Riyah heaved a sigh and got out of her car, shut the door behind her, and locked it. “I’ll have you know I just put on high heels in the middle of the night to come save you from a nosebleed. I think we are friends now. What is your swan’s name?”
Vyr made an annoyed ticking sound. “It was supposed to be Fergus, but Nox renamed him Mr. Diddles. I have this goddamn majestic swan named Mr. Diddles now, and I used to hate it, but lately I call him that in my head. I wonder if he’s still alive or if Nox has eaten him yet. I found him when he was this ugly, little baby. He was alone at this park I used to go to clear my head. The parents were gone, and he was this hideous, little, gray, fuzzy thing with a messed-up wing. A cat got him or something. I did what I could but his wing was messed up forever. He would never fly, and I was gutted for him. How sad that he would never hit an air current. And yeah, I know they aren’t great flyers, but still.”
“You felt for him.”
“Yeah.”
“Because you don’t let yourself feel the sky very much.”
“I can’t. If I Changed as much as I want, the world would be ash.”
“So you gave up the sky.”
“So I stay on the ground where I’m most uncomfortable, just like Mr. Diddles. Are you back in your apartment safe?”
“Yes, just got back into my bedroom. Getting back into my PJs.”
“Veto, just wear those sexy brown panties tonight. Feel those sheets on your skin.”
“Perv.”
“Not this time. I sleep in just underwear. At least I did before this place. The feel of sheets on my back is good. I used to wake up just to think, ‘Damn, that feels nice,’ before I fell asleep again. Sleep in your panties for me because I can’t.”
Riyah hesitated, then pushed her PJ pants back down her legs and crawled into bed in just her panties. “Is the hazmat team still there?”
“Just finishing up. I’m trying to stay out of their heads. Monsters, monsters, all around.”
“Is your fist still clenched.”
“…yes.”
“Tell me what you miss the most.”
“What do I miss the most? The sky. The stars. Sometimes I like to think that even if I can’t see them, they’re smiling down on me. And sure, the smiles are sad because they miss me too, and can see I’m going through hell. They hurt for me…but their smiles exist because they can also see something better coming.”
Wow. Riyah held a pillow close and stared at the dark doorframe of the on-suite bathroom. Vyr was deep. He was real. He wasn’t monster. Everyone was so, sooo wrong about him.
“That means a lot.”
“Huh?”
“You said people are wrong about me. You don’t think I’m a monster. You’re one of the first people to think that.”
“I forget you’re in my head sometimes. Feels like you are right here, lying beside me in the dark instead of miles away underground.”
“Will you miss me when I’m gone?”
“No.”
“Pity.”
“Because you aren’t going anywhere.” Riyah yawned and snuggled her face against the pillow.
“The badass princess and the broken dragon, Vyr said softly. Emmitt doesn’t know you’re a queen, and perhaps you shouldn’t let him know you are boss down here. Maybe let him think he is the power for a while. Watch what happens down here. Wait. The New IESA is making a weapon. I can see their thoughts. I can see how close they are getting. Someday, when I’m too weak to fix it, you may have to use those powers of yours and step in. Save the world and shit.”
“What are they making?”
“They’re making a new dragon. I can’t Turn a new dragon, and they’re working out a way to change that.”
“Only certain shifters can Change their mates, right?”
“Correct. The New IESA is killing my dragon, but they are putting part of him in a bottle, and they are going to save it for when they want a red dragon they can control.”
“Oh, my God.” Out of all the scenarios she’d been considered down in that mad scientist lab, creating a dragon serum hadn’t even crossed her mind. “That could change everything.”
“It will wreck the world. All they have to do is put my dragon in someone who isn’t strong enough, and that power can be unleashed on everything. They think they can make the dragon less aggressive with gene therapy. They’re wrong. So wrong. Dragons aren’t creatures you tame. They’re creatures you try not to piss off. The second they try to control the dragon they make? He’ll be the new Apocalypse. The new End of Days.”
“Jesus.”
“Jesus has nothing to do with what they are doing in that lab. You yawned earlier. Are you tired?”
“A little. I have to be up early to go to work.”
“To see me.”
Riyah giggled. “Yes, I have an early morning therapy session scheduled with this really crazy dragon shifter I met today. He’s kinda cute, but he’s an easy bleeder.”
Vyr snorted. “Hey…don’t look at the video from tonight, okay? I don’t want you seeing me like that.”
“I need to see everything.”
“You don’t. For me, just…don’t. I’ll see you in the morning, Riyah. Enjoy those sheets on your skin. Wish I was there.”
“Perv.”
“Nah, I would let you sleep. Would be a complete gentlemen and sleep on the couch. But I would keep the nightmares away. I can do that, you know.”
“I think you can do a lot of things people don’t realize. How do you know about the nightmares?”
“I saw what happened to your mom. I didn’t mean to. It was there, a bright memory when you were talking about the peaches. Someday you’re going to get your orchard. Goodnight, Badass Princess.”
Riyah hugged the pillow against her stomach. “I’ll see you in the morning. Goodnight, Broken Dragon.”
“Hey, Riyah?”
“Yeah, Vyr?
“Thanks for helping me unclench my fist.”
She smiled to herself in the dark. “Anytime.”
Chapter Six
The video didn’t make sense.
All she could do was stare at the man in the grainy footage, on his hands and knees and coughing rivers of blood, every muscle flexed, a look of agony written on his face until he finally fell over on his side, crimson streaming from his mouth and nose as he stared blankly at the video camera. He’d been talking to her in his head while he’d been going through this.
“I need help,” he said out loud, his body convulsing. “Guards,” he said a little louder. “Help.”
Rage racked her body at how long it took for the hangar doors to open. Two of the frontrunner guards shot him with darts in the back as he lay there, not fighting. Three more guards lifted him into a seated position on the bed, and one threw a white towel at his face. It fell in his lap, but Vyr didn’t move to clean himself up. He wasn’t done bleeding yet.
Riyah stared at that clenched fist of his, resting on his knee, his hand shaking so bad as a crew cleaned the blood on the floor.
And what had he done? He’d reassured her so she could stay home safe and go to sleep. He was in agony, and yet he’d talked to her like everything was okay.
Vyr was the strongest man she’d ever met.