Page 61 of Rurik
“I’m going to regret this,” Damienmuttered.
Jason patted him on his tactical vest. “Come on, bro. You’re the one looking to foster a spirit of cooperation.” The hunters followed Rurik out of the elevator and down a hallway. From there they climbed a flight of steps and came out onto the rooftop. Wind buffeted them, and Rurik stared across the Moscow skyline, searching for the building Charlotte was being heldin.
The hunters stumbled back as the massive flat roof suddenly got crowded. Three great dragons landed just yards away from them. They ranged in color from blue, to white, to green, their clawed feet scraping against theconcrete.
“Holy shit,” Meggasped.
Rurik laughed. “The blue dragon is Grigori, the green dragon is Mikhail, and the white dragon is Piper, Mikhail’s wife. Tie your gear to their legs. Anything you can’t hold on to during flight.” He glanced at Meg, who stared in awe at the snow-white dragon that was Piper. She reached up to touch her, and Piper bumped her hand with hernose.
“Oh my gosh, she’sbeautiful.”
Damien recovered from his shock quicker than the others and helped Rurik tie their equipment bags onto the beasts’legs.
“We’ll have to ride them to the building where Charlotte is being held. Can your team handle that?” Rurik spoke so that only Damien couldhear.
“My team can HALO jump from thirty-five thousand feet; they can handle this,” Damien answered withouthesitation.
“Good.” Rurik went next to Grigori, who was pacing restlessly, the blue frill around his neck fanning out with frustration. Rurik understood his brother’s mood. Rurik couldn’t help his brothers in this fight, at least not in the way he was meantto.
“Meg, Tamara, and Kathryn, you ride on Piper. She is the white dragon. Damien and I will be on Grigori. Jason and Nicholas, you take Mikhail. There are spines on their backs that you can hold on to.” Rurik demonstrated as he mounted his brother, showing them a row of spines that extended outward, which they were able tograsp.
“Never considered making saddles?” Jasonquipped.
“How often do you let people ride onyourback, MacQueen?” Rurikretorted.
It had been more than a thousand years since he’d ridden on one of his brothers as a human. Back then he’d been a boy, not yet ready to change, scrambling over Grigori’s scaled back. He shoved the memory aside as his brother bent his head and crouched, letting him climb up. At full size, a dragon’s body was the length of two buses, and the tail was almost as long. Damien got up behind him, and the others followedsuit.
“They’ll let us down on the roof. Expect trouble when we land. Once Drakor knows we’re there, he won’t care about humancasualties.”
Damien nodded, his eyes hard as he clutched the flared spine between his hands. “Understood.”
Grigori stood up to his full height. “Hold tight!” Rurik warned before his brother leaped off theroof.
“Fuck!” Damien bellowed as Grigori dropped like a stone. Then his wings fanned out and they were jolted as they caught the air and rose up into the cold Russian sky. Rurik saw Damien clutching his brother’s spines for dearlife.
Jason, on the other hand, could be heard whooping like a cowboy back onMikhail.
Hold on, Charlotte. Stay alive.He pushed the thought toward her, praying she could hear him and that they would get there intime.
* * *
Charlotte woke with a gasp.Rurik’s voice still lingered inside her, a whisper, more in her heart than her head. Had she dreamed it? Her lungs burned and her throat was in agony. For a moment she didn’t remember where she was, until she saw Luis Silva crouched over her. His hands were no longer wrapped around her throat. Now they were balled into fists at histhighs.
The memories of what had happened before she’d passed out came roaring back. But he seemed to have lost interest in her, which was perhaps the only thing that had saved her life. Luis was staring at something over her head. Clutching her throat, she rolled over and looked out through the tall windows and saw three winged shapes headed straight for them. Their wings flapped in a strange but familiar way, something between a gliding bird and the pulsing frenzy of abat.
Dragons.
Luis growled, eyes fixed on this imminent threat. Charlotte realized this would be her only chance. She scrambled to her feet and lunged at Luis. She didn’t have the strength to hurt him, but she had mass and physics on her side. She tackled him, driving him back into the recently installed window, dropping to the ground as he crashed into it. The glass shattered, and Luis fell out of sight. Charlotte knew better than to assume the fall would kill him, but at least it bought her some time. And time was what she needed rightnow.
She got up and managed to slip through the door to a supply closet just as the rest of the wall of windows exploded behind her. Luis came crashing back into the building in dragon form. Charlotte ducked behind a set of file cabinets that were partially covered with a white plastic tarp. She covered her mouth to try and silence her panting breaths. There was a roar in the distance, and the building quivered like a tree facing a mightywind.
Oh God…How was she going to survivethis?
Stay alive. Rurik’s voice broke through the fear that had rooted her inplace.
I’m scared. Too scared to move, tobreathe…
Images flashed across her mind. She saw their dance at the Catherine Palace, a moment when she’d felt safe in his arms. Her breathing slowed, and she could feel an inner calm move throughher.
