by Olivia Ash
Well, at least he’s talented. If he was a thundering idiot, I would’ve been disappointed in myself for letting him nearly catch me. In fact, the way he moves reminds me of Tucker. The tilt of the shoulders, the way he holds his head.
For a moment, my heart races at the thought of Tucker tailing me—but it can’t possibly be him. Tucker would never hurt me. This man must also be a Knight, and maybe he and Tucker trained together.
As the man walks into a beam of light, I don’t recognize him. My heart slows, and I let out a relieved breath.
This strange man steals through the yard, scanning the ground as he sprints across the grass. As he passes the dagger, he slows, his head bent toward the ground.
I press my finger over the trigger, taking aim.
The rush of a glass door sliding open interrupts us.
A little girl giggles. “Daddy, come on!”
Without moving anything but my gaze, I look up at the deck as a little girl, maybe seven, tugs on a man’s arm. They rush down the stairs toward the yard.
“If we pick up the toys fast, we get ice cream!” the girl says, excited. “Mommy promised!”
“Ice cream?” her father asks with a grin. “Why didn’t you say so? Let’s do this!”
In the yard, my prey stiffens. The lone assassin watches as the two descend, and I wonder what he’ll do.
Hell, I wonder what I’ll do.
In the brief seconds after the glass door opens, my finger tenses against the trigger. I ache to pull it, to neutralize the threat that has already tried to take me down once. Everything in me, all of my training screams at me to kill him, witnesses be damned.
But if I do, I will scar that little girl for life.
To watch a man die in her own backyard—she will never feel safe. She will never feel whole. Every crack of thunder will remind her of bullets, and she’ll never scrub the stain of a man’s soul leaving his body from her memory. She will lose her last shred of innocence at an age when I was sparring blindfolded and learning to shoot my first rifle.
I can’t do that to her. I can’t take from her what I was never allowed to have in the first place.
With a frustrated grimace, I lower my gun.
The stranger below me grabs my dagger and bolts into the shadows, scaling the fence before the family has a chance to see him. As far as they know, the man was never even there.
And neither was I.
I pivot, peering out another of the fort’s open windows as the stranger runs off into the night. The old me would have shot him without a second thought, but I’m not the girl I used to be, and the world isn’t as it was.
I think of Levi, of Tucker and Drew, and even Jace—and I wonder what they would’ve said if I’d done it.
They would’ve been disappointed in me. After everything the five of us have been through, I want to be better. I want to deserve the love and trust they put in me, and sometimes that means making the difficult choices. The moral ones that put me at greater risk in order to save someone else.
Silently, I holster my gun.
I briefly debate going after the man and neutralizing the threat like I was always taught, but this is a new world and a new life. I have to be more careful now than I was as a Spectre. Sure, he came after me, but I would be foolish to rush into danger unprepared.
I’m good, but I also have a lot more enemies now than I used to.
I knew coming to see Irena was a risk. I knew I stood the chance of being found. I didn’t come out here for a joyride—I came to make peace with my sister, the person I would do anything to save, at the very real risk I’d be barred from seeing her again.
But to go after this guy now—that would be reckless.
The thought gives me pause, and I run my fingers absently over my arm as the little girl picks up her toys at the far end of the yard. It was so natural to think of my life as a Spectre in the past tense, to know I will never be sucked into that world again.
It makes me wonder if I can convince Zurie to come to her senses and make a truce with me, or if I truly am doomed to fight my former mentor to the death. After all, that woman’s enemies don’t tend to live long. There’s no telling how long the fight will go on, even with my new magic.
As the little girl gets the last of her toys, she and her father race upstairs with their arms full, laughing all the way. I find myself smiling at their antics, at the way her father acts a little like a kid himself, at the way he carries seven toys to her one, but never once complains at doing most of the work.
Funny, I’ve never been envious of a child before.
As my eyes trail upward, scanning their house for other snapshot moments, I notice a hulking shadow on the roof. I draw my gun on instinct as the dragon lifts his head to face me, breaking the five-hundred-foot rule in a human zone. Most of all, I’m astonished that he could have snuck up on me.
It takes me a moment to recognize Levi.
I let out a sigh of relief and holster my gun yet again. Of course Levi got the drop on me—no one can out-maneuver that dragon, curse him.
Once the family is inside, I climb the deck and use it as a leg up to climb the water drain to the roof. With a few quiet grunts, I step onto the shingles of the house, my hands on my hips as I study my ice dragon.
“It’s rude to stalk people, you know,” I quip.
Levi rolls his eyes and snorts, a plume of frost shooting from his nose as he lets me know exactly what he thinks of that.
I smile and set my palm on his forehead in greeting. His brilliant blue eyes shift toward me, stunning as ever. As we touch, our connection opens, and a surge of protective energy rushes through from him.
I know, I tell him silently, before he can berate me. You don’t like that I left the dojo. But you don’t understand—
And? he asks impatiently, interrupting. A swirl of annoyance burns through our connection, a blend of worry and anger that bubbles and froths.
And what?
He huffs in frustration. Instead of answering, he tugs at me, and I feel the unnatural pull at my navel that means he’s trying to yank me into his mind.
Levi, don’t.
I’m hit with another surge of his impatience. No words, just his irritation. His anger. Without so much as a pause, he tugs at me again, stronger this time.
It’s not safe, I say. There’s someone out here, someone who—
I saw. He’s gone. It’s secure. The ice dragon presses his head harder against my palm, pushing me back a few steps with his sheer strength. Please.
I sigh and indulge him, giving in to the pull.
My world goes dark as I’m drawn into his mind, past whispers of fading gray memories. I catch a silhouette here, a voice there—but it’s all rough and echoing, like quick sketches of life that lack the color and depth of a real memory.
It hits me, then, just how quickly Levi is fading. How quickly his feral dragon is taking over the human trapped inside.
In a rush, I’m in his human arms. Now that I’m safely in the last recess of his mind that he controls, he holds me tight. His hand presses against the back of my head as he holds me to his hard chest. Despite the gravity facing us in the world outside, I smile and lean into him, wrapping my arms around his muscled torso.
“You need a hobby,” he says with a chuckle.
I laugh. “What, like knitting?”
“Anything,” he says, pulling back to study me with those piercing blue eyes. “Anything at all that keeps you out of harm’s way.” His loose strands of dark hair fall into his face, tempting me to play with them.
“You dragons.” I smirk and shake my head in mock disappointment. “Always trying to lock me in a tower.”
“Not lock you away,” he says, his smile fading. “I just want you to be safe. I don’t want you to be miserable. Just… alive, Rory. Alive.”
“I know,” I say with a sigh. “I know. I wanted to check on Irena.”
He crosses his arms, studying me with a disbelieving frown
. “You realize you can’t lie to me when you’re in my head, right? I can see through it.”
I groan in annoyance. No, actually, I hadn’t realized that.
“You’re not just putting yourself or Jace in danger when you leave the dojo,” Levi adds. “You’re risking Tucker, me, and Drew. We would all come for you if anything happened.”
Truth be told, I don’t really know what to say to that.
Levi winds his arms around me once again, holding me to him, and leans his jaw on the top of my head. “I know you don’t want to be locked away,” he says softly, like he’s sifting through my memories and appreciating each one he sees. “You’re worried for Irena. You don’t know what to expect of the future. There’s so much unknown in your life, and you feel like you’re losing control.”
The painful truth in every word eats away at me. It corrodes my resilience, setting me on edge and plucking at the strings of anxiety in my chest. I want to shut down, to do anything other than feel, but that’s not an option with Levi.
Here, in the recesses of his mind, everything is so damn raw.
He lifts my chin, and I can’t help but look into his sapphire blue eyes. He holds me there, suspended, stirring the emotions in my soul until I can’t even speak.
Without a word, he presses his lips against mine. A delightful chill blisters through me, healing the wounds in my heart. For a moment, I feel like things will be okay. I feel like, as long as he’s here, we’ll figure it out together. I hold him tighter, grateful for him even if he does make me feel the things I try so hard to repress.
My body aches for him, and I wish I could somehow hold him closer. I run my fingers through his dark hair, drinking in every inch of his incredible body.
In a sudden and painful rush, he’s ripped from me.
The world is dark again, and something is tugging at my navel, dragging me from his mind.
In a split second, I’m on the roof again, kneeling to catch my balance as Levi snarls in front of me, a threatening rumble in his throat that builds like thunder. He glares off in the distance, his eyes dilating.
I’ve seen that look before.
His dragon is taking over.
“Levi,” I say softly. “Levi, snap out of it.”
His head whips toward me, his blue irises adjusting as he focuses on my face.
I hold my breath, hands raised as I try to rein in Levi’s dragon. I swallow hard, bracing myself for whatever might come next, knowing I could never deal the final blow.
Not against Levi.
As I open my mouth to speak again, he rapidly blinks and shakes his head. When he opens his eyes again, they’re normal, and he takes a few dazed steps backward as he gets his bearings.
“It’s okay,” I say quietly. “You’re okay.”
He watches me with a concerned look in his eye. A moment later, he nods, though he’s clearly not altogether convinced.
“Let’s get home,” I say.
He nods again and lowers his neck, inviting me to hop on his back. I smile, never having had the honor before. Usually, my dragons get impatient and just carry me off in their claws.
For a brief moment, I debate saying no. He did just go feral for a second there, and it could be a disaster if he goes feral again while I’m on his back. But my voice snapped him out of it, and I can do it again. He and I have a connection that transcends even his feral nature—even his dragon listens to me. With someone chasing me through the neighborhood, this is definitely my best option.
I climb onto his back. His scales are surprisingly soft beneath my fingers as I settle in, and the muscles in his shoulders shift as he spreads his wings. With my hands around his neck, I’m safely situated.
He takes off into the sky, so silent he barely even rustles the trees nearby. My stomach lurches as he zooms through the air, silent as a ghost.
The lights below become blips along the distant ground as he soars higher. I lean my cheek against his neck as we weave through the clouds, the cool air sweeping along my face as he tilts this way and that.
I try several times to reopen our connection, but he never replies. Either he wants to focus on flying or, more likely, he just doesn’t want to talk about his feral moment.
He never does. It’s the only thing he won’t discuss with me.
Levi can’t run from this forever. He’s quickly turning feral, and much to my horror, I still have no idea how to stop it.
Chapter Three
Back in the dojo, I steal through the hallways.
The moment Levi crossed into the dojo’s territory, we were flanked by four dragons. They kept their distance, each casting an occasional wary eye toward the semi-feral dragon in their midst, but none of them tried to attack. These were clearly just the guards to bring us in.
I knew Jace would be waiting for us in the courtyard, though, so I asked Levi to take a little detour.
Before I talk to Jace, I need to give Drew some fair warning.
The lock on Drew’s door is easy to pick, and after just a few moments, I’m in without being seen. I gently shut it behind me, scanning the living room for any signs of him. One of my voids still sticks from the camera in the corner, and I shake my head in annoyance. With only a handful of those left to my name, I’m still not too happy he took a few from my pack.
Impressed, yes. But not happy about it.
I quickly scan the other rooms—his office, his bathroom, his bedroom. I pause as my eyes drift over the bed, smiling a bit as I remember all of our fun between his sheets. A quick burst of heat creeps up my neck at the memory of his hands gripping my thighs, of his thick cock riding me through the night, of the bursts of ecstasy as he dominated me again and again.
With a few shakes of my head, I shove aside the thought so I can focus. One thing is abundantly clear—Drew’s suite is empty.
Running a hand through my hair, I pause in the middle of the hallway and wonder what I’m missing. He can’t be far, not in the dojo. With as much as Jace hates Drew, the man can’t go anywhere in the embassy without a few cameras following his every move.
As I’m debating where he could be, the door creaks open and quietly shuts. I take a few silent steps and peek into the living room, only to find Drew with his back to me, wearing nothing but a pair of cargo shorts as he steals quietly into his own suite. The hard lines of his back perfectly accentuate his muscle, and it’s a little too easy to let his body distract me.
I smirk and lean against the wall, arms crossed as I wait for him to notice me.
He turns on his heel, freezing the moment his gaze lands on me. There’s a fleeting look on his face of a child caught stealing cookies, and that only makes me grin wider.
“Gotcha,” I say, tilting my head knowingly.
“I don’t know what you mean,” he replies, the corners of his lips tilting upward knowingly.
Before I can help myself, my eyes scan the hard muscle in his chest. The solid pecs. The thick biceps. The broad shoulders and washboard abs. He’s built like a tank, made up of nothing but tantalizing muscle. I feel the heat rising again in my cheeks as I imagine him pinning me against the wall and having his way with my body, but now’s not the time to let my imagination run away with me.
Besides—I just pieced it all together.
Barely any clothes mean he shifted recently and probably had a pair of shorts on hand to wear after he shifted back. Sure, modesty is more of a human invention and dragons don’t care about seeing each other naked, but there’s probably still something vulnerable about the son of the Darrington Boss stealing naked through another family’s embassy.
I gesture to his shirtless body. “You were following me, weren’t you?”
“No idea what you’re talking about.” That mischievous smirk of his breaks along his handsome face, and in that instant, it’s abundantly obvious.
I shake my head, disappointed in myself for not noticing him. “How far did you get?”
He sighs in defeat. “All I got is that yo
u probably went to the hospital to visit Irena,” he admitted. “You’re a damn good sneak, Rory. Too good.”
I set my hands on my hips, satisfied with that. I’d given Drew a run for his money, yet again.
“You’ve got to stop leaving,” he says. “It just—”
“I know,” I said with a wave of my hand, cutting him off. “I’ve been over this with Levi. This was the last time I’m leaving the dojo through the tunnels.”
Drew pauses, studying me as if he can’t quite believe what I just said. “It was? For real?”
I nod. “That’s what I came to talk to you about.”
He tilts his head quizzically, clearly trying to piece this together. “Why do I get the feeling this is not going to end in my favor?”
I grin. “Your intuition is pretty spot on, Darrington.”
He chuckles and shoots me a playful glare at the mention of his last name. I technically broke a dojo rule, mentioning his family name on neutral ground, but it was all in good fun.
“I’m telling Jace about the tunnels,” I say simply.
Drew’s smile fades. “He already knows about the tunnels. He’s the master of this dojo, Rory. You think he’s unaware they exist?”
“He didn’t know the Darringtons infiltrated the dojo,” I pointed out, not backing down for even one second. “He might figure out how they did it, or he might not. And I suspect he doesn’t know you’ve been sneaking around down there. Clearly, there’s a blind spot in his security—a blind spot that can be exploited again unless he’s made aware of it.”
“There are protocols,” Drew says, exasperated. “They run through a checklist and change the codes any time there’s an incident like—”
“An incident?” I interrupt, incredulous. “An incident, Drew? Is that what you think the Darringtons breaking into the building and knocking everyone out with gas is? Is that what you call the order your father gave you—to turn me over to him? You think it was some kind of mishap?”