He searched behind the invisible force field that capped her cell, finally finding her tucked into the far corner of the alcove. She’d chiseled a hole the size of her head in the section of stone at the far edge. “I’m sorry,” he yelled. “I love you, Selene. It was the only thing I could think of.” He pointed to the amulet hanging uselessly around his neck.
Nickelova cleared the stairwell, her claws clicking on the stone, sounding eerily similar to the click-clack of her high heels.
“Crap, she’s big,” Selene muttered, eyes wide.
“And breathes fire,” Jason whispered back. “Got any ideas?”
The tapping claws stopped and the rushing of air started again. Jason pulled his shoulders in, trying to make himself as small as possible behind the stone formation.
Selene’s gaze darted to the dragon and back to Jason. “Catch.” She tossed a long, sharp bone through the hole. It skidded to a stop near his feet. He bent over to pick it up only to abandon that idea when fire blasted between them.
Head tucked under his arms, Jason avoided the worst of the flames, but still the smell of burning hair had him slapping out a spark near his temple.
“She stops moving when she blows,” Selene said. “She’s like a statue.”
So that’s what had given him the head start earlier. His werewolf speed was only part of his advantage. When she’d tried to fry him in the corridor, she’d had to stop to do so.
The flames abated and the clicking talons resumed. Selene jumped out from behind the stone and clapped her hands. “Hey you, hot mess! Yeah you, bitch. Over here!” She waved her hands. The dragon roared, advancing on Selene.
Jason rushed from his hiding place, sweeping the bone into his hand and skidding across the floor under the dragon. The dirt and grit bloodied his hip. He looked up from his place between her legs, the dragon huffing in air again, her chest glowing crimson as she readied another blast of flames. With all his strength, he thrust the bone between the scales along her breast.
And failed at breaking her skin. A single scale popped off her torso and clattered beside him. The dragon, otherwise impervious to the sharp length of bone, bellowed a Jurassic Park worthy roar that reverberated through the cavern. He stabbed twice in the exposed spot, horrified when the point bounced off the leathery skin. The dragon turned a tight circle, trying to reposition its slashing jaws to reach him.
“Hey!” Selene yelled, tossing another bone through the hole she’d made in her cell. It was enough to distract the dragon for a split second, long enough for Jason to race from between its legs and around the room. There was no good place to hide but he flattened himself against the wall beside Alex’s glass coffin.
Selene held up a meaty, rotting bone. “Come on. You want a snack? Come and get me!”
Nickelova struck at Selene, her snout bouncing off her own magical barrier. Jason’s eyebrows shot up. Nickelova’s dragon was not unlike his wolf. She was in there, for sure, but she didn’t have the same human consciousness.
Selene waved the bone while the dragon scratched against her own magic, then sniffed the edges of Selene’s cell, finding the hole she’d chiseled.Uh oh.The dragon dug its talons in, scratching and scraping at the opening until its snout could almost fit through the damn thing. If Jason didn’t do something, Selene’s might be the next set of bones on the pile.
Jason looked at the amulet around his neck, trying to will it to work. Nothing. He was on his own. “Hey, bitch! Anyone tell you that red makes you look bloated?” He waved his bone at the dragon. It worked. She turned from her Selene-under-glass dinner and stalked toward him, her wings flattening against her back.
Nickelova’s reptile eyes locked on Jason and she froze. He watched her neck undulate with rapid swallows, the space around her heart reddening with heat.
“Fuck me!” Jason ducked and ran just as the fire rained against the wall he’d been pressed against. Red heat swallowed Alex’s suspended body. A sharp crack marked a break in the barrier containing him, and Alex poured from the capsule onto the cave floor, slapping the rock like a dead fish. He did not move.
“Jason! This way. Climb through the hole,” Selene yelled, pointing at the opening to her cell. He ran for it, just as the fire stopped and the dragon’s wings pumped in an effort to pursue him. Nickelova’s dragon stepped over Alex’s body as if she didn’t even see him.
Jason dug his fingers into a crag above the hole and thrust his legs through, but his shoulders caught on the uneven surface. “Fuck, what a time to regret gaining the weight back!” He reached his arms out, trying his best to collapse his shoulders.
Selene yanked on his hips and jabbed at the stone around his shoulders. The dragon eyed him, jaws open. If Jason didn’t move, he’d have an upside-down, bent-backward view of his own death. He pushed against the stone, returning the way he’d come, and whirled to face the dragon’s teeth.
“Stop, Nickelova,” a low voice rasped from the center of the cave. The dragon’s head whipped around.
Alex glistened in the firelight, his long, dirty-blond curls wet and clinging to his shoulders. “Yeah, it’s me.”
The dragon roared. Nickelova seemed confused about the reunion. She scratched at the floor and sniffed the air around Alex. He held up his hands toward her.
“Throw me the amulet, Jason,” Alex said. “I’ll free you. Nickelova’s confused because I’m covered in her magic. She can’t smell what I am. But as soon as I’m dry, I’m dragon fodder and so are you.”
“Don’t trust him,” Selene said.
“Be reasonable, Jason. If she kills both of us, she’ll simply find another wolf to do her bidding. She’s always called the shots. She doesn’t need me to bring her plan to fruition and she doesn’t need you. I know how to use the amulet. I can save us both.”
“Bullshit. You’ve never cared for anyone but yourself,” Jason snapped.
Alex’s eyes drifted to him. “What about you? Do you care about that girl behind you? You may not trust me, but I promise you, the amulet is our only hope of survival, and I’m the only one of the three of us who knows how to use it.”
