Chapter 19 #2
“Is it not your goal to eliminate all possible opposition? Why should I behave any differently?”
“This is cruel and inhumane.”
With a lift of one eyebrow, he called into question everything I’d ever believed. “Oh? And your plans are not?”
“You don’t understand.”
He chuffed. “There is nothing wrong with my comprehension.”
The world shifted, and suddenly we were in the common area, hovering above the rapidly rising water.
Heads bobbed, arms flailed, screams of panic echoed all around us, and there was nothing I could do.
The dragon kept me suspended and immobile as he lowered himself to the water level and dipped a finger in.
Ice formed at his touch before rapidly spreading across the water toward my packmates.
Their screams fell silent with a finality that made me drop to my knees mid-air.
“Stop! Please! Don’t do this.”
The dragon’s scowl only darkened. “Tell me where you are.”
“I can’t.” I shook my head, even as my gaze landed on a mop of brown, unruly curls. Marco was only seven and deserved to grow up, but he was now fully encased in ice.
“Then this will be the fate of your people. They will never die, Ziara. I will not allow them that mercy. I will keep them here, locked in my magic for all eternity, alive yet unable to truly live. Unless you tell me where you are right now.”
“I… I don’t know.”
“Your lies will not save them.”
The ice continued to spread, freezing everyone I cared about as regret pulsed through my veins. I did know where we were because I’d peeked. And now I had a decision to make.
“This is just a dream.”
“For now, yes. However, if you fail to tell me your location, it will become a reality. I know where your den is, and exactly how to destroy you.”
I didn’t want to tell him anything, but I had no choice.
“Al Mukalla.” The truth fell from my mouth of its own accord. “Now leave them alone, you heartless bastard.”
“Zee, wake up!”
The desperation in Mack’s voice registered as hands gripped my shoulders, shaking hard enough to rattle my teeth.
I gasped and jerked upright, heart hammering against my ribs.
We weren’t in the den, our people weren’t underwater, and the dragon was nowhere in sight.
Rubbing at my bleary eyes, I scanned the area, still trying to separate reality from the new level of dream hell I’d just witnessed.
We were on a rooftop by the sea. Foreign scents mingled with ocean salt that smelled different from the Pacific I’d grown up next to.
My gaze followed the surf to where waves played in moonlight as far as I could see.
Our immediate area was dark, but on the shore, rows of white buildings speckled with lights stretched up the foot of a mountain.
I could make out the faintly shimmering boundary and streetlights from the Mondeine side of the fracture.
My wolf stirred uneasily despite her bindings.
Mack released me and began rolling up his bedroll like his ass was on fire.
“What’s going on?” I asked. My last memory—before the dragon had crashed my dream—was from this morning when I stepped onto the portal platform in Seattle. “Is this Al Mukalla?” There was no telling how far we’d traveled while I’d slept.
“Later.” Finished with the bedroll, Mack thrust out a hand and helped me to my feet before bending to collect mine. He had to be as exhausted as I was, but he appeared to be running on adrenaline. “We need to move. Now.”
“Why?”
A flash of color on the horizon seized my attention. Lightning crackled near the desert cliffs just beyond the city, sending spiderwebs of purple and gold through a churning, writhing mass. It pulsed with magic, raw, wild, and so strong that I could feel it across the distance.
My wolf stirred within me, almost basking in the savage energy as goosebumps sprouted across my flesh.
“That.” There was an undercurrent of fear in Mack’s voice that I’d never heard before. “Freaky-ass sandstorm.”
And it was heading in our direction. Coming fast.
“Hurry, you two,” Rust shouted from across the roof.
I slapped my empty thigh sheaths, aware that weapons could do nothing against the storm but needing them anyway. “Daggers?”
Mack pointed at my bag, and that was good enough for me.
I scooped it up and ran for Rust, who was now waving wildly at us.
He dropped to his ass on the ledge and then disappeared over the side.
I peered after him. We were at least six stories up, but he scaled the building like a pro.
When he was down about two floors, he yelled for me to follow.
The concrete felt worn beneath my fingertips, worked over by decades of extreme weather and neglect.
Handholds crumbled beneath my weight, and portal fatigue dragged at my limbs, but fear drove me hard and fast. I half-climbed, half-fell down the side of the building.
Mack joined our mad rush, and chunks of concrete and debris pelted me from above.
The storm gained speed. My attention stayed fixed on my descent, but the crackle of power grew louder and more intense.
The hair on my arms rose, and the stench of magic cloyed the back of my throat, making breathing difficult.
I jumped the last several feet and slid out of the way, making room for Mack.
He hit the ground right after I did. Rust was already running, shouting for us to follow.
We broke into a sprint after him, earning a full-frontal view of the storm as we rounded a corner and raced toward it for a terrifying block and a half before turning again.
Rust slammed through a door and into a building.
We followed seconds before the storm swallowed us up.
The building shook.
“In here!” Rust called out, leading us down a stairwell.
Magic crackled all around us as the charge in the air intensified. An impossible darkness engulfed the stairwell, and I froze so I wouldn’t break my neck in my hasty descent.
A hand slid into mine and squeezed. Mack. The relief that bubbled up my throat couldn’t be contained, but at least the chaos of the storm was loud enough to cover my sigh.
A flashlight hummed to life ahead of us, and Mack released me. Rust angled the beam down the stairwell, leading us through another door. His light bounced off pale concrete as we entered an underground garage.
The alpha was already there, leaning against an abandoned truck with his own flashlight in hand. He took us all in and nodded. “Good. I was beginning to worry.”
“They were still asleep,” Rust said.
Dad nodded. “We’ll bed down here for the rest of the night.”
I was exhausted, yet the prospect of going back to sleep made me long for a pot of coffee and toothpicks to prop open my eyelids. I needed to tell him about the dragon, but not right then while I was still catching my breath.
“I’ll take the first watch,” I said instead.
The alpha nodded. “Get some sleep, Denael.”
Dad and Rust put their heads together while Mack situated his bedroll beside a rusted-out sedan that looked like it hadn’t run since before I was born.
Leaning against the sedan, I pulled my flashlight out of my bag and flicked it on to do a quick check around the garage before turning it off again. “We’re aways from the barrier,” I said.
“You passed out as soon as you teleported.” Mack stretched out on the mat, looking up at me. “I carried you.”
“That’s becoming a habit.” One I wasn’t a fan of.
Mack’s dimple flashed. “I don’t mind.”
Considering how far we were from the boundary line, he should have. “You carried me all the way from the portal station?”
“No. The alpha paid some red-skinned guy with horns to give us a lift. We needed to be on the water, and none of us were up for walking.”
“I slept through being stuffed into a car?”
He yawned. “The back of a truck, actually. Then we used a bunch of curtains to hoist you onto the roof.”
“Really?”
He cocked his head with a grin. “You think you’re that big? I threw you over my shoulder.”
I scoffed at his haughtiness before sobering. “Wow. Portal fatigue is no joke.”
“On top of whatever the witch did to you.”
Right. Sereana had bound my wolf, stabbed the bloodstone into my throat, and sent me into a healing coma only hours before we’d teleported. Damn. That seemed like days ago.
“Don’t forget to equip your gun while you’re on watch,” Mack said as his eyes drifted closed. Always the trainer.
Still, I was grateful for the reminder, considering I rarely carried the Glock and had absolutely forgotten about it. Had Rust caught me without it, he would have busted my ass. I grabbed the shoulder harness and the pistol from my bag and loaded it.
“If something moves, sound the alarm.” Dad stretched out on his bedroll nearby. “Wake Mackiel in two hours.”
I had so many questions, but Mack was my best bet for answers, and he was already lightly snoring at my feet. Exhausted and feeling like I was still trapped in a nightmare, I did another sweep of the garage with my flashlight before settling in to keep watch.