“I’m not leaving. You need to stop the Change. Stop it or you’ll put me in danger.”
“Riyah,” he snarled in an inhuman voice. Already he could feel the cutting pain of his wings scratching to burst out of his back. He could feel his Firestarter begging to be clicked. Could feel the burn of his fire that would explode from his throat. Emmitt called this place hell, but he was wrong. Hell dwelled inside of Vyr. And right now he was having serious trouble keeping the demons inside.
He could feel her coming. She was running toward the elevators. She slid her security card as fast as she could at every reader. He could hear the echo of her heels. Faster, faster. No, no, no.
“Riyah, please stop! It’s been too long. I just want to see them.” He was delirious with the pain, writhing on the ground as he tried to force the dragon back inside. There was chaos as guards surrounded him. Stinging pain as they shot him with the damn meds to try to quell the dragon. Warmth trickled down his lip to his chin. Drip, drip. The Sickening. The Sickening, and Riyah would see him again. But worse, she would see the Red Dragon, and if she survived him, she would never look at him the same.
Please, he begged the dragon. Let me keep her for a little while. Let me keep her. He couldn’t think. Everything hurt. Someone was singing. Riyah?
She was singing the lyrics to “Baby Got Back.” And she was actually doing a pretty decent job of rapping. If his body wasn’t on fire right now, he would’ve laughed.
She was really coming for him. Ridiculous woman didn’t understand what kind of danger she was in. This facility couldn’t hold the Red Dragon. Oh, the guards thought it could, but they were so fuckin’ wrong it was crazy. The people here were still breathing because of the monumental effort he made to keep some semblance of control over his evil side.
And yep, he fully believed the Red Dragon was evil. He didn’t feel. He didn’t care. He was hunger and vengeance. That’s it. That’s all. Hunger. Vengeance. Vyr cared very deeply for a few people, but the Red Dragon had cared about literally nothing.
Until Riyah.
You’ll hurt her. Vyr gritted his teeth and squeezed his eyes closed as his wings ripped out of his body. Fuck. Stop. Stop, or you’ll kill her and then you’ll go back to having nothing and no one.
A roar screamed from his body, wracking him with a seizure and shaking the room. More cement rained down, and all the lights above him blew. And then there was fire, burning up his throat and illuminating the cell that wouldn’t hold his monster.
And as the dragon ripped from him, cell by cell, taking over his mind like black poison… Vyr went to the dark, once again.
Chapter Nine
“Move!” Riyah screamed at the guards blocking the doors to Vyr’s cell.
“He isn’t stopping, lady! And this place isn’t built for a Change like this!”
Riyah barely resisted the urge to flick her fingers and throw the assholes against the wall with the power that pulsed out of her. She needed to keep singing. Stay calm, keep Vyr calm.
There was a deafening roar that shook the ground beneath her feet. Shit. She was out of time. She muscled her way between them and slid her card in the reader.
“Mercer! No!”
“Fuck off, Emmitt. If I don’t stop him, who will? Not your goddamn meds! Look what good those did!”
Emmitt’s face was red as he stood over her, his hand splayed on the door.
“I can do this,” she pleaded.
Emmitt shook his head and shoved a leather pouch against her chest. “This isn’t tested, and we only have one dose, but it’s supposed to be more potent than the other meds. It could kill the dragon. Kill it before it kills everyone in here.”
Riyah wanted to puke. She wanted to puke and then crush Emmitt with her power, but she didn’t have time for angry reactions. She had to get in there. She shoved Emmitt’s arm off the door and opened it, and what she saw horrified her.
The lights were flickering on and off, buzzing with waves of power. Vyr was still partly human, but he had massive, blood-red, torn and tattered, dragon wings stretching from his back. His face was contorted in rage and anguish and was dripping with blood. He arched his head back and spewed fire at the observation windows on the opposite side of the cell. His eyes were completely vacant, as though he’d shut down completely. But she understood what pain he had to be in to be half Changed and still fighting to keep his skin like this. Fire and magma streaming from a human throat must’ve been agony. Her heart broke. It broke, simple as that. In this moment, she knew she loved him. She knew she would do anything to make his pain less.
Tears streaming down her face, Riyah ran right for him. He beat his wings, the talons on the ends scratching deep divots into the cement walls as he rounded on her, his eyes blazing silver with elongated pupils. This dragon sure didn’t look half-dead.
Terrified but determined, Riyah pushed her legs harder and faster. She heard the clicking of the Firestarter in his chest, but ignored it because she had to trust him. She had to have faith that Vyr wouldn’t burn her. That his dragon would let her live. And turning around to run would only get her hurt faster anyway.
Almost there. Almost.
Faster. Her legs were burning, but clutching the leather pouch, she jumped the last few feet and crashed into him just as he opened his mouth full of razor sharp teeth. There were faint scales on his skin and he was turning red, and she was so scared, but she wrapped herself around him and held on for dear life.
When the dragon roared, Riyah’s head rang with the sheer volume of it. “Listen. Listen,” she begged, voice shaking. “It’s me. It’s Riyah. And you said you couldn’t have me, but you can. Vyr. Red Dragon, look.”
His arms went tight around her. Too tight, and his nails dug into her back. Too sharp. He was going to crush her.
“Look!” she screamed, struggling to pull the syringe out of the pouch. “This can kill the dragon. Do you want me to kill it?”
Vyr’s face twisted in rage, but he didn’t crush her anymore. “No,” he rasped out. “Don’t kill me.”
“Stick him now!” Emmitt screamed under the flickering lights, and the clatter of weaponry sounded. Dozens of rifles clicked, metal on metal, as they were cocked and loaded. There had to be forty guards down here, ready to end Vyr. Ready to end her just for being in the way.
Vyr’s hand went to the back of her head as though he was trying to protect her as he blasted a fireball at the densest population of guards. They bolted out of the way, and walls shook with the force of the blast. Vyr’s skin was turning hot against her. Too hot.
“Stick him, or I’m giving the order!” Emmitt screamed from beside the door. He had a high-powered rifle trained on them, too.