Jamie sat in the back seat of the team's car and sniffled as she played the events of the morning over in her mind. She and Corrus had taken Ethan out for some fun before three men attacked Corrus. Well, two did.

As soon as the dragon saw the tide of the fight going against the wolves, he walked up to Jamie and squeezed her arm so tightly that she was forced to loosen her grip on Ethan. The dragon quickly snatched him, shoved Jamie, and ran down the street. Jamie tried to keep up, but he was too fast.

The next thing she knew, black wings sprouted from his back, and Jamie dropped to her knees. All the strength was drained from her body as she watched the dragon pick up speed and eventually take off.

Why did I have to insist on the arcade? Jamie thought. If they'd gone to a more populated place, then the dragon wouldn't have been able to kidnap Ethan so quickly because of witnesses. Now Ethan was gone, and Corrus was chasing a dragon much bigger than him all alone.

Jamie hung her head and took a deep breath. She had never been the praying type, mainly because of the life her parents modeled. But at that moment, she was willing to try anything.

"Please keep them safe," she muttered.

A sharp knock on the window startled Jamie, and she yelped as she turned to her right. Emily crouched to face her, worry written all over her face. Jamie unlocked the doors and wiped her tears as Emily joined her.

"Are you alright?" the older woman asked, her voice laced with concern.

Jamie nodded. "All I have is a little bruise, but Ethan is gone. The dragon took him."

"I know." Emily took Jamie's arm, and warmth settled over it. When Jamie looked down, her bruise was gone.

"Did you heal me?"

Emily nodded. "I want you to be comfortable as we wait for Ethan and Corrus to come back."

"I don't deserve to be comfortable." Jamie scoffed. "My son is out there with a deranged man, and Corrus is all alone trying to get him back. Why should I be comfortable when they're not?"

"Well, first of all, Corrus isn't alone. The team has gone to help him. They're much better fighters than any Gleonite and the fact they're working together guarantees that Ethan will come home safe and sound."

Jamie sniffed. Emily's words made sense, but she couldn't fight the feeling of foreboding that sat in the pit of her stomach, like a heavy rock. So much in her life had gone wrong. Why should this be any different?

"I've seen the guys train, and I've seen them fight. They rescued me from a prison full of bear and wolf shifters. I'm pretty sure they can take down a single dragon." Emily smiled, but Jamie didn't return it.

"Look," Emily continued, "there's nothing you could have done, and blaming yourself isn't going to make anything better. The best thing we can do is go home and wait for Ethan and Corrus to return. Ethan will be spooked after seeing all that he has. You need to be calm and collected for him. Can you do that?"

Jamie took a deep breath and nodded. "You're right. This isn't the time to fall apart. Thanks for being here for me, Emily."

Emily smiled. "Anytime."

Jamie's eyes widened. "Wait. How did you know where I was and how did the team know Ethan was taken?"

"Mental communication." Emily shook her head. "Corrus and Penum must be really close for that kind of message to get through at such a distance. Corrus told them what happened and asked for me to come find you."

The fact that Corrus had remembered Jamie in the midst of all the action brought fresh tears to her eyes. He was the best partner she could ever have asked for, and Jamie decided to do her part to support the two people she cared about the most, starting by pulling herself together.

Jamie straightened her shoulders and wiped her face. "Come on. Let's go home. I want to be there the moment they come back."

"That's the spirit," Emily said.

* * *

Corrus heard his teammates pull up beside him just as he started to tire. He turned and saw the gold of Penum's wings beside him and smiled at the glow in Penum's bright green eyes. The light meant he was ready to do whatever was necessary to take down the dragon.

V formation, Narchis said through the mental chain the group had opened.

I'll be the anchor, Penum said. I'm taking him down no matter what.

Cimmeris, I need you to use one of your fiery whips and lasso his wings, that will slow him down and make the takedown easier, Narchis instructed.

You've got it, boss, Cimmeris joked. Corrus felt no jealousy at the fact that Narchis was calling the shots. To be honest, he was better at tactical maneuvers, and Corrus was tired after fifteen minutes of flying at such a fast pace.

Veilios surged forward. Corrus, you're with me.

Corrus moved to the front of the group and lined up with Veilios. Behind him and to his left was Cimmeris in line with Narchis. And at the rear was Penum. Their V was formed perfectly, and they would close in on the dragon, form a circle around him, and drag him to the ground.

Ready? Narchis asked.

Wait! Corrus said. Penum, when you get him, make sure he lands on his back. Ethan could get crushed.

I'll be careful, Penum said.

Smart thinking, Narchis responded. On my mark. One, two, three!

The dragons surged forward and closed in on the Gleonite dragon. As soon as Veilios and Corrus were level with him, Cimmeris threw out his fiery rope. It wrapped around the dragon's wings, and he threw his head back as the fire singed him, dropping a few feet before recovering.

By the time Corrus angled his wings to slow down and drop to the dragon’s height, Penum had already crashed into him, arms wrapped around his shoulders, now that his wings were retracted from the pain of Cimmeris' fire. Ethan's screams mingled with the dragon’s roar as they plummeted toward the mountain clearing below.

Corrus watched, his stomach in his throat, as he tried to dive and break Ethan's fall. There was no way a child that small would survive having all that weight fall on him. And even Veilios' superior healing abilities wouldn't be able to patch him back together in time.

At the last second, Penum twisted, throwing his weight down, and the dragon landed on top of him. The loud crunch of the bones breaking at the base of Penum's wing made Corrus wince. No one else could have taken that kind of pain, as evidenced by the fact that Penum still had one arm wrapped around the dragon’s throat and the other around his middle.

Corrus landed gently a few feet away, then retracted his wings and ran toward Ethan. The dragon's eyes were wild as he bucked against Penum, whose eyes were shut as sweat dripped down his forehead. He had sacrificed his life for Ethan and Corrus would never forget it.

Corrus sent heat into his hand and singed the dragon's arm that was still clasping a crying Ethan. Once the dragon pulled away with a hiss, Corrus snatched Ethan. He cradled the boy to him for a few precious seconds, then handed him to Veilios.

"Take him home," he said.

"I'm on it."

Once Veilios left, Corrus turned to find that Narchis and Cimmeris had pulled the dragon off Penum and were holding him against a rock, where he continued to buck. Corrus rushed to his cousin, who was studying his wings with interest.

"Are you okay? It sounded like you broke something."

Penum smiled. "Funnily enough, I didn't. All I have is bruising, which I've already healed. It did sound like I broke something. Everything looks good to you?"

Corrus walked around him and studied the different parts of his wings. "Yeah. I don't know how you did that, but I'm glad you did."

"Me, too. Now let's deal with this dirtbag." Penum walked to the dragon and took Narchis' place once he was instructed to, while Narchis approached Corrus.

"What do you want to do?" Narchis asked.

"Kill him."

Narchis drew a sharp breath. "You're serious, aren't you?"

"Of course I am. He kidnapped an innocent child."

The dragon breathed fire at Corrus, but the stream was weak. Narchis shoved Corrus out of the way and took the brunt of the heat. He patted the fire down and glared at the dragon.

"Don't worry. I've got this." Corrus pulled out his last dagger and speared it into the dragon's chest, twisting it for good measure. The dragon roared, and Corrus was glad they were far out in the mountains. That cry would expose the shifter community to any human nearby.

"Your torture techniques won't work on me," the dragon rasped.

Corrus scoffed. "That wasn't a torture technique. All I'm doing is making sure you don' try that pathetic move again. Did you really think your little lick of fire would give you an opening to escape?"

"Wow!" Penum enthused. "That was brutal."

Cimmeris nodded. "I didn't think you could be so...direct."

"I have to be, when this piece of trash that tried to kidnap a five-year-old boy thinks he can take down five of Brevia's best."

"He's not your son, so he's not any of your business," the dragon spat.

Narchis stepped forward and placed a hand on Corrus' chest as he clenched his fists. Just let me talk to him first, Narchis said mentally.

"Then whose son is he?" he asked the dragon.

"My older brother's."

"And where is your brother?"

"Dead. By your filthy Brevian hands, but that's not my fight anymore."

Corrus folded his arms. "That means you have no right to him."

"Except I do. We're family. We share blood."

Corrus gritted his teeth. That was one thing he'd never share with Ethan, and while the thought had never bothered him before, he found himself sad over the fact.

"What do you want with him? Who sent you?" Narchis pushed.

The dragon laughed and shook his head. "You Brevians really are stupid. No one sent me. I'm too valuable to be sent here for something so simple. No. We Gleonite dragons have to stay on the front lines to fight all your dragons."

"Then why are you here?" Cimmeris asked.

"To get my nephew and build a better life for the both of us. It's what my brother would have wanted."

All of a sudden, all the pieces fit in Corrus' mind. The Gleonite dragon had defected and made his way to Earth to get Ethan. His accent, if Corrus' memory served, was noble, and his older brother was dead.

Corrus snapped his fingers. "I've got it. You're here to get Ethan so that you can claim his inheritance. You don't care about him, and you'd probably hand him over to your comrades once you got what you wanted to keep them off your back." Corrus clapped his hands and smiled. "That's a pretty great plan, I'll give you that."

The dragon's face was drawn taut. "That's not true."

Penum laughed. "Except it is. Wow. That's low, even for a Gleonite."

"What do you want to do, Corrus?" Cimmeris asked. "This is still your mission."

Narchis and Penum both nodded when he looked to them for confirmation.

"We've rescued Ethan, which is the most important thing," Narchis said. "He's working alone, so no one else poses a threat to Jamie and Ethan. If we hand him over, he'll get life in prison, and that will be the end of it."

Cimmeris nodded. "In fact, it will do more than that. It will send a message, letting Gleon know that Earth is not just a playground for them."

Corrus looked into the dragon's eyes. The defiant glint behind them told Corrus that the dragon believed he had nothing left to lose. He would keep coming back for Ethan, just because he could. If not to get access to the inheritance, then to pay Corrus and his team back for ruining his original plan.

"I still want to kill him," Corrus said. "I don't want him to come back for Ethan."

"I would never." The dragon's face was earnest, but his voice lacked conviction.

Corrus growled. "You see. He won't let up."

"Listen," Penum said. "Ethan is a half-breed. Someone will always be after him. But they won't get to him if we teach him how to fight like us. If you kill this piece of trash, Jamie will know. Think about it, Corrus. What are you going to tell her when you go home today? What side of you are you going to tell her you unleashed?"

Corrus shut his eyes and an image of Jamie sitting at the kitchen table with Ethan, enjoying the breakfast he cooked a week ago, floated through his mind. Jamie was so unguarded, and her brown eyes were filled with so much warmth when she looked at him.

That was how Corrus wanted her to always look at him. Not with a hint of fear or hesitation. The best way to show Jamie that he'd put his dark side to bed was to show mercy to the one person who would never deserve it in his eyes.

Corrus took a deep breath and opened his eyes, locking gazes with the dragon's pale blue ones. "Know this, I spared you today, but, if you ever return, I won't think twice about killing you."

"Good call." Narchis patted his shoulder.

"Sedate him, then tell Colonel Soros we have a prisoner to trade. I think the Gleonites would much prefer to hand out his punishment."

The dragon's face paled, and Corrus turned around before he changed his mind. The day had begun with the new Corrus in control, and he wanted it to end that way. He let his wings sprout and took off at a run before he soared.

It's time I go home to check on my family, he thought. Nothing else matters, now that they're safe.