by Julie Wetzel
“It’s not here,” Brett said as he dumped the dishes out of the cabinet to shatter on the floor. “What do we do?”
Parker paused and looked around at the chaos they had caused. He picked up Terra’s cell phone and the note that had been dumped on the floor. “He’ll be back,” he said as he read over the note. “And we can use her for leverage.” He held up the note for Brett to see.
An evil smile crept over Brett’s face as he read the short message. “Right.” There was a glee in his voice that sent a shiver of panic down Terra’s spine.
Clicking into her phone, Parker sent a short text message before shoving it in his pocket. “That should get his attention.” He turned to Brett. “Grab the girl.”
Fear sent Terra squirming against her bonds again. There was no way they were going to take her without a fight.
Reaching out, Brett grabbed for her shoulders.
Terra twisted away from him.
“Come here, bitch,” Brett growled as he placed one knee on the bed so he could get a hold on her.
Seeing an opening, Terra swung both legs up and nailed him in the side as hard as she could. The impact knocked him off balance but didn’t do any real damage.
Brett growled in anger and pounced on Terra, pinning her shoulders to the bed.
She squirmed under the larger man, taking every opportunity she could to drive an elbow or knee into him. Lights danced behind her eyes as he punched her in the side of the head, but she still fought him. She would be damned if she went quietly.
“Stop.” Parker’s voice broke into their fight.
Brett dropped his body down over Terra’s, pinning her to the mattress.
Squirming, Terra rolled her head over to look at Parker. She did not like the look on his face.
“Get off her,” he said. “I have a better idea.”
Slowly, Brett started to move.
Terra took the opportunity and swung her head back and straight into his face.
“Shit!” the man cursed and rolled off her.
An evil smile slipped across Terra’s as he hit the floor with a bang.
“Fucking bitch!” he cursed again as he sat up. Blood ran down his face from where Terra’s head had met with his nose.
Standing up, Brett raised his fist to lay another blow to Terra, but Parker grabbed his arm before the fist could fly.
“Wait,” he said. “We still have that stuff the boss gave us.”
Joy filled Brett’s eyes. “Yeah.” He looked over his shoulder at his partner. “That shit could kill her.”
“And it would be painful.”
Fear raced through Terra as Brett turned to look at her. He rubbed the back of his hand through the blood dripping from his nose, smearing it across his face. “Right…” Brett nodded and stepped out of the house.
Terra wiggled, trying to loosen her bonds. The fight had given her some slack, but not enough to make any real difference.
“It’s all right, there, chicky.” Parker came over and laid his large hand on Terra’s cheek. “Look on the bright side—if you live, you’ll have more power than you’ve ever dreamed of. But, of course, no one’s lived through this yet.”
Terra tried to jerk out from under his hand, but he pressed her head down into the bedding, holding her in place.
Parker laughed at her. “Just be a good little bird, and take your medicine.” He stood up away from her to let Brett in.
“This might hurt… a lot,” Brett said as he held out a hypodermic needle.
Terra lashed out, trying to hurt him again, but he was out of reach this time.
Aiming for her butt, Brett speared her with the needle. The force at which he threw it jabbed the needle through her thin clothing and deep into her muscle. A quick push of the plunger, and the liquid was in her.
“All done.” He said it like she should be proud of him.
Terra glared at them both as the serum burnt its way through her. This one was worse than the last time she had been drugged. She whimpered in pain as it began to take effect. Closing her eyes, she tried to breathe through the aching, but it was too much. Her muscles tightened as the pain spread. Unable to take any more, Terra cried out in agony through the gag as she thrashed. Opening her eyes, she shot her attackers a death glare. Once she was free of these bonds, she was going to share this pain with both of them. That is, if she lived through it.
***
The phone in Alex’s bag pinged, and he nearly tore the flap off getting into it.
A message from Terra.
His relief turned to horror as he read the text. “They have her.” His voice revealed the fear eating him. After all this time of looking, he had finally found a mate that his dragon wanted, and he had left her unprotected. “I have to go.” Alex reached up and started to pull his shirt off. He could shift to his smaller size and fly out without Daniel having to stop.
“Wait!” Daniel reached out and grabbed his arm. “The men are on their way. Just stay put, and we’ll be there shortly.”
“But they said they would kill her if I didn’t bring them the medallion.” Alex squirmed in Daniel’s grip. “I have to go.”
“And they will kill you both if you give them that thing.”
Alex let out a sigh and settled back into his seat. He’d told Daniel about the necklace and his suspicions. The fact that they had found Terra at the rest house just proved they had a spy in their midst. But who could it be? Obviously, it wasn’t Daniel. He had been with Alex the entire time. They’d told Brigs to call the team and given them the location of the rest house, but it would’ve taken time to get someone out there. Even if they had called the men from his home, it would have taken longer to get there than the ten or so minutes since they had left the bar. No, these people had to have already known where he and Terra had gone. The only answer was the security system alerting the main office. “Who gets notified when one of the houses is used?” Alex looked up to Daniel, waiting for an answer.
“A few of the team heads and the on-call operator,” Daniel answered quietly. It was clear from his expression that he was coming to the same conclusion as Alex. “There will be a full inquiry when this is over.”
Anger flared into life in Alex. An inquiry? They could be killing his mate as they spoke, and Daniel’s answer was an inquiry. “She’s my mate!” Alex exploded. His hands flapped around as he tried to get Daniel to see his concern. “I need to go!”
Daniel glanced over at him. His jaw was set, but he drew in a deep breath and shook his head. “Then go, but the necklace stays here.”
Nodding, Alex pulled off his clothing and shifted into his lesser form.
Rolling down the window, Daniel slowed so Alex could get out.
It was a tight squeeze, but Alex shoved himself out of the window and was on wing before he could hit the ground. He glanced back as Daniel stepped on the accelerator and hurtled the pickup down the road.
Tuning his mind to his task, Alex raced up and over the tops of the trees. He might get there faster if he stopped and shifted to his grand form, but that would take time—time his dragon would not allow him. He would just have to push himself as hard as he could and pray that it was enough.
***
He should have taken the time and switched to his larger form. He had made the trip in his small form, but he had pushed himself harder than he had ever done before. His wings ached, and his breath came in ragged pants that ended in small puffs of smoke, but the end of his journey was in sight. He topped the trees surrounding the clearing and screeched out a roar that echoed across the field. There was a white sedan parked on the grass outside the cabin. Two men were manhandling Terra towards the open trunk. Two targets. A heavyset black guy and a scrawny, white guy. Alex picked the smaller of the two and rocketed straight for the man’s face.
Screaming in terror, the man batted at the ball of hell that had been unleashed in his face.
Alex snapped and bit at anything he could get his teeth near as he r
aked the man’s front with his claws. They went down in a heap of scales and flailing arms. Alex would have roasted the man if he hadn’t fallen so close to where Terra had collapsed.
“Stop it, or she’s dead!” the second man yelled.
Alex gave his victim one last chomp before turning to glare at the man holding Terra up by the head.
“Get off him, or I will break her neck right now!” he threatened, turning her head sharply to the side.
With a quiver of wings, Alex backed up until he stood on the ground on the other side of the downed man.
“Brett?” the man holding Terra called.
Alex glanced down at the fallen man. He wasn’t about to get up. Ever. A few of those bites had hit the man in the throat, and he was pretty sure at least one had crushed something important. Licking the blood from his muzzle, Alex turned his attention back up to the man holding Terra hostage. Now, if Alex could just get a clean shot at him, he would be the next man down.
“Shit,” the man cursed when he realized his friend wasn’t going to get back up. He turned his attention to Alex. “Where’s the necklace?”
So, they were after the necklace. “I don’t have it!” Alex growled at him. His tail swished back and forth in agitation. Just let the guy loosen his grip on Terra—only one moment would give him the chance he needed to spring.
“Shift!” the man yelled at him.
Alex quivered in anticipation, waiting for the moment to strike.
“Shift, or she dies!”
Growling deep in his chest, Alex shifted back to his human form. He glared up from the ground where he was kneeling. “I don’t have it.” He lifted his hand up and scrubbed the back of it across his mouth, wiping the blood from his face.
The man’s eyes widened in what Alex suspected was fear. “Where is it?” The man squeezed Terra’s throat, making her face go red.
“It’s in my bag,” Alex growled. “I left it at The Dragon’s Wing when I got your message.”
This was obviously not the answer the man had wanted. The look that crossed his face was pained.
They both held their positions, waiting for the other to move. The man’s hand on Terra’s throat was the only thing keeping Alex from killing her attacker. A twitch from Terra’s body drew Alex’s attention down.
The man took advantage of the momentary lack of attention and threw Terra at Alex.
Alex scrambled to catch her as the man turned and ran to the car. All thought of chasing him left Alex’s mind when that twitch turned into a spasm. He held her as she started to convulse. Forcing the side of his hand into her clenched teeth, he held her as a seizure racked her body. Had her attacker cut off the blood long enough to injure her? Or was this a side effect of the pheromones they had pumped into her system?
Clutching her to him, he protected Terra from the grass and dirt the car’s tires slung out as her attacker escaped. Alex looked up and committed the plates to memory. He would hunt that man down and kill him as soon as he was sure Terra was okay. No one hurts Mine! and gets away with it!
The pain from Terra’s clenched teeth eased, pulling his attention back down to the woman in his arms. The seizure was subsiding. He pulled his hand from her mouth and wiped the foam and blood away. With shaky fingers, Alex searched for a pulse in the side of her neck. It was there, but it was faster than it should have been. He pulled her farther into his lap as she started to shiver. Where the hell were Daniel and the SWAT team? He needed a medic here now!
The sound of squealing tires and crunching metal made Alex look down the road. The car was out of sight, but something had definitely happened to it. The sounds of gunfire rang through the woods. Two. Three. Five. Someone was getting serious out there. There were only a few people he could think of who would have a firefight out in the middle of these woods. Alex debated with himself. He should probably go and see who’d won, but that would mean he would have to put Terra down.
Mine! His instincts would not allow him to leave her unprotected again.
The seconds ticked by as he watched the road leading into the clearing. Movement drove a growl from him, and he pulled Terra closer to his body. No one was going to hurt his mate again. Mine! After a few seconds, he recognized Daniel coming towards him. Alex relaxed his grip, but only marginally.
Daniel held his shoulder as he jogged towards them. His shirtsleeve was soaked with blood. “Alex?” he called as he got closer. “Is she okay?”
Alex shook his head as he sat in the grass holding her.
Daniel’s eyes ran over them both. “Is any of that blood hers?”
“No,” Alex answered. His hands moved over her back, spreading more of the drying blood on her clothing.
Daniel glanced at the dead man sprawled on the grass. “Is any of it yours?” he asked.
Alex shook his head again. “No.”
Nodding, Daniel turned and went to the house. He punched a few buttons on the security panel before turning back to Alex. “An ambulance is on the way.”
Alex nodded but didn’t look up. He was worried about how still Terra was in his arms. What if that seizure had caused some type of brain damage? He rolled her so she was facing up. She was completely limp in his arms. Carefully, he lifted her eyelid so he could check her. Her eyes responded to the light, but instead of the pupils being round, they were slitted like a cat's. Or a dragon's. Alex looked up at Daniel. He was staring down at them.
“We will figure this out,” Daniel promised.
Turning away from his friend, Alex let Terra’s eyelid go and held her to him. What had those monsters done to her?
13
Someone was going to pay dearly for this as soon as he found out who was responsible. Alex sat in a well-worn hospital chair. Clutched in his fingers, he held Terra’s limp hand. A machine near her head marked every beat of her heart, while a thin plastic tube dripped fluids into her veins. Three days he had sat there without food or sleep, waiting for some change in her condition, painfully aware of everyone who came into the room to check on her. Waiting for something to give him hope that she would be okay.
For three days, Alex had traced the patterns that shouldn’t have been on her skin. Dragon scales. Not fully formed, hard scales like those that had covered him during his time in balance. These were soft scales, very much like those of a new baby dragon when they were first learning to shift. They pushed against the backside of her skin but couldn’t quite make it through. What the hell had those men given her?
Alex let out an exhausted sigh and dropped his head to the bed next to her, turned so that he could stare at their joined hands. The doctors were working on the drug they had found in the car Daniel had wrecked, but they were baffled. Yes, there were dragon hormones in it—both male and female. They were sure the large doses of hormones had caused Terra’s seizure, but there was more in the mix than just those. There was a very fine powder they suspected was diamond dust, but they couldn’t figure out why anyone would inject someone with diamond dust. The doctors had called in a mage to see if the dust was some form of magic spell. It held power, but nothing the mage had ever seen before. They were calling in a team to study it. But how long would that take?
Closing his eyes, Alex listened to the beeping of the machines. It gave out a steady rhythm that soothed his dragon. As long as that beeping was steady, Mine! was okay. His thumb rubbed across the rough skin as his tired mind worked on an answer to the problem. They would have had their answer had they captured either of the men from the attack, but both were dead—one by his hand, and the second by Daniel’s.
If Daniel hadn’t been so careless, they would have had their answer, Alex’s dragon growled at him.
That’s wrong. Daniel hadn’t been careless. The man had fired first, and Daniel had defended himself. Had someone actually captured the man, Alex would have probably torn him to shreds after seeing what they had done to Terra.
The sound of the door opening pulled Alex from his thoughts. He lifted his head to see
who had come to visit. His dragon ruffled his wings, ready to defend his mate if need be.
A single man walked in, carrying a paper sack and a backpack.
The ghost of a smile crept across Alex’s face as he identified the familiar man. But, with his silvery hair, everyone in Eternity knew who he was.
“Hello, Michael.” Alex’s eyes traced over his friend. Michael looked just the same as the last time they had met, with the exception of his hair. There was one thin lock of gold flowing back from his temple—a mark from his bonding to Carissa. “How are you?”
Michael stopped and considered Alex. “Not bad.” He gave Alex a warm smile to ease his next words. “You look like hell, though.”
Alex just made a confirming noise in his throat. He probably did look like hell. Glancing down, he considered the scrubs the EMTs had forced him into when he’d refused to leave Terra’s side. They were rumpled from the days he had spent huddled in that uncomfortable chair, waiting for some change in Terra’s condition. There were traces of dried blood smeared on them because he hadn’t taken the time away from Terra to wash properly. Yes, he was a mess.
Alex looked up as Michael came over and stood across the bed from him.
“How is she?” Michael asked as he stood over the bed, looking down at the sleeping woman.
Alex groaned as he shifted his stiff muscles and sat up. “Quiet,” he answered, rubbing his thumb over the back of her hand. “She had a few fits when she first came in, but she’s been calm ever since.”
Michael nodded and looked down at her exposed arm. “And the scales?”
Alex glanced down at them. Those worried him. “They keep spreading.”
In the few days she’d been there, the number of scales pushing at her skin had grown. They had started at her hand and had slowly been creeping up her arm. They were nearly to her shoulder now.