Noelle’s flat shoes made almost no sound as she raced across the tile flooring. By scent alone, she was able to track her mate. He smelled like musk and, unfortunately, cleaning chemicals. Up the stairs, two at a time, she climbed. Marc was busy scrubbing a window when she found him.

He paused, arm mid-sweep, and turned. His brow furrowed, eyes darkening. They weren’t supposed to know one another, that was the idea. But, the game was up and she knew it. Today was their last chance to do anything and Noelle had an idea.

Without a word, she dragged her mate down the stairs and into the lobby of the lower level. The guard at the first door gave her a strange look, but he let her through without question. Apparently, Patterson hadn’t made it known that he’d fired her. It had only been moments ago, she realized.

It was the man behind the desk in the lobby who presented a bigger problem. The man looked up at them, both eyebrows raised. He shot out of his seat when she pulled Marc, or Manny as his badge suggested, toward the door. The man behind the desk threw his hand out to stop her so she pulled on her meek secretary face, complete with a pathetic pout.

“I’m just trying to fix my mistake,” she whined, for once trying to use her dainty body to her advantage as she tried to shrink in on herself. “It’s my fault that I was sick and it won’t happen again, but I want to make sure it gets cleaned up correctly.” She paused, looking around for dramatic effect. When Oliver was nowhere to be seen, she added, “The dragon man wasn’t very good at cleaning it up.”

The man behind the desk rolled his eyes. “For heaven’s sake,” he grumbled before falling back into his seat and waving her on. The light near the door changed and the door itself made a clicking sound and Noelle felt her heart leap into her throat.

It was now or never. She tried to explain that in the look she threw her confused mate. He had to know something was up. He wasn’t allowed in the lower level, but as he’d told her, people didn’t look at the janitors. She’d almost wished she’d strapped the wiretap to Marc.

She swallowed hard. They were in the lower levels. The real question was, how were they going to get out of there? She didn’t even know where Lucia was being kept. Had she acted too quickly? Was she going to get both of them killed?

Marc grabbed her and pulled her to a stop. His eyes were questioning. She tried to shake her head, to silently tell him she’d lost her job. Now that she thought about it, it was Oliver’s fault. She turned back to the white halls, eyes scanning the space for the familiar dragon man. If he wanted out of here, if this was his fault, he was going to help them.

All she had to do was find him.

Noelle dragged Marc around the lower levels by the fist she kept in the front of his overalls. He followed, surprise still on his face. Both of their hearts raced. Her eyes scanned the halls in search of Oliver. He’d been there only moments ago. Where could he have gone in a short amount of time?

There, she caught a glimpse of familiar, dark skin moving around a corner. She darted after the figure, hoping and praying she was right. If she grabbed the wrong person. If she alerted the wrong person then this, everything they worked for, it was all over in a moment. Noelle and Marc would find themselves in silver cuffs and thrown into one of the white rooms with no windows.

She slid around the corner, her hand slipping from Marc’s overalls. The dark form walked away from them, but it was certainly Oliver. She could tell by the gleam of the lights over head on his shaven head. She wondered what kind of beast lurked beneath his skin, but only for a moment before lunging for his shirt. She grabbed ahold of it and yanked him back with her.

He let out a soft cry of protest that made her heart lurch. Her eyes snapped up, scanning the halls around them to see if anyone heard. This was their last chance, their only chance.

“What are you doing back down here?” Oliver hissed.

They rounded the corner, his eyes falling on the still confused Marc, and his voice vanished. Noelle, still on edge, scanned the hall around them. They were going to get caught. Something awful would happen, she couldn’t stop the thoughts that poured into her mind. All she could do was shake her head to try to dispel them and get back to the task at hand. Those thoughts would do her no good in this moment.

“Patterson fired me,” Noelle hurriedly whispered. Both sets of eyes on her widened. One set had the grace to hold a hint of guilt. “It’s now or never. Plan or not, we need to try.”

Oliver’s spine straightened and he held up a finger. Noelle watched him with guarded curiosity. She feared he was about to rat them out. Noelle very well could have put her faith in the wrong person, so she snuck after the dragon man as he walked down the hall into an open room full of equipment. The room was empty, most of the scientists on lunch in another room, she figured as she looked at the jars of chemicals and the glass distilling contraption that one might not want to eat around.

Oliver put one hand on top of the glass distilling contraption, looked back at Noelle and Marc, and yanked it down. The glass crashed to the ground and skittered in every direction. Oliver danced back from the contents that sprayed in every direction. Noelle didn’t want to know what had been inside it.

Immediately, a light flashed and an alarm sprang to life. She heard the rushing of feet clamoring for the nearest exit. Noelle’s heart lifted when she raised an eyebrow.

“You have three minutes until the clean-up crew comes down.”

Marc nodded, launching into action. He ran for the nearest doors, yanking them open one by one as if he might find his mother hiding behind one. Noelle shook her head. They had minutes to do this. Searching for her room by room was not going to get them anywhere. She turned to Oliver, an unspoken question in her eyes.

“Level D,” he said, his voice low.

Noelle swallowed. If the levels went alphabetically, D would be the fourth floor below ground level. She raced toward her mate, grabbing him and not stopping. He followed without a word. The trust between them was implicit.

Together, they flew down flights of stairs. Noelle skidded down a few of them in her race to reach the bottom, marc catching her by her armpits before she crashed to the floor. Level D was deep in the ground and she could feel the silver becoming thicker in the walls around her. It made her skin crawl and her stomach churn.

They were close.

 

***

 

His mate was insane. Marc wondered what she’d done to get fired, but when he saw the guilt in the dragon man’s eyes when she announced it, he had an idea his mate didn’t do anything at all. Whatever happened, there was no going back. There was only moving forward. Marc swallowed and pulled his chin up.

For Marc and Noelle, it meant racing down flights of stairs on an enhanced dragon’s word. He eyed the dragon moving beside him, graceful despite his bulky size. The dragon’s dark skin spoke of an African heritage, not quite as light as Anya’s. Other than what Marc could see with his own eyes, he knew nothing about the dragon man. His stomach danced with butterflies. Could they truly trust the dragon like Noelle thought? Or, was he leading them into a trap?

It would be all too easy to lead them into the lower levels and stuff both of them into the holding cells they kept the dragons in, but the level, once they arrived, was graciously empty. Noelle snatched a clipboard off the wall, her eyes roving down the page. This was taking too long, he thought while moments passed. She couldn’t find who was who among the combinations of letters and numbers.

Marc took it into his own hands. He gripped the metal handle of the nearest door and pulled. His body protested, the silver around him making his muscles weak, but he pushed. He poured all of his anger and defiance into his body, willing the door to come free. There was a clatter of the clip board and Noelle appeared beside him.

He saw the sweat drip down her forehead when she gripped the door handle with him. They pulled and the metal groaned. It seemed to go on forever, their pulling, the groan of the metal. Finally, something snapped, the door broke free and the dragons stumbled back.

A surprised face looked up at them from inside. Marc and Noelle were certainly not who the dragon woman expected. Marc felt his stomach drop. This was not his mother. He looked up at the other doors. There were five more in total. They didn’t have time to break each one open.

The female dragon they’d freed limped forward to peer outside of her holding cell. Her mouth opened to ask a question, but there wasn’t time. She saw the look on their faces and her own shoulders squared back. She nodded and moved toward the next door. The thin dragon woman tugged on the door. Noelle moved to help her.

Marc nodded and moved on to the next door. The minutes were ticking down. It felt like they might never get out, but the door beneath his hands snapped free and another confused dragon entered the hall. He glanced between the faces, new and old, before wordlessly joining in. With each dragon they broke free, the process sped up.

Marc scanned the growing crowd and felt something stir inside his chest, a sense of accomplishment. Still, Lucia was nowhere to be found and it smashed the growing feeling inside Marc to small bits. He gripped the metal of the door in his hands, wishing he could crumple it beneath his grip.

It was beginning to look like Lucia Avila was not here. Noelle’s head snapped up, her face draining of color.

“What? You know something.” Marc snapped at his mate. He didn’t mean to, but it was already out. His chest was tight. This was the only chance they had. This was the only chance he had to find the mother he’d lost.

Noelle opened her mouth, but no words came out. It was one of the other dragons they’d freed who spoke for her.

“L, as they call the one that looks like you, has been a problem for them. The head of the facility, the hateful man, wanted her to be… he wanted to kill her.”

Marc’s eyes flew wide. He looked back at his mate who was sinking through the floor. Why had she not told him this? His heart raced. His mother… she could be…

“There’s one more door,” Noelle noted, her voice small as she jerked her chin toward a cell at the end of the hall. She slipped between the freed dragons, guilt weighing her steps, and put her hands on the door handle. Another dragon joined her in pulling until the door groaned and broke free in their hands.

Marc was still processing the anger he felt toward his own mate when he watched Noelle fall to her knees. His breath caught and he darted for her, the anger forgotten in that moment. His mate cried. Tears slipped between her fingers and she wiped them off to crawl on her hands and knees into the cell.