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Dani was no fool, she doubted there would be any polite questions and she was fairly certain that their idea of torture did not reconcile well with Warrick’s. She’d lost time as to how long she’d been tied here. How had Warrick survived months of being unable to move, with people cutting him and dousing him with toxic substances. Her mate—her eternal flame—was a warrior to be much admired. He had never given up, and when the opportunity had presented itself to him to escape, he had taken it.

The occasional scream or the sound of feminine pleading kept her from lapsing into complete unconsciousness. When she dozed, she dreamed of having the opportunity to see Warrick again and to tell him what a fool she had been. If he asked her to speak of her heart and her commitment to him, she would tell him that she now knew without a shadow of a doubt he was the one—her Terabithia, her magic wardrobe, her eternal flame.

Even though she could not feel him on the other end of the link, she prayed that he would know her heart and hang on long enough for them to find their way back to one another. She could feel the exhaustion and fear surrounding her like a shroud. She could find no way to free herself and get help for Warrick and given the amount of blood he had to be losing, he had to be past the point of saving. If he could be saved, he would have no way to find her.

The last remnants of hope flickered ever so softly, not much more than a small spark. If Warrick was dead, then she would join him in the afterlife. Perhaps this was all they would have in this lifetime—an intense and contained wildfire to be snuffed out so that they could burn bright together in the afterlife.

CHAPTER 16

WARRICK

“Warrick! Warrick! Wake up!”

Falkor’s voice broke through the fog that had surrounded him and dropped like a shroud as soon as he’d activated the beacon. He raised his head.

“There you go. Where’s Dani?” Falkor asked.

“They took her,” Warrick said, trying to rise.

“Who?”

“Members of the cult. They found us somehow. They broke in. I was so busy with Dani, I let my guard down.”

“Easy to understand. When one finds his eternal flame, she tends to take precedence over everything else.”

Falkor had brought the healer, Zahran, who was treating the superficial wounds from the seawater. “We need to get you back to Dragonwyk.”

“No,” Warrick growled, making Zahran step back. “I don’t think Dani has that kind of time. They weren’t after me; Dani was the target.”

“What makes you think that?” Falkor glanced at the bed as he sniffed the air. “Saltwater and iron. They knew what they were doing.”

“Yes,” said Warrick nodding. “But they didn’t even bind me. They burst in, immobilized me, and snatched Dani. Dani was their target. They hate her. They know she’s a cop and that she’s responsible for bringing them down.”

“That makes some sense. Any idea where they’d take her? Can you feel her along the link?”

“Faintly, but not enough to track. They couldn’t have gone far. They had a van most likely with Washington plates.”

“Any idea of the number?” asked Falkor.

“None,” Warrick said getting to his feet. “Their best bets for shipping human cargo out of the Pacific Northwest are Portland and Seattle. They were set up in Seattle, and it’s closer.”

“They could go north up into Canada,” suggested Falkor who was watching him carefully.

Warrick shook his head. “Doubtful. The actual cult members don’t have the brain cells between them to figure out how to cross the border without being arrested. Dani had come to the conclusion even before I got involved that these guys were dupes and someone else was pulling the strings.”

“You think it’s the League?” asked Falkor.

“That makes the most sense. After they couldn’t find the right concoction of drugs to force me to breed females for them, they started taking my DNA. At first, I figured the cuts were just so the seawater would be more painful. Dani was the one who thought of DNA.”

“You think they were going to try and clone you?” asked Falkor incredulously.

Warrick nodded. “It’s what makes the most sense. If they didn’t think I could be of some use to them, it would have been far easier to take my head and then drop me in my dragon form far out at sea…”

“Where the seawater would disintegrate your body,” Falkor finished. “I get trying to use you as a breeder. That’s not a novel idea and has been tried in the past.”

“But the DNA could provide them with an alternative,” said Zahran. “If they could successfully clone Warrick, they could create their own super soldiers. There have been rumors about a group working with the Shadow League…”

“To what end?” asked Falkor.