by C. I. Black
“That explains why the soul sickness has progressed so far by the time we get to them,” Raven said. “It also means Rebecca knows more about dragons and the world than she wants to admit.”
“And if she knows what the dugga is and his job…”
“It also explains why she thought Diablo really was the devil. She thinks he and you have to kill her.” She got two plates out from the cupboard.
“I said I’m staying.”
“And I said you can’t. Maybe tomorrow she’ll be stable enough to talk.”
“No, I got her from a facility with a gatelock on it.” Nero reached around her and pulled out another plate. “They’d been interrogating her about me.”
“She told you that? Was that before or after you tried to kill her?”
“She didn’t have to tell me. When her magic seizes mine, I see and hear what she does.”
“The seizures.” Realization flashed across Raven’s expression. “Her magic causes them. So your dugga’s magic isn’t failing?”
“I don’t know. It could be, and that’s why Becca can affect me.”
“Becca?” Raven cocked an eyebrow.
“That’s how she thinks of herself… some of the time.” It was how he thought of her— because of their close mental connection… not because he was inamorated. “I know this will make her recovery harder on you, but I need to know about the facility and any leads on the dragon in charge.” Hell, he wasn’t even sure he knew where the building was. Yeah, for all the high rises around it, it was somewhere in the heart of the city and had that weird piece of art in front of it, but that was all he knew. Dealing with Becca in his head had been such a distraction, he’d neglected the common sense that had kept him alive for over two thousand years.
“Pushing her now means we could lose her forever.”
He knew that, but with the kind of tactical support the facility possessed, he had to assume it had security cameras as well, which meant the drake in charge already knew he’d gone after Becca and that put him at a serious disadvantage.
“It’s a risk I have to take,” he forced out, his stomach churning and soul screaming in protest.
“And I suppose I don’t get a say in this?” Becca asked from her doorway, her gaze on Nero, making his pulse race. She wore black athletic leggings that accentuated her lean, muscled legs and a black hoodie that skimmed her hips and hid the rest of her figure. She’d tied her dark hair back in a ponytail, a practical move, but that emphasized her gaunt facial features and drew a small growl — irrational as it was — from deep within him at the reminder of her mistreatment.
“Of course you get a say.” Raven pointed at the small kitchen table. “Let’s eat.”
Becca glanced at the table then back at Nero. Heat throbbed in his chest. He couldn’t ask her questions. That endangered her.
He clenched his jaw. Not asking questions endangered everyone else. He had to keep his focus long enough to determine which drake ran the facility and for the Handmaiden to return and fix his magic… or give it to someone else.
“I need to ask you about that facility,” he said before he could change his mind.
“If you’re up for it.” Raven spooned a scoopful of casserole on a plate and shoved it into Nero’s hands. “For Becca,” she said.
Nero slid into the closest chair and set the plate on the opposite side of the table from him.
The muscles in Becca’s jaw tensed, her gaze still locked on him, appraising, judging his very soul, making his heart pound. She didn’t draw closer and didn’t sit, and all he wanted was their mental connection to renew so he could find out what she was thinking. If he knew that, he’d know how to approach her without hurting her more than he already had. And that only made the churning need to protect her stronger.
Mother of All, he wasn’t going to get anything done if he kept feeling like this.
He jerked his thumb at the chair across from him. “Just sit already.”
Raven set a plate in front of him with a low growl.
Crap. That wasn’t what he’d meant to say, and he certainly hadn’t intended such a sharp tone.
“If you can, I’d like to know about the facility, and then I’ll leave you alone,” he said.
Becca raised her chin and still stood her ground. “I’m not sure I can tell you much.”
“Any little thing will help.” Help him avenge what they’d done to her.
“You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to.” Raven sat with her own plate and three forks.
Steam curled from the plate in front of him, and his stomach released a loud growl.
Becca snorted. “So the devil’s master gets hungry.”
“I’m still a person.” He should eat, get the information he needed, and move on, but he couldn’t bring himself to look away from her long enough to grab a fork.
She cocked an eyebrow. “Except you’re not a person.”
“You probably shouldn’t think about that,” he said.
A shiver swept through her and her hands fisted at her sides, but she didn’t hug herself like she had before, as if while in the shower she’d come to a decision.
“I don’t want to think about that hospital, either.”
“Tell me what you remember, and you never have to think about it again.” He knew trauma didn’t work that way, but he vowed he’d never ask her about her experiences again. Not about her time as Zenobia’s prisoner nor the facility.
“Only if you feel you can,” Raven said.
Becca’s gaze jumped to Raven. “Oh, I’m sure you’ll know when I lose it.”
Raven pursed her lips, and Becca blew out a heavy breath. “You didn’t say that out loud, did you?”
“No.”
“Sorry.”
“Sit.” Raven gestured to the chair across from her. “Eat.”
“And let’s get this information about the hospital out of the way,” Nero said. Just get the information and go. Please. He could leave her alone. He could. If she was safe with Raven, he could leave and not return until Raven told him he could— or not return at all.
Riiight. Who was he kidding? Even just thinking that made his insides squirm and only confirmed how much he needed to stay away for good.
Raven shot him a glare, but Becca’s attention dipped to the plate of food.
“I want two things first,” she said, her voice low.
Desire churned in his gut, his soul straining to agree, and his mind fought to lock away the urge. A smart drake knew the terms first before he agreed to anything.
“There’s a GPS tracker in my body. I want it taken out.”
“It’s been disabled. You don’t have to worry about it,” he said.
“I want it out.” She squared her shoulders. “If magic exists, then you can’t say it won’t ever be activated again.”
“It’s a valid point,” Raven said.
“There’s only one drake who could reactivate it, and he won’t.” Because Nero would kill Gig if he did.
“Only one drake that we know of.” Raven speared a piece of pasta and chicken with her fork. “We know roughly where the tracker is embedded. If we can safely take it out, we will.”
“Raven, I want you to do it.” Becca crossed her arms, as if standing her ground and making her demand gave her power. And it probably did. She hadn’t had control of her life since Zenobia had kidnapped her, and as a captain in the army, she’d been used to having at least a bit of control.
“Fine. Raven will remove the tracker.” He glared at Becca, trying to will her to sit and start eating since, knowing Raven, she wouldn’t do anything until after dinner.
“And your second request?” Raven asked.
Becca slid into the chair and picked up her fork. “I need to look for Werner and any of the others who might have escaped and warn them about the tracker.”
There was no way in hell he was letting her out of the transition suites, not until he’d dealt with the drake who
ran the facility. And while he could use his dugga’s magic to find her friends, there was no way he was going to activate it until the Handmaiden had returned and fixed whatever was wrong with it. For all he knew, just summoning his dugga’s magic would send him into seizures again.
“If they have trackers embedded in them, they’ll have been picked up already.”
“That’s an assumption,” she said.
“A good assumption,” Nero growled.
“I’m not denying it isn’t true, only that until we have confirmation either way, it’s still just an assumption.” She took a small bite of casserole.
“I can follow up on them,” he said, “but the facility and the dragon running it is the pressing issue.”
“And I’m not a fool. I won’t tell you what I remember about the facility until we confirm my friends are still captured.”
For the love of—
“It’s dangerous out there.”
“I’ve dealt with worse.” Her expression darkened. “I can always leave and look for my friends myself.”
“No, you can’t.” The hell he was letting her leave.
“Am I a prisoner?”
“No.” Never.
“So I can leave,” Becca said.
Raven shoved a forkful of food into her mouth.
“We both know why you can’t.” Because his Mother-forsaken soul didn’t want her out of his sight. God, he couldn’t even bring himself to go and let Raven — who was better equipped and clearly preferred by Becca — handle the situation.
“I’m willing to risk losing my shit to confirm the whereabouts of my friends.”
God damn it. “I’m not.” He growled and slammed his fork down on the table.
Becca jumped, her body tensed, and her expression hardened. No sign of soul sickness or fear, just ferocious determination to stand her ground. “I’m going, and Raven can come with me. After that, I’ll tell you about the hospital. Those are my terms.”
“I don’t accept them.” Even if he let her go with Raven, if something happened, Raven couldn’t free gate. They’d be stuck wherever they were until he could get there to help.
The determination in Becca’s gaze darkened, and a hint of something — was that fear? — flickered through him. As soon as he turned his back, she would leave. The only way to keep her safe was to prove she could trust him.
“You’re just like the others,” she said.
His soul howled at the accusation. I would die for you. I’m going to give up everything for you, if only to keep everyone I care about safe. Zenobia would never have done anything like that for anyone. Not many drakes would. “I’m nothing like them.”
“Prove it.”
“Fine. We’ll go confirm your friends are still imprisoned at the facility, and then you’ll tell me everything so I can break them the hell out of there.” He jerked to his feet, the need to take action propelling him up. Except he didn’t know what to do or where to go. His gaze jumped to Becca’s, and his soul ached with a need he didn’t want to acknowledge.
He forced his attention behind her to the hall and the two open doors. There. Go there. Just get away from her. He stormed past her, heading to the room with the unconscious mage. Except he could still feel her aura crackling against his even as he rushed away, and sense her determination and fear in his soul. She was going to destroy everything he cared about. Without a doubt he had to leave everyone to protect them, and denying it wouldn’t change the truth.
19
Becca watched Nero storm into the room where the unconscious man lay, her insides churning with fear and determination and — if she was being fully honest with herself — desire. Now that the voices were a whisper and the panic of reality had eased — albeit not entirely — all that power, mental and magical, in his deliciously muscular body that she’d seen half naked, called to something primal within her. An attraction that she knew was a bad idea, but one she had nevertheless. She doubted he was attracted back and, with her making demands, was probably pissed at her. But the demands were necessary. He needed to prove his claim that he was different from the other mon— dragons.
And he had. Sort of. Clearly he hadn’t liked the idea of looking for Werner before getting the information about the hospital, and there was no guarantee he wouldn’t just kill her once she’d told him what he wanted to know — also a good reason to ignore her irrational attraction — but he had agreed to her terms. It was a surprising start. Even Raven — if Becca had heard her thoughts correctly — had been surprised at Nero’s response. Raven, however, had only been partly surprised at him storming off. Him storming away had been expected. Him not summoning a gate to leave faster? That was a surprise… and a worry.
His emotions are usually better controlled than this.
Becca bit the inside of her cheek before responding to Raven’s thoughts. At least this time she recognized it was a thought and not said out loud.
A hint of a shiver threatened to sweep through Becca, but she managed to hold herself together, not the least in part because of Raven’s magical warmth in her head. Raven’s magic had faded when Becca had been in the shower, but returned when she’d walked in on Raven and Nero talking in the kitchen. Which suggested the woman’s— damn it, dragon’s magic only worked in close proximity or line of sight. And while Becca had managed to keep the terror that was curled tight within her soul in check while showering and making demands of Nero, she had no idea how she was going to manage while looking for Werner. Which meant she had to get out there, find Werner, and return as fast as possible, or escape Nero… or something.
“You should probably eat that before it gets cold,” Raven said, pointing her fork at Becca’s plate.
“Or before Nero loses his patience and changes his mind?”
“He’s given his word. Unless you betray him, he won’t change his mind.” Although he isn’t himself right now.
“That works both ways, you know.” Trusting him and not being herself — that had to explain her attraction to him… because it certainly wasn’t his smoking hot physique… no way. A part of her still wanted to run. If she was smart, once she had a coat and boots and was out of wherever this was, she should flee. Except nothing had changed with her previous arguments against running. Nero had found her before, he could find her again, and now — if he kept his word — he was going to help her find Werner and anyone else who’d escaped Stanbury’s hospital, as well as help her free the others. Of course, had Nero agreed to help to save her friends or to kill them?
If Raven’s thoughts had been correct, none of the people the dragon had encountered who’d been imprisoned in the cave had been sane.
Except Werner and Glenn and the few others who’d stuck together from the beginning didn’t seem crazy. Or was it just because Becca was crazy and couldn’t see it in them as well?
Her fork scraped against her plate, and she realized she was done and trying to get the last of the cheesy sauce. She hadn’t even realized she’d been eating. Her body had gone through the actions while her thoughts had whirled… while, if she was being honest with herself, other people’s thoughts whirled within her as well, not just Raven’s. Thankfully, everyone’s thoughts but Raven’s were still a whisper, and she suspected Raven’s thoughts were louder because she was easing magic into Becca’s head and had created a connection between them.
But there was no telling how long the whispers would stay whispers, and while she could have gone for a second helping of dinner, it was best to take care of business first. She could fall apart after she knew everyone was safe.
“Let’s get this tracker out of me.”
“Absolutely. What’s your shoe size?”
“My shoe size? Eight.”
Raven pulled out her phone and sent a text.
A chime sounded down the hall.
“Fine,” Nero growled, and a whoosh of air swept into the kitchen.
“What was that?” Becca asked, except a part of her knew. The
knowledge tickled at the back of her mind. She’d felt that wind before and knew from the monsters who’d been in her head that the wind came from the black vortex Nero — and Werner — had used to move around.
Raven pursed her lips, and the heat in Becca’s head swelled.
“Yeah, I know,” Becca said. “I know already. I just don’t want to think about it.”
“That’s fair.” Raven cleared their plates and set them in the sink. “If I’m getting the tracker out, Nero can grab you a pair of boots and a coat.”
“I’m sure he loves doing errands.” From the moment he’d started talking in her head, she’d known he was the monst— man in charge. He had more important things to worry about than chores. Which begged the question— “Why isn’t he sending the devil to go with me? Why is he going himself?”
Because D has been upset lately and is just as likely to kill you as protect you. “If that facility where he found you is being run by a dragon, he can’t afford to have second-hand information. It’s too dangerous.”
“Because?”
Raven met Becca’s gaze. “Because he’s supposed to kill you and all the others like you, regardless of your intention toward our kind.”
Becca could feel the truth in her words… and her fear.
“Dragon law demands all humans with magical abilities be killed.” Raven strode past Becca to the cabinet in the hall and pulled out a sealed medical kit.
“That seems a little extreme.” And highly prejudiced.
“Those who made the law didn’t know at the time how many humans could naturally develop a magical ability.” Or they didn’t care.
Becca shifted, a shiver threatening to sweep through her. She knew this and could have only known it because of the dragons who’d been in her body.
“We were afraid,” Raven said.
“Because we— us humans with magic had tried to kill you.”
“Yes.”
“You were left in this… state.” Spirits trapped in humans. It actually surprised her Raven wasn’t furious about that.