And then there was Mist. Or, more accurately, the lack of her. I knew she was around; sometimes I’d catch a glimpse of her slipping out of a room, or hovering in a corner, watching and listening, while everyone talked. It worried me; she was an ex-Basilisk and shady as hell. If she was sending Talon vital information about us, we’d be dead before our little rescue operation ever got off the ground. But Mist was either too good to be caught, or she was just a naturally cautious person, because I never saw her in the act of something overtly suspicious.
One night, I was more restless than usual. I lay on the hard mattress, listening to Wes snore in the corner, the million thoughts swirling around my head making sleep impossible. Per normal, I wondered if my underground was all right; Wes had checked their status as soon as he’d woken up, and every couple hours thereafter until we went to sleep. They were fine for now, but they were still just kids and I worried for them constantly, hoping Jade could keep them safe while I wasn’t there.
I thought of Ember a lot, still feeling the ache of the severed life-mate bond deep inside. It wasn’t as sharp as before, where Cobalt had raged and mourned the loss of his Sallith’tahn, but it was still there. I’d buried it under work and planning, keeping myself deliberately busy so I wouldn’t have to think about it, but in the quiet hours of the night, it crept up again, reminding me of what I’d lost. Strangely enough, I didn’t hate the soldier for it. If Ember didn’t want him, there’d be nothing he could do to change her mind. But watching them together… Ember truly seemed content with her human, so who was I to interfere?
I did think she was being shortsighted and setting herself up for heartbreak; humans didn’t live very long compared to dragons, even if there wasn’t a war going on. Sixty years, eighty years; it was a heartbeat to us, the blink of an eye. Even if the soldier didn’t get his head blown off in the next year or so, he would eventually grow old, wither and die, as all humans did. And Ember would still have her whole life ahead of her like the rest of us. That was another reason dragons rarely formed attachments to humans; they just weren’t around very long. Even my friendship with Wes was a bit of an anomaly. I was sure that Jade or Mist didn’t have a best girlfriend that was human.
Mist. I shifted on the mattress, putting my hands under my head to stare at the ceiling. Mist had been on my mind a lot lately. Mostly because I knew she was up to something, and yet I could never pin her down long enough to prove it. Infuriating Basilisk. It was all the more aggravating because I should know her tricks; I had been doing this far longer than her. I knew she thought she was smarter than me; maybe this was a game to her, see how far she got before I finally caught on.
Annoyed and knowing I wouldn’t get any sleep tonight, I swung my feet off the cot and sat up. Wes’s snores vibrated through the room as I checked my watch—3:22 a.m. Still too early for even the soldiers to be awake. I wished I knew what that Martin guy was planning, and what the damn holdup was. Organizing a raid on a heavily armed facility in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean wasn’t something you could pull out of your ass, but still. We were wasting time; the breeders weren’t getting any younger, and Talon wasn’t getting any less powerful.
A rustle in the hall just outside the room made the hairs on my neck stand up. It was barely audible, especially through the locked door and the snores of my hacker friend, but my dragon instincts stirred. Something, or someone, was out there.
I stood up and glided to my door, opening it just enough to peer through the crack.
A glimmer of pale, silvery hair vanished around the corner at the end of the corridor, making my gut clench and my suspicion flare to life. Mist. The Basilisk was up and on the move. This was my chance. Now we would finally see whose side she was really on.
I pushed the door open as smoothly as I could, careful not to make it creak, and slipped into the hall after the girl. Barefoot, I followed that faint shimmer of silvery hair through narrow, pitch-black corridors, the stone floor cold against my feet. Mist moved swiftly through the underground bunker, silent as a ghost, thankfully not looking back. She might not have seen me in the darkness and shadow—I’d be difficult to spot in my black jogging pants and T-shirt—but she was an ex-Basilisk. Naturally wary and suspicious.
Then again, so was I.
I followed her up the steps to the old church, across the room and out one of the back doors into the hazy moonlight. Now Mist started to act nervous, glancing over her shoulder, even pausing to scan the trees behind her. But the woods surrounding the church had plenty of places to hide, and human eyesight could not pierce the shadows well enough to spot a person crouched at the foot of a tree. The challenge was moving when she moved so that my footsteps, rustling through leaves and bushes, didn’t give me away. Still, I’d been trained for this, and was able to follow the pale form through the woods fairly easily, a shadow trailing a ghost.
About a half mile from the church, Mist finally came to a stop in the center of a small clearing. As I knelt behind a gnarled tree, watching her, she pulled her phone from a pocket and held it to her ear. With the distance and shadows, it was nearly impossible to see her lips move, but I thought she muttered the words, “I’m here,” before lowering her arm. I took a deep breath, then let it out slowly.
All right, then. Mysterious meeting outside in the middle of the night. This isn’t suspicious at all. My jaw clenched in anger. What have you been doing, Mist? Who are you selling us out to?
A few minutes passed, and then someone melted out of the trees across the clearing and began walking toward Mist. A human, dressed in a nondescript black suit and tie, the kind many Talon agents wore. He carried a black briefcase in one hand and didn’t hesitate as he walked toward the dragon waiting in the clearing.
Dammit, Mist. Briefly, I closed my eyes. I don’t want to have to kill you. But if this is anyone from Talon, I can’t let this go on. Whatever you’re up to, it has to end tonight.
Opening my eyes, I squinted to see their lips as the human drew close. But Mist stepped forward and turned just enough that their faces were blocked from view. They spoke quietly, too far away to be heard, and then the mysterious agent handed Mist the briefcase, turned and disappeared into the trees again. Mist watched until he was gone, then began walking back the way she’d come.
She had just reached the edge of the trees when I stepped out, grabbed her by the shoulders and slammed her back into a trunk. She grunted at the impact, and then icy blue eyes flashed up to meet mine.
“Hello, Mist.” I smiled coldly. “Fancy meeting you here.”
“Cobalt.” The other Basilisk matched the chilliness of my smile. She didn’t seem surprised to see me, though I knew she wouldn’t reveal such emotion. Or the fact that I had finally taken her off guard. “So that was you I felt following me. Congratulations for being able to stay out of sight. I guess your skills aren’t completely overexaggerated, after all.”
“Thanks. I try.” I stared into her eyes, seeing my own reflection gazing back, grim and dangerous. “Surprisingly, thinking one of my teammates is going to betray us to Talon is a pretty good motivator,” I went on, and tightened my grip, pinning her harder into the tree. “So, now comes the part where you’re going to tell me everything. Who you met with, what’s in the briefcase and, most importantly, who the hell you’re working for.”
“Interesting.” Mist met my gaze, unrepentant. “And if I don’t give you what you want?”
“Then I’m going to have to force it out of you, one way or another.”
I felt bad for threatening her, but enough was enough. This was some seriously shady crap she was pulling, and there was too much at stake to leave anything to chance. “You can either tell me now,” I warned, “or in an interrogation chair. I’m done playing games, Mist.”