Cole and I shifted back to human form again the second we hit the ground, a skill we’d been working on a lot. Half our battle, as dragons, was going to be in not being seen. We didn’t have it easy like the damn wolf shifters. If someone saw one of them out in the forest, they wouldn’t think anything of it. Just a wild animal, right?

Yeah. Not so much if they stumbled across a twenty-foot-tall dragon. Our loss of control during the gala had already pulled far too much media interest, even if it did get us out of a shitty situation.

“How far is it from here?” Cole asked me, pulling out a pair of pants and a shirt from the bag he’d carried in his claws. He tossed the first set to me, then dressed himself in the second.

“Only about a mile,” I replied quietly. “If my GPS tracker didn’t shit itself on the way here.”

Pulling the dark gray T-shirt over my head, I picked up the little digital display I’d carried in dragon form and checked it. “Seems fine.”

We’d chosen this area to land in as there were no humans within the mile or so it would take to get to our destination. It was nearing midnight, and the only light came from the stars, meaning we had a much better chance of making it to the ground without been seen, just in case anyone was hiking or some shit.

“Let’s get this done quick then,” my brother snapped, tossing me the bag with my shoes in it, and I quickly tied them. Much as I would have preferred to just take the bare essentials, we needed to maintain a certain level of normalcy to avoid arousing any undue suspicion. Which meant pants, shirt, and shoes.

Not wasting words, I nodded sharply and led the way through the thick forest until we hit the fire trail which would lead us to the Washington State Women’s Correctional.

The two of us walked in silence the whole way, but it wasn’t uncomfortable. Despite the rocky start we’d had to working on our relationship, I really felt like I was finally getting through to my bullheaded little brother. Whether he liked it or not, I was here to stay.

He was trying his best to make me want to leave. I wasn’t stupid; of course I knew what he was doing. But he seriously underestimated how invested I was in this... thing. This magical connection that Kit had built between us. I’d practically fallen in love with the minx the second she stepped out on that stage at Onyx Auction. I’d known instantly that she was who had broken the years of silence from my brother.

When she’d challenged me, refused to be cowed by fear or even common sense, and then repeatedly tried to escape me, I’d fallen even harder. She had spirit and an inner strength unlike anyone I’d ever met. Certainly far exceeding anyone in my life as a crime lord.

But what Cole hadn’t worked out yet was that this was about more than my relationship with Kit. If it were, I’d have pursued her hard from day one and not given a shit about anyone else. She’d given me a gift in turning me, in choosing me, and it wasn’t one I could handle carelessly.

She’d given me back my brother.

So whether Cole liked it or not, I was here to stay. For her and for him.

“You sure about this?” my brother asked quietly as we approached the barbed wire fence of the penitentiary.

“Have you forgotten who I am, brother?” I quirked a brow at him so he knew I was teasing. We weren’t big on smiling, Cole and I. The only times I’d seen my little brother smile had been in these past few weeks, and only ever at Kit.

“Uh-huh, sure. Let’s see Romanul at work then.” Cole levelled an unimpressed glare at me, but he wasn’t wrong. Being Romanul came with certain privileges that the common man would never get.

Approaching the guard at the gate, I didn’t even need to exchange words with the man before he hit the buzzer to allow us entry. My men had already greased the right hands so that this should be a smooth process from start to finish.

Cole and I walked across the grounds and were met by another guard at the door to the main building. He gave me a sharp, respectful head nod and eyed Cole curiously before leading us silently down the linoleum hallway.

“You have ten minutes,” the guard said quietly when we stopped outside an interview room. “That is the best we could do.”

“That will be more than enough,” I assured him while he unlocked the door and held it open for us.

The prison was dark and silent, as expected in the middle of the night, and this visit was so far outside the confines of the law it was laughable. But what the fuck did I care? I considered this one of my last acts as Romanul, flouting the law, but deep down I knew I’d always do what was needed to protect my family. Because that was what I had now... with Kit and Cole... and all the other guys. We were a family now, whether they knew it or not. And I would do anything to keep them safe.

“No.” The haggard-looking woman inside the room gasped as we entered, and the guard shut the door behind us. He would leave. I had arranged for total privacy on this visit, including all cameras being turned off.

“Suzette.” Cole glowered at the pathetic creature before us. “I told you I would be back.”

The woman began babbling, but I tuned her out. Her words were meaningless now.

“This is her?” I asked my brother in disgust. “This is the woman who hurt Regina mea so much as a child? This is the sack of shit that sold her out to Gray?”

The bedraggled worm before me paled to the point that she was gray herself, and babbled harder. Stupid bitch. Her words had all the effect of a marshmallow thrown at a brick wall. Nothing would save her now.

“This is her,” Cole confirmed, and that was all I needed to hear.

My fingers cracked, aching as they shifted into wickedly sharp dragon claws, and I cocked my head at the perverted bitch who had hurt my girl so much.

“Do you have anything of substance to tell us that might spare your sorry life?” I offered her the one small lifeline with no intention of following through. This woman would not leave this room alive.

She babbled, but none of it made sense. I quirked an eyebrow at Cole to double-check in case my partial shift was causing me to hear things in gibberish, but he shook his head. No. She had nothing to offer.

Two steps closed the distance between myself and Suzette, and just one swipe with my fully extended claws severed her head almost entirely from her body. Blood showered me, but I didn’t flinch. It was nothing new to me, and I wanted to ensure the job was done.

The prisoner’s lifeless body sagged to the floor, her head barely attached by some sinew and tissues. My claws had gone right through the bone of her spinal cord and all.

Impressive.

“We’re done here,” I murmured, shifting back to full human and wiping some of the blood from my eyes. Cole said nothing, but his eyes approved as he opened the door and stalked out into the hallway. The guard hadn’t locked it behind himself; why would he? The prisoner had never stood a chance of escape.

As we approached the front door again, the same guard met us with wide eyes and a pale face. Clever man knew not to say a fucking word, though, and simply let us out into the night, as did the guard at the front gate.

From there, we jogged quickly back into the forest to shift. It was a long flight back to our lake house, and we didn’t want Kit to have noticed us missing. This trip had been about payback. That woman had been responsible for so many horrific acts and had been instrumental in the torture Kit had undergone at the hands of Gray. She didn’t deserve to breathe.

Just before we shifted, Cole clapped a huge hand on my shoulder.

“Thank you,” he murmured, his lips tight. “That needed to happen.”

I nodded to him and shifted into dragon form. It absolutely fucking did need to happen, but I knew he would have rather done it himself. So far, though, he hadn’t mastered a half shift, and we couldn’t have risked him going full dragon inside the prison.

More than that, I knew how much my brother hated killing. He was good at it, sure; it was what he’d been raised to do. But it made him hate himself, and that was the last thing I ever wanted.

No, much better I dirty my own hands. After all, they were already so stained I doubted they’d ever be free of blood.