by Julie Wetzel
The screech of his fire alarm went off, pulling him back to consciousness. He struggled to get his limbs working again. Chunks of the flame-retardant ceiling he’d installed crashed down as it buckled under its own weight. The pressure from the blast had shattered the ceiling tiles beyond recognition, but they had done their job. The flames burning on the table and floor hadn’t caught on the beams of the ceiling.
A secondary siren screeched to life, driving Noah past his pain. He now had sixty seconds to get out of the room before his state-of-the-art fire-suppression system kicked in and flooded the room with an unhealthy dose of argon gas. It had been one of his many splurges that he’d made while setting up his lab. On the off chance there was an explosion that left him unable to get out, the argon gas would kill him, but it would smother out the flames before they reached something more dangerous. That, in itself, would save the lives of the poor sods sent to save him.
Shaking the shards of glass and fire from his wings, Noah staggered to his feet. He bumped Kara with his nose, but she didn’t move. Moving to her waist, he grabbed the back of her pants in his teeth and pulled her off their attacker. The hiss of the gas drove him faster as he backed up. Thankfully, Kara hadn’t let the door shut completely, and he was able to drag her into the stairwell and shut the lower door. The hissing noise stopped as the pressure from the argon gas forced the air seal around the door closed.
Noah struggled through the dark until he was next to her. “Kara,” he called, rubbing his nose against her.
She moaned in the dark.
“Come on.” He nudged her, forcing her to respond. “We have to get out of here.” There was good air in here, but the seal wasn’t designed to be perfect.
She moaned again.
Noah found her arm and managed to wiggle under her so she was mostly supported on his back.
After a moment of dead weight, she started to help by clutching on to him.
“Hold on,” he said as he started up the steps. Every step hurt. His chest hurt from the bullet. His shoulder screamed from where the blast had reinjured it. His wings and back burned from the sharp glass and caustic potion that had been sprayed across him. Focusing his mind, he ignored the pain and pulled on the energy of his dragon. Byrd was screaming at him to keep his mate from harm. He didn’t spare a thought to calm Byrd. He used that to force himself up the steps.
The door at the top of the steps was a bit more challenging, but he got it open. The sudden light of his kitchen blinded him, but he crawled his way out, dragging Kara with him. The audible cock of a gun stopped him, and he turned blurry eyes up to find four men standing in his kitchen, weapons drawn.
Byrd screamed at him to fight, to protect his mate, but there was nothing Noah could do. Kara was nearly unconscious, and he hurt beyond words. He struggled to flip Kara off him and lie down over her. At least that way, they couldn’t shoot her. Noah released his hold and let Byrd take over. If anything could save them, it was the savage fury of his dragon.
Byrd growled and snapped at the four men as they got close, but they tackled him, knocking him off Kara. His claws raked across the face of one of the men as his jaws snapped at another. “Mine!” he screeched, trying to get free so he could protect his fallen mate. He drew in a breath, stoking the fires deep in his chest, but one of the men slammed his head into the ground, clamping his mouth shut. Smoke rolled out of his nose, but there was no way to release the flames he had heated. They burned in his chest, forcing him to cool them off.
“Do it!” one of the men yelled.
Thrashing, Byrd fought as someone near his tail scraped something hard against the scales on his hip, separating them slightly. The sharp end of a needle slipped between two of the scales and deep into his flesh. His roar of anger was smothered by the man holding his mouth shut. The serum burned as it entered. Red filled his vision, and he kicked hard, flipping the man on his hip away. Another good thrashing tossed one of the men from his side. The rest released him and retreated to a safe distance. Byrd roared at them, but whatever they had injected him with was already working. Unable to stoke his flames to kill his attackers, he staggered over to Kara’s limp form and dropped himself on her again. Breathing hard, he spread his wings over her in a vain attempt to protect her. His vision swam as he clutched onto Kara. Thoughts of Raven’s death filled his mind, and he keened out his anguish as another of his was lost to these monsters. He glared at the waiting men as his limbs went heavy and numb.
A bare trickle of Noah’s consciousness brushed against Byrd’s mind. “They will pay for this.”
Byrd blinked one last time before the drug stole the last of his strength. “With their lives.”
10
“We can’t kill him,” a male voice called out of the darkness Noah’s mind swam in. “The boss wants the dragon.”
“But that shit killed Spencer!” another enraged voice responded. “He needs to die!”
“I know,” the first voice answered, coaxing the second to see reason, “and he will, but this is what we’ve been working for. We can’t kill him yet. The maks need him alive.”
Noah bristled at the slur against mages. The term ‘maks’ was only ever used in the most derogatory way. It was a word he’d often heard from his father growing up. A soft growl echoed up from his chest.
The conversation on the other side of the room fell silent.
“He’s awake,” the second voice said.
“He can’t be awake,” the first answered. “It’s only been a couple of hours.”
“But he growled.”
“He’s a dragon,” the first grumbled. “They do that. Besides, that drug will keep him from flaming up for the next day or so.”
“I fucking hate dragons. They stink!” The man’s last words were muffled as if he were covering his face.
The first man laughed. “And here you’re working for a man who wants to be one.”
“No!” the second one snapped. “I signed on to this project so I could kill the bloody bastards. Fucking blight on society.”
Noah forced his breathing to remain even. He felt around and found Byrd’s energy hadn’t woken up yet. It was a good thing, because his dragon would have been enraged by the man’s words.
“You’ll get your chance soon enough,” the first voice answered again. “When the maks have figured out how to get the dragons out, you can kill as many as you want.”
“But what about the shits that want those dragons?”
“We’ll worry about that when the time comes.” The way the first voice said that clenched Noah’s heart.
“Damn he stinks.” The scrape of a chair on a bare floor punctuated the man’s words. Heavy footsteps echoed across the room as the man got closer. “When the fuck can we get rid of this shit?”
Something hard banged into something metal near Noah’s side. He jerked in response as the vibration traveled through the floor.
“He moved!” the man next to him yelled.
“No he didn’t,” the other voice said. There was another scraping sound and more footsteps.
Noah forced himself to relax. The startling noise had woken Byrd, but the dragon wasn’t fully focused yet. “Be still,” Noah warned his other half. This brought Byrd into full focus.
Something hard jabbed into Noah’s side and pushed at him.
Byrd started to react, but Noah clamped him down. “Be still,” he warned again.
“He’s still out,” the second voice said. The lighter footsteps moved away.
Noah could feel the presence of the first man standing over him, but he remained relaxed. Keeping Byrd from jumping up and trying to tear out the guy’s throat took most of his concentration. “Be still,” he pleaded again. “We need a plan before we attack.”
Byrd didn’t like it, but he stopped fighting with Noah.
The man stood over them for a moment longer before turning away.
Noah cracked an eye. Steel bars filled his vision. Shifting his head just slightly,
he watched as a short, stout man walked away from him.
“When are they coming to get him?” the man asked as he threw himself into a chair and crossed his arms over his chest.
“As soon as they’re done with the girl,” the second man answered.
Rage colored the edges of Noah’s vision. He clamped his control over Byrd down before the dragon could give away the fact that they were awake. “Patience,” he pleaded.
“Mine!” Byrd screamed at him.
“I know,” Noah soothed him, “but we need more information before we can save her.”
Byrd thrashed about in Noah’s mind, hating the fact that he was helpless. After a moment, he settled. “Kill them,” he growled.
“We will,” Noah promised. “But we need patience and calm right now.”
“Mine,” Byrd growled once more before falling silent.
Now that Byrd was settled, Noah focused his mind on their situation. They were caught. His eye shifted around, taking in their prison. It looked to be a small steel cage. Something you would put a bear or lion in. Beyond that was a mostly empty room, maybe twenty feet by fifteen. The walls were white plasterboard. Nothing remarkable about them. The ceiling was made from soundproof drop-ceiling tiles. There was a long window on one wall, but there were blinds dropped over them. Light leaked through, but it didn’t have the quality of sunlight. So, a hallway.
With the environment firmly in mind, Noah concentrated on the two men arguing at the far end of the room. They weren’t very remarkable, either. One was short and dressed in what looked like a short-sleeved uniform shirt and dark blue trousers. He had a ball cap pulled on over his muddy brown hair. The other man was taller. He sat relaxed in his chair in jeans and a T-shirt. His feet were kicked out in front of him with his booted feet crossed at the ankles. He tried to pacify the smaller man as they argued. There was something familiar about the smaller man, but Noah couldn’t place it. After a moment, the pair fell into a waiting silence.
The smaller man glared at Noah for a while before blowing up. “Fuck!” He jumped up from his chair and started pacing. “I work with these shits all day, every day, and now they want me to sit here and watch this one? Fuck that!” He ripped a knife out of his belt and turned towards Noah. “I’m killing it!”
The second man jumped up and grabbed the first. “Oh, no you’re not!” He yanked the knife out of the first man’s hand and turned him around. “They need him alive.”
“Fuck!” the smaller man snapped, “I can’t stand it in here!”
“Then let’s go get some coffee.” The taller man turned them towards the door.
“But—” the other guy protested and turned his head to look at Noah.
“He’s not going anywhere,” the first man said reassuringly. “He’s still asleep. Besides, he can’t get out of the cage. It’s enchanted.”
“Fuckin’ maks.”
“And you need to chill out for a bit.”
With that, the two men disappeared out the door.
Noah lifted his head and watched as their silhouettes passed by the long window.
Byrd growled.
“It’s okay,” Noah promised. “They’re first on our list.”
This appeased Byrd.
A quick look around solidified Noah’s facts before he started making a plan. First thing on his list was getting out of this cage. Standing up, he leaned against the bars, testing them. From their color, temperature, and the fact they didn’t give, Noah guessed they were iron. He might be able to do something with that. Iron wasn’t the best material to work magic on, but it wasn’t impossible.
Noah chipped his claw scratching at the hard surface. When he had a workable rune scraped onto the metal, he drew in power from the world around him and poured it into the mark. He felt it hit the symbol and skitter away like water on dry ice. The sharp smell of ozone filled the air, making him sneeze. He shook his head, trying to clear it. They’re enchanted.
Byrd growled at the failed attempt and chomped down on the iron rod. His teeth clicked against the bar but didn’t make a dent.
“Stop,” Noah called, pulling the dragon back before he broke a tooth. “There has to be an answer.” Taking control, Noah searched the cage. He pressed on the walls and ceiling, testing the welds to see if anything would give. Nothing did. Next, he rattled the door, trying the hinges and lock. Both were solidly made.
Noah eyed the padlock. It was just a normal lock, but if the mages had enchanted the cage, they had probably enchanted the lock. If he could find something long enough, he could pick it open, but he would need the dexterity of his fingers. It would be impossible with claws.
He blew out a breath in frustration. He needed to be human to get out. Hell, if he were human, he could spell the lock off. His lock-picking and trap-breaking abilities were some of the main reasons Eternity had hired him in the first place. The fact that he was a natural with magic was a lovely bonus. He sat back on his haunches and prepared himself for the fight he was about to have.
“Byrd,” Noah called out to his dragon, “we need to be human.”
“No.” The dragon’s response was fast and firm.
“I can get us out of this cage, but I need my magic to do it. And I can’t work magic like this.”
“No.” The answer was a little slower, but still very firm.
Noah tilted his head down and closed his eyes. He had to get his dragon to agree with him. “Byrd, if we want any hope of saving Kara, we need to get out of this cage. I can do that. But you have to let go.”
“Mine.” The word came out conflicted as Byrd waffled on his choice.
“Yes.” Noah nodded. “We can save her, but we have to go now. Before they come back.” Noah didn’t know how long it would take the pair to get coffee, but he didn’t stand a chance of escaping if they came back before he was free.
“For mine.”
Noah felt the dragon’s hold release. He breathed out as the familiar tingle of magic rushed over his skin. He let it take him, shifting his form to something more familiar. Opening his eyes, Noah blinked. After being in dragon form for so long, the world looked strange. Duller than it should be. Shaking the feeling away, he sat up and moved towards the door.
The lock was exactly what he’d thought it was—a simple padlock. Wrapping his hands around it, Noah pulled energy from the world around him and aimed it at the lock. He muttered his spell, spinning it into the enchantment already there. Concentrating hard, he pulled the enchantment apart, shredding it free of the metal. When he was done, the lock was still latched, but now it was nothing more than a lock. Pulling his fingers back from the metal, he muttered another spell that ate the heat from the lock. It was a very simple spell, but it super-cooled the steel to a brittle temperature. Leaning back, Noah kicked at the door with his heel. It rattled hard before the latch on the cage gave way. Noah stared at it in shock. He’d expected to have to beat on the door to get the lock to shatter.
Sitting up, he looked at the thin bar that had held the door shut. The pin that held the joint together had snapped in the extreme cold. Someone had forgotten to enchant that one little piece. Aww, hell. All that work for nothing. Shaking his head, Noah climbed out of the cage.
The feel of scales pushed against his skin.
“Not yet, Byrd,” Noah pleaded as he wrapped his arms around himself. “We need to be human.”
A wordless question bubbled up from Byrd.
“To blend in,” Noah explained. “We need to find Kara before we transform.”
Byrd paused to think about that before backing down.
“Thank you.” Standing up, Noah concentrated on what he needed to do. Now that he was free, he needed to find clothing. Being human would let him blend in, but whoever was holding them would probably notice a naked man running around. Voices from the hall drew his attention. The voices of the two men coming back with their coffee.
Racing across the room, Noah slipped behind the door and drew up more power. He whis
pered the first part of a spell, weaving the energy into something akin to the spell he’d used in his basement, only more lethal.
As the two men came into the room, the shorter one stopped when he saw the empty cage. “He’s gone!”
Barking the last line of the spell, Noah leaped out and grabbed both men by their shoulders. Electricity coursed through them, burning out their nervous systems.
The two men dropped without a sound.
Clinging to their shirts, Noah lowered them both to the ground. Carefully, he shut the door in case someone else came by. Byrd coiled in satisfaction as Noah dropped down next to the men and started stripping them. He studied them as he worked, trying not to think of what he was doing. There was something vaguely familiar about the smaller man. He struggled into the taller man’s pants as he thought about it. The jeans were much too tight to be comfortable, but the smaller man’s clothing would be too short. His shirt, though… that would fit him better than the T-shirt.
As he pulled the work shirt off, something caught his eye—a small symbol embroidered on the dark material. An infinity symbol with a line through it. He stared at the dead man. This guy worked for Eternity! Flipping the dead man over, Noah grabbed the back of his pants and rolled his belt down. Outrage ate at him. Just on the inside of his pants was an iron-on tag with the man’s name and department listed on it. Lambert. Maintenance. The man was a goddamned housekeeper at the main office. Noah slammed his hand down on the man’s back and ripped the shirt the rest of the way off him. How the hell could anyone from work be involved with this? They were supposed to protect dragons, not slaughter them!