Book 2 Chapter 15
1088 Words
15
The air is utterly still, hot but dry. I lift my hair from my shoulders, tying it in a high pony. Nico’s testosterone shot is still doing its work. I see his eyes wander over my briefly exposed midriff, and he instantly shifts into a werewolf, bolting out into the sands before coming back.
“Okay,” he says, when he returns—he pauses to give himself a shake. Sand flies from his fur in all directions. Apparently satisfied, he changes back to his human form. It’s funny how he doesn’t look any less dangerous as a boy. He jerks his head toward me. “I can still shift. Now you.”
“Huh?” I hadn’t even considered that maybe I couldn’t. I remember the panicked look on Greg’s face, and feel a tickle of fear in my belly. I just figured this out, please don’t take it away.
It hasn’t been. I’m a mighty, glorious dragon in an instant. But my wings are a pale pearlescent hue, my worry and concern draining them of color.
I snap back into a girl.
“Good,” Nico says. “I didn’t want to say it in front of the others, but if we were incapacitated, there would have been no option but to abort the mission.”
“I would’ve gone in there as a human,” I tell him.
He looks me up and down. It seems like this was some sort of test—and I passed it. “I thought so. Loyalty before all. It’s my family motto.”
Family motto? If my family had one it would’ve been, “If one person orders dessert, everyone shares it.” I’m definitely getting the feeling that Nico’s family is way more intense than mine had been. A pang of longing and loss stabs my gut. They’re less frequent than they once were, but I don’t think they’ll ever go away completely. I’ve lost too much to simply get over it.
At least I’ve gotten better at pushing it aside and focusing on the task at hand. Which is what I do now.
“What’s the plan, now that it’s just the two of us again? We’re going into a monster stronghold and we’re highly outnumbered.”
“Yes,” Nico agrees. “But we’ve got advantages. I know the layout, and you’re a dragon.”
“Just two advantages?” I ask.
“Nope. There’s one more.” Nico’s face gets tight and fierce. “I told them one day I’d kill them all. And I always keep my promises.”
“Kill?” I hate to sound squeamish but the truth is—I am squeamish. I can’t even look in the direction of the vampire’s special blood fridge in the cafeteria; it makes my stomach turn.
Nico squints at me. “You’ve never killed before?”
“I have, but…” I hesitate; this isn’t something I’ve mentioned to anyone else. Somehow, though, despite all his bullshit, I think Nico might understand. “I was a dragon and it was almost like…the dragon took control of me and I was watching it happen from the backseat.”
“But at any time you could’ve demanded your dragon pull over and let you drive—and she would have, right?”
I stare at Nico in surprise. I thought he’d get it, but wow, he really gets it.
“Yeah. That.” In a rush, I tell him the rest. “Since then, if I think about the killing, it’s all fuzzy. Almost blurred out. I think my dragon is trying to protect me, so I don’t have to deal what I did.”
“It’s not just trying to protect you,” Nico explains. “It sounds like your dragon doesn’t totally trust you. Have you ever locked your dragon out and refused to shift for a time?”
“Umm, yeah. You could say that.” Nico obviously knows nothing about my past. How even after I knew that I was a shifter, I was afraid to find out what was inside. “I was afraid of my dragon. But then when the time came, I trusted her. I guess it makes sense that I now have to earn her trust.”
“Yeah,” Nico nods knowingly. “And your dragon’s also probably really grossed out that you had a thing with a vampire.”
“You think so? But…” Too late I notice the smile twitching at the corner of Nico’s mouth. I whack his arm. “Jerk! I’m opening up about my inner animal stuff and you’re making jokes at my expense.”
He grabs hold of my hand. “You’re right. I swear, it was all true, I just added the vampire thing, because it kills me to think of you with that guy. And also”—his hand tightens and I can feel him bristling—“it’s all I can do to keep my inner wolf from tearing apart every vampire who crosses my path.”
“Well, my dragon is definitely less blood-thirsty than your wolf,” I say. “The only time it wants to kill is when my friends are being attacked. Not just because someone crosses my path. And I’d like to keep it that way. Which is why we’re not going in there with a ‘kill them all’ attitude.”
“You don’t want blood on your hands?” Nico folds his arms over his chest “Fine. I’ll come back later and finish the job on my own terms. But I’d love to hear how you expect to get Cassie out. The monsters are dug in there, and I mean that exactly—dug in. They’ve got a warren of tunnels, like ants. Now, if you wanted to do things the easy way, all you do is cough some fireballs down into one of those holes, and the flames will take out a good number of them.”
“Yeah, that’s not happening. Where is Cassie in that ant farm?”
“She’s in a separate section. The cells only have two access tunnels, making them easier to guard.”
I think for a minute. If only this place had Stormtroopers we could steal uniforms from…
Oh.
The little light bulb in my brain flicks on.
“I have a different plan.” I say, turning toward Nico. “You’re going to hate it.”
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