“I know where they took the prisoners,” said Astor. “I eavesdropped on the hunters. All prisoners are being transferred immediately to the Orion Stronghold.”

  My heart dived, Becks exclaimed, and the door slammed off the wall. A hunter ran into the tunnel, followed by several more. They’d caught us.

  12

  These hunters weren’t unprepared and confused. A dozen barrels clicked as the deadly weapons pointed right at us. They swarmed the tunnel, completely blocking the way back. I froze, my heart sinking in my chest. No. It can’t end like this.

  For a heartbeat, nobody moved. Then a gunshot ripped through the air.

  Bang.

  I jumped and ducked, but it was one of the hunters who fell. Becks fired the gun again, causing the nearest hunter to jump back.

  “You took the gun?” I stared at Becks for a second, pulling out my knife.

  “You weren’t going to use it.” She tossed it to Will and turned into cat form, streaking under their feet in an attempt to throw off their aim. Shots ricocheted off the walls, but Becks dodged all of them, clawing at ankles and causing enough distraction for Will to throw a smoke bomb into their midst. He then fired the gun at them, grimacing at the recoil. Those bullets were nasty business.

  As for me, I let my claws slide out, dodging bullets and backing down the tunnel, away from our base. There were too many enemies to fight, especially down here. But the more tunnels we escaped through, the more of our hideouts we’d give up to the enemy. As though we needed to give them any more of an advantage over us.

  Will tossed me the gun, shaking his head. “I can’t risk hitting Becks,” he said, backing away. Damn. Becks wouldn’t see the shot coming, even without all the hunters running around.

  Astor snatched the gun from my hands as my claws slipped on the trigger, firing it into the pack of approaching hunters with no hesitation whatsoever. This was the first time I’d seen him actively fight against his former companions, which might have bolstered me under normal circumstances. Astor backed further away, continuing to fire the gun. Yells of pain told me he’d hit the mark even in the smoke.

  “Becks!” I yelled, striking back at a guy who tried to grab my arm. “Get out of there!” If she wasn’t careful, she’d get hit. We need to get out. Think, Ember.

  Wait a minute.

  I mouthed something at Will. He blinked a couple of times, not understanding, then he got it. I continued to back away, letting Will fall in behind me. Then I edged closer to Astor. “We’re going to run. On three.”

  “What? They’ll catch you.”

  “I have a plan.”

  “You’d better.”

  He fired one last time, then Becks streaked out from under the smoke in cat form. As an attacker grabbed for her, I struck out with my claws, then we ran.

  I’d never run so fast in all my life. Astor fell behind—even a trained soldier couldn’t compete with pure-blooded shifter speed—but I carried on, my lungs burning, legs aching. The air grew thick with heat and the smoke from the street seemed to cling to me even as we left it behind, following a well-trodden route. If they knew about our two hideouts, they’d know they were connected. We wouldn’t be giving them any new information by drawing them back to our old one.

  But their automaton had destroyed a faerie park, and the faeries punished transgressions like that with blood.

  Okay, maybe this is suicidal. Crossing the faeries was a very good way to end up dead. But the fact that the League had stampeded through the dryads’ park in the first place suggested they weren’t entirely savvy when it came to all things supernatural. Whether they had an informant or not.

  I caught up with Will near the tunnel’s exit in what was once the entrance into the Underground… except it was now carved in. The automaton hadn’t stopped with the park, apparently. Alarm and guilt swirled within me, even more at the sound of gunshots echoing behind me. Had I got Astor killed? He might not be a hero, but we needed one less villain on our side. There was no other way out from here. I’d led us to a dead end.

  Becks caught up next, her small legs carrying her at superhuman speed. She screeched to a halt with a yowl of dismay, turning human again. “Balls!”

  “I know, right?” I scanned for a way through, but the whole ceiling had come down. I’d almost have said someone had used a controlled explosive on it, like Will’s spells, but that couldn’t be right.

  “Let me try this.” Will set down a spell in front of the blockage of stone and earth.

  “Not a firework,” I said. “What if we get hurt, too? You might bring the rest of the ceiling down on us, and we’re as likely to suffocate as they are.”

  “It’s this or get shot.”

  There were no other tunnels. Astor couldn’t hold them off indefinitely, and Will would run out of smoke bombs soon. And there wasn’t anywhere to hide, nor any gaps in the stone blocking the way out.

  You’re a dragon. There’s room to shift in here. Definitely not room to fly, but I hadn’t tried to shift fully since—since I’d first met Astor. Sure, there was a damn good reason I’d suppressed it, but my claws could cut through iron.

  I let them slide out, tearing a chunk loose from the packed earth. The shouts behind grew louder. I didn’t have time to pull the whole thing down by hand.

  But the fire in my chest remained. Dragonfire can burn through anything. I’d never had the chance to test it in action.

  If ever there was a good time for drastic action, this was it. At worst, I’d be a human—well, dragon—shield for the others.

  “Guys, get behind me,” I told the others. Dragon scales were tough. Probably not enough to stand against bullets, but what the hell. Even hunters would think twice about crossing a dragon. If it won my friends time, I’d do it.

  “What?” said Becks. “You can’t use yourself as a shield.”

  “There’s no other way. Trust me.”

  Becks and Will both watched me, their eyes wide with fear under the lingering effects of the smoke. Neither had seen me shift. But I’d seen the effect it’d had on the hunters in the seconds before I’d passed out the day it’d first happened. They’ve never seen a dragon. I’ll scare the living daylights out of them.

  “I haven’t tried this for a while. I don’t know what will happen.”

  Already, my claws extended, and a rippling sensation passed down my spine. My dragon had been yearning to break free the whole time.

  “Get behind me,” I warned again as the tremors took hold of me, uncontrollable. Scales spread down my arms first, merging with the claws where my hands had been. My shoulders were next, and my legs. Shakes gripped my whole body as the tight space seemed tighter when my body lengthened and my feet moved further apart—feet which now ended in long, curved claws. My head scraped the ceiling. Pain and discomfort wrapped around both sides of the wings which sprang from my back, striking the tunnel’s sides. I winced, folding them inwards until my muscles screamed, but the tight space was unrelenting. I needed air, needed space. A pained growl rumbled in my chest, and the tunnel vibrated around me. Holy crap. That noise came from me.

  Then came several human-sounding shouts, followed by a scream. Wedged in, facing the stone wall, I couldn’t see how close they were. I twisted my neck and glimpsed Becks in cat form skittering out the way.

  “Ember!” Will shouted. “They’re coming—”

  Panic gripped my heart, and for a moment, I felt human again. I froze.

  “Move!” yelled a familiar voice—Astor. Then, gunshots. No. Did he get hit?

  “Astor!” I yelled—or tried to. My voice was lost in a rumbling growl, and my wings moved to shield my friends. Astor’s disbelieving look was etched on my mind as my wing moved to block the hunters from grabbing him, and then a gunshot sounded. A bullet clipped my wing, eliciting another rumble of anger. They’re going to pay.

  Anger ignited in my chest, and the fireball which had been building inside me ever since Cori’s capture roared to life. The noise that escaped my throat was alien and terrifying even to me. Human screams sounded behind me, but sounded far away.

  Fire engulfed the wall of stone, not like the pitiful fire the hunters had started but true, magical fire which blasted right through the stone obstruction. My vision flashed white, and a second later, the wall was just gone. My wings and arms ached in agony by now, and a sharp pain in the top of my head told me my horns were squashed against the ceiling. Turn human again. Run.

  The shouts had faded. The world flickered as I fell forward. I tried to speak, but it was as though the fire had taken away my voice. Smoke stung my eyes, and my body ached like I’d tried to squeeze it through a tube. Which in effect, was pretty much what I’d done.

  I heard my name, but couldn’t tell who spoke. The world faded to blackness.

  Once a month, at the full moon, most shifters lost their reason. Something in the tides, or the moon’s cycle, caused shifters to revert into animal form during the night and turn human again in the morning—an inconvenience which had caused most shifters to leave the city or risk being imprisoned or killed. Even wildcat shifters like Becks felt the shift, felt their emotions breaking free of their own control and knew there’d be bloodshed and fighting if we let her out alone at night. She trusted Cori, Will and me to keep her door locked so she couldn’t hurt anyone. Gargoyles were unaffected by those out-of-control impulses. I’d thought dragons weren’t affected, either.

  Until now.

  Fire burned inside me as my wings spread wide, trying to take off. Pressure pushed me down, the tunnel confining my movements. My rational mind disappeared in a roar of flames, and anger consumed my being. I wanted out. I wanted to hurt the monsters who’d taken my sister, and bathe my claws in blood. Strangled noises came from my throat, a mix of human and dragon.

  “Shit!” yelled a male voice. “What do we do?”

  “It’s like she’s reacting to the shift,” said a female voice. I knew both, but couldn’t put names to faces while my body was on fire. “Don’t you have some kind of antidote?”

  “I’m not a walking chemist!” Will. The guy speaking was called Will. I knew him. “Even our first aid kit’s depleted.”

  “Knockout spell?” said the female voice desperately—Becks. My other friend. Both voices came from nearby, but someone else held me down. Who?

  “I used my last one. There might be some in the old house, but well.”

  As they spoke, I fought against the press of the tunnel confining my body. I wanted out. A rattling scream built in my chest, and the sound of shattering glass cut through the voices.

  “Holy shit,” said Will. “Have you ever heard a human make that noise? Because I haven’t.”

  “I’ve never even seen a dragon before today, Will,” said Becks.

  Me. They were talking about me, but my body was still on fire, and I was still trapped in the tunnel—

  Even as I felt the softness of a bed beneath me—

  My skin burned, my chest rattled with the suppressed fire, and a yell came from beside me. “Make your fucking minds up! She’s going to rip me to pieces if I’m not careful.”

  Who was that? A third voice. One I knew, and I didn’t.

  “Okay,” said Will. “I’m gonna run over to the house and grab that knockout spell. Can you hold her until then?”

  “I’ll go with you,” Becks said quickly. “The house is a wreck, and the faeries someone pissed off at the park will probably be raiding it by now.”

  “Don’t throw the blame at me,” said the other voice. “If I get killed over this—”

  “You’ll come back as a ghost you don’t believe in, I get it,” said Will.

  “I never said I didn’t believe in ghosts.”

  “Argue with Ember instead,” said Becks. “You’d better not run away.”

  “If he does, I’m pretty sure Ember could crush any faerie the way she is now,” said Will. “We’ll be five minutes!”

  The sound of retreating footsteps became distant as my body fought the fire searing me from the inside out. Was I human, or not? I wasn’t in the tunnel. I lay on a bed, soft against my back, and someone leaned over me, pinning down my arms.

  “Keep still, for god’s sake,” said the voice, from somewhere in the distance. A body pressed into mine without warning as the grip on my arms tightened. Heat flared in response, a primal instinct gripping me like a fever. A familiar scent drew me in, led my claws to slide loose again. They wanted blood, and I’d give it to them. I ought to be strong enough to rip my claws loose from his puny human hands, yet he continued to hold me down, our chests inches apart, our faces closer. Heat spiralled through me, uncontrollable. My teeth began to bare in a snarl again.

  His mouth closed over mine.

  The effect was instantaneous. Heat bloomed along my skin, somehow more intense than before, yet my claws stopped fighting against him. A different kind of fire leaped between the blazing path where our lips touched, mine parting enough to draw him in. I breathed in the smell of sandalwood and some kind of spice, which cooled down the burning sensation in my lungs. A primal growl rose in my throat and I kissed him hard with an abandon I’d never thought possible, anger sliding into lust, for this man, the enemy—

  And then I slammed back to awareness with a horrified jolt. Astor stood beside the bed I’d been lying on, half-bathed in moonlight which made the tips of the tattoo marks on his collarbone stand out. He’d been holding me down by the arms—which were covered in scales. His expression was somewhere between shock and bemusement, his lips swollen where I’d latched onto him with a passion which came from—from whatever creature I’d become when I’d lost all reason and sense. He kissed me. Obviously, he’d done it to stop me from killing him—and it’d worked.

  “You bastard. You forced me—”

  “There was no forcing involved. I was trying to distract you, and it looks like you really wanted that distraction.” His eyes glittered with amusement even as his hand dripped blood onto the bed. I’d cut him on my scales. But I hadn’t cut his throat as I’d wanted. The impulse had disappeared the second our lips had touched.

  “I—” I gasped. “Never, ever do that to me again.” He couldn’t know that kissing me might well have been as dangerous as challenging me when I let my dragon side take over—that lust was possibly worse than the need to kill. Shifter mating instincts were tough to repress, but I’d never had mine latch onto a human before. Let alone while half-shifted. Admittedly, I’d never heard of a human kissing a shifter as a distractive technique before, but Astor’s hands had been occupied holding me down and he’d improvised with what he’d had left. And not only had he succeeded, he’d switched the instinct to kill right off. Too bad he’d possibly unleashed something worse.

  I scrambled backwards on the bed, my arms now limp as though I’d carried a ton of bricks up a mountain. Someone had left a glass of water on the table. I grabbed it and downed it in one to wash the taste of him out of my mouth. “You could have just tipped this over my head to cool me down.”

  His smirk didn’t fade. “You were almost literally on fire. Hot.” He spoke the last word like he meant it in a different sense, and the small hairs on my arm rose as the flames in my chest stirred again. My whole body ached, especially between my legs. Damn you, Astor. He couldn’t have more effectively halted me if he’d cut off one of my limbs. If ever there was a good time for him to kill me, it was now.

  He didn’t move. Obviously, to him, it was just a kiss. He didn’t have any beast waiting inside him, reckless and wanting and made of nothing but desire. Maybe I should just shift instead. My dragon side couldn’t have him.

  A sense of possessive need stirred, and I forced it down. Shit. I’d shielded him with my wing, too. My dragon side did recognise him as an ally, a friend, even if she’d nearly killed him before.

  “Where are we?” Amazingly, my voice came out steady.

  “The house across the road from the one the automaton knocked down. I told them it was a bad idea.” He studied me. “Your friends went to fetch a spell to knock you out with. I think it’s unnecessary now, but maybe you’ll surprise me again.”

  I dug my hands into the bed. “Stop pissing about, Astor. I need to find Becks and Will. That house isn’t safe.”

  “Cool it, little dragon. They’re safe.”

  “Little dragon? Is that what you’re calling me now?”

  “It’s a term of endearment.”

  How in hell could he talk to me normally after what’d happened between us? You didn’t go from supernatural-exterminating cultist who was terrified of witchcraft to someone who brushed off being lip-locked to a half-reptile without batting an eyelid, not in my world.

  “Does that always happen when you shift?”

  “I’ve only shifted twice.” Bloody typical. I’d better not collapse every single time my dragon appeared. Getting stuck in a tunnel would have been a stupid way to die. And so would being consumed by preternatural lust and losing myself in the arms of an enemy before someone shot one of us to death.

  He held my gaze a second longer than necessary. “Only twice? So when I saw you—”

  “Yes, it was the first time. In case you haven’t noticed, dragons were a rare sight before the invasion.”

  “They still are now.”

  “Touché.” I rubbed the back of my head, still feeling like I had a pair of squashed horns. Not to mention the echo of pain where my wings had been cramped against the low ceiling. My body ached all over, even though shifting wasn’t supposed to be painful. Maybe because I’d been fighting it for so long. “What time is it?”

  “Nearly midnight.”

  “You’re joking.”

  He watched calmly as I released a stream of curses. “Cori,” I said. “We never found her at the prison. Now the dickheads have two of our hideouts.”

  “Weren’t you coming this way deliberately?”

 

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