Water. Ryker had mentioned it weakened fire magic, and dragon fae magic leveraged the element of fire. Jason hoped the demon was right. He stepped into the tub and lowered himself under the surface, mind racing. He needed a plan.Think.
She sat down on the upholstered bench at the end of the bed and crossed her legs, her spiky heel bobbing. “Now tell me, Jason, why didn’t you come to me sooner?” Her voice was loaded with cynicism.
Jason grabbed the soap and started scrubbing his chest, his arms, in an effort to buy time. A lie. He needed a lie, and it better be a good one. “Silas’s friend is a witch. She detected your curse and broke it. After that, Silas locked me up. I’ve been on house arrest until now.”
“Lies. You came for the girl. I know you did,” Nickelova said.
“I was using the girl. I came for you.”
“Liar.”
Flashing a practiced smile, he looked directly at her and moved his hands lower, between his legs. “You don’t think I’m here for you?” One thing about Nickelova, her personality was predictably narcissistic. She would prefer to believe he was there for her, undoubtedly hold herself above a woman like Selene, and he planned to use that to his advantage.
She tipped her head back slightly, her lips parting, her nipples pearling behind the red material of her dress. Her eyes focused on the place where he touched himself beneath the water.
“We had some good times, didn’t we, Nickie? Those nights at Hunt Club?”
She uncrossed and recrossed her legs, her cheeks coloring.
“You could join me,” he drawled. “I could use some help in here.”
She rose from her seat and crouched behind the tub, her arms slipping around his neck from behind. “You’d better not be toying with me, Jason Flynn. I won’t be as forgiving next time.”
He grabbed her forearm. “Next time? So you forgive me?”
Leaning over his shoulder, she laid a violent kiss on his mouth in response. He tried to block out the disgust he was feeling as he ran his hand around the back of her neck, under the guise of reaching for her zipper.
“Mmm,” she moaned. “Do you want this body, Jason?”
“Not just your body, Nickie. I want your heart.” He yanked the amulet over her head in one lithe move, tearing out a clump of her hair in his haste, then flipped her over his shoulder and into the bath, shoving her by the neck to the bottom of the tub. By the time she broke the surface, he was across the room. He looped the amulet around his own neck. Now that he’d neutralized her magic, all he needed to do was break her neck and cut out her heart. He scanned the room franticly for something to use.
“You fucking bastard,” she shrieked, scrambling to claw her way out of the tub. She wasn’t graceful about it, and he thanked Ryker for the tip about the water. “The amulet is useless unless I give you the fairy power and knowledge to wield it.”
“I figured as much, but I’m more interested in keeping it from you than using it myself.” He crouched, hands raised between them, ready to kill her with his bare hands. “If you’re going to take me down, you’re going to have to do it without magic.”
Nickelova broke out in peals of laughter. “You fucking idiot. Do you know where the power of the amulet comes from? Dragon scale. And while I need it in my human form, scales are something dragon fae have all on our own.”
As if she’d been hit by an axe, her skin split and her blood sprayed toward him only to be sucked back toward her shifting body. Gruesome round segments transformed into scales. She grew and changed in the most violent and grotesque transition he’d ever seen in a shifter. But as terrifying as the transition was, the end result almost knocked him on his ass.
A full-sized adult dragon hissed at him as he stumbled backward out the door, terror gripping his chest and squeezing the air from his lungs. She was bigger, deadlier in this form than he’d ever imagined. Her razor-sharp teeth gnashed in his direction. No wonder her family colors were red and black. Her scales glinted like bloodstained obsidian.
Scrambling out the door, he tore through the winding tunnel that led to the main chamber, thankful for his superhuman werewolf speed. The only advantage he had was the natural design of the passageway, which was narrow enough to slow the dragon down. It also served to partially conceal him from her slashing teeth.
A whoosh like a fireplace bellow came from behind him.Oh shit!He sprinted faster. Fire, hot and blazing, sprayed against the wall behind him, singeing his back. When he emerged into the main chamber, he dodged behind a large stalagmite and desperately searched for something to use as a weapon.
“Jason!” Selene called.
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 turned the corner, 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.
