“S’up,” Remy greeted, raising a hand. “Welcome aboard. So, our fearless leader convinced you to join our cause, too, huh?”
“I, uh, haven’t decided yet,” Ember said, and Nettle’s mouth fell open.
“What? Why not?” The other hatchling gaped at Ember, shocked. “Are you stupid? Don’t you know what they’ll do to you?”
“Nettle,” I warned, and the girl backed off. Ember bristled, and I stepped between them before I had a full-on chick fight in the game room. And when those chicks were dragons, it could get ugly real fast. I didn’t feel like calling the fire department right now.
“You’ll have to excuse Nettle,” I told Ember, who gave me a skeptical look. “She has more reason to hate Talon than most.”
“Oh?” Ember turned back to the other hatchling, more curious than angry now. Nettle watched her with a sullen expression, and the other girl frowned. “Why?”
Nettle glanced at me, and I nodded. Better to let her tell her story; as one who had lived through the worst facet of Talon, she knew the organization’s darkest secret better than most. As awful as her story was, I couldn’t imagine what it had been like for her.
“I failed assimilation,” Nettle began, bitterness still coloring her voice when she spoke of her past. “My guardian was a real bastard who liked to piss me off, just to remind me that if I ever changed, I’d be sent back to the organization. One day he pushed too far. I lost my temper and snapped at him...in my real form.” Her tone became even harsher as she subconsciously rubbed her arm. “I expected to be shipped back to Talon for retraining. That’s what everyone tells you, right? Only, it’s a big fat lie. Talon doesn’t call hatchlings back for retraining. You get one shot, and that’s it. According to Talon, if you fail assimilation, you’ve been ‘corrupted by humanity.’ You’ve proven you can’t be trusted among humans, ever.”
Ember frowned. This was obviously news to her. “Then...what happens if you fail?”
Nettle snorted. “I can’t tell you what happens to the male students, but I do know what happens to the females. Remember all that garbage they fed us, about how dragonells were so important to our survival, that we were the future of our race?” She curled her lip. “Well, they weren’t lying about that. All female hatchlings who fail assimilation are sent to these special facilities, to become breeders for the rest of their lives.”
It took only a second for Ember to get what Nettle was saying. Her face went white with shock and rage, and the other girl smiled nastily.
“Yeah, bet they didn’t tell you that. You must’ve passed your tests with flying colors. Me?” She shrugged. “My destiny was to become a broodmare for Talon’s future dragons, popping out eggs as often as I could.”
I watched Ember’s face for her response. She still looked pale and horrified, but her eyes flashed emerald, the dragon reacting to the thought of being a breeder forever. There was no doubt in my mind; if Ember hadn’t excelled in both the assimilation process and her training, if she’d “failed” as Nettle had, she would never have stood for what Talon had planned for her. We wouldn’t even be having this conversation, because we would’ve cleared out long ago.
That’s right, Firebrand. Get angry. This is what Talon really is like, this is their true face, and you don’t belong with them. You belong with us. With me.
“And then, I met Cobalt.” Nettle nodded in my direction. “And he told me I didn’t have to submit to that life, that he could take me away and show me something better. I figured, might as well, what do I have to lose?” She raised her chin defiantly. “I’ll tell you now, it was the best decision of my life. I’d rather be on the run from Talon, the Vipers and St. George forever than ever go back to the organization.”
“That’s horrible,” Ember whispered. “They’d really do that to you?”
“It’s one of Talon’s dirty little secrets,” I said. “And one of their best kept, too. I’ve tried to find the place they keep the breeder females—only the top dragons in the organization are aware of them, and even fewer know where they’re located. The females never leave the compound except to breed with a specially chosen sire, and then they’re sent back. I’ve looked everywhere for those damned facilities and have gotten nil. If Nettle hadn’t come with me when she did, I wouldn’t have had any hope of getting her out.”
“I’m never going back,” Nettle said again, even more fiercely, as if Ember would be the one to drag her away. “Never. I’d rather die.”
Still lounging at the head of the pool table, Remy snorted. “Jeez, Nettle. So dramatic. It’s not like you’re the only one Talon has screwed over.” He turned a rakish grin on Ember, shoving shaggy sandy bangs from his eyes yet again. “Nettle might’ve been destined for broodmare-dom, but they were planning something even worse for me.”
“You don’t know that,” I said. True, I hated Talon, but we didn’t need to invent any horrible tales to win Ember over. And Remy tended to exaggerate when he was telling a story, particularly when it was about himself. “All we’ve heard are rumors and speculation. No one really knows what goes on in there.”
“Where?” Ember asked, and Remy grinned.
“A secret underground lab,” he said in a dramatic voice. “Where they experiment on the male dragons unfit for Talon.” He thumped his scrawny chest. “Dragons like me. I was ‘too small,’ my bloodline was ‘undesirable’ for the gene pool, so they were going to ship me off to the lab to be sliced up and poked and prodded and turned into something new.”
“We don’t know it’s a lab,” I said again as Ember’s brows shot up. “There is no evidence to suggest Talon has a secret lab, and there is certainly no evidence to suggest they do all the things Remy just said. But,” I continued as Remy pouted, unhappy that I had undermined his claim, “Talon does have a place where they send ‘undesirables.’ Dragons that are scrawny or crippled or sickly, whose genes will weaken the breeding pool. Poor saps are sent off to a heavily armed facility in the Appalachian Mountains—”
“And no one ever sees them again,” Remy finished dramatically. “Because they’re sliced and diced and prodded and turned into something new. A superdragon with three heads.”
I rolled my eyes. “Get out of here,” I said, jerking a thumb at the door. “Both of you. You have a room to straighten. Out.” They scurried through the door and vanished down the hallway, leaving me alone with Ember.
I turned to find her watching me with an amused smile on her face. “What?” I asked, crossing my arms. “What’s that look?”
She shrugged. “Nothing. Just...I’ve never seen this side of you before.”
“What side?”
“The big brotherly side.” She glanced down the hall, where Remy and Nettle had disappeared. “You really care for them, don’t you? I wouldn’t have expected it.”
“Well, to paraphrase a famous fictional ogre, dragons are like onions—we have layers.”
She laughed, and I grinned with her, before she sobered again. “It’s true, isn’t it?” she whispered, a troubled look crossing her face. “Talon really does all that.”
“Yeah, Firebrand, they really do. Sorry to burst your bubble, but they’re not who you think they are.”
“And if I stay, they’ll turn me into a Viper.” She shivered and rubbed her arms. “I’ll be forced to hunt down rogues like Remy and Nettle.” She bit her lip, averting my gaze. “And you.”
My heart beat faster. I was close, so close, to convincing her to jump ship, to turn her back on Talon and join the rogues. “Could you do it?” I asked. “If Talon gave you the order to take us all out, no mercy, no questions asked, would you be able to carry out their wishes, knowing what you do now?”
She didn’t answer, still battling some inner torment, struggling with the choice. I watched her, filled with that strange yearning, fiery and terrible. It was like I could almo
st feel her heartbeat, feel the breath that filled her lungs, mirroring my own.
Taking a gamble, I closed the distance between us, reached out and gently took her arms. Her emerald gaze shifted to mine, pinning me with a fierce, direct stare. My heart turned over, and my dragon roared to life, wanting to sweep his wings down and enveloped us both.
“Come with us,” I said, holding her gaze. Her dragon stared out at me, eager and defiant, and my resolve grew. “You don’t belong here. You’re not one of them, and I think you’ve known something was wrong from the beginning. But—” I slid my hands up her arms, feeling her tremble “—it’s not just Talon, is it?”
She drew back, though not very far. “Riley, I don’t...”
“Don’t pretend,” I insisted, pulling her closer. Her hands went to my chest, and the contact seared the skin through my shirt. My heart sped up, and my voice became raspy. “Not with me. There is something between us, Firebrand. I’ve been fighting this since the day I saw you in the parking lot, and I know you feel it, too.”
She shivered but didn’t deny it. I actually saw relief flicker through her eyes. Relief, perhaps, that she wasn’t alone, that maybe this was just as confusing and torturous for me as it was for her. But then she gave her head a small shake and pushed on my chest. “No,” she muttered, dropping her gaze. “Let go, I can’t do this....”
She tried pulling back, and I grabbed her wrists before she could leave. “Look at me,” I demanded as she tried yanking out of my grip. My dragon roared in frustration, and I dragged her close, lowering my head to hers. “Look me in the eyes and tell me you don’t feel anything,” I whispered. “Tell me that, and I’ll let you go. You can go back to your guardians and Talon and your trainer, and you’ll never see me again. Just tell me, to my face, that there is nothing between us. That this is all in my head.”
“I can’t.” Ember stopped fighting me, though she didn’t meet my stare. “I can’t say that, because every time I see you, I feel like I’m going to explode. And that scares me, Riley. But I can’t go with you yet.”
“Why?” I demanded, trying to catch her gaze. “Something is telling us we belong together, you just said so yourself.” Releasing her wrists, I grabbed her by the shoulders, bending slightly to see her eyes. “I would protect you, Firebrand. I’d keep you safe, I swear. What are you afraid of? There’s nothing keeping you here.”
“There is,” she whispered, and finally raised her head. “Dante. I can’t leave Dante behind. I have to go back for him.”
Her brother. Dammit, I’d forgotten about him. “Ember,” I said as gently as I could, “he won’t come. He’s Talon’s all the way—I’ve known it since the night of the party. If you tell him where we are, he’ll probably inform the organization as soon as he can. Hell, he might even go to Lilith himself. I can’t risk that.”
“He’ll come,” Ember insisted. “I know he will. I just have to talk to him, convince him of what Talon is doing. He’ll listen to me.” My skepticism must’ve shown on my face, because her expression hardened, and she took a step back. “I’m not leaving without him, Riley. We’ve been through everything together. I have to try, at least.”
She glared at me, stubborn and unyielding, and I sighed. “I’m not going to convince you otherwise, am I?” I muttered, and she shook her head. “Dammit. All right, Firebrand. What do you want me to do until then? We can’t stay here. It’s too dangerous for Nettle and Remy. Even if I’m willing to risk an attack, I won’t do that to the hatchlings. I promised I’d keep them safe, too.”
“We could meet you somewhere,” Ember suggested, green eyes thoughtful as she gazed up at me. “After you leave. Just give me a call when you find a place, and we’ll meet you there in a day or two. That’ll give me time to convince Dante...and say goodbye to a couple people here.”
Her face fell at that last statement, making me frown. For a moment, she’d sounded incredibly sad. Suspicion reared its ugly head; I’d been a rogue awhile now, and knew how hard it was to leave everything behind, how frightening it was for some. What if she was too attached to Crescent Beach, her friends and her old life? What if she went back, and discovered she couldn’t say goodbye, even after everything she’d learned about Talon?
Or was there another reason? I remembered that boy from the night of the party, the one she’d danced with, smiled at. Almost kissed. I stifled a growl and crossed my arms, watching her.
“I don’t know if I like the idea of leaving you here, hoping you’ll catch up to me later. What if you have a change of heart?” She didn’t answer, and I narrowed my eyes. “Or is this just a ploy to get me to leave town, and you don’t have any intention of showing up?”
“No,” Ember said, looking up quickly. “That’s not it. I’m not going to become a Viper. I refuse.” She paused, clenching her fists, and took a deep breath. “I can’t stay with Talon anymore,” she whispered fiercely, “not with what I know now. This isn’t about stupid rules and hateful trainers and not getting to live my life the way I want anymore. This...this is about killing my own kind. And knowing exactly what Talon is like. I can’t be a part of that. I won’t.
“But...” She faltered, the shadow of some memory crossing her face, turning her eyes dark. “I’ve made connections here, people who are my friends, even if they are human. And they’ll wonder what happened to me if I just up and vanish into thin air. I want to say goodbye.” For a second, an agonized expression flickered through her eyes, before she closed them briefly. “I have someone I want to see, one more time. And then, we’ll go with you, Dante and I. Turn rogue or whatever you call it, and leave Talon for good.”
“Promise me.” I took a step forward so that we were a breath apart, close enough to see my own reflection in her pupils. “Swear that I’ll see you again.”
“I swear.” Her voice was barely a whisper, even as her gaze held mine. We had both gone perfectly still, standing at the edge of a vast precipice, afraid to be the one to take that first step. Or maybe just gathering the courage for the plunge. My heart pounded in my ears, my stomach turning backflips, as I reached out and took her wrists again, holding them to my chest.
“Make me believe it, Firebrand.”
Ember licked her lips. “Riley...”
The alarms blared overhead.
Ember
A shrill beeping cut through the silence. My dragon, already dangerously close to the surface, nearly sprang out of my skin when I jumped. I pushed her down, both relieved and annoyed at the interruption, and backed a couple steps away, looking up at the ceiling.
Riley leaped back, too. With a curse, he fled upstairs, leaving me in the game room with Nettle and Remy peering curiously down the hall. We blinked at one another, then followed him upstairs to a bedroom, where he and Wes stood before his open laptop, glaring at the screen.
The alarm, whatever it was, continued to sound. Wes and Riley were bent over the computer, their faces intense.
“What’s going on?” Nettle asked as we came into the room. “Is someone coming?” Wes and Riley ignored her, still completely focused on what was on the computer. I edged forward and peeked over Riley’s shoulder.
The screen showed a black-and-white image of the driveway up to the house. I could see Riley’s motorcycle parked off to the side. As I watched, feeling the tension lining his back, a large brown delivery truck pulled up to the front and lurched to a stop about fifty feet from the door.
“Bloody hell.” Wes sighed, collapsing into the chair. “I wish these blighters would stop using our driveway as a turnabout when they get lost. That nearly gave me a bloody heart attack.” He shook his head at the image on the screen. “GPS, mate. Use it, love it.”
“They’re not leaving,” Riley growled, still staring at the screen. Wes blinked and scooted forward again, narrowing his eyes.
We all crowded closer. No one seemed to br
eathe, staring at the lone truck in the drive. Then, without warning, the door flew open, and several humans spilled out onto the cement. My heart gave a violent lurch. They were armed and armored, and looked very much like the soldiers in my training sessions. They wore helmets and masks that concealed their faces, and carried huge, deadly-looking guns. Only, this time, I knew it wasn’t a drill, and those guns weren’t filled with paint.
St. George had come. This was the real thing.
“Shit!” Wes leaped up, overturning the chair as he did. “Bloody St. George! We’re dead. We’re fucking dead.”
“Shut up!” Riley snarled as Nettle screamed and Remy bolted toward the door. His voice boomed out as he whirled around. “Remy, freeze! Nettle, hush! Right now! Listen to me,” he continued as both hatchlings stopped and gazed at him with huge eyes. “We’re not going to panic. Follow me, do exactly what I tell you and we’ll be okay.” His near-golden gaze shifted to me, intense and determined. “I swear, I’ll get us out alive.”
“Riley, they’re surrounding the house,” Wes exclaimed, right before he slammed the laptop and stuffed it into a shoulder bag. “We have about twenty seconds before this place becomes a war zone.”
“Wes, take everyone out through the main bedroom,” Riley ordered, pointing down the hall. “Get to the balcony, we can launch from there. They’ll likely have all other exits covered, and at least one sniper watching the front. Now, listen to me, you two,” he continued, snapping his fingers at the other hatchlings. “This is just like we talked about. Go off the balcony and head for the rendezvous point. You’re going to be out in the open until you can get around the cliffs. Fly low, hug the mountain and don’t panic if you’re shot at. A moving target is difficult to hit, even for St. George, so keep going and don’t break from the cliff wall. Wes, do you remember where to go? Can you get them there?”