Chapter 51

FIFTY-ONE

T hey moved through the night like shadows, closer to Dimitri’s lab. The night air carried a metallic tang that made their dragons recoil. Magic twisted into something wrong, corrupted by Dimitri’s experiments.

At a perimeter fence, Asher paused to study the defenses. Guard rotations followed precise intervals - twelve minutes between patrols, overlapping coverage zones creating three-second blind spots. Security cameras swept in predictable arcs, their patterns as reliable as any scientific constant.

“Southeast quadrant,” she whispered, pointing out the weakness. “We’ll have exactly 2.7 seconds between camera sweeps.”

“Cutting it close,” Levi muttered.

“Story of my life lately.” She ignored another spike of pain from her shoulder. “Ready to stress test these neural shields?”

Talon’s wing mantled protectively around her. “Stay between us. If your powers fluctuate-”

“You’ll be my extremely attractive backup generator.” She squeezed his hand. “I know the protocol. I wrote it, remember?”

His response was lost as alarms suddenly blared across the compound. Red emergency lights bathed everything in crimson as guards began shouting orders.

“Well,” Asher said brightly, “I supposed this saves us the trouble of creating a distraction.”

The harsh lighting pulsed like a synthetic heartbeat as they moved through the shadows. Talon’s battle instincts sharpened, his awareness expanding to scan for threats. Beside them, Levi prowled with lethal grace, his usual easy charm replaced by cold fury.

“Research level breach,” she translated, reading alerts on her tablet. “Someone tried accessing restricted files on the transformation device. Security protocols engaging and...” Her lips curved. “Oh, Lori. You brilliant, terrifying woman.”

“What?” Levi’s head snapped toward her.

“She planted a virus. It’s systematically corrupting their data while downloading copies to a secure server.” Pride colored her voice. “My best friend is basically a cyber-terrorist. I’ve never been more proud.”

More alarms joined the cacophony as they reached the first security door. Asher’s fingers tapped over the keypad, electricity occasionally sparking between her and the metal.

“Having trouble?” Talon asked quietly.

“Please. Their encryption is practically prehist-” Pain shot through her shoulder, making her stumble. Her powers flickered wildly, sending a surge through the keypad. The door slid open with a satisfying hiss. “See? Exactly as planned.”

“Of course.” His arm steadied her, warmth flooding their bond. “You meant to fry the circuits.”

“I meant to create an alternative access solution through the strategic application of unexpected variables.” She stepped through the doorway. “Completely different from random equipment failure.”

“My mistake.” But his lips curved slightly even as his eyes scanned for threats.

They encountered the first guards at the intersection of two corridors. Before Asher could raise her tablet, Levi was moving. He took down three men with brutal efficiency, raw power guided by precision. The fourth guard managed to raise his weapon before Talon’s strike dropped him.

“Save some for the rest of us,” Asher quipped, but her heart ached at the pain driving Levi’s aggressive response.

The facility’s layout spread through her mind like a three-dimensional model as they moved deeper. Research labs branched off main corridors, each one housing pieces of Dimitri’s twisted experiments. Her scientific horror grew with every glimpse of corrupted formulas and perverted genetics.

“The main experiments will be in the central lab,” she said, consulting facility schematics. “But detention cells are two levels down. We need to-”

“Split up?” Talon’s growl held clear objection to that plan.

“Work smarter, not harder.” She pulled up building systems on her tablet. “The facility’s environmental controls run through this maintenance shaft. If I can access the primary junction, I can trigger targeted failures in both areas simultaneously. Create chaos, thin out security.”

His dragon raged against any separation. She stretched up to kiss him quickly, electricity crackling between them.