Page 39 of Taken

Cole administers the serum. Lila’s eyes flutter as the drug enters her system, her body tensing in anticipation of what’s to come.

A growl builds in my chest, rumbling upward before I can swallow it back. A technician glances my way, eyes widening at whatever he sees in my face. I turn away, forcing my breathing to slow, my scales to retreat.

On screen, blue energy crackles from the machinery, enveloping Lila in a web of magical current. Her back arches, teeth clenched against the pain.

“Show us what you’ve been hiding,” Creed commands.

Lila’s head thrashes from side to side, fighting the extraction.

“Nothing… to show,” she gasps, blood now flowing freely from her nose.

The sight of it ignites something ancient and protective in me. My vision edges with crimson, dragon fire building in my lungs. I force myself up from my chair, stepping away from the monitoring station before I lose control completely.

In the small bathroom attached to the security office, I splash cold water on my face, watching scales ripple across my cheekbones before I master them back beneath the surface. Three deep breaths, centering myself.

Hold it together, Raize. You can’t help her if you expose yourself now.

When I return to my station, the extraction has intensified. Lila’s body convulses against the restraints, a strangled cry escaping her lips as the extraction digs deeper into her mind.

“Tell us what you’ve been hiding, damn you! Creed snarls.

Blood streams from Lila’s nose, her eyes, her ears. The same blood I’d wiped away so tenderly after her vision that night. The night I’d crossed the line and kissed her. The night I’d felt something break open inside me that I thought had died long ago.

Fuck! Too much pressure. They’re killing her, goddammit.

I rise from my monitoring station, ready to intervene, consequences be damned. But before I can move, Lila’s entire body goes rigid, back arching impossibly as her eyes roll back to show only whites.

“Something’s happening,” Emerson reports, excitement bleeding through her clinical tone. “We’re breaking through her defenses.”

On the screen, Lila’s lips move, forming words I can’t quite hear. The equipment readings spike off the charts.

“What is she saying?” Creed demands, leaning closer.

And then it happens. Lila’s voice rises in a scream that chills my blood, echoing through the extraction chamber.

“ELENA!”

The name rips from her throat, raw and ragged. The monitoring equipment alarms blare as her readings shoot through the roof.

“Who is Elena?” Creed demands, pouncing on the name. “What does she have to do with the energy signature?”

Lila fights against the restraints, caught in a vision so powerful it overwhelms even the extraction apparatus.

“My daughter,” she gasps, the words spilling out as if torn from her very soul. “My child. Hidden. Protected.”

The admission rocks me back in my chair.

A daughter. Lila has a daughter.

Every interaction between us suddenly shifts in perspective. The way she’d pulled back from our kiss—not rejection but fear. Fear for her child. The presence Cole said she reached for in her dreams. The secret she’s kept at such terrible cost to herself.

A child she sacrificed everything to protect.

Cole’s face drains of color, genuine shock replacing his professional mask. He clearly had no idea, despite their mental connection.

“Where is she?” Creed presses, sensing victory. “Tell me where she is!”

“Safe,” Lila whispers, blood bubbling on her lips. “Far from you.”

---