Her breath caught. They were lying. They had to be.
And yet?—
“You think he’s just some charming billionaire with a dark past?” the man continued. “Or maybe a criminal? He’s not. He’s not even human.”
Ice slid down her spine.
“You’re insane.”
The grumpy one’s expression was stone-cold. “We’re The Guild. We hunt things like him. All of them. The nightmares you thought were just stories? Vampires, werewolves, elves, fairies—every fairy tale and nightmare you’ve ever heard? It’s all true.”
Her heart slammed against her ribs.
No.
No, that’s impossible.
…Wasn’t it?
The heat of Vector’s touch. The way he moved—faster than any man should. The power that had crackled through her veins when he kissed her. The eerie, shadowed figure at the hospital—the one who had feltwrong.
She swallowed hard, forcing herself to glare at them. “You’re lying.”
The shorter man shrugged. “Believe whatever you want. Doesn’t change the facts. These supernaturals are real and they’refucking evil.Abominations. Every last one of them.”
She clenched her fists, her nails biting into her skin.Vector is not evil.
A crash echoed down the hallway.
All three of them snapped toward the door.
Footsteps. Heavy. Rapid.
A third guard burst into the room, his face pale. “We’ve got inbound.”
The grumpy one straightened. “How many?”
The guard’s voice was clipped. “At least twelve dragons. Plus vehicles.”
A slow, terrible silence stretched between them.
Raven’s breath stalled. Her heart hammered in her chest.
Vector was coming. Vector and twelvedragons?!
The air seemed to thicken, charged with an unseen force. The walls held their breath. A faint tremor ran beneath the floor, so subtle it could have been imagined—except she knew better. It was him. The scent of ozone curled into the stale air, sharp and electric. A shift, an omen, a warning.
Something primal inside her whispered:Run.
The world was about to burn.
CHAPTER 14
The skysplit openwith the deafening roar of dragons.
Vector led the charge, his massive wings slicing through the night, each stroke a force of destruction that sent shockwaves through the air. The wind howled past his crimson form, the moonlight catching on the sharp ridges of his scales, making him aphantom of death against the storm-churned sky.
He remembered the way Raven’s scent had disappeared. Vanished in the wake of chaos.
