Several of the men suddenly shifted, and the fight turned to their advantage. Drake ducked and weaved as long appendages with sharp talons slashed through the air. It wasn’t long before more of them had taken flight than remained in human form to fight fairly.
“Shift!” Colton called out the order a split second before Drake was going to yell the same thing.
They both shifted and instantly took out several of the winged bats. The only advantage that they wyverns had was sheer numbers.
What they didn’t take into account was his desire to save Joey, and right now, they were just in his way.
Chapter Twenty Seven: One for the Team
Josephine “Joey” Preston
Sounds from outside meandered their way into the barn, but they were too muffled for her to figure out what they were. Joey blinked back tears of frustration as she tried again to pick the lock on her cage. "Damned television shows make it look way too easy," she muttered to herself.
Her hands were shaking from the exertion of the attempts, and her stress level was over the top. She had been trying nonstop in the hour since Percy left her sitting there, but it appeared that sheer determination wasn't going to pan out for her this time.
She sat with her legs crossed and closed her eyes. She tried to focus. And then fidgeted and tried again. Several deep breaths later, she cussed at herself again at her inability to achieve any Zen at all. Yoga had never been her cup of tea, and the ability to meditate had always eluded her.
She rotated her wrists and stretched out her arms. Anything to stay busy and relieve the cramping in her muscles. She thought about her mom and sent up a quick prayer that everything was okay. She had never been away from her phone for so long.
She pulled the bobby pin from her hair again. Once last attempt was about all she could muster, so she needed to make it count. She crawled over and stuck her arms through the bars for another go at the lock. Her muscles screamed in protest as she felt around the inner mechanisms with the bobby pin. After a minute, her hands cramped, and she abandoned her attempt.
A tear ran down her cheek. While she had never picked a lock before, she understood the concept, and she had never quit anything in her life. Drake would be ashamed of her for being so helpless that she couldn't even help herself.
Or him.
Drake floated through her mind like some kind of fairy tale. He didn't have to be her hero. She needed to be his knight in shining armor. And if she didn't find a way to get out of that barn, he was going to be walking into more danger than he could ever possibly expect.
She pushed herself up on her knees and reached out for the lock again. With renewed determination, she focused on the feel of the bobby pin in the locking mechanism, not on the pain in her arms and wrists.
Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, she felt a click. She held her breath as she moved her arms and the door sung open. She almost cheered in delight and surprise, but the grim reality of what she needed to do outweighed any temporary relief. She didn't even know where she was. For all she knew, they had flown halfway around the world, and even though she was free, she'd have no way to contact Drake.
As she neared the door, a sound reached her ears that overpowered the thumping of her heart that echoed in her eardrums. She stopped and listened for a minute before she realized that the noises she heard were caused by fighting.
She ran to the door and peeked out. Two dragons battled with several of Percy's creatures, and while the dragons were larger and more formidable, the wyverns were wiry and more maneuverable. As she watched, Drake let out a stream of fire that instantly incinerated one of the black winged creatures.
"Drake!" She slapped her hand over her mouth to cut off her voice mid-scream. The last thing she wanted to do was distract him from what very well could be the fight of his life. Knowing what Percy had planned for the entire Hale family, they couldn't afford to let these vile beings even win a small victory.
A loud whooshing sound made her look up. Her heart dropped as another scream built in her throat. Dozens upon dozens of wyverns blackened the sky as they headed toward the battle. Joey glanced back at the dragons in time to see Colton notice the approaching swarm and letting out a massive blast of flames. Several small explosions dotted the sky as the creatures combusted into ash. She glanced around the interior of the barn to see if there was anything she could use as a weapon to help them.
Two shovels sat propped in the corner. She let out a huff and ran over to grab one of them. She had taken out Oscar with a shovel, maybe her luck would hold. When she peeked back out the door, two wyverns had teamed up with two others to divide the two brothers apart. Once they had a wedge between them, which quickly filled with other shadowy bodies, the four turned on Drake.
Two of them dove low near his belly while the other two attacked high up on his neck. Drake twisted and turned to fight them, but one of the creatures got its claws into his scales and held firm.
Joey's temper got the better of her. There was no way she was going to stand in the barn and watch the man she loved get torn apart. She yanked the door open and stormed out with the shovel held at waist level for easy swinging. She was helping Drake despite the cost it might bring to her own safety.
She was so intent on reaching Drake that she lost her focus on all that was around her. When a hand suddenly reached out and grabbed the shovel, she screamed as she jumped back and found herself face to face with Percy.
“Why am I not surprised to see you out here?”
She gritted her teeth together. “Let me go, you sonofabitch.”
“I should have known that the cage wouldn’t hold you. You’ve been a pain in my ass since this whole thing started.” He yanked the shovel, but she maintained her grip on it.
“Call off your… your… things.”
He chuckled, a sound that was the evilest thing she had ever heard. “And what, let the three of you just walk away?”
She knew how stupid it sounded, but she needed to help Drake so she grasped at whatever she could. “Whatever you want to call it. That’s how it needs to go.” She pulled back on the shovel.
