At some point, Brittany fell asleep on the couch. She couldn’t help it. She was exhausted from the emotional trauma of the last few days, and she’d been up so late waiting for Simon. She wanted to talk to him about what had happened between them, but she hadn’t been able to keep her eyes open long enough to have a conversation.

She must have been sleeping deeply, because he’d dressed her again and carried her to his bedroom and she’d never woken up. When she did finally wake up, it was due to the bright morning sunshine streaming onto her face.

Disoriented, she sat up and tried to figure out where she was. It took a moment for everything to come back to her, and that’s when she realized she was in Simon’s bedroom. Her cheeks heated up with a complicated mixture of emotions. She felt shy and excited all at the same time. Where was Simon? Surely he was still in the house somewhere, even though he’d left the room. Brittany felt a little thrill at the thought of seeing him. Would they have time to squeeze in a morning romp in his bed before he had to go to work?

Before Brittany could ask herself too many questions, she noticed that he’d left a note on his pillow. Gingerly, she picked it up and started to read.

Dear Brittany, Good morning, beautiful. I’m very sorry that I’ll be gone when you wake up, but I have to get going to help Jasper with guard duty for the city. The next few days are sure to be very busy, and I probably won’t have time to see you much, but know that I’ll be thinking of you constantly. Last night was the most amazing night of my life, and I can’t wait for many more nights with you. I wish I had time to stay and talk to you now, but since I don’t, just know that last night definitely meant something to me. I care deeply about you, and I hope to have plenty of time to show you just how much. Perhaps a lifetime. I hope that doesn’t sound too crazy. I just want you to know how I feel. Stay at my place as long as you’d like. You’ll be safe there. There’s a key in the top left drawer of the kitchen island. Feel free to come and go as you please. As soon as things with guard duty settle down, I’ll be coming home to see you. For the moment, I left you some cash on the kitchen counter so you can get a cab home if you want. As adorable as you look in my clothes, I’m sure you wouldn’t mind something of your own to wear. Xoxo, Simon.

Brittany breathed a happy sigh as she finished reading. She would have preferred the chance to talk to Simon in person, of course. But his letter sounded promising. Waiting for the chance to talk to him was going to be torture. She had no idea when he would be done with guard duty, but she had a feeling it wouldn’t be anytime soon. Definitely not before she had to go in to work at the Winking Wizard at four p.m. today.

Slowly, Brittany sat up and stretched, taking in the room around her with interest. Simon’s style was simple but modern. He didn’t have a ton of furniture or decorations in his room, but she liked the color scheme of what he did have. It wouldn’t have mattered if his interior decorating taste was absolutely garish, though. Brittany had fallen head over heels for his heart.

“Am I really doing this?” she asked herself aloud as she stood and started making her way toward his kitchen. “Am I really giving my heart over to a dragon?” Of course, there was no answer from the walls, but it didn’t matter. Brittany already knew the answer. She had already given her heart.

She would have loved to stay in his house all day, lounging on his couch and breathing in the scent of him. But she had a few errands to run before she had to be at work. For one thing, she was going to need to replace her phone, and her wallet. Luckily, she had a spare set of car keys at home, since she was pretty sure that the set she’d been carrying last night was now at the bottom of Torch Lake.

With a sigh, she grabbed the cash he’d left for her, grateful that he’d been so thoughtful, and then she went out to his front porch to see whether his street was busy enough to have cabs driving by. She hadn’t paid much attention to where the house was last night, other than to note that it was up on a hill. It had been dark and she’d had a lot on her mind, so taking in the view hadn’t been her top priority.

Now, when she stepped out of his front door, the view took her breath away. The front of the house overlooked the city of Torch Lake itself. Below her, the rows of houses and distant high rises of the government building all seemed to glow in the morning sunlight. Brittany felt a strange burst of pride in her heart as she looked out across the city. This was her city. Her people. Her home. She had never been the type to have a lot of clan pride before, but right now, she felt damn proud of the clan she had joined. She also felt angry at the Dark Warriors. How dare they come in here and try to destroy the beautiful town that so many shifters and wizards had worked so hard to build? Brittany could hardly wait for the day when the Dark Warriors were defeated for good. She believed in her heart that that day was coming soon.

Curious as to what the view from the back looked like, Brittany walked around. There was no fence or gate. Instead, the front yard naturally gave way to a lush green backyard, filled with plenty of trees, flowers, and bushes. And beyond the greenery in the yard shimmered a glittering blue vista: the lake. From up here, it was easy to see how vast the lake was. It stretched out in every direction, forming a natural boundary to much of the town. Boats dotted its surface right now, which gave Brittany an uneasy feeling. She couldn’t help but remember the attack on their boat just last night. But surely the Dark Warriors wouldn’t attack in the middle of the day, would they?

She turned away to head back into the house and call a cab. She didn’t want to stand around and dwell on what had happened last night. She had a lot of questions, but she wasn’t sure if anyone had answers. The best thing for her to do was take care of what she could take care of, like replacing her phone, getting some clothes of her own, and getting ready for work.

This plan worked well. For the next several hours, Brittany was so concerned with the logistics of getting things done that she didn’t think too much about the Dark Warriors. She thought constantly about Simon, but didn’t hear from him. She knew he must be terribly busy, so she tried not to worry too much about not having any contact from him. He would find a way to get a hold of her when he was ready.

When Brittany reported to work that afternoon, it was almost a relief. It was going to be good to be around other people and hear voices other than the one inside her own head. She threw herself into bartending, staying as busy as possible even though the bar itself wasn’t that full tonight. Sunday nights were never that busy, anyway, but with the Dark Warrior attack last night, many people were staying home. The dragon shifters’ normal table was also conspicuously empty, since most of the dragons were heading off to war. Brittany hadn’t realized how much their rowdiness contributed to the noise in the bar until they were gone. Things tonight seemed almost unbearably quiet.

Still, she did her best to make the best of the situation, chatting up the customers she did have as much as possible. And when all else failed, she resorted to things like dusting off liquor bottles, or making sure the glassware sparkled.

It was while she was performing one of these menial tasks—rearranging the vodka bottles, to be specific—that she became aware that two men at the bar were talking in a rather suspicious way. Brittany had been working at bars for a long time, and she knew better than most that bars were often places where people came to discuss secrets. Usually, she discreetly gave people their space when they looked like they were talking about something private. But something about the way these two men were looking around, like they were afraid they had been followed, rubbed Brittany the wrong way. She pretended to be extremely interested in the vodka bottles, but under her breath she whispered, “Magicae audite.” The spell enhanced her hearing, bringing everything in the bar into sharp focus. She focused all her attention on the two men and their conversation, blocking out all of the other noise as much as she could.

“And you’re sure they’re only leaving two dragons behind?” the first man asked.

“Yes,” the second man answered. “Our men have been watching the military headquarters and it’s clear they’re planning to send almost everyone. It’s almost unbelievable how easy they’re making this for us.”

“Well, not entirely easy. Two dragons are still two dragons.”

“Yeah, but it’s better than a dozen dragons. Although one of the dragons they left behind, Jasper, is going to be a doozy to deal with. He’s the one who singlehandedly defended his entire clan during the last war. We have to be careful not to underestimate him.”

“Who’s the other dragon?”

“The new one. Simon. No one really knows how well he fights. Kind of a wildcard there, but I doubt he can be worse than Jasper. We’ll deal with him.”

Brittany felt like she might faint as she mindlessly moved the vodka bottles from one spot on the shelf to another. Who were these men? They definitely didn’t sound like they had the best interests of Torch Lake at heart. Was it possible they were Dark Warrior spies? Brittany tried to casually glance over her shoulder and take a look at them, but they both had baseball caps pulled low on their faces. From their tall, muscular physiques, she guessed that they were shifters. Wolves perhaps, or panthers. One of them looked up at her and she quickly looked back to her vodka bottles, her heart pounding. For a few moments, they were both silent, and Brittany was terrified that they were onto her. These did not seem like the kind of men you wanted to make angry. But much to her relief, they resumed their conversation after that brief but agonizing pause.

“Everything is in place though, right?”

“Yup. We’re ready. We just have to wait for the army to leave the city. We’ll give them enough time that they’re too far away to return in time to help, and then we’ll strike.”

“And you’re sure no one knows about this?”

Another pause. Brittany froze, terrified that the men somehow knew that she was listening. But then they spoke again. “I’m sure. We’ve been very careful to keep the underground network underground. Even the High Council has no idea, despite how many spies we have in the government.”

“They’re so dumb. They think their perfect little town is so…perfect. They’re about to find out how wrong they are.”

The two men laughed, then stood to leave in unison. The sound of their barstools scraping backward against the floor grated on Brittany’s ears. It was much too loud for her ears with the hearing spell on and she quickly whispered “Audite terminantur.”

The sound in the bar went back to normal, but Brittany’s heart rate was far from normal. She stood slowly and tried not to be too obvious about looking around for the men whom she’d just eavesdropped on. They were just leaving out the front door, and she tried to memorize any details of how they looked so that she could tell someone. But there wasn’t much to see. Their faces were turned away from her, and from behind they looked just like any other two shifters in the bar.

Brittany tried to think clearly. She knew she had to report what she’d just heard, and do it right away. She couldn’t be sure, but it sounded like these men were either Dark Warriors, or were working closely with the Dark Warriors. The best person for her to talk to would be Simon. He would know what to do. At least, she hoped he would know what to do. Whatever these men were planning didn’t sound good. If Brittany understood them correctly, they were somehow planning to take over the city as soon as the majority of the army was gone. She wasn’t sure how they were going to do it, but they seemed to have a lot of people on their side—a lot of people who were up to no good.

Brittany wiped her hands on her pants, realizing they were coated in sweat. She hated to ask Joe to let her off early again. He was going to think she was a total flake. But she had no choice. The safety of the entire town was much more important than her bartending job. With uneasy steps, she walked over to where Joe was lazily talking to one of the Winking Wizard’s many customers.

Brittany cleared her throat. “Uh, sorry to interrupt, Joe, but I’ve just had a personal emergency come up. I’m really sorry to do this, but could I take off early again tonight?”

Joe looked over at her and waved his hand dismissively. “Of course, Brittany. No worries. This place is dead tonight, anyway. No one wants to come out with the threat of Dark Warriors lurking around every corner.”

Brittany breathed a sigh of relief. “Right. Well, thanks. I’ll see you tomorrow?”

“Yup.” Joe was already turning back to talk to his customer. Brittany didn’t even bother going to collect the tips that had been left for her down at the other end of the bar. She just grabbed her purse and ran out to her car as fast as she could. She was already dialing up Simon’s number as she pulled out her keys to unlock her door. But she was never able to actually unlock the car. Before she could hit the button on her key fob, she felt a sharp pain in her lower back. Her phone and keys both went flying from her hand, and her head lurched forward, causing her forehead to smack so hard against her car that she saw stars.

“Your little game is up, bitch,” a low voice said in her ear. Brittany’s heart sank. She recognized the voice as one of the men who she’d been listening to in the bar a few minutes earlier.

“Let me go!” she screamed, hoping that someone might hear her and come help her. But the parking lot only had a few cars, and it didn’t look like anyone else was out here right now.

The man laughed. “Not on your life. You’re in for it now. Did you really think we didn’t notice you over there, polishing the same vodka bottle over and over? We aren’t as dumb as we look.”

The man flipped Brittany around, pushing her back against her car and forcing her to look at his face. She felt her stomach turn at the sight of him. His eyes were dark black, and looked as full of hatred as anything Brittany had ever seen. His face was ugly and scarred, with a long, prominent scar extending from the right side of his lips and giving him a permanent half-sneer.

“You’re coming with us,” the man said, then jerked Brittany forward, starting to drag her toward a white sedan a few parking spots away. Brittany realized that the other man from the bar was in the car, and panic set in. They were going to take her away to who knew where, and no one would even realize she was gone for quite some time. Simon might eventually realize she was missing, but not until she hadn’t answered his calls and texts for at least a day, maybe more. He was too busy with his own “protect the city” agenda to pay much attention to how many hours it had been since he’d heard from Brittany.

Brittany realized with full clarity that her best, and probably only, chance of being saved was to scream out right now loud enough for someone to hear her. And so she did, letting loose a long wail at the top of her lungs.

“Help me! Help! I’m being kidnapped!” she yelled as she thrashed about in her captor’s arms. The man holding her cursed and clapped his hand over her mouth quickly, drowning out her screams, then shoved her into the waiting car and slammed the door behind her. Frantically, Brittany grabbed for the door handle to try to open it, but it wouldn’t open no matter how hard she pulled at it. There must be some sort of childproof locks on it. She switched tactics and tried to launch herself into the front seat, thinking maybe she could get out of the front passenger door before the man in the driver’s seat could catch her. But just as she tumbled into the seat the second man opened the passenger door and hopped in. With one swift movement, he pushed Brittany back down into the backseat.

“You stay back there and shut up, if you know what’s good for you,” he growled. “We’d like to keep you alive, because you might have use as a hostage. But we’re not above just killing you outright if you cause too much trouble.”

Brittany slumped into the backseat, feeling defeated. The two men had every advantage over her, and she knew her best bet was to do as he said and stay quiet. It was so hard to do, though. Anger and fear swirled within her, and for the first time in her life she thought this might truly be the end. She’d survived the last great Dark War, and she had survived two other attacks by Dark Warriors now. But she had a feeling that her luck was running out. Whoever these men were, they had no intention of playing nice.

The car sped through the streets of Torch Lake, into a part of town that Brittany didn’t know very well. Here, they drove through several neighborhoods, turning this way and that down residential streets until Brittany was completely disoriented. She had a feeling that the men did this on purpose, so she would have no idea where they were going. Finally, though, they came to a stop in front of a small, one-story house. The men got out, and one of them yanked Brittany out of the back of the car.

“Welcome to prison, little bitch,” he said, his eyes leering at her. “It’s not as nice as it looks, and I don’t hope your stay is comfortable.” With that, he gave her a push forward toward the front of the house. Inside, the place was almost bare. He shoved her into a small bedroom that had a small bathroom attached, then leaned back to sneer at her.

“You’ll be given food once a day, and if you’re lucky it’ll be something more than a stale piece of bread. It doesn’t matter, though, because you probably won’t be alive many more days to complain about it. You won’t be chained, but don’t you dare leave your room. Every square centimeter of your window and door is alarmed, and if you trip the alarm you’ll be facing a very angry bunch of well-armed guards with instructions to immediately kill anyone who tries to escape. Understand?”

Brittany swallowed hard and nodded. The man pushed her one more time, just for good measure, and then disappeared, slamming the door behind her.

Brittany went and sat gingerly on the only piece of furniture in the room, a small bed. The mattress was hard and there were no blankets or pillows on it, but she figured it was better than the floor. She curled up in a little ball and covered her head, wondering how she had managed to get herself into this predicament.

There was nothing to do now but sit here and wait, hoping that she would somehow be rescued against all odds. She tried to sleep, but sleep would not come. Eventually, she went to stand by the small window, staring up into the little sliver of sky that she could see, hoping that she might catch a glimpse of a dragon.

But there was nothing to see but the dark night, which only grew darker as the hours passed. Brittany felt like her heart was breaking. It was bad enough that Dark Warriors had captured her, but it was unbearable to think that they had some plan to destroy the whole city.

Things felt truly hopeless in that tiny room, but Brittany would not give up hope entirely. Her dragon had come through for her twice before. She was going to believe that somehow, some way, he would do it again.