Marc travelled on foot most of the way. Many of the dragons they’d helped escape couldn’t find the beast inside of them to change forms. It meant they were stuck on foot and he didn’t want to leave them on the ground alone.
He remembered bursting into the open air, surprised Oliver’s words had been true. He felt a small amount of guilt pang inside his chest having not fully believed the other dragon to be true. The thought was quickly shoved aside when a familiar face appeared.
“Dad?” Marc’s voice cracked.
Hector Avila took in the number of dragons following his son and pride flashed across his face until he realized Lucia wasn’t there.
“Noelle went to find her,” Marc breathed.
As if signaled by his words, a boom shuddered through the air. He’d looked up into the sky and saw his mate’s dragon appear in the air above the facility. A small, ball of fire followed her and another dragon, but it did nothing to his fire-bound mate. He felt relief wash over him until he saw the darker scaled dragon clutch at his head and roar.
“Lucia!” Hector screamed.
Indeed, there was a small form cradled in Noelle’s hands. Marc looked back at the crowd of dragons following him, trusting him. He couldn’t ask them to trust another stranger. He looked at Mary in his hands, watching the gold dragon in the sky with wonder and awe.
“I’ll help,” his father told him. “You get them to safety.”
That’d been over an hour ago. The dragons behind him had lost enthusiasm, their bodies sagging from exhaustion. He’d been wary when a van pulled up onto the side of the road ahead of them, remembering hearing of the van that took dragons from the nomadic family’s settlement. Then, the door slid open and a familiar shape flowed into the open air.
“What is on your face, brother?” Luc had laughed at the sight of Marc’s beard and moustache, the humor appealing to the tired dragons behind him.
Liana rolled down the window and Anya’s face appeared beside her, the smiling faces of family helping to ease the knot in his chest. Still, he’d looked to the sky and wondered where his mate and father had gone while the two women told him of how the facility they’d left behind was in an uproar.
They’d crammed as many of the tired dragons into the van as they could, Marc and Luc taking to the air above them. Marc’s eyes scanned the horizon, but there was no sign of his mate.
***
Noelle flew back to the Territory with the dragon hanging limp from her claws. She hoped she hadn’t killed him, but there were other concerns on her mind. She glanced toward Marc’s father and how he cradled the woman in his claws.
Lucia had literally been on her death bed when they found her. Oliver helped, she reminded herself to worry about the dragon in her hands, too.
This was a fine mess, she thought. She’d managed to get herself fired, half-assed their mission, and ruined it all. Maybe it had been for the best, she realized. If she hadn’t been fired in that moment, if she hadn’t grabbed Marc and pulled him into the lower levels....
She shuddered to think what might have happened. They certainly would have been too late. Lucia’s expiration date had come for GOE and they set about making it true, Noelle only finding the dragon woman because of the series of events that occurred that day.
Finally, the fields gave way to trees and the trees below broke open to reveal the center of the Territory she called home. Marc, she wondered, where had he gone? Noelle surged toward the ground, landing hard enough to kick up the dust of the paths in the center of town. People all around them whined and groaned in the cloud of dust, but Noelle let her dragon form recede, not caring for their anger.
“Is that how you make an entrance?”
It wasn’t the voice she’d hoped for. Noelle turned, seeing a tall form approaching through the dust she’d kicked up. Beside her, Hector touched ground and laid his wife, gently and gingerly as he could, on the ground. Noelle frowned, her stomach turning sour at the sight of Lucia. Her skin was even more blue than she’d thought. Had that happened while they’d flown? Has the silver inside of her progressed?
Dane stopped his approach and turned toward Hector and his wife. His face was grim as he nodded. “I have a healer I can call.”
No one said what they were all thinking. Would the healer arrive in time?
Dane held his phone up to his ear just as the sound of an engine roared into the center of their town. A van skidded to a halt, kicking up even more dust than Noelle had. Liana and Anya poured out of the sides of the van, the back door opening to reveal the dragons they’d helped to rescue. Dane’s eyes met Noelle’s and his brow rose in a silent question.
Noelle didn’t pay him any mind. She was caught between to needs. Her eyes surveyed the people pouring out of the van like it was a clown car. The two people she cared for the most… where had they gone?
Finally, a shaky form hopped down from the van and brought clear eyes up to meet Noelle’s. She rushed forward, enveloping her sister in her arms. Around them, Noelle could hear the whispers of the people around them. Who was this dragon, the asked one another.
“I like your mate,” Mary said into Noelle’s hair. Her sister turned her gaze into the sky just as a pair of rainbow Quetzalcoatl dragons appeared.
Noelle felt her heart lift in joy. Marc’s beast dropped toward her. They’d accomplished their mission and so much more, she thought. His form peeled back and a dark-skinned man crashed into her, wrapping his arms around the two women and clutching them tight.
Mate, Noelle thought. She was happy with this arrangement. She could live with what the world had given her, happily.
She gave him a kiss on the cheek before turning him toward his parents. They could speak later, they could touch one another later. In that moment, he had to go to his parents and beg his mother’s spirit to stay with them long enough for the healer to arrive. Noelle hoped the woman would hold on. She was strong, she’d known her son was there to save her. Noelle hoped that was enough to make the woman cling to this world.
A groan had Noelle turning toward the dragon form on the ground. She’d forgotten about Oliver. He started to pick himself up, a growl vibrating his ribcage. His eyes scanned his new surroundings. He still was not back to himself.
“Where is Isaac? Don’t tell me he’s still in Indianapolis with Quinn.” Noelle groaned, turning toward the dragon she’d brought.
“What about me?” a quiet voice asked.
“Oh, thank the heavens. Get over here and help me.”
Oliver, the dragon she’d met, was gone. They were going to have to fry the chip GOE planted in his and no one knew what that would do. Most likely, it would wipe any memories the dragon man had, would wipe away the man he’d been. Noelle hated it, but she couldn’t leave the hostile dragon the way he was. He’d asked for freedom before they hurt him again.
This was the best she could offer him.