construction,” said the one who had captured her. A shiver ran through her body every time he spoke. She was uncomfortably aware of how much space separated their bodies.
“How did she get so close? We have security in place to prevent this from happening,” Luca said in a tight voice.
“She snuck in through the kitchen and made her way up several flights of stairs before taking an elevator.”