“Fuck. What have they been doing to you?” Soren mutters, his fingers desperately trying to unlock the cage. “Is there a key to this thing?”
“Only one I’ve seen was hanging around Lover Boy’s neck,” Cam says.
“Fine. Fuck. I’ll just use my scythe.” Soren stands, hand outstretched, ready for his scythe to appear.
… and nothing happens.
“Powers won’t work down here. The place is warded like you wouldn’t believe.”
“Right. Right.” He runs his hands through his blond hair. “Okay, here’s what we’ll do. I’ll try upstairs, call on my scythe, split open the cell, drag you guys upstairs and Echo can get us all out of here.”
“Sounds like a plan,” I say.
“Don’t know who he thinks he’s dragging upstairs, but it won’t be me,” Cam mutters.
Soren quickly disappears upstairs and I turn my attention to Wren. Cam is rubbing her arms, clearly trying to keep her temperature up and I strip off my coat and pass it through the bars.
Time ticks by and the gnawing anxiety in my stomach grows to a point where my leg is bouncing and I can’t stop shivering. I can feel my heart pounding in my throat.
Where is Soren? He should be back by now.
I don’t want to leave Wren and Camellia, but I don’t know what else to do. If we can’t get them out of the cage in the next ten minutes, they’ll be back and we’ll have lost our chance. I don’t want to leave Wren down here any longer than she’s already been here.
“I’ll be right back.”
“We’ll be here,” Cam replies.
I scurry off upstairs to find Soren, only realizing once I’m at the top that the basement is not only warded, it’s also soundproofed against sounds going in or out.
My stomach fills with dread as I hear the warning howl of a hound from outside, along with something hitting the window—I’m guessing that’s part of Jet’s distraction.
Dammit. That must mean they’re back early.
I hear a thump, which I’ll later learn is a body hitting the floor, just as I reach the top of the stairs. There’s then blinding pain as something hard collides with the side of my head and I stagger, my vision going instantly fuzzy and I teeter at the very top of the stairs, stumbling and losing my footing as I topple backwards down the stairs.
Then there’s nothing but flailing limbs and pain as I topple down like a puppet with its strings cut. I reach the bottom and blink a few times, groaning at the burning pain all over my body as a shadow falls over my face.
I try to keep my eyes open as darkness threatens to take over.
And then something hits me around the head again.
it all goes black.
???
Finn
The first sign something is wrong is a tightening in my gut. At first, I think it’s something I ate that didn’t agree with me, but when I mentally parse through my meals for the day, I remember I’m a motherfucking dragon that used to have zero gut problems when I chowed down on humans, complete with their clothing. Since when do I have a sensitive stomach?
Since never.
I’ve been trying not to think of the good times when I flew around the skies like a black menace, picking out my prey with ease and gobbling them up with zero concern. Ever since my mate told me all about herhumanlittle sisters, I find myself conflicted when I think about how easily I could have eaten them, how sad she would have been if I had.
It was decades before they were born, possibly centuries since I’m not all that sure exactly how long it's been since I’ve been a guardian of the gate. I don’t want to make my mate sad or uncomfortable, so I push all those memories down, ready to fill the space with fresh memories of the two of us together.
Speaking of my mate, it’s beenhourssince I last saw her and it strikes me that the weird feeling in my gut is another sign that Imissher and need to see her. It can join the uncomfortable ache deep in my chest that has set up shop, which I feel even when we’re together. It feels almost like a pre-emptive longing because I know that at some point she’s going to leave me to go into the bathroom or to deliver another soul and it’ll be whole minutes before I can see her again and breathe in her scent.
Maybe I’ll see if she’s somewhere in the garden. It’ll mean abandoning the gate for a little while, but I just need to glimpse my mate, check that she’s happy and doesn’t need anything, and then maybe I can return to my post without the distraction of my insides rebelling against me.
