by Olivia Ash
As Drew and Jace groan at the stupid joke, I laugh. I can’t help it. These men are ridiculous, and I’m so happy they’re mine.
My family.
A gunshot echoes through the forest, and the chilling boom wipes the smile from my face. A second gunshot ricochets off the trees a few minutes later. A flock of birds takes to the air, screeching as they scatter.
Drew tilts his head toward me, a concerned glint in his eye. I nod, catching his silent request, and summon my magic into my fingers.
Just in case.
Since this is Knight territory, there’s no telling how long they’ve had to mobilize. If they spotted Levi’s dragon when he first dragged me out here, there could be a whole army on its way.
We have to get out of here.
Fast.
Chapter Thirty-One
We’re being shot at—trapped between gunfire and a rocky cliff that might drag us to the ocean below.
Not great choices, but if I have to choose, I trust my men and their skill as fliers.
“Go higher!” I shout to Jace and Drew. “Go where they can’t follow! You can handle this—I know you can!”
He briefly looks down at me, growling at the idea. With my magic still rushing over my hands, ready to fire at a moment’s notice, I press my cheek against his leg to open the connection.
You’ll freeze, he says. If we go too high, you could pass out.
A bolt of bullet sails violently past us, and Jace spins to avoid it. His wings tucked around his body, he plummets suddenly, and my head spins as the world tumbles around me.
His wings cut through the air again as he evens out, but the damage is done. Any second now, and I might hurl.
I groan, my eyebrows pinched together in a pronounced frown. It’s better than being shot!
Jace nods and tilts upward. Seconds later, Drew follows suit. If we stay out of range, we can avoid any gunfire.
The key is getting out of range before they fire at us—because if they catch up to us, they might send us plummeting into the craggy rocks dotting the shoreline below.
An echoing symphony of thundering gunshots cut through the forest, scattering another flock of birds. I wait with bated breath to see if we’ll make it—or if the Knights moved too fast.
Two dozen blistering shots of electricity soar from the forests on the edge of the cliff, all of them perfectly spread to maximize the chance of hitting their targets.
And, unfortunately, the Knights aimed at the sky above us, forcing us lower.
They’re trying to head us off.
Jace growls in frustration, his magic building in his throat as he scans the ground below us. I lift my palms, trying to take aim, but the guns are too well hidden. There’s no telling where the shots came from—or where the next ones will be.
I don’t have to wait long.
The next round of thunder hits, but this time, it doesn’t stop. I lose count after twenty-seven shots, and they just keep going.
This time, however, it’s not bullets.
Every shot arching toward us is now a sizzling bolt of taser fire. They soar through the sky like flaming cannonballs. Even though I hate these things, it’s better than bullets—a hit from one of these in the right spot can knock a dragon unconscious. In the wrong spot, they can still take one down.
Which says to me that they just changed tactics—capture the dragons alive.
The cannon fire rains on us, the arc of the shots soaring both above and right at us. They’re trying to keep us low to the ground because they know we’ll be out of reach if we get much higher.
Just as I feared, there really is an army here.
And they have come very well equipped.
Jace dives, and Drew narrowly avoids the onslaught. Between the two of them, they flip and spin through the sky with masterful control. If I were watching from the ground, instead of trapped in Jace’s claws, I might even enjoy it. As it is, I’m about two seconds from passing out entirely.
My magic fades from my fingers, and it takes everything in my power to focus on staying conscious.
I look down at the rocky shoreline, and the thought of one of those spearing anyone on my team utterly guts me.
Furious, I summon my magic once again and release a thick blast of the blistering white light into the forest. I don’t really care where it hits—honestly, since the thundering cannons don’t seem to ever pause, I figure I’m bound to hit something.
The beam of light soars through the air, true to aim, and explodes against a row of trees a hundred feet below us. Trunks fly into the air as leaves and smoke billow into the sky. A second later, something else explodes nearby, and I think perhaps I got one.
One of many.
My attack doesn’t even put a dent in the taser fire. The sizzling beams of electricity surround us like hail in a storm, somehow more intense and concentrated than before. Between the camouflaged weapons and Jace spinning and twirling to avoid the shots, I can’t make any sense of where the enemy fire is even coming from.
I try to take aim, to fire back, but Jace ducks and weaves too quickly for me to get a clear shot. The red blur of Drew’s massive body swirls in and out of focus, and I don’t want to hit him by mistake.
We have to get out of here.
I set my hand against Jace’s leg to reopen our connection, trying to talk to him and come up with a plan, but he’s too focused on avoiding the blasts.
A beam of taser fire hits his side, and smoke billows from the wound. He roars in pain, dropping abruptly in altitude.
Levi and I yell as we plummet toward the rocky coast below. My stomach soars into my throat as we fall, but Jace recovers with a pained snarl—never once loosening his grip on me or Levi despite the sizzling crater in his shoulder.
Three blasts nail Drew in his neck, and he bellows in pain as he, too, loses altitude.
Jace snaps at him, roaring a command I don’t understand, and the two of them bank in unison toward the forest. They angle away from the guns, trying to put as much distance as possible between us and the weapons shooting at us.
He’s taking us inland.
This is either going to work brilliantly or be a spectacular failure. With so few options, there’s just no in-between—and we are fresh out of other choices.
Damn it.
Part of me hopes we’ve gotten far enough that we’re at the edge of the Knight’s territory, but I know better than to rely on boundaries to hold the Knights at bay.
As we race over the canopy, more and more bursts of electricity soar into the sky. Though the trees are mostly just green blurs below my feet, I try to give Jace and Drew some cover. Whenever it’s clear Drew won’t get caught in the crossfire, I release beam after beam of my magic into the forest below.
I don’t really care what I hit. I just want the blasts to stop.
Drew unleashes a torrent of flame on the forest, his powerful fire decimating everything in its path. It’s like watching a volcano erupt, and for a moment, I’m simply dazzled by him. His power. His strength.
It’s amazing to see.
Seconds later, however, more taser fire erupts from the other side of the forest. Drew has to duck and weave to avoid it, and the stream of fire ends.
Jace lets loose a sharp blast of his powerful blue magic onto the forest below. It gouges a deep scar into the earth, kicking up trees and dust, but we’re all just guessing.
We’re just trying to give ourselves enough cover to get out of range.
And we’re close.
The taser fire is getting more and more sparse. It’s easier to avoid. I fire another blast of my magic at the ground, and a powerful explosion rocks the forest. Branches fly into the air, followed by a tire.
Score. I must have hit one of their anti-dragon vehicles.
I lift my palms to take aim again when a hailstorm of fire erupts from behind us. It’s ceaseless. There are easily fifty blasts, all headed for us at once.
Shit.
I re
focus my attention, firing the beams of my magic at the taser blasts in an attempt to disperse them. I hit seven, but I’m just not fast enough.
Two hit Jace square in the chest. Four more hit Drew, one of them in the head. An instant knock out.
The two dragons plummet to the ground, as do those of us in their claws.
As my heart rises to my throat, I scramble to think of a plan. Jace’s wings beat through the air as we tumble toward the ground. As dazed as he must be, he’s trying to regain his balance, but his world is flipped.
Drew just falls.
“No!” I scream. “Irena! Tucker! DREW!”
In a sudden, panicked rush, Drew’s wings snap to attention. He recovers, if only barely, moments before he crashes into the canopy. I watch in horror as he pivots onto his back, cradling Tucker and Irena in his arms to protect them.
As Jace, Levi, and I plummet to the ground, I feel Jace’s grip on me tighten. He rolls onto his back, taking much the same position as Drew just did.
“JACE!” I scream, more worried for him than me.
“Rory, hold on!” Levi shouts, grabbing the talons around his waist as he prepares for impact. “This is going to hurt!”
Branches snap as we break through the canopy. Leaves scratch my face. We hit the ground with an earth-shattering thud, and my world goes black.
Chapter Thirty-Two
I open my eyes to a swaying canopy. The sunny gap in the branches above me shifts every time I try to move my eyes, and nothing is quite in focus. It’s just color and light—greens, whites, browns.
I blink rapidly to clear my head. Someone’s talking, but their words just echo uselessly through my brain. Dazed, I try to stand, but my knees give out on me.
“Get up,” a strange man barks at me.
Calloused hands grab my arm.
Oh, right.
Oh, shit.
The taser fire. The anti-dragon guns.
People were after us.
They are after us.
I squint, trying to see who’s looming over me. His face blurs, and I can’t make out any detail. Whoever grips my arm hauls me roughly to my feet. I limp along, trying to stand upright, pushing against him as I try and fail to summon my magic to defend myself.
Stupid concussion.
He throws me on my knees, and I land on my palms to keep my balance. Something about the violent movement resets me. Maybe it’s the adrenaline, or the rage. I’m not sure, but my world finally clicks into place, and I can see again.
Irena and Tucker kneel to my left, their palms pressed against the back of their heads in reluctant surrender. Four soldiers guard each of them, and every uniformed Knight has a gun trained on their heads.
To my right, Levi glares up at the four soldiers who have their guns trained on him. His hands are also behind his head, and I feel someone grab my hands to force me to do the same. I resist, impulsively tensing to kick them in the balls, but a gun barrel presses flat against my forehead. I glare up at a stranger as he scowls down at me, daring me to give him a reason to shoot.
The crash of footsteps through the underbrush gets my attention, and a dozen soldiers join us. They throw Jace and Drew onto the dead leaves of the underbrush, both men unconscious.
I stiffen, wanting to run to them and see if they’re okay, but one of the soldiers behind me presses a second gun against my skull. I curse under my breath, glaring at him, ready to rip out his spine.
We’re easily outnumbered twenty to one. Through the gaps in the trees around us, I spot at least thirty Humvees armed with anti-dragon guns.
This is bad.
“Imagine my delight,” a familiar man says from somewhere nearby, “when I got word you left the embassy.”
Carter Holt brushes aside a low-hanging branch as he steps into the clearing. He sneers down at me, an arrogant smirk on his face as he leans his rifle against his shoulder. “Carried off by a dragon, no less. I figured they would all come for you, Rory, and I got ready.”
I groan. Not this asshole again.
“Didn’t I kill you?” I ask, feigning boredom.
His nose wrinkles briefly in annoyance, but that doesn’t seem to faze him as much as I hoped it would.
“I figured you would bring me this one,” Carter says with a nod toward Tucker. “That’s why I waited.” He squats in front of Tucker, smirking as the former Knight glares bloody daggers at him. “You’re lucky your daddy put a bounty on your head, bro, or you’d be a corpse in the ocean right now.”
“Go to hell, Carter,” Tucker snaps.
“I don’t get you two,” Carter says absently, gesturing between me and Tucker. “You both had everything given to you on a platter. You were each set to seize control, and yet you both squandered it.” He scoffs. “You deserve each other. Really.”
He stands and continues surveying his prizes, only to pause when he notices Irena. “Well, now,” he says softly, almost in disbelief. “Providence truly shined upon me today, didn’t it?”
Irena scowls up at him as four gun barrels press harder on her forehead to keep her in place.
“That’s right,” he says with an arrogant smirk. “Don’t you try anything, Irena. You’re disposable.”
“Don’t touch her,” I snap.
“Oh, I don’t need—”
A scuffle catches our attention, and as I tilt my head toward the rustle of boots and leaves, the gun barrels leave cold indents in my forehead.
Jace and Drew are on their feet, naked and furious. Drew launches to his feet and snaps the nearest soldier’s arm in a beautifully fluid motion. At the same time, Jace kicks out another soldier’s knee. As the man falls, the dojo master kicks him square in the jaw. The man slumps to the ground, unconscious, and Jace snatches his gun. In moments, he and Drew are armed, their weapons trained on the circle of soldiers around us.
But they’re outnumbered, and no amount of grit or gumption is going to get them out of this.
Eyes wild, their chests heave with the effort of their fight. They look at little dazed, and I figure they aren’t even sure what’s going on. They probably just woke up.
Carter clicks his tongue in disappointment. “Put down your guns, gents.” He cocks his rifle and aims it at my head. “Now.”
Drew’s brows knit together in hatred, his furious gaze trained on Carter. Jace, to his credit, doesn’t betray an ounce of emotion. He simply glares at the man holding a gun to my head, his eyes narrowed and calculating—but it’s a bluff. He’s trying to act disinterested, but the Knights aren’t going to buy it.
Neither of them would ever let anything happen to me, and Carter knows that.
After a moment, both men drop their weapons and raise their hands behind their heads. A dozen soldiers rush to kick out their knees, and my powerful men fall to the ground in surrender.
For now.
Carter and I started this dance back when he tried to tranquilize me outside the hospital, but I know more about him now. I’m learning who he is, what he wants, and what he fears.
There’s only one way to disarm a man who has me this vastly outgunned, and that’s to play the strings of his insecurities.
I scan the dozens of soldiers and tanks around us. “You realize Spectres don’t ask for help, right?”
Carter’s gaze snaps furiously toward me, and the barest hint of a scowl rolls across his face.
“Oh, do they not know?” I feign a loud whisper, knowing full well the rest of the soldiers can still hear me. A small smirk plays on my lips as I toy with my prey. “Was that supposed to be our little secret?”
“Shut your mouth,” Carter warns, his voice low and dangerous.
“You can’t go running off to the Knights whenever you’re in over your head,” I point out. “First the botched castle heist, and now this?” I mockingly click my tongue in disproval. “A Spectre handles his own mess. Surely Zurie told you that?”
“Shut up!” He backhands me, his knuckles landing a painful blow across my face. My he
ad snaps to the side from the force, and for a moment, my world goes fuzzy.
The blow sparks a frenzy of chaos.
“I’ll kill you!” Levi snarls, wrestling with the soldiers holding him at bay. Four more rush over to help their comrades keep him in line, but they’re having a hell of a time of it.
“Don’t touch her!” Tucker shouts as he punches a soldier clear in the jaw, trying to get to me. Someone hits him in the temple with the butt of his gun, taking him to the ground. I tense, worried for him, but he winces moments later, already getting up again to continue the fight.
Jace and Drew thrash against the dozen guards holding them at bay, their words muffled as they fight against the men restraining them.
It looks for all the world like this place might erupt into a battle royale, and every man here is going to be gunning for Carter.
As the stinging fades, I lift my head defiantly to look Carter dead in the eye. He sneers down at me, daring me to speak. Daring me to add any more flippant comments. Practically begging me to say something so that he can hit me again.
In the corner of my eye, Irena casts a curious glance across my men. There’s a brief hint of surprise on her face at how fiercely they want to defend my honor, but she doesn’t allow herself to simmer on it for long. Her gaze quickly returns to Carter, and she’s once more ready for battle.
Like me, she’s focused. We’re both in murder mode, waiting for the chance to strike.
“Aw,” I say gently, as if his attempt to hurt me was more of an adorable attempt than anything else. A thin trail of blood leaks from the side of my mouth, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. “That was a cute little love tap, Carter. Sorry, though. You’re just not my type.”
Carter kneels and roughly grabs my face, pinning me in front of him until his furious glare is all I can see. “You’re really testing my patience.”
“Oh, no! Am I really?” I taunt in a mocking tone. “Whatever will I do?”