“Ai, you can fight this. You’re more than a program that Jax created. I’ve seen it. We’re friends, remember?” Tate said, trying to get through to the woman she knew.
There was a flicker in Ai’s gaze. So brief and small Tate thought she might have imagined it.
Nathan chuckled as he drew her close to whisper in her ear. “You should save your breath. Jax neutered their self-will. As long as I hold the collar codes, she’s mine.”
He lifted his head, giving her a soft smile. That smile said he’d won. He’d emerged victorious and Tate hadn’t.
I want to wipe that smile off his face,Ilith said in a vicious tone.
For once, Tate couldn’t have agreed more.
“Hey Nathan, anyone ever tell you it’s not nice to gloat,” Tate said as furtive movement came from behind him.
Dewdrop crept closer to the pair of them, stopping abruptly as Ai turned her attention to him.
“It is inadvisable to continue on this line,” Ai said.
Nathan’s head turned as he sneered dismissively. “What a useless last-ditch attempt. I’m disappointed in you, Tate.”
“You know me. I always have to try.”
“Ai, kill her dragon man,” Nathan instructed passionlessly.
Tate sucked in a sharp breath. No.
Before Ai could move, Night leapt out of the shadows toward Ryu. Ai’s gaze shifted and Night froze in midair. Energy built in Ai as her emotionless eyes turned toward the two.
Nathan’s smile was vicious as pleasure glinted in his eyes. “Actually, after you’re done with him, do the same to the other two.”
Tate’s mind started to splinter. The dragon’s rage detonated inside Tate, the urgent need to be in two places sending white noise cascading through her vision.
A tearing sensation came inside, matched only by the blistering heat where Ilith’s tattoo was located on Tate’s body. An agonized scream tore from Tate as Ilith’s tattoo separated, the dragon gaining three dimensions as if she’d pulled herself from Tate’s skin.
Tate panted as shock registered on Nathan’s face.
As his lips shaped an order, Ilith streaked past him, arrowing toward Ryu. A shadow the size of a large cat dropped from above, Ilith and Rath tangling in midair.
A shield of gleaming light formed as Ai opened her mouth and blistering energy erupted toward Ryu.
It splashed against the shield. Bright light flared, the intensity of which forced those present to look away and protect their eyes or risk being blinded.
When it abated, Tate looked up to find Rath draped over Ryu’s shoulders like a stole while Ilith hovered tiredly between Ai’s image and the other two.
Her dragon’s scales were pale, her face exhausted even as her eyes burned with determination. Ilith wasn’t moving even if it meant her death.
“Nice trick, but no matter.” Nathan’s grip strengthened on her shoulder, holding her upright, the cold in his hand spreading to her skin and sapping her strength. “The more you struggle; the more pleasurable your eventual defeat is to me.”
Tate didn’t have anything to say, could only stare defiantly up at him as he aimed a taunting smile at Ai.
“Do it.”
Power built again in Ai as Tate made a small sound of denial. Despair sank bitter claws into her. Hope depleting.
Before the last of Tate’s will deserted her, Roslyn’s ghostly mirage took shape at Dewdrop and Ai’s sides. Roslyn closed her eyes, placing one hand on Dewdrop’s shoulder and holding the other out toward Ai’s physical body hovering in midair over the console.
Sound, several times more intense and savage than Dewdrop’s banshee scream, sundered the air. Ai’s image flickered from the intensity of the sound waves.
“What is this?” Nathan’s gaze held only confusion as Night landed on the ground. The rest of those who were supposed to be immobile stirred.
