Watching the firelight glow in the living room, Arsenic couldn’t help but feel apart from the warmth the rest of the dragons and their human mates seemed to be enjoying.

Perhaps it was the cold part of him, the part that had made him an excellent assassin, but in general, he had a hard time relating to those around him, especially in times of joy.

They were only a day from a human holiday called “Christmas,” and there was a jubilant feeling of celebration in the air as the two human mates in the mansion tried to teach the dragons of Drakkaris what Christmas meant to them.

Arsenic reclined lazily, keeping an eye on the room, as was his habit. Part of him was always protective of those around him, always watching for threats.

The other part was thinking of new things to cook. Ways to prove himself. Proving himself was pretty much all he’d cared about since he was young, born in the worst parts of Drakkaris, a lowly metalloid who had never been expected to add up to more than a criminal.

Now he was the head assassin of Drakkaris, second-in-command of the dragon guard, and that didn’t change just because they were on Earth to find mates.

Arsenic didn’t have much hope in finding one. Part of his heart had to close off in order to do what he did, and he assumed that was the same part that allowed for the kind of softness that Cadmium and Lead showed toward their mates as they cuddled them or kissed them on their foreheads.

Arsenic was pretty sure that part of him, if it had ever existed, was dead by now.

That didn’t stop him from trying to contribute to his friends in the ways he understood. After all, he enjoyed trying to feed them, though he’d never guessed he would be so bad at it. Now it had become a personal challenge. But there were other things he did, like staying alert and aware, ready to fight for them and their mates at any moment.

Chromium and Cobalt were pining and ready for mates. That much was clear as they sat by the fire, glancing over at Cadmium and Lead and their mates occasionally.

As a metalloid, Arsenic wasn’t in nearly as much danger of his poison taking over. In fact, he had nearly perfect control over almost every state of his element, something that was rare in the dragon world.

So rare that he doubted some of his teammates even knew the extent of his powers. But no one had to know what he did on his missions. All they had to know was he completed them, and quickly.

He closed his eyes and leaned back against the soft leather of the couch, letting the scents and sounds of the room waft over him. Cinnamon and orange from the wassail Chromium had concocted. Holly and pine decorating the room. Laughter as they started a new game together.

It was all pleasant enough. Arsenic peeked through one eye to see Zinc, who was looking better, helping Casey, Cadmium’s mate, set up the game.

Zinc was probably the first priority for a mate, but he’d been looking mysteriously improved lately and spending more time out of his room, so maybe not. Perhaps Chromium and Cobalt, with their mid-level status and blood, were next.

It really just depended on who showed up or when they were called to rescue another dragon heart. They hadn’t had a call in a couple weeks, and even when they did, it was up to the oracle what happened. Lead had been allowed to mate the first dragon heart they’d found, but who knew if that was an exception?

Arsenic put it from his mind, not liking to think about things he couldn’t control. Even though he often did, he fought it. There was no point, no tactical advantage to guessing, and above all, Arsenic tried to be tactical.

“Arsenic, come play,” Cadmium called out with a smile.

Arsenic opened both eyes and just glared at him. “I’m resting.”

“For what?” Cadmium asked, cocking his head. The blond bastard was almost always painfully cheery, which annoyed Arsenic to no end.

“You never know,” Arsenic said drily, leaning back on the couch once again. They could be called up again any moment. Arsenic liked to save his strength for that.

Plus, when he participated in games like this, it always ended in merciless teasing and pressing of internal buttons that Arsenic didn’t like pressed.

Feelings of inferiority, of worthlessness, of an imposter syndrome that meant he was always waiting for the hammer to fall and to lose everything he’d worked for. That he’d never truly earned it at all.

He closed his eyes and went back to absorbing smells and sounds.

Suddenly, the front door creaked open and a gust of wind burst into the room, instantly chilling it.

Marina, dressed in blue robes as usual, walked into the house. There was a purple portal behind her, through which her mate Mercury emerged, looking tense and aggravated.

Mercury held the front door open for his mate and then let it shut behind them. His silvery hair was mussed and snowy, and he shook his head like some kind of wet dog before looking up at them.

The cozy, relaxed atmosphere was ruined.

The dragons all sat at attention, and Lead and Cadmium subtly moved in front of their mates as they looked at the visitors.

Marina was a semi-frequent sight at the mansion. She was training with the oracle and was often practicing portals. But she didn’t usually look like this. Her blond hair was in a loose braid and her cheeks were pale.

Mercury put his hands on his knees and took a wheezing breath. “Now will you tell me why you insisted on jumping us through an uninsulated portal to get here of all places? What is the rush?”

Marina ignored him as she walked forward into the room. Probably a good idea, as Mercury was known for being volatile and easily set off, and if this was an emergency, critical moments could be wasted trying to placate him.

Arsenic sat up instantly, looking over with growing curiosity.

“I saw someone,” Marina said, pulling her wrap around her. “She was calling out to me. She isn’t one of the other dragon hearts we’ve been tracking. It’s the first time I’ve heard from her. She’s in real pain.”

Arsenic stood and began cracking his fingers, checking internally for his various valence states.

Lead made sure his mate, Brittany, was seated safely before he approached Marina and Mercury, who’d come up to stand protectively by his mate.

Mercury was a dragon to be reckoned with, having some of the highest and most powerful blood of any of the dragons of Drakkaris. And right now, he was on their side, though Arsenic knew better than to totally trust him.

He never fully trusted anyone.

He formed a dagger under his jacket and tucked it into the vest he kept under his clothing at all times. While Mercury talked with Lead, he made another, then another.

They were lethal and perfect. He always made sure to go into battle with a few. Meanwhile, he paid attention to the important details as the others spoke hurriedly.

Human female. In grave danger. Urgent rescue mission in a difficult location. Might need to be handled like a SWAT mission. He perked up when he heard his name.

“We might need your skills, Arsenic,” Lead said, walking over and putting a hand on his shoulder. “If we can’t all get through the guards, we’ll be counting on you to go past while we distract them.”

Arsenic simply nodded in assent. He’d do whatever was required of him. This was his job. His purpose in life even.

As the others began to get ready, and Lead and Cadmium kissed their mates, Marina turned to the group.

“I’m coming with you,” she said.

“No,” Mercury said. “You are staying here with me.”

“Not on this one,” Marina said, putting a hand on Mercury’s face and looking into his eyes. “This woman, she will need me. And I will need to hear her if we are going to rescue her.”

Mercury’s liquid-metal eyes warmed as he stared at his mate. “Then I’m coming.”

“No,” Marina said. “We need you here to take care of the mates. To make sure nothing happens so Cadmium and Lead can focus.”

Mercury folded his arms, looking stubborn. “You can’t honestly expect me to stay here while you run into danger.”

“I’ll stay,” Zinc said, stepping forward. “I have power at least for this, and as a male, I understand Mercury’s objections.”

“I’m going to be fine,” Marina said. “I have seen the end of this, and it is going to be okay. But if you are willing to stay, Zinc, it might be for the best.”

“It is,” Mercury said. “Besides, we don’t need Zinc going into battle and depleting his energy stores more, and with luck, nothing will happen to anyone while they are here. If something does happen, he’s more than equipped to deal with it.”

“Fine,” Marina said, sending Zinc a smile. “I appreciate that. Brittany and Casey, will you be okay?”

The two humans stepped forward, nodding eagerly.

“Of course,” Brittany said, pushing her blond hair behind one ear. “Please hurry.”

“Yes,” Casey said, stepping forward. “If someone’s in danger, don’t wait any longer. We’re fine.” She made a joking flex of her arm. “We’re dragon mates, after all.”

Arsenic snorted at that but suppressed it under a glare from Lead. Fair enough. It would be nerve-wracking enough for most of them going on this mission even if they didn’t have a mate.

With high stakes at home, Lead and Cadmium would find it that much harder to focus.

All the more reason Arsenic would work hard to finish this quickly and get them all home. When his vest was fully lined with daggers that he’d moved with sleight of hand when the other dragons weren’t looking, he stepped forward to Marina, standing at attention. Lead and the others were right behind him.

“The portal will drop you in midair over the area,” Marina said, waving her hand in the air to create a swirling, purple vortex. “Get ready.”

When the portal was formed, Arsenic stepped forward, cracking his neck back and forth, feeling the dragon inside him awaken.

“Let’s fly,” he said, jumping into the unknown.

* * *

Farrah didn’t know if she wanted to go on much longer or whether she even had the strength to.

Closing her eyes and attempting to summon the last of her fighting spirit, she felt only an aching, resounding emptiness. A need to finally give up.

What was the point anymore? No one was looking for her, and even if they were, there was no way they’d find her on this forsaken rock.

And even if they did, what was there left to find? She’d been well and truly broken.

The other women captured with her had been taken elsewhere. They were dragon hearts… or something. She was simply a human liability, and their captors had been about to kill her before Crios had volunteered to take her for experimentation.

These days, she wished he’d just let her die.

She knew it was a stupid thing to think, that she should be grateful for every breath, that life was a beautiful thing even in the darkest moments. That things could always get better if you were just willing to hold on.

But she didn’t think she could make it that far anymore.

She opened her eyes as blinding florescent lights turned on in the room. Crios was back for his daily torture experiments. She glared at him weakly, her body still tired from whatever he’d injected into her the night before.

She no longer felt like herself anymore, though she supposed that was true since the night she was kidnapped.

After she’d been separated from the dragon hearts, the chosen ones, everything had just gone all wrong.

She had no idea where the other women were or what they were going through. Perhaps they were in trouble, too.

But Crios was constantly rubbing it in that she was a plain, lowly human, and as such, she should be grateful that she wasn’t killed and thrown out on the ocean waves that crashed against their secret fortress.

Even if she wished every day, before each painful test, that he would just toss her out.

“Come now. Perk up,” Crios said, walking in with his usual crisp, white lab jacket and black slacks, his pale-blond hair slicked back, blue eyes hard like cloudy sapphires.

Some people might have even thought him handsome if they didn’t see the monster lurking underneath.

She merely stared at him, wondering what test he had planned for today.

“You should be happy,” he said, poking around in a drawer of syringes. “You survived wyvern venom last night. Most of it should be out of your system now, so we can start with something else.”

She rolled her eyes, avoiding his gaze as he came forward, a syringe in his hand.

He caught her jaw harshly, turning her to face him. “Look at me,” he hissed with a growl that made her stomach twist. Every time he touched her, she felt she was floating outside her body.

“If not for me, you’d be dashed on the rocks outside the lab,” he said viciously.

She refused to look at him, darting her eyes to the side. He couldn’t control the muscles of her eyes.

“What will it take to break you?” he asked, eyes narrowing as he let go of her jaw, shoving her face to the side. “When will you look at me with the respect I deserve, as your rescuer?”

She still kept her dull gaze on the wall, on nothing in particular, listening to him drone on.

“Perhaps you’d rather be out there with the guards?” he hissed in an evil tone, and this time, her eyes flicked to him.

He wouldn’t dare.

“Ah, I see you aren’t immune to that,” he said. “Shall I send you out there? Maybe after that, you’ll be grateful to submit to my experiments.”

He reached down for the metal cuffs that kept her locked to the chair and slowly undid them.

Her heart froze over, and she began to kick and struggle as he pulled her from the chair and dragged her to the door. She was wearing only the white, baggy gown he’d put on her that looked like something from a hospital. No matter how much she’d given up on life, she did not want to see the guards.

If only she could get away, but his hand on her wrist was like iron.

“No,” she grated out, her voice sounding like rocks over metal. Unfamiliar because she hadn’t talked for so long. “Please.”

“Oh yes, I’ll have you begging by the end of it. Scream for me, and when I rescue you, give me the respect I deserve. And then we’ll see if you ever ignore me again.”

She dug in her heels, trying not to let him take her out there, where wolves and wyverns who hadn’t seen females in weeks were patrolling, hungry and menacing.

“Please,” she said, sick at the thought that she was pleading with him, speaking to him. But she couldn’t go through this, not after everything she’d suffered. She just couldn’t. It would break her.

“You need to learn to give in to me,” he said, yanking the door open and pushing her out in front of him down the narrow hall made of stone.

The lab was set up in an old stone building that almost felt like a medieval castle, and it was on a tiny island that was basically just a rock in a remote part of the ocean.

There was no hope of rescue, no hope of escape.

He dragged her down to an opening in the hall that widened into a great room and tossed her onto her knees in the middle of it.

Men, shifters who’d been taking a break and drinking or eating at the old-fashioned tables, looked over at her with interest, their gazes going to Crios.

“Do what you want with her,” Crios said. “Teach her a lesson. She needs to know her master. She needs to know my mercy.”

Then the men began to crowd around her, and Crios retreated into the hall. She felt her heart let out a shriek that seemed to resonate far beyond her soul, beyond this wretched fortress, beyond even the sky.

Please. Someone. Help me!