Rogue (29 page)

My stomach dropped to the pads of my toes. “I don’t believe you.”

“Believe what you want.” Faith’s gaze didn’t waver. “But Dante was the one who set this whole thing up. This was part of his test, coming up with the plan to bring you back to the organization.”

My throat was suddenly dry. “And if I refused to come?”

“Then I had orders to kill you.”

Reeling, I shook my head, still unwilling to believe. Dante had truly done this? My own brother had sent a Viper after us, with orders to kill me if I didn’t return? That couldn’t be right. He wouldn’t do that to me. We might’ve argued, fought, disagreed on a lot of things, but Dante wouldn’t give the order to take me out if I refused to cooperate.

Or would he? Was he so invested in Talon’s doctrine that he’d really believe he was doing the right thing? I remembered something Riley had told me once, and it made my stomach twist.
Talon has him now. He’ll betray his own blood if they give the order.

Faith curled an arm around her side, her face creasing with pain. “What are you going to do with me?” she asked in a tight voice.

I stood up, wincing as the movement pulled at the charred, blackened cuts on my body. The Viper flinched, as if expecting a sudden attack, but I was just about done with this. My mind was spinning, I ached and I felt nauseous in more ways than one. “Take a message back to Talon,” I growled at the Viper. “And Dante. Tell them to stop sending people after me. They’re just wasting their time. I’m not coming back.” Faith still eyed me warily, like I might pounce on her as soon as she moved, and I bared my fangs. “Get out of here!”

She scrambled to her feet, holding her side, and staggered into the darkness. I watched until she slipped down an aisle and vanished, then I slumped to the cool cement.

“Ow,” I whimpered, wishing I could just lie here and not move for a few minutes. I hurt all over, but at least I had won. I’d actually won a fight with a trained Viper. A small Viper, but a Viper nonetheless. I guess I should be thankful I was alive; Lilith’s prize student certainly wouldn’t have spared me if the situation were reversed. She didn’t know how close she’d come to beating me, that I wouldn’t have been able to kill her if she hadn’t surrendered.
I guess I’ll never be a proper Viper after all
,
I thought, and felt nothing but relief at that notion.
And if Faith had realized that, I don’t think I would’ve won.
But I didn’t have to worry about her now. My bluff had worked. She was gone.

Though Mist was still out there. And Riley.

My stomach turned over. Setting my jaw, I pushed myself upright and started to limp back down the aisle. Find Garret, find Riley, deal with Dante. Those were the items I had to focus on now, in that order. And not passing out before we could leave; that was on the list, too.

A sibilant chuckle behind me froze me in my tracks.

“Oh, Ember,” Faith crooned, as the ripple of a Shift went through the air. “Haven’t you learned anything? What did Lilith teach you about showing mercy to your enemies?”

I spun painfully, knowing I wouldn’t be fast enough. The Viper was already in midleap, jaws gaping, talons fully extended to tear me apart.

A shot rang out, slamming the dragon aside. The Viper collapsed to the cement and rolled into a pile of crates, screeching in pain as she came to a halt. Heart pounding, I looked over to see Garret, pistol raised, step out of the shadows between aisles, keeping the dragon in his sights. His eyes were hard and dangerous, his expression a flinty mask as he aimed the gun at the fallen Viper.

Faith screamed in rage and defiance. Tail thrashing, she tried clawing herself upright, but a second shot followed the first, jerking her to the side. The Viper struck the crates and crumpled to the floor, leaving a bright crimson smear across the wood. Her wings twitched, frantically at first, then growing slower and slower, as a trickle of red seeped over the floor from her body. Her jaws gaped, gasping for breath. Her eyes glazed over in pain and fear.

“No,” I heard her whisper. “Not yet. Not like this. I can’t die…like this.”

I felt sick. My legs wobbled, and it was uncertain whether they could hold me up much longer, but I gritted my teeth and staggered toward the dying dragon. She was a Viper, she’d been sent to kill us, but she was still part of my race, someone who had been just like me, once.

The Viper stared vacantly as I stepped up beside her, trying not to glance at her heaving sides. At the two round holes seeping blood right behind her foreleg. A perfect shot to the heart, from someone who knew exactly how to kill a dragon. Faith blinked, and I caught my reflection in one golden eye that was slowly turning to glass.

“I wanted…to be her best student,” she whispered, as a thin line of red trickled from her nostril. “Her…only…student. I wanted to make her proud. To prove…I could be like her.”

A lump rose to my throat, and I swallowed hard. “You are,” I told her, my voice a ragged whisper. “You were a true Viper. Lilith would’ve been proud.”

Faith didn’t answer. Her wings had stopped moving, and her gold eyes stared up at me, fixed and unseeing. She was dead.

And the soldier who had killed her was standing right behind me.

Garret

I lowered the gun, watching as Ember stepped away from the body, feeling some of the tension leave me as I gazed at the dead dragon. It was over. She was the last; the others, the Talon agents, were scattered behind me in the warehouse. They had fought stubbornly and persistently, down to the last man. As if they had nothing to lose. Maybe they didn’t. Perhaps Talon’s policy was return victorious or don’t return at all. Regardless, it didn’t matter. No one would be returning to Talon tonight.

Abruptly, Ember staggered, catching herself with a grunt, and my alarm flared up again. Holstering the pistol, I hurried toward her, scanning the lithe, scaly body for wounds. Her crimson scales made it difficult to see if there was any blood, though by the stiff way she was moving, I suspected she’d been hurt. I’d never witnessed a full-on dragon fight, but I had seen firsthand what their claws and teeth were capable of, able to crunch through bone and rip doors off vehicles. Their scales might be fireproof, but I imagined two warring dragons could still do a lot of damage to each other.

My hunch was confirmed when I drew close and saw the glimmer of open wounds on her back, four long claw marks that had been raked across her scales. But the edges around the narrow cuts looked
burned
, blackened around the edges, the flesh inside a raw, painful pink.

“Ember,” I said, lightly brushing a wingtip as I circled around. More wounds came to light, all in the same condition, claw marks scored by flame. The faint scent of smoke and chemicals lingered in the air, seeming to come off the limping dragon, and I frowned. “What happened?”

“Bad decision that seemed a good idea at the time.” Her voice was tight, and she turned to face me fully. Four thin, seeping gashes scarred her muzzle, red and painful looking, and my stomach clenched. “You killed her,” she whispered, not quite accusing, but her eyes gleamed angrily. “You didn’t have to kill her.”

“Yes, I did.” I met the dragon’s gaze, saw my reflection in those slitted green eyes. They narrowed sharply, but I didn’t feel one inkling of fear. Strange now, that I could stand this close to a furious, wounded dragon and know, beyond any doubt, that she would never hurt me. “I had to use lethal force,” I told her. “You know that. She wouldn’t have stopped until you were dead.”

“I know. Dammit.” Ember slumped, glancing at the lifeless body against the wall. A pained expression crossed her face, and she let out a gusty sigh, smoke curling from her jaws. “She was still one of us,” Ember murmured. “She was like me, once. Who knows what she might’ve been if Lilith and Talon hadn’t gotten their claws into her.” A shudder went through her, and she turned her head, closing her eyes. “I wish it didn’t have to be this way.”

I reached out and put a tentative hand on her neck, feeling warm scales under my palm. My heart jumped, still thrilled by the idea of touching a dragon. “We need to take care of those,” I said, mentally assessing her wounds, wondering how serious they would be in human form. “Can you Shift back?”

“No.” Ember shook her head, staggering away from me. “I mean, yes, I can, and I will, but…what about Riley? He’s still out there. We have to find him.”

“Ember, you’re hurt. Badly, by the looks of it.” I sidled around to face her, blocking her path. “We need to get you back to the hotel and let Wes know what’s going on. Maybe he’s heard from Riley by now.”

“He would’ve called us if he had!” Her tail lashed, and she raised her head in defiance. “I’m fine, Garret. We have to keep looking.”

“Where? We still don’t know his location. He could be anywhere in the city by now. Where are you planning to search?” Ember slitted her eyes, and I kept my voice calm, knowing that if a five-hundred-pound reptile wanted to walk right through me, there was little I could do to stop it. The strangeness of standing in a dark warehouse arguing with a dragon did not escape me, either.

“We have to regroup,” I said, hoping she would listen to reason, that her worry and eagerness to find Riley would not override logic. Some dark little part of me bristled with anger at the thought, but I shoved it down. “Let’s go back to the hotel, get you taken care of, and see if Wes has heard anything. That’s the most reasonable course of action right now.”

Ember lashed her tail, taking a breath to argue, then frowned. “Wait,” she muttered, cocking her head. “Did you hear that?”

I fell silent, pulling the gun from my belt and stepping around to her flank. For a moment, we stood there, a soldier of St. George and a dragon, guarding each other’s backs. Strangely, it felt no different than the hundreds of times I’d done this with Tristan.

A faint, familiar jingle sounded, somewhere in the maze. Ember gasped.

“My phone!”

She started forward, stumbled and nearly fell, hissing in pain. Hurrying to her side, I gently caught a wing joint, making her pause and look back at me. “Hold on a second,” I said, wishing I knew a trick to get a dragon to lie down, especially
this
dragon. “Ember, wait. You’re going to hurt yourself.” She snorted and glared at me, and I sighed. “Stay here and don’t move,” I said, holding out an arm as I backed away. “Lie down if you have to. I’ll find it. I’ll be right back.” And I jogged into the maze without waiting for a reply.

I sprinted back to the place we’d first been ambushed, passing the bodies of several Talon agents, slumped in corners or behind crates. The majority of the group lay sprawled on the cement where the line had been, torched with dragonfire or shot with the gun Ember had tossed me.

The weapon she was supposed to kill me with.

My jaw clenched. For a bleak moment, I’d really thought she would. I knew she and Dante were close, that they shared a bond unheard of between their kind. Dante was a dragon, her brother and her only family; I was a human soldier she had known only a few weeks. She’d told me herself, she would do anything to get him out of Talon.

Why had she chosen me over her twin?

The ringing had stopped by the time I reached the area, but after only a few seconds of searching, it sounded again. I discovered the phone lying beside a pallet and snatched it up, bringing it to my ear.

“Wes?”

“Oh, goodie.” The voice on the other end, though heavy with sarcasm, was not Wes. “You’re still alive.”

“Riley.” I felt a strange mix of both relief and disappointment. Relief because, no matter what his feelings toward me, the rogue dragon was a competent leader and strategist, a soldier in his own right. And he obviously cared about the rogues in his underground, the hatchlings he got out of Talon, something I hadn’t thought dragons capable of a month ago. I hadn’t wanted him dead; I was glad he survived.

But at the same time, I’d seen how Ember looked at him sometimes, and I’d caught the protectiveness on his face whenever they were close. He was a dragon; long-lived, intelligent, and able to understand Ember in a way I never would. Jealousy was not something I’d experienced before. I despised how it made me feel. But it was there all the same.

“Where’s Ember?” Riley asked, making resentment flare up again, stronger than ever. I stifled my anger, knowing it was unreasonable right now, and answered calmly.

“She’s fine. She’s wounded, but she’ll be okay. We…ran into some trouble with Talon.”

“Yeah, no shit.” Riley sighed, sounding angry and weary all at once. “I guess you know by now that Faith is a Viper,” he continued, sounding like he really didn’t want to know the answer.

“Yes,” I answered simply.

“Is she…?”

“She’s dead,” I replied, making him sigh again.

“I figured. Fucking Talon.” The pain in his voice surprised me. “They were just kids. Sending Vipers after us is one thing, but they weren’t even juveniles yet. Dammit.” There was a muffled thud, as if he’d slammed his fist into something. “Sending dragons to kill dragons. It makes no sense.”

“Where are you?” I asked.

“Heading your way now. Old rail yard, right? I was there when Mist gave you that false information.” Riley paused, then asked in a quieter voice, “How is she?”

Of course, he could mean only one person. “She sustained a few surface injuries when she was fighting the Viper,” I answered, making him mutter another curse. “The wounds themselves don’t look too deep, but the edges are burned fairly severely. Third-degree if I had to guess.” I stifled a wince, knowing from personal experience just how painful third-degree burns were. Though I continued to hear myself speak with clinical detachment. “Other than that, from what I can tell, her injuries are minor.”

“Dammit, Ember,” Riley growled. “Taking on a Viper yourself, you idiot hatchling. Where is Faith now?” he went on, sounding faintly hesitant now. “Did Ember…kill her?”

“No. I did.”

“Good.” He hesitated again, longer this time, as if struggling to make himself speak. “Look, let’s make one thing clear,” he finally muttered. “I don’t like you. I think you’re a murdering bastard, and the fact that you’ve recently had a change of heart doesn’t erase all the blood on your hands, and it never will. I also think you’re an idiot for believing Ember would ever choose a human over her own kind. She’s a dragon, and even if she hasn’t figured it out yet, dragons and humans don’t belong together. You should know that, St. George. And if you truly care for her, you’ll let her be with her own kind. For both your sakes.

“But,” he went on, as my insides twisted painfully at his words, “I know what Talon is capable of. I know what the Vipers are capable of, even their hatchlings. Ember might be too softhearted to destroy one of her own, but I know that Faith wouldn’t have hesitated to kill her. If you put that Viper down, much as I hate you for it, then you probably saved Ember’s life. And for that…” He sighed. “You’re not as much of a bastard as I thought.”

“Thanks,” I said drily, knowing that was the closest to gratitude I’d ever get from the rogue.

He snorted. “Don’t get me wrong. If the Viper had ripped your throat out instead, I wouldn’t lose any sleep tonight. Where is Ember now?”

Soft footsteps made me whirl around, just as a slight figure in a black suit emerged from the maze. Ember had, of course, followed me, her jaw clenched in pain and determination as she limped doggedly across the floor.

“Riley?” she asked as I hurried over, catching her by the arm just as she staggered. Four angry red gashes scored her cheek, making me grimace. But her eyes shone with hope, even through the pain. “Is that Riley?”

For just a moment, I considered lying, turning off the phone and claiming it was Wes. For a moment, I hated the fact that Riley had lived, that he could make her face light up like that. It cast a dark uncertainty over my thoughts, and all the confusion and doubt I had pushed down rose to the surface once more. Was I just fooling myself? Would Ember ever see me in the same way as the rogue dragon?

“Garret?” She looked up at me, eager and confused, her eyes searching. “Did you hang up? Who were you talking to?”

Wordlessly, I handed her the phone.