Chapter 23
Chapter Twenty-Three
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Scales break out over my skin, expelling the thorns and snapping the vines around my torso.
The cables ping off, one of them smacking Nyoka on the back of the head where he’s standing at one of the computers.
He whirls around and says something to Lance, then scrambles on the floor for one of the syringes.
Lance spins around and his eyes widen. He throws another vine spell at me which wraps around my torso, tightening quickly.
This time it’s ineffective. My dragon and I are finally connected on a soul-deep level, the way we’ve been missing all this time. I can still feel the ward trying to put a solid barrier between us, but it can’t anymore. He is me and I am him, and we forgot that for far too long.
I focus on gathering my strength, trying to draw energy and heat to the straps shackling my wrists and ankles to the stretcher. The runed leather begins to tear as a red light above the door starts flashing.
Lance rushes over to one of the computers and brings up a display from security feeds inside and outside the warehouse, as well as here in the basement. His wings flutter madly at the sight of armed task force officers everywhere and a room on fire.
My clever tiger and his pack have found us.
I feel the tremor of my dragon’s roar as we fight against the ward in an attempt to fully shift. We must destroy this place and their terrible shift-stealing weapon. They can’t be allowed to use it against anyone else.
Nyoka breaks one of his syringes on my scales when he tries to stick it into my neck. He frantically fumbles for another one and tries again, attempting to find a gap.
I finally rip all the way through the straps and immediately grab Nyoka around the neck.
I get up from the stretcher as he flails, his mouth open and panicked eyes wide.
This piece of shit just tried to steal my dragon from me.
It wouldn’t surprise me if he’s been working down here for months while they torture innocent people.
Surely no one would miss him if I simply tighten my grip…
But tempting as it is, I swore I’d never go back to Wargate again, and the last thing I want is for Raj to have to arrest me himself.
Besides, Lance is the one I really want.
Lance throws a sand spell at me, causing me to loosen my grip as I blink it out of my eyes.
Next thing I know, I’m up to my knees in mud.
His arm is outstretched as he feeds more power into the spell, hardening the mud into rock and making it impossible to move no matter how much I try to break free.
Nyoka wriggles out of my grasp before I can get a better hold on him.
He rushes over to the computer he was working at, bringing up a spreadsheet and series of graphs that I don’t bother to examine because I have bigger concerns, namely the way Lance is continuing to build rock higher and higher up my body, trapping my entire lower half.
While I work on breaking free, I retract my scales and try to buy some time. ‘It’s over, Lance. I’m going to take great pleasure in watching the task force arrest you again, knowing you’ll never wriggle out of these charges. And I will personally destroy the weapon you just used on me.’
I gather all my magical energy into the centre of my chest and feed it to my dragon, fighting against the ward to strengthen our connection as fully as possible.
I channel every drop I have left, everything they didn’t steal from me.
All the flight training in the world won’t help me now; it’s my soul-deep cohesion with my dragon that really matters. Perhaps it always was.
Lance’s eyes flash with malice as he completes his spell. ‘You think this will end if I’m arrested? Idiotic dragon. The work being done towards our cause extends well beyond Far Out Freight.’
Raj and his pack aren’t going to be happy to learn that, but as Nyoka says something and Lance reaches for the cables, I decide to worry about it later. Right now I have to stop these two before they try to steal my dragon again.
It’s like trying to shift while trapped in a net made of titanium, but my dragon is determined to break free. We fight against it using every ounce of our magic until finally, we fully shift.
Since a full-sized dragon doesn’t fit into a basement lab, my head and back smash through the ceiling, causing racks from the warehouse to topple down around me and scatter in every direction.
My tail takes out the wall behind me and my enormous body punches Lance and Nyoka through two side walls into another room.
Up in the warehouse—where my head now is—Ayo, Skye, and Kit are on the far side of the building, using a combination of spells and rifles as five fae rush out of the ladies’ toilets and take flight, scattering in different directions.
While I make a larger hole so that I can reach down for Lance and Nyoka, the team knock out the flying fae with fast efficiency.
Most of the fae meet the ground when they drop, although one lands on top of a fallen rack.
Skye then sprints towards me, hurdling boxes, racks, and debris like an Olympic athlete.
A magical shield covers his body like a second skin, and he seems completely unhindered by all the gear he’s got on despite his small size.
The moment he reaches me, he points his gun down into the rubble-filled room below.
He should be able to see Lance and Nyoka, but perhaps he doesn’t have a clear line of sight because he doesn’t fire yet, instead manoeuvring around the hole to find a better position.
As I reach for Lance to assist in his capture, a wave of dizziness hits me out of nowhere. Shit. Whatever part of me they took through those cables has had more of an effect than I realised. Before I can strengthen my hold on my shift, I lose control.
Shrinking to my partially shifted form sends rubble and boxes toppling down into the destroyed lab just as Raj bursts in, handgun raised, the shimmer of his own shield keeping him safe.
Fuck, it’s good to see him.
From behind his goggles, his glowing amber eyes lock onto me and he rushes over, but there’s no time for a sweet reunion. As soon as he spots Nyoka and Lance two rooms over, he opens fire as Skye drops down from the ceiling.
My dragon wants to snatch up our precious treasure and the little eagle and take them far away from the shift-stealing weapon.
I remind my dragon that these two are warriors with heavy-duty shields, and are far more experienced than we are at stopping the bad guys.
Besides, the weapon still seems to be in a form that needs cables attached to a person to do the damage.
Thank fuck they haven’t developed some sort of gun-based version yet, because the shield charm Ayo and I developed wouldn’t provide adequate protection.
Lance uses his magic to lift the rubble and throw it at us while Nyoka ducks and runs for the door at the right hand side of the room they ended up in. The rubble is ineffective thanks to the shields and my scales, but it does prevent Raj and Skye getting a clear shot on either the fae or the mage.
As soon as Lance realises his rubble shatters on impact without causing any damage to us, he runs for the door opposite to where Nyoka went, the remaining rubble abruptly falling to the ground around us. Skye races after Nyoka as Raj and I rush after Lance.
We chase him through corridor after corridor, leaping over unconscious fae, dodging sandstorm spells, and wading through a river of mud that he tries and fails to harden around our ankles as the magic in his wings begins to flicker.
Raj manages to shoot him in his right shoulder and his left arm, but despite significant bleeding and a definite sluggishness to his movements, he manages to bar our path with a network of vines that weave together.
Raj starts hacking at the nearest vines with a dagger, but I put my hand on his shoulder and tug him back a few steps as I let the heat build inside me. I ignore that dragon fire has always been limited to our fully shifted forms, because my dragon and I are one, and together we can do anything.
I focus on enhancing the parameters of my partial shift, changing my throat to become more dragon-like.
It takes intense concentration, but just like I did on the day I got out of Wargate when I struggled to ignite my flame, I focus on contracting the muscles in my throat to move the fuel inside me into the right area.
The moment I have enough in place, I use my magic to ignite it.
Flames shoot out of my mouth, setting the vines ablaze, and as soon as they’re charred and brittle enough for us to push through, I smother the flames using my magic.
I’d happily let this entire place burn if there weren’t innocent people down here, but catching Lance will have to be enough.
Although putting out my fire was probably a waste of time, because as we race after Lance, following the trail of blood, there are flames visible through some of the open doorways we pass.
I don’t know whether Ember or another fire fae started this, perhaps in an attempt to destroy evidence, but it’s definitely spreading.
I jerk Raj to a stop and quickly absorb my scales back into my skin so I can sign. ‘Is someone helping the others? They’re in cells. They’re in danger from the fire, especially with the ward in place.’
He tugs his balaclava down. ‘The cells are unlocked and Ethan, Jet, and Cal are getting them out. Skye can handle Nyoka, so our job is to catch this bastard.’
He presses a swift, firm kiss to my lips before covering his mouth and nose again and resuming the chase. Reassured, I bring my scales back and rush after him.