Page 12 of Firedrake Betrayal
“Yes.” I recall Brennan’s terse order as we entered the silent compound. “This is what I do. Stay behind me and we’ll both walk away from this.”
Patten snorts. “He actually said that? Guy sounds like Rambo.”
“I reminded him I had skills of my own.” Severely lacking from my refusal to drink from the vein, but he hadn’t known that.
“Then what?” Shep prompts.
“He looked at me, said he wasn’t sure if he trusted me or the rest of you, but Jade did, so he would do his best to keep me alive for her,” I say.
For a long moment, no one says a word.
Patten whistles. “I really thought he would try to kill us the first chance he got.”
“So did I,” I admit. “We didn’t find Atticus. Then every alarm went off and shutters went down everywhere. I turned to tell Brennan we should get out, but a red dragon was busy smashing through the ceiling.”
Patten and Shep look at me.
“He transformed that fast, huh?” Shep asks.
I nod. “The next thing you were pulling me from the rubble and Brennan had ruined my suit with his refusal to warn me what was coming so I could avoid the falling ceiling. “
It’s still ruined, and I need to change.
Patten snorts. “I bet the first thing you looked for when we came back was your bag, didn’t you?”
“What do we do about him?” I nod toward Brennan, ignoring Patten’s question.
“Who says we have todoanything? Our priority is tracking down the arrogant prick who stole Jade so we can steal her back,” Patten says.
Shep frowns at him. “We can’t let him die, Patten.”
Patten waves his hand. “Then by all means, use whatever knowledge you have to fix a dragon from whatever poison is turning him silver, because I got nothing.”
“I pulled the bolt out. That should have stopped it from spreading.” Shep shifts his frown from Patten to the unconscious Brennan.
“Well, it’s not working,” Patten says.
“Whatever we do, we had better decide it soon,” I say.
Patten and Shep swing to face me.
I gesture to the window, at the darkening sky and the mountains in the distance. “Atticus held off on coming after Jade when she escaped because he must have known she would go back to rescue Dominik. He has no reason not to send his guards after us now. We need to fix him and we need to find somewhere else to stay.”
Wilkerson is small. Everyone would have seen the dragon in the sky, even if they’re pretending like they didn’t. And everyone, in a town as small as this one, is probably aware of any recent visitors to the town and where they are staying.
There are only two places to stay. The motel. Or here.
Atticus Chira will come looking to reclaim Jade soon enough.
Into the silence, someone knocks briskly on the front door.
We freeze.
“Isaiah?” Patten whispers.
“One heartbeat. Female, I think,” I respond. “I don’t believe Atticus would send one female guard after us.”
Shep strides toward the front door.
