Chapter 14
Grim
My whole body is vibrating with rage, my dragon prowling just beneath my skin, wanting out all over again. Wanting to tear these fuckers apart, limb from limb.
I don’t blame him, but I won’t let him. I can’t. That was almost a disaster.
I’m completely freaked out at what just went down. I shove the feelings aside because I have bigger fish to fry right now.
I look down at the female in my arms.
This is bad. This is so fucking bad.
“Put me down,” she says, her hands pushing against my chest. “I can walk.”
I ignore her, tightening my grip. I’m not letting her go or letting her anywhere near these assholes.
“Grim,” she tries again. “Please. I’m okay now.”
Kaine is pacing in the reception area. The bald bastard still has his knife to Sally’s throat. Three other males fan out, securing the doors.
“Listen,” I say, forcing my voice to stay level. “You’ve made your point. You got your audience. The security forces are on their way. Let the females go and we can—”
“Shut up,” Kaine snaps. His eyes are wild with adrenaline. “You don’t get to talk. You’re one of them, even if you’re a shifter.”
“I’m just doing my job. As are these females. It’s —”
“Your job is to bring us in so that they can poison us.” He takes a step toward me, and I shift Wren, putting more of my body between her and him.
“Your job is keeping us under the Mainland’s control. Making us weak,” he snarls.
He’s not completely wrong, but what he’s doing isn’t right. These conspiracy theory nutjobs are actually right about the Mainland’s objective, but I can’t tell them that.
This is exactly the kind of publicity we don’t need right now. It’s the kind that will force the Mainland into increasing security. It will make my job infinitely more difficult.
These idiots are going to get people killed. They’ll ruin everything Drake and Shadow have been working towards.
The male Kaine sent to search the building returns, his footsteps heavy. “No one else here, boss.”
Kaine’s eyes narrow. “No one? That’s strange.” He looks at me. “Where is everyone?”
“It’s our lunch break,” I tell him. “Most of the staff went out.”
Thank fuck.
Everyone but Ethan, who should still be at his post. He’s not allowed to leave the pharmaceutical storage area except to use the bathroom, and that’s right there. But I’m not about to point that out to these assholes. Hopefully, he heard the commotion and ran.
Kaine studies me for a moment, then seems to accept it. He turns his attention to the clinic around us. “I want access to the storage facility. The one that holds the vaccinations.”
No one says anything.
“Who has access?” he asks again, his voice dropping dangerously low. He looks at each of us in turn.
Still, no one answers.
Sally’s eyes are wide with fear, and the bald bastard’s knife is still pressed to her throat. Wren tenses in my arms.
“We can do this the easy way,” Kaine says, “or we can do it the hard way. Your choice.” He nods at the bald prick, who presses the knife to Sally’s throat until blood trickles.
She hisses, her eyes filling with terror. Her face has gone completely pale.
“Don’t—” I shake my head.
Kaine moves behind the reception desk and starts going through Sally’s things. Her purse, her pockets, her desk drawers. He’s looking for a keycard.
“Nothing,” he mutters. Then his eyes shift to Wren. “What about her?”
Every muscle in my body coils tight. I set Wren down, quickly shoving her behind me as the males start to advance.
“Back the fuck off,” I tell them.
Sally gives a strangled cry, and more blood trickles from where the knife is pressed to her throat.
“I’ll slice and dice her,” the bald guy says, looking like he is enjoying himself.
“Stop! Don’t hurt her,” Wren says. “I have a keycard.”
She steps out from behind me before I can stop her, pulling the lanyard from around her neck. It must have been hidden under her shirt. The keycard swings from it. She throws it at Kaine, and it lands at his feet.
“There,” she says, her voice surprisingly steady. “That’s what you want, right?”
The sound of sirens cuts through the air. Multiple vehicles. Heavy footsteps outside. The guards have arrived.
A helicopter appears overhead, the thump of its rotors making the windows rattle.
The phone on Sally’s desk starts ringing. Shrill and insistent.
“Smart move,” Kaine tells Wren. “The party is about to start,” he says as he picks up the keycard, then moves to the phone, where he lifts the receiver.
After listening for a few seconds to whoever is on the other line, he says, “I have several hostages.” His voice is cold.
“I won’t hesitate to kill them if anyone sets foot on these premises or tries to intervene in any way.
I want the media here – all the channels, the radio stations…
all of them. I want to make a statement. ”
He slams the phone down and turns to Wren. “You’re coming with me. You’re going to get me into that storage facility.”
“No,” I growl, stepping forward. “She’s not going anywhere with you. You have her keycard.”
“Grim.” Wren’s hand touches my arm. “It’s fine. I’m fine. I can handle this. I’ll help them.”
“We won’t hurt any of you as long as you cooperate.
” Kaine’s eyes are blazing. “We’re here to make a point…
that’s all. If any of you dies, the focus will be on us being killers instead of on our message.
” His eyes narrow. “But force my hand, and I won’t hesitate to kill you.
” He looks directly at me as he says it.
I growl.
“I’ve got this. Stay calm…please,” Wren says, clutching my arm so that I look down into her eyes. “It’s okay,” she adds.
It’s not okay. Nothing about this is fucking okay.
But I nod once, stepping back. “If anything happens to her…”
Kaine gestures to his males. “Secure them.”
Two of the males surround me immediately. One of them is smart enough to bring a chain, wrapping it around my wrists. They’re taking no chances after what they saw me do outside. I wish I had control of my dragon. I would end these pricks here and now.
A third male takes Sally. It’s the same bald bastard from before. He has his knife at her throat again, and he’s grinning at me. Daring me to do something stupid.
My hands clench into fists, the chain biting into my wrists.
Two males, including Kaine, take Wren toward the back of the clinic. Toward the pharmaceutical storage area. She looks over her shoulder at me, her face pale.
“Make sure that no one gets in or out,” Kaine shouts at his remaining three males, who fan out. I doubt that the Draig Security Team will storm the center. It would be too risky. They will first try to talk them down.
I don’t like this. I don’t fucking like this at all.
The males shove Sally and me into a small room off the hallway. It’s used for storing files and documents. There are boxes stacked floor to ceiling in rows. One of the males grabs my chin, forcing me to look at him.
“You try to escape,” Baldy says, “and we’ll hurt your girlfriend. We’ll hurt her real bad and in ways you won’t like. You understand me? We might even make you watch.”
A growl rumbles in my chest, and he laughs.
“Yeah, I thought so.” He releases me with a shove and backs out of the room, closing the door. I hear the click of a lock engaging.
Sally walks into the area and sags against a stack of boxes, her whole body shaking.
“Oh my God,” she whispers. “What the hell is happening? Why are they here? We didn’t do anything wrong. We help people, Grim. They’ve completely lost it.”
“I know. They’re crazy. It isn’t anything we did.”
I lean against the door, pressing my ear to it. I hear muffled voices and footsteps. The helicopter is still hovering overhead.
I walk as far into the room as I can.
“The anti-vaxxers want a platform,” I tell her, keeping my voice low. “They want to spout their conspiracy theories. Get the media involved. Make a big show of it.”
“Why do they want to get to the vaccinations?”
“I’m pretty sure they will want to destroy them. Make a public spectacle with the cameras rolling.”
“That would be terrible,” Sally says, shaking her head. “Shifters need their shots. What is this world coming to?”
It wouldn’t be a bad thing if they destroyed all the vaccinations.
There’d be a shortage. The Mainland would scramble to replace the supply.
It might buy Drake and the others time. Might even prove to the Draig population what’s really going on.
I only wish it weren’t such a bunch of deranged males.
They will potentially end up sending the wrong message.
“I still can’t believe you shifted.” Sally looks at me like I just sprouted purple horns.
“I got so incredibly angry. My dragon took over. It was…it was wrong of me and won’t happen again.”
“Good thing you shifted back when you did.” She’s looking at me skeptically.
I nod.
“How did you do it?” Sally asks.
I look at her. “Do what?”
“Shift back.” Her eyes are on me. “I thought dragons only shifted back when their riders told them to. Or when multiple dragons and riders forced them to.” She shakes her head.
“They don’t just shift back on their own like that.
” She shrugs. “I mean, it’s what I’ve heard.
I’ve been on the island for almost five years. I have friends who are shifters.”
“A dragon does what it wants,” I tell her. “My dragon wanted to shift back. We got lucky.”
“That’s for sure.” Sally lets out a shaky breath. “You should never have shifted in the first place. It’s against the law for a reason, Grim. You could go to prison for that.”
“I know. I…lost it. I knew the two of you were in danger. Like I said, it won’t happen again.”
I act all calm, even though I’m freaking out all over again. The truth is that I didn’t just randomly shift back because my dragon wanted to.
I did it because Wren told me to.
Wren, who my dragon tried desperately to mind-bond with. My prick of a dragon. What the hell is his problem? Surely we’ve been fucked up enough for one lifetime? We don’t need that bullshit again.
I can still feel it. The moment in the parking lot when Wren’s voice cut through the rage and bloodlust. She reached my beast.
My dragon was clawing at her mind, desperate to bond. Desperate to make her ours.
And she kept him out.
Thank fuck she kept him out. I can’t imagine how painful that must have been for her.
She didn’t know what she was doing. Doesn’t understand what happened out there. She was just trying to calm me down, trying to reach the human part of me buried under all that feral instinct.
At least, I don’t think she knows.
I hope she doesn’t.
But the fact remains: my dragon tried to bond with her. I hate that. I don’t want it. It can never happen again.
I can never shift in her presence ever again.
Next time, I won’t get so lucky. Next time, my dragon won’t take no for an answer. Next time, we’ll bond, and then I’ll be right back where I started. Vulnerable. Broken. At the mercy of someone I can’t trust.
Make no mistake, I can’t trust Wren. She’s a human working for the Mainland. For all I know, she could be another spy like Jordyn. Hell, I can’t even trust most shifters these days.
I start pacing.
“What’s taking so long?” Sally asks. I don’t think it’s a real question. “I don’t like this, Grim.” Her voice hitches.
Neither do I.
If they don’t bring Wren back soon, I’m going to lose it, and then all bets are off. I might just shift again. I feel like I’m losing control of my beast.
I march up and down, forcing myself to breathe slower.