CHAPTER 23
MATHIS
Mathis was halfway across the courtyard when the kitchen wing exploded.
Instinct made him squeeze his eyes shut, guarding his face with one hand. The boom echoed across the island.
He opened his eyes warily, blinking sun-spots from his vision. The bright lights danced and swam, but he’d covered his eyes in time. His ears were ringing, but the explosion hadn’t blinded him.
What the hell just happened? His heart constricted. Chloe—she can’t have been in there…
Chloe had made trips to the kitchen during their imprisonment, getting extra food for him to help him heal. Horror roared in his ears. She couldn’t have—not now—
He lowered his head, breathing in slowly through his nose. The acrid stench of burning plastic filled the air, but beneath it he could just trace the soft warm scent of his mate. He’d tracked her path from the bedroom the moment he woke and realized she was gone, followed her trail from the dormitories out here to the garden courtyard…
Movement caught his eye, and he turned before his brain had filtered out whether it was real or another sunspot. The dark rectangle of the tower door was just visible from the courtyard and as Mathis squinted it opened, revealing deeper darkness within.
Mathis was already moving even before he recognized the pale face poking out as that of Julian Rouse. He might not be able to see what was in the room behind the dragon shifter, but the smell of Chloe’s terror poured out of the open door like thick, black oil.
He ran. The kitchen wing—what was left of it—was still burning at the other end of the building, the fire so fierce it roared, but he ignored it and threw himself towards the black hole in the tower wall. Up the steps, six at a time. Across the raised patio. Julian squared off as he approached, a strange look on his face—was it relief, or fear?
Through the pounding of his pulse in his ears and his feet on the hot stone, Mathis heard shouting. Chloe’s voice.
He drove his shoulder into Julian’s midsection, smashing him out of the way. Julian’s winded gasp transformed into a huge rush of air as he shifted. The dragon’s bulk blocked out the sun from the door; Mathis paused just long enough to check that Julian’s dragon form was stuck outside the tower, slammed the door shut and raced up the stairs.
He could hear Harper, his deeper voice drowning out Chloe’s shouts. Light spilled down from the upper floor, glittering strangely on the steps. Mathis was halfway up the stairs when a trapdoor began to slide over the top of the staircase, blocking off the second floor.
He bunched his muscles and leapt, grabbing hold of the top step and throwing himself onto the floor moments before the room went into lockdown.
Mathis slammed into something. Dazzled by the glimmering lights, he barely covered his head in time to avoid the table crashing down on his skull. Glass shattered and fell around him, picking up the golden light and reflecting it in dizzying multitudes.
“You!” Harper snarled. Mathis could just see him, a dark shadow in the swirling lights. “That useless—Julian! I told you what would happen if you failed me!”
Harper was angrier than Mathis had ever seen him. All his fake friendliness melted off him, leaving nothing to hide his violent rage.
And Chloe was standing less than six feet from him.
Mathis’ skin itched as his lion fought to take shape. He called out to Chloe, telling her to get behind him. Safe. He could only keep control so long as she was safe.
Chloe’s eyes glittered with reflected light as she met his gaze. For one electric moment, he thought she was going to run to him. That everything would be okay.
Then the whole tower shook as something slammed into it from outside.
Chloe fell to her knees with a cry, and Harper’s shouts turned into a screech. Mathis staggered as another blow made the floor jump. More of the glass-topped cabinets that filled the room collapsed, broken glass forming a glittering mosaic on the floor.
“Chloe!” Mathis yelled, and she glanced at him, her face tight. She yelled something he couldn’t make out, pointing at Harper.
Or—not at Harper. At whatever it was he was holding.
Chloe yelled again. Her voice was lost under the crash of stone as the tower shook again, but Mathis followed her lips. Distract him.
Mathis’ lion tore at his insides. Distract him? This is no time for games. We need to get out of here. I need to get her out of here.
Before he could shout back, a car-sized chunk of the wall behind Harper and Chloe disappeared.
One massive claw scrambled at the edge of the broken wall, and a roar of pure animal rage blasted into the room. Ears ringing, Mathis started forward.
Harper and Chloe stood frozen, silhouetted against the sunlight streaming in through the hole where the wall had been. Something huge moved in front of the gap, blocking out all the light. Mathis saw Harper burst into motion, darting to the far side of the room, but his attention was on Chloe.
Julian roared again. Each of his teeth was as long as Mathis’ fore-arm, and the brilliant green eye that glared through the hole in the wall was bigger than a dinner plate. Its slit pupil blew out, and Mathis felt the moment the dragon locked its gaze on to Harper.
And then Chloe ran, not away from the dragon, but towards it.
Mathis leapt across the room, tackling Chloe to the ground just as Julian’s head disappeared and was replaced by a groping, massive fore-leg. Pain sliced across his back as Julian’s claws lanced through the air where Chloe had been standing a second before. He forced himself to roll as he hit the ground, protecting Chloe from the force of impact.
Chloe was swearing under him, cradling something against her chest. He gave her space to push herself up and look at whatever it was she’d picked up from the ground, but stayed crouched over her. If Julian reached for her again, he’d have to go through Mathis first.
But the dragon was ignoring the two of them. He was reaching for Harper, straining to snatch him out of the broken tower.
Even from the ground, Mathis could see it was no use. Julian’s angle was too awkward, and he was too big—he would never reach Harper.
And Harper knew it. Mathis saw him realize he’d reached a position of safety. His charisma oozed up over his body again, and he lounged against the far wall, every inch of him radiating smug complacency.
“Mathis.” Chloe’s voice was urgent. “Mathis, Thandie was in here—can you sense her?”
Thandie. Another shifter? Mathis concentrated and felt a fluttery, feathery presence up in the rafters. He looked up. “She’s safe.”
“Oh thank God,” Chloe gasped. She flinched as Julian thrust his arm into the tower room again, smashing several glass cases. “We have to stop Julian.”
“Stop him?” Mathis growled. “I’m more inclined to help him.” If the dragon had finally decided to stop being Harper’s lapdog, it was no skin off Mathis’ nose.
Just my back, he thought, wincing as a table leg bounced off his shoulder.
“No—don’t you see—”
She broke off as Harper started speaking.
“Oh, Julian, my old friend. Is this the way you want it to end? You’ll be so much less useful with no leash on your mind.” Harper sounded pleasant. Cheerful.
Mathis’ skin was crawling. As Harper lifted the object he was holding, he thought he was going to be sick. Pieces started to come together in his head.
“Shit,” he muttered, lowering his mouth to Chloe’s ear, “That’s not—”
“That’s the hold Harper has on him,” Chloe whispered back. Her voice was tight with emotion. “And two more, but it’s okay, I’ve got the remote—they’re in the case beside the sofa—where the sofa was, I mean, now they’re… shit.”
Mathis followed her gaze. She was staring wide-eyed at another glass case. Miraculously, it was still intact, though it had been thrust against the wall.
What was left of the wall, at least. It was right next to the hole Julian had clawed in the tower.
“He must not be able to see it,” Chloe muttered. “If he…”
Mathis closed his hand over hers. She didn’t need to say it. If Julian accidentally knocked the eggs in the case out of the tower, and destroyed them… he would lose himself with them.
Harper was still talking. The egg he was holding caught the light and seemed to gather it up, glowing from within. Mathis licked his lips.
Egg? If the eggs were Harper’s hold on Julian, then that meant they were alive. There were dragon children in there.
“Right,” he said, mind spinning. “We—”
“Distraction,” Chloe said firmly. “Do you trust me?”
“More than anyone else in this room.”
Chloe’s smile flashed in a sudden flicker of sunlight. “Same to you. All right. You make like you’re going for Harper. I’ll get the other two.”
She didn’t give him time to argue. Rolling from under him, Chloe ducked back against the wall. Julian’s scaly head roared less than six feet from her tiny form.
Mathis’ lion screamed at him, even louder than Julian’s angry roar. He couldn’t leave her there. His job, his duty, was to put himself between her and danger, to keep her from ever coming to harm.
He shook his head, steeling himself. No. He trusted her. Not just more than anyone else in the room, more than anyone else in the world. In all the time he’d known her, in all of this nightmare they’d shared together, she’d been quick, kind, and fiercely intelligent.
He trusted her. Hadn’t last night shown him that? He trusted her to get herself into danger, and out of it again.
He trusted her with his life, and her own.
“Hey!” he shouted, interrupting Harper. Harper turned to him, eyes wide with innocent surprise. Even his pose called out, Who, me?
Mathis grinned and stepped forward, ignoring the pain from the cuts on his back. “What do you call this, Harper? Having some staffing issues? You should call my sister—I’ve never known a catastrophe she couldn’t handle. Whereas you…” Mathis threw his head back and narrowed his eyes mockingly at Harper, ignoring the cries of rage from the dragon outside. “Things aren’t looking too good for you, are they?”
Harper’s lip curled back. He took a quick step sideways and slammed his fist down on a control panel set into the wall near the sealed staircase. “Cane!” he roared.
“What’s the matter? Too scared to take me on myself?” Mathis didn’t need to fake the growl in his voice. His lion wanted to attack, to permanently remove the danger Harper posed to every shifter on the island, but he held himself back.
Killing Harper would be satisfying, but it wasn’t part of Chloe’s plan. So instead, he crab-walked sideways, drawing Harper’s line of sight away from Chloe. “You’re pathetic, Harper. I’m injured and can barely see straight, and you’re still looking for someone else to hide behind? Your pet polar bear?”
Harper’s lips twitched as Mathis feinted closer. Mathis searched his eyes. Harper’s gaze was full of hate and rage, but not—
“What are you?” The question burst out of him, but the answer was already there, in the shape of the puzzle-pieces coming together in his mind. “You’re no hunter.”
Harper’s face twisted. “Aren’t I? Aren’t I? I caught you, didn’t I? And you’re not exactly—”
His face transformed, switching from rage to blank stillness so quickly Mathis’ blood went cold.
“You’re not attacking me,” Harper said slowly. “Why might that be, I wonder?”
“Maybe I want to draw this out,” Mathis shot back. “Enjoy it. Like you enjoy watching us tear each other to pieces every night.”
Harper laughed, but his eyes narrowed. “No, that’s not it.” Harper’s nostrils flared. He moved the egg from one hand to the other, and behind Mathis, Julian screamed with frustration. “I’ve watched you fight. You don’t get it. The blood. The power. Last night you got close, but enjoy it? No. Not you. Not the lion.” Harper spat out the last word. The edge of his mouth was twitching spasmodically and the egg shook in his hand.
This guy’s crazier than I thought. Mathis fought to stop himself from glancing back at Chloe, to see how she was going. Harper’s brain might be cracking into a thousand psychotic pieces, but at least he was focused on Mathis.
“All right, then, I’ll bite. What should a lion be like?”
Harper’s eyes blazed. “What should a lion be like? What should the king of the beasts be like? He should fight! He should kill! He should be worth defeating—Christ, even the ibex is more of a predator than you are!”
“And that’s just what you’re not, isn’t it? You’re not a predator.” Mathis’ mouth was dry with horror.
All shifters had something of their animal in them. Predators were more aggressive, true, but nothing like the bloodlust-crazed creatures Harper was making them out to be.
And prey animals—herbivores—had their own peculiarities. A tendency for herd behavior, or the ability to keep themselves hidden. Mathis had heard some herbivore shifters were wary of predator shifters, but never understood it until he was on the island.
And he still didn’t understand Harper.
“You should have been perfect,” Harper hissed. The twitch had gotten worse, twisting his mouth to one side. “The king of beasts! What a victory that would have been, to destroy you! But you wouldn’t have even fought, if I hadn’t forced you. Even now, you’re stalling—”
His ranting cut off. “You’re not acting like a lion at all. I know what you’re doing. Tactics from the hunted’s playbook…”
Harper’s eyes slid sideways and widened, but he was too late. Even without looking, Mathis knew Chloe had succeeded. The bright warmth of her success flooded into his mind, bursting in via the mate bond.
He turned to see her with both of the other eggs cradled in her arms, the case lying open beside her. She held the eggs like they were treasures. Protecting them. Mathis’ heart swelled with love and pride.
Harper rounded on Mathis, spitting with rage. “Deceiver! Traitor! You’re a disgrace to your animal!”
Mathis moved with feline grace, putting himself between the madman and his mate. For the first time that he could remember, he was completely at one with himself. Lion and man united in mind and heart. “You’re wrong, Harper. I’m exactly what I should be.”
“And you’re finished.” Chloe’s voice thrummed in Mathis’ heart. “Hear that, Harper?”
Mathis tipped his head, concentrating. He heard it, too. The steady roar of a helicopter’s engine. Outside, Julian raised his massive head to the sky and swiped at something out of sight.
“I guess someone heard the explosion before,” Mathis joked, backing up until he could take Chloe’s hand. She squeezed his, and he felt her wary joy rise like the tide across the mate bond.
“Or they got my distress call,” she countered him. “Wanna take a bet on it, babe?”
“Give up, Harper,” Mathis said quickly. They only had a few moments before Julian’s attention was back on them, and he wasn’t sure how much more the tower could take. “It’s over.”
Harper’s eyes flicked outside, then he met Mathis’ gaze with so much hatred that it felt like a physical blow. “Not yet!”
He raised the dragon’s egg in the air. In a split-second, Mathis saw what he was planning. The trapdoor across the stairwell had retracted when Harper hit the security panel. He was going to try to escape.
Mathis had less than a heartbeat to decide what to do. But it wasn’t any choice at all.
Harper threw the egg with vicious strength, and leapt for the stairwell. Mathis launched himself into the air. Time seemed to stop.
Mathis sprang, eyes fixed on his target. He twisted his body mid-air, ignoring the searing pain from the claw-marks on his back.
The egg was less than six inches from the floor when he reached it. Harper’s feet slapped on the stairs as he raced away, but Mathis ignored them. He curled around the precious egg, cradling it against his chest as he hit the floor.
He hissed sharply and lay still for a moment until the pain in his back subsided. The egg was heavier than he expected, and strangely warm. Alive.
Mathis’ heart constricted at the thought of what might have happened if he’d hesitated a moment longer.
“Did you get it?”
Mathis was lying with his back to the rest of the room. He sat up, turning to show Chloe the safe egg. Her whole body sagged with relief and she stepped forward into the light, the other two dragon’s eggs safe in her own arms.
“Oh, thank God. Now we just need to—”
A low growl interrupted her. The sound was so deep it seemed to travel into Mathis’ body through his bones, not his ears.
“Chloe, look out!” he shouted as the dragon’s massive head filled the hole in the wall.
The light that had surrounded her was blotted out. Hidden by the wall, she might have been safe, but not there out in the open. She was too close, and the dragon had seen her.