Jude ducked the pulse laser fire, rolling on the floor and back onto his feet. He punched the first guard who reached him, sending him reeling backwards. The next was more cautious. He kept his weapon trained on Jude but didn’t get too close.

“Lower your gun,” said the guard.

“Go to hell,” said Jude.

“Don’t do it,” yelled Octavia. She shoved the unconscious commander off her and stepped toward Jude.

Jude looked at her. “Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. You shouldn’t have come.”

“I couldn’t leave you here.” Jude’s gaze ran over her. He could see she was injured, her face was puffy and bruised, and she was clutching her arm. Her beautiful hair was also gone. What the hell had they done to her?

“Lower your weapon,” said the guard. “I will shoot you.”

A second guard emerged from the shadows. “Or we’ll shoot her.” He trained his weapon toward Octavia. “Is she worth dying for?”

Jude let out a slow breath and lowered his pulse laser. Of course she was. He couldn’t imagine his life without Octavia in it.

“Hands behind your back,” said the first guard. “Try anything, and we’ll shoot you both.” He inclined his head at his colleague. “Go check on the commander.”

The other guard approached Commander West’s body. His gaze flicked to Octavia. “Give me an excuse to shoot you. I’ll be happy to oblige.”

Octavia grimaced but kept her attention on Jude, watching as his hands were tied.

“It will be okay.” Jude was focused only on Octavia. His joy at seeing her alive was mingled with rage. He wanted to bring this place down as revenge for risking her life.

The guard checking on the commander smirked. “It won’t be okay for either of you.”

“How’s the commander doing?” asked the other guard.

“He’s breathing. It’s not a serious injury. I’ll get him to medical.”

The commander groaned, and his eyes flickered open. They narrowed as he saw Octavia.

“Sir, can I help you?” asked the guard by his side.

“Help me up.” Commander West stood slowly and shook out his arms, wincing as he did so.

“You’ve been shot. You need to get to medical.”

“That can wait. I have other priorities.” His gaze drifted down Octavia before shifting to Jude. “I see we have another criminal.”

Jude glowered at him. “We are not the criminals here.”

“You’ve broken into a secure State facility and aided a prisoner in an escape attempt,” said Commander West. “You also tried to kill me. All of that is criminal activity.”

Jude twisted in the guard’s grip, longing to slam a fist into the man’s smug face. “We’ve done nothing wrong.”

Commander West gestured to the guard. “Bring the traitor closer.”

The guard yanked Jude nearer until he could smell the sourness on his breath.

“You Ember brothers are all the same. Fighting for a cause you cannot win.”

“We are winning,” said Jude. “Have you checked the comms feed?”

Commander West’s top lip curled. “We assumed that was you. You think you will win over the public with your lies about us?”

“Some of them will believe,” said Jude. “It will plant seeds of doubt. You might discover your hypnotic suggestions aren’t so effective. You can’t control everyone forever.”

“We don’t need forever,” said Commander West. “We just need to control you until our plans are complete.”

“Then you will kill everybody?”

“You will become surplus to our requirements,” said Commander West, testing his injury by swinging his arms. “At which point, a few of you might be saved. It’s always good not to exterminate an entire species. We will need willing participants for future experimentations.”

Jude glowered at him. “We’re not your test subjects.”

“You are if we choose that for you.” Commander West smirked at Octavia. “I see you consider this one of value. But not valuable enough to surrender yourselves. Still, I knew you would come for your woman. I wanted to see how far you would go.”

“She’s her own woman,” growled Jude. “And she was doing a damn good job of taking care of herself.”

Commander West frowned. “She has been tainted by her association with you. That will be to her detriment.”

“Don’t listen to him,” said Octavia.

Jude winked at her. “Nothing he can say worries me.”

“Before I have you both killed,” said Commander West, “I am interested in learning how you discovered our true form.”

“It’s easy to work out. There’s no way you can be human,” said Octavia. “You’re too cruel.”

“Humanity is not always benevolent,” said Commander West.

“It’s the rank breath that’s the real giveaway,” said Jude. “You all have the same foul stench. No disguise can hide that.”

Commander West scowled. “You humans arrogantly assumed you were the superior species. We saw the dragons grow fat and weak as they served you. It was a disgrace. It had to be stopped.”

“Now everyone knows the truth about you,” said Jude. “They know you cannot be trusted.”

“But how do you know?” Commander West raised an eyebrow. “How did you discover our true identity?”

“It was thanks to the dragon hybrids,” said Jude.

Commander West tilted his head. “Explain. A freak of nature knows about us?”

“You shouldn’t discount their abilities. They helped us figure out what you are.”

“Sir, perhaps we should get you to medical?” The guard next to Commander West gestured to the door.

“I am already healing. You humans are downed by the simplest of injuries. No wonder you were so easy to conquer.”

“Yes, sir.” The guard bowed his head. “Sorry, sir.”

Commander West dismissed him with a wave of his hand.

“You haven’t conquered us,” said Jude. “We’re still fighting against you.”

Commander West slammed his fist into Jude’s stomach. “Enough! You are to be made an example of. You will renounce the lies about the State before your public execution.”

Jude tried to grab air, his tender ribs protesting at the assault. “It’s never going to happen.”

Commander West hit him again. “It will. Or I’ll kill the lovely Octavia in front of you. The last thing you’ll hear before you die will be her tortured screams as she blames you for her death.”

Jude stared at Octavia. She was hiding it well, but he could see she was scared. He focused on Commander West. “Admit it, you are losing control.”

“I am not concerned. We will have the population back under our control soon enough.”

“Our broadcast is working. People are questioning you.”

“Fetch me a port screen,” snapped Commander West to the guard next to him.

The guard ran from the room and returned with a port screen. “Sir, there do appear to be disturbances in some sectors.”

Commander West grabbed the port screen and stared at it. He hissed angrily. “The militia will control the troublemakers. The disturbances will be minor.”

“Our broadcast went everywhere.” Jude saw a flare of panic in Commander West’s eyes. “People are confused. They want answers.”

“If they question us, we will kill them,” said Commander West. “How’s that for an answer? The only thing you’ve done by sending out that information is kill innocent members of society. Are you prepared to have that on your conscience?”

Guilt bit at Jude, but he refused to back down. “When enough rise up against you, there will be nothing you can do. Your twisted reign will be over.”

“It is far from over.” Commander West watched the screen for a moment. “We need more militia out there.”

Jude saw movement out of the corner of his eye. He didn’t need to turn his head. He knew it was Tobias lurking in the shadows. They’d come together, but Jude had raced ahead, ignoring Tobias’s protests, determined to find Octavia.

He glanced at Octavia and winked again. “Get ready, beautiful.”

***

OCTAVIA WATCHED AS Commander West’s head shot up. He glared at Jude. “Take them to a cell. I will arrange their executions as soon as the troubles have died down. We need people focused on what will happen if their disobedience continues.”

What did Jude mean by get ready?

She struggled in the guard’s grip as Jude was dragged to the door. She didn’t want to let him out of her sight. She would not lose him again.

He caught her gaze again and smiled. What the hell did he have to smile about? They were about to be killed.

Two flashes of pulse laser shot out from the shadows. One slammed into the guard holding Jude, and the second skimmed past Octavia and slammed into the other guard’s chest.

She dropped to the ground, her frantic gaze seeking out whoever was shooting.

Commander West also dropped to the ground. “Kill the traitors!”

Octavia eased herself up, relief flooding through her as Tobias emerged from the shadows, his pulse laser trained on Commander West.

“It looks like you don’t get to give any more orders,” she spat at the commander.

“You will die for this,” he hissed, his cold gaze locked on Octavia.

Jude ran to Tobias. “Get these damn restraints off me.” The second his hands were free, Jude dashed to Octavia, threw his arms around her, and pulled her against his chest.

She let out a shaky breath as his scent filled her nose. He was alive. He was really here. “I knew you were still alive.”

“They did their best to kill me.” Jude kissed her lips, then untied her hands. “As you can see, they failed.” His fingers touched the burned fabric where the laser had sliced into her.

She squeezed him against her, still not able to believe this was happening. “You’re okay.”

“Unlike you.” Jude shifted to look at her laser wound.

“It’s not bad. They wanted me wounded, but alive.” She tightened her hold on Jude. He groaned, and she loosened her grip. “It sounds like they did a good job of messing you up, though.”

“It’s my ribs,” said Jude. “They’re healing, but they’re taking their sweet time.”

“We need to get out of here,” said Tobias. “Cameras are watching us and more guards will be on their way.”

“You’ll never escape,” growled Commander West. “I will execute you myself.”

“To do that, you need to be alive.” Jude scooped up a dead guard’s pulse laser and shot Commander West. He wrapped an arm around Octavia’s waist. “Let’s get out of here, beautiful.”