Asim awoke to excruciating pain. Nausea churned in his stomach. The pain rocketed through him when he rolled to his side. It was so intense; he feared he would lose consciousness again.

Damage…, he choked out to his dragon.

Left leg broken, jaw fractured, his dragon replied, pacing inside him. You no can shift to me.

I know. Symbiot…, he asked, trying to breathe through the pain.

Locked away. They threaten kill mate, his dragon snarled.

Asim clenched his fists against the floor. His head was pounding, making it difficult to think. He had to get to his symbiot. He couldn’t shift into his dragon with a broken leg and he couldn’t fight. Breathing deeply, he forced himself to roll over. The bits of symbiots around his wrists were moving over his body. The bone in his leg would be too much for the small pieces, but they could heal his jaw.

The symbiot moved upward and slid over his jaw. Some of it slipped beneath his skin. He could feel the tingle of bone being mended. When it finished, it resurfaced through the cut on his lip and healed that as well.

“Thank you, my friend,” he murmured.

The small amount of symbiot warmed under his touch. He could feel it moving down his body to his leg. Such a small amount of symbiot would take days to heal him.

“What happened?” he demanded.

Not know, his dragon replied, continuing to pace.

Asim gritted his teeth and forced himself to sit up. Sweat beaded on his forehead and he swallowed back the groan of pain. Holding his broken leg, he waited until he felt like he wasn’t going to pass out before he drew in a deep breath again.

“Come to me. I need to connect with Pokey,” Asim ordered in a strained voice.

The tiny strands of gold shimmered, but moved onto the palm of his hand. Asim wrapped his fingers around it and closed his eyes. Focusing, he connected with his symbiot. Within seconds, the images and conversation about what had happened while he was unconscious streamed through his mind. Panting, he released the faint connection and opened his fingers. The tiny threads of gold looked pale and listless.

“Pearl,” he whispered, bowing his head.

“Where is he?” Crag asked.

“He’ll be here. We need to find those damn creatures,” Zeb said, glancing around the large meadow with the vision magnifier. “There! I see one of them about half way down the meadow.”

“Hans should be back by now,” Crag said with a frown.

Zeb lowered the vision magnifier and glared at the other man. “He said he would meet us at the barn. It may take a while if he has to carry her. The skimmer,” he snapped. “We are running out of time. Let’s go.”

Both men slid onto a skimmer. The land transport had a long, narrow seat, a handle bar, and foot pedals that operated the speed and brakes. It was simple, but utilitarian. The bikes rose up off the ground. Leaning forward, the men shot out across the ground, cutting a path through the tall purple grass.

Behind them in the barn, two large creatures – each with four arms, two legs, and a knack for locks – climbed down from the rafters. Moving across the bare floor of the barn, the female climbed up on the shoulders of the male and inserted a piece of wire into the lock. It took several tries before the lock clicked and disengaged and the door opened. A slow smile spread over the two Grombots’ faces when the enraged Werecat with wings turned to face them.

“Jabir… Roam… Are you in here?” Pearl softly called.

She climbed up onto the rocks and peered into the narrow hole in the rock. Fear gripped her when there was no answer. She turned around on top of the large boulder and searched the darkness. She froze when she saw a movement in the tall grass a short distance away.

A soft laugh escaped her when she saw the familiar eyes of an emu staring back at her. A moment later, a second and a third one joined it. Sliding down off the rock, she listened. The smile grew when she heard Roam.

“Why’s didn’t we do this before?” he was saying.

“Cause we didn’t know it was fun,” Jabir replied.

“Boys, come here,” Pearl ordered.

She blinked when the three more emus appeared near the rocks. Searching, she almost missed Jabir and Roam. Both boys peeked around the neck of an emu.

“You’re riding them?” Pearl exclaimed.

“They’s just like playing horsey, only better,” Jabir said with a smile. “They said they would help us.”

“They said…,” Pearl started to repeat before she shook her head. “How?”

“They are real good at being soldiers. Jabir says they are a neutral,” Roam replied.

“Not neutral – natural. They’s smart, Grams,” Jabir said.

Pearl turned when her dragon hissed out a warning. In the distance, she could see two skimmers heading their way. Those would be the men that the dying man had mentioned. If the men were heading in this direction, she couldn’t help but wonder what they had done to Asim.

He not dead. I know if he dead, her dragon assured her.

“Boys, we need to keep them away from the barn and Asim. Jabir, can you tell the emus that I need a distraction?” Pearl asked, turning back to the little boy.

“Yes,” Jabir replied.

“Whatever happens, don’t let those men catch you,” Pearl said.

“We won’t,” Roam replied with a grin. “We needs reins if we are going to goes real fast. It is hard to holds onto their necks.”

The symbiots on the boys spread into a thin bridle and reins. Pearl whispered to the boys to be careful once more before she shifted back into her dragon. It was time to show these assholes who they were messing with.

Launching up off the ground, Pearl focused on her plan of attack. She needed to keep the men away from the barn long enough to find Asim and Pokey. Once they were together, there would be no stopping them.

Below her, Pearl could see the dark shapes of the emus moving through the tall grass. She was shocked at how fast they were! She estimated they had to be running at close to fifty miles per hour.

They ran in a V-shaped formation toward the men riding the skimmers. Pearl swooped down behind the men and released a long stream of dragon fire. The tall grass ignited in a flaming wall. She twisted, and rose again, rolling several times when one of the men turned on the skimmer and fired at her.

The man turned back around just in time to swerve when the emus emerged from the tall grass in front of them. The men stopped, shocked to see the birds circling them. Pearl could hear the strong, powerful legs striking the ground. Bits of grass and dirt flew up under their feet. As one, they turned back the other way.

The larger of the two men lifted a blaster and aimed for one of the young birds. In a flash, the emus scattered in all directions. The man who had fired at Pearl turned and yelled for his partner to go after the emu carrying Roam.

Pearl circled around. She couldn’t release any dragon fire for fear of hitting one of the emus or the boys. Instead, she swooped down again with her claws extended.

The man – Zeb, she suspected – raised his laser rifle to shoot at Jabir. Pearl’s claw snatched the rifle – and the man holding it – right off the skimmer. The added weight was too much for her dragon and she couldn’t gain altitude without releasing him.

Pearl’s dragon roared in pain when Zeb swung his hand up and the sharp edge of his blade sliced a deep path across her front claw. She opened her claw and released the man. Unfortunately, the move threw her off-balance. Tumbling through the air, she curled her wings protectively around her body and hit the ground on the other side of the wall of flames. Rolling several times, she finally came to a stop. Shaking her head to clear the dizziness, she shifted back into her human form.

Lying on the ground, she stared at the man on the other side. He was searching for her through the flames and smoke. Defenseless, she remained frozen.

Several long seconds passed before he turned away. Trying to push herself up, she drew in a hissing breath when her arm gave out on her. She glanced down and cursed when she saw blood dripping from under the sleeve of her jacket. This was the first time she had been hurt in her dragon form. It would seem it carried over to her human one.

“Son-of-a-bitch!” she muttered.

Standing up, she glanced through the flames before turning to look at the barn. Torn once again, she could only hope the emus were as good as Jabir said they were. She took off at a fast run for the barn.

“Where are they?” Zeb growled.

“I don’t know,” Crag said, glancing around. “One second they were there and the next they were gone.”

“Well, find them and kill them. We’ll sell them dead,” Zeb ordered.

“Where are you going?” Crag asked.

“Dragon hunting,” Zeb replied, checking his laser rifle.

“Tell Hans to get the ship ready,” Crag grunted before he took off.

Zeb walked over to the skimmer. He released the emergency canister attached to the side and tossed it. He aimed, and fired. The canister, filled with a fire retardant, exploded in midair and created a hole in the wall of flames. Sliding his leg over the seat of the skimmer, he turned the transport around and took off through the hole. In the distance, he could see the shape of someone running. A break in the clouds cast the moonlight down on the white hair of the woman he had seen earlier.

“So, you can shift into a dragon as well,” Zeb said under his breath. “Let’s see how good you can fight.”