Page 74 of Brock’s Mate

Fuck. Me. But the cavalry’s behind you?

Whoo, baby, are they ever. You would not believe the size of the cavalry out there. Dragons and shit.

She felt him relax a little. You’re awesome, he said. I love you.

Back atcha. But this whole place has magic wards around it. They can’t worldwalk, and they can’t just bust in because they’re afraid of what would happen to us and DB. We have to wake him up so he can fight.

Using what? Brock said.

Antidotes. Desi put the image of the vials in his mind, in their hiding place inside her boot.

Risky, Brock said. I would have thought they’d search you.

They did, she said, trying not to smirk. They found the knives in my boots, and were so proud of themselves they didn’t look for anything else.

She could see Brock suppressing a grin. Nice. What about getting out of the cell? DB might not get all his powers back right away, and they reset the lock with a new code and no fingerprint file.

Yeah. Remy was afraid of that. He hacked into the lock company’s computer network and got the admin override code. It will open any lock the company makes. Now it’s in my brain.

She gave him the code, making sure he had it right.

So we wake up DB, and then what?

Then we hope he can neutralize the sorcerer. Plan B, Emon and Kira break down the wards from outside. If neither of those works, Plan C is that they let them take us away, and Emon backtraces the signal on DB’s Batphone amulet to find us.

Brock said, I vote for Plan A.

You and me both. And we need to get on it. Cover me.

Out loud, she said to Brock in a worried voice, “Are you sure DB is okay? He’s lying so still. I think we should check on him.”

Brock got up and gave her a hand up. She went over and knelt down by DB, and Brock crouched down so he blocked her from the view of the guard. She pulled the vial case out of her boot top.

Desi said, “I can barely hear him breathing.” She bent her head as if listening, and flicked the top off the first vial, moving his jaw so she could pour it into his mouth. She hoped he didn’t choke.

The guard called, “He’s fine. Get away from him.” He got up and started coming over to the cell.

Desi quickly pulled the second vial, but there was no time. She shoved it into DB’s limp hand before she hid the case and got up.

The guard pointed his gun at them. “Go sit over on the other side, both of you, and stop messing with the dragon.”

“Fine,” Desi muttered. “He could be dying for all you care.”

They sat down with their backs against the wall, holding hands once more. Desi’s mind was racing, trying to figure out how to give DB the second dose.

Because even if he woke up, if he didn’t have his powers back, they were screwed.

Chapter 29

Outside, Brandon and the others surrounded the cabin, having gated straight in from his territory using Flynn’s and Kira’s worldwalking abilities.

He’d already gotten the message that the secondary team had taken control of the transport vehicle and captured the driver and his guard.

The deployment groups were talking in his earbud, reporting as they each reached their assigned positions in the woods surrounding the cabin.

No enemy contact. Apparently, the enemy forces were confined to the house and the clearing, just like Britt had said. Twelve plus the sorcerer.

Finally, everyone was in place.