Ana

For the first time in a long time, Ana felt right.

She had a purpose again, a meaning for being around. On top of that, she had someone that made life worth living, and that she knew wasn’t going to die of old age in a few years.

That knowledge alone was enough to make her giddy the instant she woke up next to him every morning. Even on the days when he snored through the night—which were thankfully few, she was discovering—she still was happy to get up.

He made her that way. They clicked so well for two beings of such advanced years.

She coughed, covering her laugh at that thought, knowing they both felt no older than someone in their mid-twenties, despite how long they had managed to live. But it was true; after that long, they had both developed traits that made the odds highly against them being able to mesh so thoroughly with another.

“What are you laughing about?”

“Just at the two of us,” she said quietly. They were waiting outside a train station, hoping to ambush the Order team that was following them.

“Anything in particular?” he replied equally softly.

“We’re old,” she replied, leaning gently into him.

Ferro snorted. “Is this a new bit of information that has just come to light with you?” he asked.

“More like I’m just coming to terms with it and realizing that despite our advanced age,” she snickered again, “we still manage to be rather adaptable.”

“I seem to recall you telling me at least once over the past two weeks that I need to be more adaptable,” Ferro said slowly.

She elbowed him none too gently. “Yes, but you’re still here, charging headlong into a fight without having six different plans ready first. I’m very impressed with you,” she told him seriously.

Ferro didn’t reply right away. “I blame much of it on you,” he said lightly. “Forcing me to branch out, and try new things. Only two broken arms and unknown lacerations of varying degrees of severity later, and I think I might be coming to like it.”

She eyed him skeptically. “Who are you, and what have you done with my Ferro?”

He returned the look, mimicking her perfectly. “Your Ferro?”

Ana blushed. “If that’s okay with you?”

“Under one condition,” he said with such seriousness that she worried about where it might be going.

“What’s that?”

“That you are my Ana.” His words were light and joking, but none of that was reflected in the look he shared with her just then.

“Nothing would make me happier,” she whispered, kissing him swiftly.

The speaker chimed, announcing that the next train would be arriving in five minutes.

“That’s our cue,” she said, giving him one last peck as they stood up.

With practiced ease, they moved to the front of the station. Over the past two weeks, the pair had hunted down three separate Order teams as they made their way toward Ferro’s home in Genesis Valley. The pair had arrived at a compromise.

Ana wanted to hunt down the Order, while Ferro wanted to regroup. When they began to hash out what to do, it became clear that if they struck for home, they would be chased by the Order. Ferro had convincingly pointed out to her, however, that they really had nowhere to start when it came to tracking down the Order, besides where the leaders were based.

Attacking the Red Devil’s castle was not something either of them had considered, knowing they would need more numbers than what they currently had. By eliminating some of the Order while Merlin continued to rally support for the Council in exile, they would be working to achieve their goals.

Much to Ferro’s dismay, she had exposed herself for the Order to find, luring them in until she and Ferro could hit them by surprise. Their last strike had been against three basically juvenile dragon shifters. They were barely four hundred years old. One of them had broken down and talked after the ease with which Ana and Ferro scythed through them.

“Do you think he was telling the truth?” she asked, moving behind a pillar to obscure herself from the entrance.

“Unsure,” Ferro answered as he took up a similar position to her left, on the other side of the entrance.

The doors opened, and a few people started to emerge.

“I guess we’ll find out,” she said softly, flattening her back to the brick column, feeling the rough surface catch on her clothes.

They had taken a gamble on their young captive. He had been so terrified after seeing his friends killed that he practically renounced the Order before they even started interrogating them. They had promised him adventure and wealth, but hadn’t let him on what he was truly in for until it was too late. By then, he couldn’t back out without bringing the Order down on his head.

After finding out the location of the next team, they had actually let him go. Their nerves were on edge in case he had betrayed them and ran back to the Order. If that was the case, they were about to be in a world of trouble.

She frowned as the trickle of people emerging from the station died down. They weren’t in an overly populated region, so the numbers weren’t that unusual. It was the lack of anyone remotely resembling a dragon shifter that had her worried. A quick glance at Ferro showed a similar look on his face.

Something had gone wrong.

“Let’s go,” she mouthed, pushing away from the pillar that had been hiding her from view of anyone inside.

Her impatience likely saved her life.

As she moved away from the pillar, a man swung around the far side, his fist aimed for where her face had just been.

“Trap!” she yelped, ducking from the next blow as best she could. It threw her off balance and she fell to the ground, lashing out with her foot even as she went down. The boot she was wearing connected with the other man’s shin. The pair went down together and she rolled to try and gain the upper hand.

She caught a glimpse of Ferro behind her, exchanging blows with two other men. The teams they had encountered so far had been comprised of three men each, but as a shadow loomed over her, Ana knew the terms had changed. Angrily she lashed out with an elbow, taking her opponent in the gut. She managed to plant a foot on the ground and drove up with her shoulder into his jaw.

The move worked perfectly, dropping her opponent like a stone as he rolled limply, knocked out for the moment. Unfortunately, it also presented her face at the perfect height for the fourth man to join their party. His fist connected hard on her right temple, sending her back to the ground, stars blurring her vision.

“Motherfucker,” she swore as the pain lashed at her, not caring about her choice of words just then.

Ana rolled to her feet, dodging yet another blow.

“I think they knew we were coming,” she yelled.

“You know,” Ferro said, backing toward her as the four shifters moved to encircle them. “I think you might be correct on that one.”

She rolled her eyes. “Of course I’m correct. About time you realized I can be.”

Ferro turned to look at her. “Excuse me? What is that supposed to mean?”

Ana whirled. “Don’t you take that tone with me,” she snapped, eyes flashing at him despite the fighters around them.

“What? What tone are you talking about?” Ferro returned, his own voice rising as he closed the distance between them. “I made a joke about these guys getting the drop on us,” he hooked a thumb at the two shifters behind him, “and now you start to freak out. Why is it always like that with you?”

“Why is what like that with me?” she asked dangerously.

“Always getting riled up. You need to calm down,” he told her, holding up his hands to placate her.

Around them the four shifters were just standing there, trying to understand what was going on.

“Calm down?” she shrieked at the top of her lungs. “Don’t you tell me to calm down!”

The Order shifters closed in while the two bickered.

“I’m done talking to you,” she said abruptly, looking away from Ferro. The movement caused the shifters to bunch up to one side of them.

“Oh, you are, are you?” he said, his voice filled with sarcasm.

“Yes.” Her voice was firm.

“Okay.” Ferro’s voice suddenly changed.

Without warning they went on the attack. Their mock “argument” had allowed them to recover, take stock of their opponents, as well as group them all together. Flexing her muscles and not pulling any punches, she leapt into the fray.