“Why don't you let the child go and we can go somewhere to talk, just the two of us?” I coaxed, taking one cautious step closer. Around us, someone had made some sort of signal, and the mercenaries were closing up their trucks, getting ready to leave.
“I should thank you, Kit”— Simon sneered, ignoring my suggestion—“for leading us right to this community full of little freaks like you. I will be rewarded well for this haul.”
“Rewarded by whom, Simon? Who is it you're working for now? Dupree is dead.” I took another cautious step forward.
“I'm not as stupid as you think I am, Kit,” he sneered. “Just be thankful I'm not allowed to bring you in with all these freaks.” He gave a tight nod to someone out of my line of sight, and pain ripped through me.
Sucking in a gasp, I watched helplessly as Simon clambered into the cab of his truck, dragging the little girl with him. My hand clutched at the burning pain in my chest, and blood began welling up beneath it. Knees buckling, I crashed hard to the ground. Waves of agony rolled over me as I kept my eyes glued to the retreating trucks while I willed my body to heal faster.
From the trees behind me, a huge burst of sound exploded, and for a moment, the sky above me turned dark as the enormous wings of a dragon obliterated the light before he skidded and stumbled to a stop on the road in front of me. Wings outstretched, as though for balance, he did an awkward looking hop before righting himself and swinging his huge, scaled head around to face me.
“Hey big guy,” I croaked from my position on the ground, waiting for my body to heal. For some reason, I knew this green and black dragon was Cole and not Vali. He huffed, and ice-cold breath washed over me, little crystals of snow crusting against my skin.
“Cole, that’s fucking freezing. I just got shot; can you not?” I tried to joke, but it fell a bit flat given how weak my voice sounded. Overhead, another huge pair of wings flapped past us and continued in the direction of the trucks. “Go help Vali; I’ll be fine in a minute.” Or, at least, I seriously hoped I would be. My entire body was radiating with waves upon waves of agony, and I’d totally lost the use of my limbs. The scrapes inflicted by Chesca’s metal claws were still struggling to close, and spots were dancing across my vision.
Cole's massive dragon head dipped toward me, puffing another icy gust of air from his nostrils before he backed up a few steps and took back to the sky. His take off was a little wobbly, but I supposed it was to be expected, him having just grown wings for the first time and all.
I watched mesmerized as his powerful form flapped higher, then took off in the same direction as the trucks and Vali had gone, towards the mountain road. While we had arrived via seaplane, there was also overland access, but it was treacherous during winter due to the amount of ice on the road. Fuzzy blackness began creeping in across my vision, and I was helpless but to surrender as I passed out from the searing pain in my chest.
34
AUSTIN
Running at top speed out of the forest, I immediately spotted Kit where she stood in the middle of the road, speaking to someone. It almost looked like… No, surely not; her luck can't be that bad! Fuck, it was. It was Simon, that slimy motherfucker that had tortured Kit's mind back at Blood Moon.
Rage surged through me as I pictured my hands wrapped around his scrawny neck, my fist plowing into his face over and over and over… In my distraction, I almost didn't see the asshole mercenary trying to haul an unconscious wolf over to his truck, but he tripped on something and loudly swore.
“Hey!” I snapped, grabbing his attention. “Drop the fucking wolf!”
The man sneered at me and aimed his gun, but I knew they were only packing tranq darts. Anyone with a decent level of target training knew the speed and trajectory of tranq darts was bullshit compared to bullets, and judging by where this dude was pointing his gun, it wouldn't even hit me.
Idiot.
Closing the gap between us in two fast steps, I swiftly lashed out, decking him and sending him crashing to the pavement. Pausing for a second, I checked that he was in fact unconscious before making sure the wolf was okay. He seemed to be still breathing and his pulse was strong, so I dragged him behind a hedge in the hopes no other mercenaries would find him an easy target to load into their truck.
“Where's Kit?” my twin demanded, panting as he skidded to a halt beside me. He always had been slower than me. Well, in most things.
Turning back to where I had seen her with Simon, my heart stopped as I heard the distinctive pop of a real gun, then watched the beautiful red-haired girl crash to her knees, dropping face first into the concrete.
“No,” I breathed, horrified. Caleb was engaged with another armed man, and I didn’t think he had seen what had just happened or he would be losing his mind right now. Hell, I was losing my mind. The balls of my feet pushed hard into the ground as I started to sprint towards her broken form. At the same time a huge-ass, motherfucking dragon landed on the road in front of her. If I hadn't already known about Cole and Vali's newfound supernatural abilities, I would have thought I was losing my mind. Who knew fucking dragon shifters were a real ass thing?
Another mercenary was dragging a fighting half-formed wolf shifter not far from me, and I hesitated. As badly as I wanted, needed to get to my princess, these people needed our help. With a furious, frustrated growl, I detoured and engaged the bad guy.
Faced with a new threat, he dropped his hold on the fighting shifter, who drunkenly helped me immobilize the man. Based on the unsteady balance of the shifter, he seemed to have been just clipped with a traq dart and was using his shifting ability to try and work the drug through faster. Good for him.
“You going to be okay?” I asked, and he gave me a tight nod, no longer capable of speech as his mouth morphed into a snout.
Satisfied with his response, I left him to it and once again ran towards Christina. She must’ve not been too bad off because as I approached, Cole-the-dragon gave me a snort of arctic wind as he took off into the sky, flying towards the mountain road where the already-loaded trucks were heading. After his little display on the plane when he’d started shifting and Christina had to calm him down and after Vali had explained his own shift, it’d become clear that they were different sorts of dragons. While Vali was fire, Cole was ice.
“Hey, princess, we doing okay?” My voice was shaking as I skidded to a halt beside her and took in the pool of blood she was lying in. She sure as fuck did not look okay.
Her body was belly down on the concrete, her face turned to the side where dragon-Cole had just been crouched, so I ducked around to that side of her and swept her hair off her cheek. Her skin was so pale it was almost translucent, and a sheen of sweat covered her forehead. Panic flooded through me, seeing her eyes closed, and I gently patted her cheek to try and wake her up.