Noelle was sure, feeling her beast’s confidence, that she could take Oliver in a fight, but what really worried her was the fact that she, too, was a dragon. Oliver’s nostrils flared and Noelle knew the game was over. He’d scented what she was and he would soon give her up. Her eyes flicked to the hall ahead. Where would they take her? What would they do to her?

But, the massive, genetically engineered and brainwashed dragon man said nothing. Had he scented her? He should have, if he knew anything about his kind. He would have been able to pick up on a female dragon almost immediately. It made Noelle wonder if her scent was any different than his. Had his scent been changed by the experiments, therefore making his ability to identify other dragons difficult?

“He will also serve as our protection in the lower levels. The dragons housed here are known criminals that have been detained to protect society and only having a dragon at our side will provide any real sense of safety against the enemy.”

Noelle could only hope when Patterson spun on his heel and began his march down the hall. Oliver was like a looming shadow behind her.  She wanted to stick her tongue out at the back of Patterson’s head like she’d been doing in the above ground levels. If anyone had noticed her doing so, no one thought it wise to bring it up. Perhaps they all wanted to do the same and Noelle was secretly their hero.

She could believe it.

Her meandering thoughts were waylaid by a scream that split the air. Metal crashed to the floor. Before her, Patterson paused. His hands were still perfectly clasped behind his back. It was Oliver who stepped around both of them and took the lead from there on out. Noelle passed a number of doors and couldn’t help but saunter where the scream had come from.

Who was suffering down here? How could Noelle save Lucia and no one else?

Could she save anyone else? Noelle’s stomach tightened at the thought. If she could even help a handful of the dragons kept down here, then maybe she could begin to make up for the failure she’d been for her sister. Oliver would present a problem for her.

Eventually, he would realize what he was smelling. He would call her out, the ruse would be over, and she would join in on the screaming. Noelle knew she’d rather go out in a fight. She would cause a distraction long enough for her mate to free his mother.

Noelle tried not to think about how screwed she was, tried not to sneak glances toward the dragon man walking beside her. He moved in a smoother gait than his bulky body should have allowed. She wanted to ask him how old he was, but she didn’t want to draw attention to herself just yet.

Had this man ever known a young dragon with curly, blonde hair and electricity in his veins? Noelle looked around herself with a renewed vision. There was a chance some of the new dragons on her Territory had been here, but there was also a chance this was where they’d created Isaac as they knew him today.

Oliver and Patterson led her down long, white halls. The lack of color and the sounds coming from the rooms they passed set Noelle’s teeth on edge. Every step was a step deeper into the nest of horrors. It didn’t help that neither Patterson nor Oliver made so much as a sound.

After what felt like forever for Noelle’s nerves, they rounded a corner and found themselves entering a large room. It was dark save for a single, medical spotlight centered on a stainless-steel table. Noelle could feel her skin beginning to crawl, a sensation that only got worse with each step.

She remembered what Luc had said about the defunct facility. There’d been traces of silver on just about everything underground. Her beast was quiet and the nervous heat from earlier was gone and her skin chilled with goosebumps. She hoped Patterson might not notice. Perhaps he might chalk it up to her nervous behavior.

Because Noelle was certainly nervous. She recognized the woman strapped to the table ahead of her if only because she looked so much like her boys, like Noelle’s mate. Lucia looked…

She looked awful. The woman’s face was gaunt and dark as she snarled and snapped at the woman circling her table. The roles had been reversed and it made Noelle uneasy. Dragons had never preyed upon humanity, at least not in the parts of the world she’d ever known, but the way the woman looked at Lucia reminded Noelle of the way vultures circled over things close to death. This woman, Dr. Rutkowski she figured, enjoyed her job.

The doctor looked up, the motion like the snap of a rubber band. Her eyes grew wide behind her glasses. “Good morning, Mr. Patterson. How are you today? I’ve come across a new finding with this one that I think you might like to see.”

The woman rambled on, barely above a mutter, as she moved around the dark room. She disappeared into the shadows, much to Patterson’s dismay as he huffed, and reappeared with a kind of clear box. It was a box in all ways except that there was no bottom and one side held a small curve, much like a cartoon mouse door.

It made sense when the doctor slipped it over Lucia’s hand on the table, the female dragon’s arm fitting into the mouse door-like space. When it covered Lucia’s hand, Noelle watched black scales roll over her skin. Noelle’s stomach dropped. Whatever was in the material the box was made of, it cancelled out the effect of silver on dragons.

It was an amazing finding as far as Noelle was concerned, but the doctor seemed unaffected by it. They must have known of whatever it was. The doctor was far more interested in the color of Lucia’s scales, it seemed. She smiled down at the black, clawed hand before looking up at them with excitement.

“It seems that the color of a dragon’s scales can be affected by their mindset. This subject has retreated into a feral mindset; therefore her scales have changed to indicate the threat she poses. It’s a very interesting finding. There was an incident a while back,” the doctor mused, “where a black dragon flew over a small town in eastern Nebraska. Reports said the dragon destroyed a farm for no particular reason. If the dragon had gone feral, it would explain its odd behavior and give you a leg up on hunting her down. Which you should.”

Noelle stifled the growl rising inside of her. She knew exactly what the doctor was talking about, knew who the doctor was talking about. Her friend and leader’s mate was not feral in the least, but here they were talking about hunting her like a skunk with rabies. It made Noelle’s jaw clench tight. She forced herself to let go of the tension, to keep from getting caught.

Patterson nodded while his eyes remained glued on Lucia. To his credit, even Patterson’s face paled at the sight of her. Noelle couldn’t tell if he was afraid of Lucia, felt bad for her, or if it was a combination of both. It didn’t matter in the end, as Patterson raised his chin and turned his attention upon Dr. Rutkowski.

“We are currently in search of the offending dragon. The only good thing to come from its actions were the increased patrol of the surrounding areas. The patrol has seemed to help abate some of the actions of the raiding dragons, which is good. I only worry the Territory is hiding the feral dragon you mentioned.”

Dr. Rutkowski nodded. “They would have to cage her to contain her to the grounds, but it is possible they’re working to hide their ugly side from us.”

Noelle wanted to scream. She wanted to fill the room with her voice, with the truth of the matter. They were not hiding Liana. Noelle’s friend might have some pride issues, but she was a perfectly functional member of their family, unlike what Dr. Rutkowski seemed to claim. It made Noelle’s chest tight with pent up words.

“Now that you’ve shown us something we already assumed, Doctor, how about you tell us how we can contain such beasts? That is something I’d very much like to hear.” Patterson’s voice was dry as he spoke down to the doctor.

Noelle caught slight movement out of the corner of her eye. She licked her lips, finding them dry. It was the silver, she told herself. Glancing over, trying to feign anxiety and finding it all too easy, she took in the dragon man called Oliver. It’d been his movement that’d caught her eye, his hands clenching and unclenching at his sides while he looked upon Lucia strapped to the table.

Noelle resisted the urge to elbow him in the ribs, to caution him to reign in his emotions. Yet, it stirred her. Oliver was supposed to be one of the Guardians’ enhanced dragons, completely under their thumbs. This dragon, Oliver, seemed not so enthused by his family’s actions. In fact, he seemed downright angry.

His eyes slid to the side, catching hers, and his spine straightened. His hands relaxed at his sides, the only movement an impatient tapping of his fingers against his thighs. Noelle wanted to nod, but she didn’t dare. He held her gaze for a moment too long, though and Noelle knew her ruse was up.

He knew. The enhanced dragon knew she was also a dragon. She waited for him to open his mouth, to proclaim it to the whole room, but his eyes only went to Lucia strapped to the table. His lips remained pursed the entire time.

While they’d had their silent exchange, an experience Noelle still wasn’t able to process, she realized Patterson and Dr. Rutkowski had been talking the whole time. Her heart fluttered as she realized there was a stretch of information she hadn’t recorded. Inwardly, Noelle groaned. She had to remind herself this wasn’t a real job. She didn’t need to please the imposing man one hundred percent of the time. If anything, she could claim being in a room with two dragons had terrified her, even if the silver in the walls kept them at bay.

“I would still like to know if you’ve located Subject I-A-C,” Patterson said. He pretended to pick a piece of non-existent fluff from his suit and flick it in Dr. Rutkowski’s direction. When he looked up, his jaw was clenched. “My predecessors assure me he was the peak of the application of their studies and having him back would benefit us tenfold, even if he did not want to be back.”

I-A-C.

Isaac’s mate learned that was what the Guardians called him. It was hard to imagine the floppy haired dragon who barely spoke was the peak of their experimentation, but from the stories Quinn shared, he’d been a formidable force when face to face with another enhanced dragon.

GOE was openly searching for Liana and Isaac. She had to find a way to let them know without blowing their cover. She would get her phone, the cell she left in a drawer back in their apartment and send a message once she got home. They needed to know GOE was after both of them. Liana had a better chance of skirting past them as they hadn’t seemed to connect her human face to her black dragon form. Isaac, on the other hand, they knew on sight.

“He destroyed one of my favorite dragons,” Dr. Rutkowski hissed, her eyes gleaming with ire.

She clearly wasn’t happy about how Isaac’s fight with the enhanced white dragon had gone. From what Noelle heard, it’d been a close fight, with neither Isaac or Kenji truly prepared for its elemental capacity. Poor Kenji nearly died, from the way he told the story. Although it was always followed up with a wink.

“Then devise new ways to contain him,” Patterson snapped.

Dr. Rutkowski left Lucia’s side, her spine stiff as she looked brazenly up into Patterson’s unmoving eyes. “I am a biologist, sir. Not an engineer. If you wanted to heckle the engineers, you could go up to the third floor. If you wanted to harass one of the bio-engineers you can go down to level C. If that is all you have to say, then I think our meeting is over.”

Noelle’s breath caught in her chest and she had to fight to suppress the smile on her face. It felt good seeing someone standing up to Patterson, even if it was a maniacal biologist that liked to poke and prod dragons. Noelle’s smile quickly slipped away when she remembered just who she was dealing with.

Just then, Lucia stopped fighting against her restraints. The whole room turned to look at the suddenly calm dragon. Lucia’s nostrils flared. Noelle’s heart stuttered when the woman’s eyes met Noelle’s across the room. There was a newfound peace in Lucia’s once feral eyes. She breathed in deep and let her head fall back before launching into a string of Spanish Noelle couldn’t translate.

She hoped the doctor and Patterson couldn’t either, because Noelle certainly heard Marc’s name in whatever it was Lucia said. Noelle wondered if Marc’s scent clung to her, even if their love making had been days ago now. Whatever it was, it calmed Lucia. It seemed to bolster her spirit in a way that pulled back on the ferocity of the beast inside of her.

Lucia opened her eyes, now clear with a sentience that’s been missing moments ago. She took in both the doctor and Patterson with a sharp toothed smile. There was death promised in that smile, one Noelle had perfected on her own. If they managed to free Lucia from her restraints, get her beyond the silver that encased the lower levels, she would destroy every inch of the facility.

It was Patterson who stepped forward. His eyes narrowed, looking down at Lucia with righteous contempt. Noelle wanted to knock the expression off his face for Lucia, but held her guise. Lucia, too, help her place. She looked up at Patterson with a demure smile, not at all affected by his presence or the title he clung to.

“Your days are numbered,” Patterson informed Lucia. “No matter how you try to straighten up your act. Dr. Rutkowski here only has a certain number of days with which she can study you and then you are to be put down. It doesn’t matter if you suddenly see sanity, we cannot afford to let you run around this world.”

Patterson’s voice was matter of fact and it hit Noelle in the gut. She was glad she was already pale because she doubted anyone noticed the blood drain from her face. How many days did Lucia have left? They couldn’t afford to waste any more time.

The dragon man standing by the door cringed. His eyes flicked to the marks along the inside of Lucia’s arm. Small, red marks dotted the bend of her elbow like they’d been drawing blood from her, repeatedly. His gaze made Noelle wonder if the GOE scientists injected a dragon with something when they wanted to…

Noelle couldn’t think the words Patterson had said moments ago. He spoke as if they were rabid dogs, animals. He didn’t look at Lucia and see her human face, see the gaunt shadows of her cheeks and the glassiness of her eyes. He didn’t look at her and see a mother of two that survived horrors.

Panic was a sharp knife in Noelle’s chest. They had to act fast. No one knew how many days they had left. Later, when she saw Marc between his shifts, she would have to tell him everything she’d learned. 

Patterson spun on his heel, crooked his finger at Noelle, and left the room. She only hoped she survived the day without ripping that man’s head off.

 

***

 

Marc couldn’t handle it all. He felt like he might implode where he stood. The apartment felt too small, despite its massive size. Noelle acted like nothing was wrong. She buried whatever she might have felt with indifference and attitude.

“You saw my mother?”

Noelle sighed, heavy and irritated like she was already done with the conversation. How could she drop such a bomb so easily and not feel the weight of it? His mate treated her news like it was something she’d read in the daily paper.

“Yes,” she hissed. “How many times do I have to say it?”

“She’s alive?”

“For heaven’s sake, yes!”

His knees grew weak. When his eyes met Noelle’s and she quickly looked away, he knew there was more to the story than she was letting on. There was something his mate didn’t want to talk about. That was why she was trying to brush the conversation off.

Marc closed the space between them, putting himself into her space so she couldn’t slither out of the conversation. She looked at the floor. He felt his stomach clench, not knowing what it was she was trying to hide from him. His mind was working to fill in the gaps, coming up with scenarios that terrified him.

“Don’t you have to be at work?” Noelle asked, her eyes darting to the door as if she wished he would leave. As if she were trying to avoid the subject.

“Not until you tell me what else happened today.”

Her shoulders tensed like she might fight him, but eventually, they slumped. Noelle sighed. It was like the last bit of steam escaping her small frame. Her eyes rolled upward and her feet slid apart like she was prepared for a fight.

“I was found out today.”

The world stopped moving. Marc swayed on his feet as if his body was struck by the sudden halting of the world. He swallowed hard. “What did you say?”

Noelle rolled her eyes. “There was a dragon in the lower levels, Oliver, he was assigned as an escort to Patterson and me.”

“And the other dragon was the one who found you out?” His voice was tight, like he couldn’t bear to say the words.

“Yeah, but I don’t think he’s any threat to us. If anything, he looked like he was just as unhappy to be down there as I was. He knew I was a dragon the whole time and didn’t say anything. I mean…”

Marc cut her off with a finger over her lips. Noelle’s brow immediately fell into a deep furrow while she glared up at him. “You’re not going back.”

She slapped away his arm, her eyes burning with the fire inside of her now. “You do not tell me what I can and cannot do. It doesn’t matter who you are in my life.”

“Do you want to die?” His voice was breaking.

“No!” she shouted back at him. “I want to help my family. If that means risking a little, then I’m alright with that.”

“What if I’m not?” His chest was tight. Fear gripped his heart. He didn’t know how he’d ever let Noelle out of his sight again. The whole mission might be over because he was ready to take his mate back to the Territory that was still somewhat safe. The idea that she’d been figured out, even by another dragon, terrified him. His mind fed him images of his mate strapped to a table like he’d seen in the file Anya retrieved.

His hands reached for her, yearned to feel the curve of her hips beneath his touch, but Noelle danced out of his way. She was still burning with ire, all of it directed at him. He’d clearly crossed a line, but he had no idea how to fix the situation. He could get on his knees and beg. He could lift her off her feet and carry her home.

The beast inside of him was happy to take over and haul their mate back to the protection of the metal home he shared with his brother. The beast wanted to hold onto her and never let her go again, never let her near another dragon, another person who might hurt her the way his parents hurt.

The fire around her was growing. He could see the air starting to waver. She put space between them, moving around the counter as if she could sense his urge to take her home. With her hands splayed on the cool, stone counter top, she looked up at him again.

“I think this dragon could be an ally,” she proclaimed.

His chest tightened further. Soon, breathing would become an impossibility. Did she not understand the danger she was in?

“If the guy was going to call me out on what I was, he would have done it while I was in the lower levels.”

Marc shook his head. The beast writhed inside of him, demanding to be set free. “I get that. But, you need to understand what I’m feeling right now. I’m terrified for you and it’s making things… difficult.”

Around them, the building shook. Winds picked up and Marc could feel it coming from inside of him, his power to command the skies. The beast wanted freedom. It wanted to do what it thought was right, even if Marc knew his mate would not agree. It was a struggle to keep it contained while the world around him shuddered and rumbled. Things fell off counters, glasses shattering against the hardwood floor.

Noelle didn’t budge. She was an immovable force of her own. Marc spared a thought to wonder if two warring dragons could fit inside their massive apartment. Perhaps, but it would not survive if it came to a couple’s fight between them. It gave him a small laugh, the thought of their dragons fighting. Even on that level, they were a fiery match.

“I’m not stopping my mission,” Noelle said, her voice smaller than he expected.

His eyes snapped open, just then realizing he’d closed them at all. Noelle came around the counter. She grabbed the front of Marc’s shirt with both of her hands and yanked him down to her. His hands easily gravitated toward her. The beast inside of him growled and yanked her closer. She didn’t argue.

“I’m not stopping now. I’ve spent too long doing nothing and now I can help people.”

Marc closed his eyes once more, barely able to nod. He couldn’t lose her. His parents left them alone. They might have been kidnapped, but both Luc and Marc had been alone nonetheless. Now, Luc had found his own life partner and moved out of the home they shared. All Marc had when Luc left had been a mate who barely noticed his existence. Marc felt alone in the world once more.

Now that Noelle acknowledged their bond, he feared losing her, too. He feared losing her to his stupid mission. He found that he feared losing her to the enhanced dragon she spoke of. He hadn’t realized jealousy played a part until that moment. His fingers kneaded her hips and she leaned into him.

He didn’t know what this enhanced dragon looked like, or what he could do. He was a complete mystery waiting to sweep Noelle away. She’d already proven she was not moved by the bond between them by the way she’d ignored him all those years.

But, Noelle reached up and wrapped an arm around the back of his neck and pulled him close so their mouths met. She kissed him, taking her time with his lips, with his tongue. She held him to her body, one hand clenched in his shirt while the other hooked around his neck.

They staggered back until her lower back hit the stone of the countertop. Marc lifted his mate and set her atop it, their bodies aligning perfectly. His mate grinned up at him.