Chapter 26 Dodger and Dragons
Wynn
"Hey! Help! Listen to me!"
I'm struggling against my bonds, my voice raw from shouting.
"Let me out! Hey!"
Cierra yanks the door open, her eyes flashing with a warning. "Shut up. Now." Huh. Is this little gambit she and Adelaide planned not officially sanctioned? She seems worried I'm about to give us all away.
"Let me in there," I demand before she can slam the door in my face.
"Fuck no."
"Adelaide is in danger!"
Cierra does slam the door, but it only takes a second before my last words sink in. The door cracks open again, and she peers in at me, suspicion etched on her face. "My wife can handle one scrawny demon."
"It's not one demon I'm worried about. There's no telling what that demon will bring back with him."
The door opens more, and she eyes me warily. "Explain."
"Marlow doesn't have the right tools to open a passageway. There's no telling what will happen to him—or what he might bring back."
Cierra hesitates for a few seconds that feel like eternity. She utters a low string of curse words as she releases me from my shackles.
As soon as I'm free, I move fast and burst into the interrogation room.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Adelaide exclaims.
I brush past her, my focus solely on Marlow. He's slumped in his chair, eyes vacant, his body left behind as his spirit roams other planes.
"He's not supposed to be in here," Adelaide tells her wife.
"He says we're in danger."
The women shut the door and whisper between themselves, but I hear none of it. I drop to my knees beside Marlow, waving my hand in front of his face and snapping my fingers. There's no response. My gaze shifts to Iggy, who's fluttering anxiously in his cage on the table.
"Are you alright?"
Iggy nods, his eyes filled with concern. "Don't worry about me. Help Marlow."
If only I could. I have no idea how to bring him back. I place my palm on his thigh as I try not to panic. "Oh, you idiot. What have you done? Why would you do that? You stupid, stupid demon." Maybe I'm panicking a little. I clutch onto his thigh, but he doesn't respond.
"He wouldn't leave you," Adelaide says quietly from behind me. "He was looking for a way out, for anything to help."
I shake my head, staring helplessly at the still man before me. "It's so dangerous…"
"You needed to know the truth. I was sure he was using you.” Adelaide almost sounds regretful as she goes on. “I didn't know he would do this. I was sure he'd take the deal."
"He's an innocent man," I remind her.
"That's not why he refused," Adelaide says. "He's run before. The thing he couldn't do was leave you behind."
All this time, I've been so worried. First, I was afraid of being a fool. He deceived me, and I tormented myself wondering how I could be gullible enough to trust him again. How could the last person I’d ever fall for even be my true mate?
The more I discovered about him, the more I couldn’t see myself with anyone else. And I was terrified the universe would rip it all away, that this was some cosmic joke and we weren't really destined for each other. Why weren’t we Recognizing each other?
I've been wrestling against the pull I feel toward him, petrified of being wrong and surrendering my heart to the wrong person again. I've been too scared to confess the truth until I knew for certain what we were to each other. But none of that matters now.
I fell for him anyway. I’m not afraid of him or these feelings, not anymore. I’m only afraid I’ll never get the chance to tell him.
I love Marlow. If he’s not my true mate, then fate made a mistake.
"Please," I whisper. "Please come back."
It happens then, a moment of clarity. I see him, really see him, not as a criminal or a liar, but as the man he truly is.
Clever and sharp-witted, brimming with charm and easy jokes, yet carrying a good heart beneath it all.
The demon who abandoned the underworld and risked himself to give a little gargoyle a better life.
He doesn't abuse his power. He shields those weaker than himself and follows his own moral compass, doing what's right in his own way.
Was I holding myself back? If one party isn't willing or able to see the truth, it can hinder things. I was afraid to let my guard down and open my heart, afraid to take the risk. But now that I’m not running from my feelings, it all becomes clear and I’m able to see the truth.
Marlow’s my mate.
A fierce beat of wings erupts behind him. The passage flickers, going dark for a second, and a roar thunders through the room. Ice shoots down my spine.
"What the fuck was that?" Adelaide demands.
"Uh, I don't know," I reply, my heart pounding in my chest. "Nothing good. That's for sure."
The roar comes again, and this time, we catch a glimpse of a silhouette in the passageway. Something moves, a large dark shape, coming closer.
"If Marlow wanders too far and gets lost," Iggy says. “Creatures attracted to the passage may try and get through.”
Something so massive trying to hijack Marlow’s passage… the beast can’t get through. It won’t be pretty for us or for Marlow.
Adelaide steps forward, her Alpha authority radiating off her. "We need to close that. Now."
"I agree, but I don't know how!"
Just then, the door to the interrogation room bursts open, and a stranger steps inside.
He's short and wiry, with long black hair swept back in a messy ponytail. He looks young and like he doesn’t get enough to eat, but when he looks at the eerie purple light of the passageway, he doesn’t flinch.
He only nods and squares his shoulders. I get the sudden feeling that this scrawny guy might be the most dangerous person in the room.
"Maybe I can help," he says.
"No, don't," Adelaide commands, but the man ignores her, stepping up to the portal with a determined look on his face. "What are you even doing here?"
"Are you sure, Dodger?" Cierra wonders, hovering behind him.
"Yes?" Not exactly a vote of confidence. Another bone-rattling roar echoes through the passage, and his expression hardens, becoming more focused.
The stranger, Dodger, plants his feet and raises his chin as the massive shape on the other side takes form with scales that gleam like polished obsidian, wings vast enough to eclipse the sun. A dragon. An honest-to-god dragon is trying to claw its way through Marlow's portal.
My throat goes dry. Marlow was right—creatures Iggy's size are infinitely better and significantly less likely to reduce us all to charcoal.
"Stop!" The man's voice rings with authority I wouldn't have expected from someone so slight. The dragon's head snaps toward him, yellow eyes blazing. It opens its maw, revealing rows of teeth longer than my forearm.
Dodger reaches to his side and pulls out what looks like a whip, crackling with electric purple energy that matches the portal's glow. Is that what I saw Adelaide purchase?
The dragon roars, the sound rattling the two-way mirror. Dodger cracks the whip. "Stay back. You're not getting through."
The beast rears back, wings unfurling in challenge. Looks like it might try to dive through, but Dodger's whip cracks against the passageway and I feel a rush of power pass by me. A flash of light has me shielding my eyes. There's a screech and Dodger shouts.
When I look again, the beast is gone. He did it.
One problem down, one to go.
"What about Marlow? Bring him back."
The man turns to me, his expression sheepish. "Uh, I'm not sure how. But I think you can."
"Me? How the fuck can I do this?" Give me the forest and tracking a scent, no problem. Other dimensions and mythical creatures? Not my strong suit.
"Just do something," he urges.
"Who the hell are you?" I ask.
"Dodg—uh, Kevin. Kevin Williamson."
What a normal name for a man who just stared down a dragon.
And then it hits me. The name on Marlow's rap sheet, the one he's charged with killing. Kevin Williamson. That's the victim's name. The man Marlow supposedly killed stands in front of me very much alive.
"What the fu—" I stammer, looking to the two Alphas who seem to know this mystery man better. Adelaide shrugs, seeming just as shocked as me to hear his name.
“Ask questions later," he says. “Right now, you need to bring Marlow back."