Naked

by Alexandra Christian

  Phoe gasped and clutched her hands over her ears. “What the hell is that?”

  “A dragon,” Cage replied.

  As if in response, the beast screamed again. Cage heard a low rumbling sound that thrummed in rhythmic time with Phoebe’s heart. The sound of parchment crisping in the fire, multiplied tenfold.

  “Oh my God,” she cried, pushing the words from her mouth with a breathless gasp. “Its wings. I can hear its wings.”

  “Never mind that,” Cage snapped, grabbing his pack and pushing both women through the narrow doorway. “Sadie, do you have a cellar?”

  “There’s a storm cellar,” she said. “But you can’t get to it from inside the house.” She ran to the window, pointing out across the backyard. “There.”

  Cage followed her gaze to the storm cellar out back. The entrance may as well have been miles away. He wasn’t sure that Phoe, still injured from their encounter with the zombie horde, would be able to run, and though the dragon was making lazy circles in the sky right now, it knew they were there. It could smell them, taste their pheromones on the wind and probably see them by now. As soon as they got out the door, it would rush in and devour them in seconds. That’s what they did.

  “Fuck,” he growled. “Fuck, fuck, fuck.”

  “What?”

  “We’ll never make that before it reaches us.” He looked around the old house for anything that they might use to fend off the beast.

  “I thought you said that the burning bodies would keep them away,” Sadie grumbled. “You said we’d be safe.”

  “Obviously I was wrong,” Cage snapped. “They usually hunt in packs, but this one’s rogue. Which makes it even more dangerous.” He gave a frustrated growl. “Damnit, ever since I got hooked up with you…” He started pulling off his shirt once more.

  “What are you doing?” Phoe gasped.

  Cage tossed his jeans in her direction, slapping her in the face.

  “Never mind, just take this.”

  “Why are you giving me your clothes?”

  “Because I’ll need them later. When I go out this door, count to thirty, slowly, and then you both run like hell for that root cellar.”

  “You’re leaving us?” Phoe shrieked, getting between Cage and the door.

  “I’m drawing it away from you. Just shut up and do as I say,” he shouted, shoving her aside.

  “Cage.”

  He took a deep breath and closed his eyes, gathering his strength. “This is going to bloody hurt,” he growled before bursting out the door.

  “Cage. Come back,” Phoebe cried out.

  The dragon screamed as it saw Cage burst forth from the house and into the open field. It was white, its pearlescent scales glistened in the darkness, reflected by the blade of moonlight that pierced through the clouds. One of its wings stretched at least two car lengths, and despite its serpentine build, it was not a juvenile.

  Flying low over Cage’s head, it breathed fire, just a spritz to show off. It was coming in fast. Shit. The shift would have to be faster, and there would be no time to acclimate. Steeling himself against the pain, Cage leapt into the air.

  The bigger the shift, the more excruciating.

  Fuck.

  His arms and legs elongated, growing exponentially in microseconds even as his skin split along his spine. It peeled away like snakeskin to reveal hardened red scales. For a moment he felt paralyzed as the wings sprung from his back, cracking his spine and instantly jerking his body upward.

  The shift traveled in waves, changing his body and breaking bone. His jaw was dislocated and blood ran in rivulets down his chin, melting into the shiny crimson scales that ran along his back like plate mail.

  The pain was a merciless clarifier, drawing out every buried memory to burn like flashbulbs in front of his consciousness. He screamed, but it morphed into a terrible roar that shook the ground beneath them and spawned a streak of lightning across the sky.

  The white dragon turned, seeing him and pulling up short to propel itself higher.

  Cage was on it, laying his wings flat at his sides and streaking toward the beast. Cage found his stride, pushing himself faster. The red dragon he embodied was much larger than the delicate wyrm he chased. He arched his neck, pulling back slightly with a heavy exhale. Fire poured forth in a long stream of blue, orange, and red just over his enemy’s head. The other dragon screeched, dodging the flames easily.

  Intentional miss. Cage just wanted to get its attention. Overshooting his target, he spun into the clouds, coaxing the white dragon to give chase. He had to get it away from the farmhouse and away from Phoe and Sadie.

  The clouds felt like miniscule needles pecking at his eyes as he climbed higher. The muscles in his back and shoulders ached, but it was a good ache, the sort that made one feel alive and powerful.

  The white dragon screeched again, throwing a ball of flame that grazed the edge of his wing. Looking back, he could see how close it was. Cage slowed just a little, letting it catch up, then whipped his tail, barbed with blades of bone, into the other dragon’s face with a sharp crack that knocked the white dragon backward.

  It began to fall, and Cage was on it, spitting fire as it thrashed in the air, desperately trying to regain its equilibrium. St. John roared, asserting his dominance before skirting his enemy’s head and rising up to lose himself in the clouds overhead. It followed, wildly spitting fire and gnashing its teeth.

  Perfect. The angrier the rogue was, the easier it would be to disorient him.

  Cage flew in a zigzag path higher and higher. He could feel the ice crystals forming on his wings. If he went much higher, he wouldn’t be able to breathe fire, and the ice would collect until his wings became too heavy to carry his weight. Cage only hoped that the other dragon would freeze before Cage did.

  He had to make sure the women had enough time to get into the cellar.

  Sudden pain shot down his spine, and he let out an agonized screech. His body tensed as he started to fall. The white dragon’s tail whipped around, cutting a gash across the sensitive space between his wings. Cage lashed out with his claws, grabbing on to the other dragon and pulling it close, taking it with him as he began to spin toward the earth. It struggled and growled, spitting bits of flame.

  Cage flailed and thrashed, trying to avoid the fiery breath of the white dragon. Its talons dug into his flesh, and its teeth barely missed his throat as it fought. Cage hissed, spraying venom in his opponent’s eyes until it let him go. Suddenly the white dragon screeched and spread its wings, using the updraft to slow down. Reaching out with a talon, Cage grabbed hold of the white dragon as the ground rushed up to meet them.

  When they hit it was as if a thunderbolt shook the earth. They skidded across the field behind Sadie’s house, leaving a long, deep ditch in their path as they stumbled to a halt. Once their momentum stopped, both creatures rolled apart, lying on the ground, panting heavy, dusky heaves of breath and smoke.

  “Cage.” His eye opened as he recognized Phoe calling his name.

  She ran across the pasture, a baseball bat clutched in her hands. The white dragon rumbled deep in its throat, getting up on haunches to crawl across the ground. Its leathery wings looked torn and bruised as it used them to help itself along.

  It gave another thunderous roar and spat a weak stream of fire toward Cage.

  “Stay away from him, you bitch,” Phoe screamed, running straight up to the dragon and clocking it in the back of the head with the bat.

  The white dragon whipped its tail around, trying to swat at Phoe like an annoying fly, but she wasn’t going to be deterred. She dodged the barbed tail and, in a comical display of dexterity, managed to climb onto the creature’s back to deliver a rain of heavy blows until the dragon was screeching and hissing. Its head whipped around wildly, trying to throw off the offending little insect.

  * * *

  Phoe was pretty certain she had lost her mind, but just then, she didn’t care. She was acting on pure animal instinct, a
nd for the moment, it seemed to be working. Then suddenly, with a swoop of one of its white wings, the dragon managed to dislodge her. She was thrown to the ground between the white dragon and the magnificent creature Cage had somehow become.

  Slowly the white dragon closed in, baring its teeth in preparation to strike. Phoe looked up at the creature, screaming and covering her ears as it roared once more. “Leave me alone,” Phoebe shrieked, the sound alone enough to drive her mad.

  Suddenly, Cage leapt between them, his body covering Phoe’s as he reared up on his back legs and spread his wings. He spoke to the beast, a strange, serpentine tongue that whispered and hissed. It growled back and spat a weak stream of fire before backing off and lying down before them in submission.

  With a final, reverberating hiss, Cage shrank and contorted, turning back to his human form. He lay limp on the ground, panting. The streaks and tears in his skin from the fight with the other dragon were fresh and bleeding, and Phoe rushed to help.

  He put up a hand. “Stay away for a moment,” he snarled, his voice still heavy with that animalistic quality.

  The white dragon screamed one last time, and Phoe turned away from Cage to see its body twist and shrink in a grotesque display of crushing bone and blood.

  She hid her eyes but peered through her fingers, not wanting to see but desperately needing to. Within seconds, where once had stood the regal white beast now lay a woman with a peculiar beauty. She was all arms and legs, lean and muscular with blonde hair so white that it nearly blended into her pale, freckled skin. It hung in wet strings about her face, stained with her blood.

  “Jesus, St. John,” she gasped. She had a thick Irish brogue that might have been enchanting if Phoe hadn’t been so terrified. “Kill me next time, why don’tcha?”

  “Eve?” Cage exclaimed, still panting heavily. “What are you doing? How did this happen?”

  “Didn’t think you were the only alien abomination in the world, did you?” she said.

  “You should have made your presence known,” Cage growled, pulling on the jeans that Phoe held out to him.

  “And miss the pleasure of kicking your reptilian arse?” she teased.

  He harrumphed. “You must be mistaken. I seem to remember clipping your wings and drawing first blood.”

  “You got lucky.”

  “Hardly. I’ve always been stronger and faster, Eve. You would do well to remember it.”

  “Care to prove it?”

  Phoe felt an icy sliver of jealousy work its way into her chest. She swallowed hard. “I hate to interrupt all of this witty banter, but could one of you tell me what the hell is going on?”

  The girl took the shirt that Cage held out to her and tugged it around her shoulders, covering her battle-worn body. “Oh. Sorry.” She held her hand out to Phoe. “Eve Manning.”

  “Phoebe Addison,” Phoe replied tersely. “I’m sure there’s a good reason why you’ve tried to kill us.”

  “Kill Macijah?” Eve laughed heartily, clapping Cage on the shoulder.

  “As if you could,” he grumbled.

  “I’d never try, darling. The world is far too interesting with you in it.” She stretched on her toes to kiss his cheek. “Cage is practically my brother. Oliver sent me to find you. Find out what you were up to. He said you might need my help getting to Canaveral.”

  “You could have called,” Cage grumbled.

  “You have to admit this was more fun,” she replied, smiling mischievously.

  “Fun? This was fun for you? You could have killed him,” Phoe shouted. “Not to mention me.”

  “You?” Eve laughed, a deep rumbling sound that seemed unusual for one so small. “You seemed to do a pretty good job of protecting him, you nimble minx.” She threw Phoe a wink and started toward the old farmhouse. “I’ll need some trousers and then we need to talk.”

  Cage reached out, taking Phoe’s hand, and she grasped it firmly. She wasn’t so sure that she liked Eve. And she wasn’t sure she could be trusted.

  “Practically her brother, eh?”

  “Her brother is Oliver Manning. My best friend and the only one who can help us now.” He groaned slightly, wiping a streak of blood from his lip as they approached the house. “I just hope it isn’t too late.”

  11

  “What have you been up to?” Eve emerged into the sitting room, toweling off her hair.

  Once they’d convinced Sadie that Eve wasn’t really a fire-breathing dragon, Sadie had allowed the woman to come into the house to shower off the remnants of blood and dirt and dress herself.

  “Obviously not as much as you have,” Cage said.

  “I haven’t seen you since…” She hesitated, a blush rising in her cheeks. “Jeez, what a shit friend I am. I’m sorry, Cage. I didn’t mean to—”

  “No need. No, we haven’t seen one another since Corinne’s funeral,” he replied, buttoning his shirt.

  “How long ago?” Phoe asked.

  She was desperate to join the conversation. She had this vague feeling that had lingered with her since high school. Phoe had never been the life of the party. She was always standing in the background, trying not to be noticed with her nose in a book. She had never been good at making friends. Just when she got comfortable, she would always find herself being subconsciously shifted to the back of the conversation. Then, eventually she’d just sit there quietly listening.

  Never memorable or funny. Never the girl to make the joke. Never the girl to be noticed. But Eve with her exquisite bone structure was definitely the girl to be noticed.

  “Seven years, isn’t it?” Eve answered, flopping down on the couch beside Cage.

  “Oh,” Phoe answered. “I’m sorry. I didn’t know.”

  “Of course you didn’t. It was a long time ago. It’s fine.”

  Phoe saw the look on Cage’s face as he said this. Sad, but stoic. She thought this was a memory he’d worked hard to bury, so hard and for so long that he hardly knew he was doing it anymore.

  “Is that why you agreed to the Splice?” Eve asked.

  Phoe filed through the information she’d been given so far. “Splice?”

  “Yeah, the genetic splice. What makes Cage and myself shape-shifters.”

  “Monsters,” Cage replied.

  Eve gave Cage’s hand a reassuring pat. Phoe hoped they couldn’t hear her teeth grinding. This woman was far too touchy-feely. “My brother, Oliver Manning, is a pioneering geneticist. He figured out a way to isolate the genetic code of the Others.”

  “What about you? Sibling rivalry again?” Cage asked.

  “Hardly. I did it because I wanted to. In case you didn’t notice back there, I was badass. Of course, Ollie was concerned for my mental health after your little incident, so I only got the one form. I can only shift to the dragon, but still badass.”

  Phoe stood up fast enough to topple the coffee table in front of her. She’d had just about enough of their playful banter. By her calculation, they only had a few more days to get to Canaveral, and she didn’t intend to waste it listening to them trade barbs.

  “Why don’t you go ahead and tell us what it is that you want so you can be on your way?” she asked, her jaw tense. “I really don’t have time for idle chat.”

  Eve grinned, her expression so smug that Phoe had a terrible urge to slap her face. “My brother sent me to help. It seems the two of you can’t manage to stop attracting attention. He also sent me to warn you.”

  “Warn us?”

  “Yeah. You really stepped in some shit this time, Macijah. They’re coming at you from all sides. Ollie says you found some artifact.”

  That was it, the last straw. “Well, thanks so much,” Phoe said. “You’ve tried to kill us and now warned us about impending danger. I think your work here is done.” Phoe pasted on a wide sixty-watt smile while handing Eve a jacket. “And mind the zombies on the way out. They tend to get cranky with strangers.”

  Eve chuckled and turned to Cage. “I like her,” she said in
that same intimate tone, as if they were in on a secret and Phoe was the outsider who’d somehow wandered into their game. “She’s kind of a handful.”

  “Pardon?” Phoe’s head whipped around, glaring at Eve.

  But Cage didn’t seem inclined to be chummy either. “Look, Eve, I’d love to sit here and catch up,” he said, not sounding as if he meant it in the slightest. “But time is short.” He stood up, walking away from her and standing beside Phoe, as if he sensed the anger and jealousy that was seething just beneath her skin. He didn’t touch her, but she felt his presence just the same, the sense that he was with her, not Eve.

  “Just…tell us what’s going on.”

  “Let me see it,” Eve said. She was still lounging on the sofa, relaxed, smiling. But there was a hunger in her gaze that made Phoe uneasy.

  Phoebe looked at Cage, seeking reassurance that this woman could be trusted. He seemed to know her; she was the sister of his best friend.

  “It’s someplace safe, I assure you,” Cage replied, giving Phoe a knowing wink. Such a cool liar he was. He hadn’t even missed a beat. “You didn’t think we’d be careless enough to walk around with it in our pockets?”

  Eve grinned. “Always the spy.”

  “My sister is an archaeologist for the Interplanetary Union,” Phoe began. “She found this amulet on a dig and wanted to keep it safe from this man named Derek Machine so she sent it to me. The same day I got the package, I got a call from Jess along with a threat from this guy saying that I had to bring it to New London, or he was going to kill her.”

  “No shit? Derek Machine?” Eve looked impressed. “Congratulations, Cage. When you decide to piss somebody off, you go straight to the top.”

  “Who the hell is this Derek Machine?” Sadie interjected. Up until now she’d remained silent. “Why would he be so interested in this little doo-hicky anyway?”

  “The most dangerous man you’ve never met,” Eve replied.

  “He’s an opportunistic psychopath,” Cage grumbled.

  Eve chuckled. “He’s the money behind Manticore Technologies.”