Page 371 of Hunters and Prey

“Yeah, really.”

Plus, there was no room for fear because my body had taken over and was sending all kinds of inappropriate messages to my brain. Messages I was determined to ignore, because this thing pinning me to the wall in the cage of his arms was a primal, ancient beast that could snap my head off on a whim.

“Back up, will you.”

“You know I won’t hurt you.”

Damn, it was like he could look into my mind and pick out my thoughts. I straightened my spine. “I know nothing of the sort. All I know is that you won’t hurt me right now, because you need me. You brought me along for a reason.”

The corner of his mouth lifted. “Smart.”

“Deductive reasoning is kind of my thing.”

Dad had said something about history being false, that it was written by the Bloods and couldn’t be relied upon, and after everything I’d heard and seen, logic told me he’d been right. Now here I was, standing in front of a Dreki. A real-life, legendary beast that could rip me limb from limb in a heartbeat if he wished, and my common sense was suddenly at war with carnal reactions. My pulse beat crazy fast in my throat and throbbed further down in a place reserved for pleasure.

“You’re ...” He leaned in and inhaled. “Excited.”

I swallowed and looked away. Helgi always said that my eyes were the windows to my emotions, and there was no way I was letting him see how he was affecting me. My face, on the other hand, was a mask of nonchalance. “I’m excited to be out of the damned cell and pissed at what they’re doing to those Skins.” My pulse slowed to a steady thud, a regular throb that echoed my rage. I met his eyes and showcased my anger. “If you’re not the enemy, then who is? The Bloods? How do I know your people aren’t doing exactly the same shit up in your strongholds across the border?”

He made a sound of derision. “We couldn’t harm a human even if we wished. It is prohibited.”

Prohibited? “Wait ... do the Bloods know this?”

He lowered his lids and stepped back, finally releasing me from the cage of his arms. “No. And they must never know.”

Because if they did, they could use human soldiers against the Dreki. They wouldn’t need to augment them. The revelation bloomed inside my mind, horrific and final.

“You can kill humans if they were altered, right?”

“Yes.” He ran a hand over his face. “This war is a waste of time and resources. It’s a ploy to weaken us. The Bloods are delusional children playing with fire. The true enemy is much, much worse, and every day we spend fighting this futile war is another day the real enemy grows in strength.”

“I don’t understand.”

“I know. And there is no time to explain it now.” He pulled up his sleeve and studied the tattoo etched onto his skin. I’d caught a flash of it the day before, and with my exceptional night vision, noted that it was slightly more faded than before.

“I don’t have much more time,” Dante said. “Soon the enchantment in the ink will wear out, and I will be stuck here just like you.”

It all clicked into place. Of course. He would have allowed them to capture him, and there was only one reason he would have done that. “What are you looking for?”

His lips curled in a wry smile that didn’t reach his eyes. “Not what, who. I’m here for my blood brother, Vesper. They have him. I need to find him.”

The Bloods had a dragon? Oh, fuck. Wait, they had two dragons if you counted Dante. My brain ached.

“I searched for hours last night but couldn’t find him,” Dante said. “Then, in the arena, the Wyverns came up out of the ground. I figure they must keep the Wyverns and the Dreki on some kind of sublevel.” His hand came up and flipped a switch to my left, bathing the room in light.

It wasn’t bright but still stung my eyes. Blinking, I took in my surroundings. It was some kind of tech lab with computers and screens and buttons—lots of interesting buttons begging to be played with.

“You said you were good with technology,” Dante said. “That you could make things and fix things. Can you use any of this to locate my brother?”

Building a dune buggy was one thing, but this was sophisticated stuff, way beyond anything I’d ever seen, and yet my mind itched to understand it, and my fingers ached to touch the keys and buttons. This was why he’d brought me along, this and the fact I’d caught him sneaking off.

Time to fiddle. “Give me a few minutes to get my bearings.”

He nodded. “We need to be quick. The glamour in the cell room will expire in less than thirty minutes.”

“I thought you searched for hours last night?”

“Last night I had only one glamour to conjure, and the enchantment in the ink was fresh. Tonight, I’ve woven you into the enchantment. It’s draining the magic fast.”

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