1. Riggs

1

Riggs

I raced toward Breana with my heart in my throat.

That bastard Victor had her. And she went with him, willingly, based on a ridiculous and dangerous plan to get the information we needed—proof of collusion between the Dragon Empire and the underworld.

As my desperation fed into my rage, agonizing pain ripped through my shoulders. I staggered, but my driving need was to get through the gateway.

To get to her .

The moment I stepped through into the jungle where Team Dragon had started their mission, I knew I was already too late. Breana still had me blocked, but I faintly sensed the Sorceress that was with Victor open another gateway and spirit her through.

I didn't want to believe she was gone. Or that Victor had taken her.

It's okay, Riggs, she sent to me, faint, but clear. This is the only way.

Her words were obliterated by the sudden blinding pain in my head. I sensed her sudden panic.

What is it? What's wrong?

I dropped to my knees. My wings expanded and spread, arching over me.

Hellfire, came another voice along the link—Caliel. You are shifting.

Not my favorite entity at the moment. Breana going with Victor had been his blasted idea.

I writhed on the ground and tasted blood. Energy raced over my skin as the gateway activated again, and more people stepped through. I squinted up at the Oracle and Dani. And with them, the diminutive Watcher, Mandy. She must have built them a gateway…

Dammit. If I could have found her when I needed her, it would have saved me some time and a whole lot of effort.

And maybe I could have saved Breana.

The Watcher fell to her knees, placing her hands on me. Her healing magic spread throughout my body, halting the transformation and taking away the pain.

I tried to wave her off. I had to find Breana.

Don't fight her, Riggs, Breana said.

Let the Watcher help you, Caliel coached. I am with Breana. She will be okay.

You can't help if that bastard comes at her .

Neither can you.

The Gryphon's assessment stopped me cold. He wasn't wrong. I had no answer for Victor's Fire Drake.

The pain receded as Mandy's healing talent forced me back to human. But it all seized up when my wings stubbornly refused to fold and withdraw into my shoulders. She muttered beneath her breath, and left them while she focused on other things.

You were also bleeding in your brain, Caliel diagnosed. But Mandy knows her stuff.

My frustration renewed my rage. I'm no bloody good to anyone, unless I can shift.

We know now that there is hope, Breana offered . With time, and care, you will be able to shift again.

I shrugged the thoughts away. My troubles were immaterial. Where are you?

She hesitated, as though afraid to tell me. You cannot come after me. I am deep in Victor's empire now. You have to trust that I will get myself out.

My anger spiked. I pushed Mandy away, staggered to my feet, lurched to the Oracle, and closed my hand around his throat.

My wings arced above us. Ash didn't try to avoid me. He merely dangled as I thrust him against a tree trunk.

"You knew ," I accused. "You knew this would happen."

Dani took a long stride toward us, her gaze narrowing, but Ash held up his hand. She stopped as his strange gold eyes met my own. "Yes," he said. "I did."

"Why?" I couldn't speak more than that one word—my voice came out as almost a roar.

His gaze didn't waiver. "Because if anything good is going to survive in the realms, you must as well."

I was breathing so hard the air whistled from my lungs, and my mind spun. "I am not what everyone seems to think I am."

"Yes," he said simply. "You are."

Something shoved me, hard, pushing me away from the tree. I let Ash go, and turned on Dani, whose hair radiated outwardly as she used her power.

"Leave Ash alone," she said. "You have no idea what it is like, trying to follow those timelines. To see where he can help, and to know when he has to stand down." Tears flooded her eyes. "He risked Tyrez to save you."

"I didn't ask him to!"

She wiped at her eyes. "This is about so much more than just you."

"Risking Tyrez to save me makes no sense!" I shouted at her.

"Your brother knew," she said. "Ash told Tyrez that if he didn't go, you would die. It was his decision to go."

That took the air right out of my lungs. And despair twisted my heart.

Ash took a step closer. "It isn't an individual thing, Razir. In order for us to have a future, you must live to participate within it. It is that simple."

The torment in his eyes stopped me cold. He'd risked his mate, to save me.

They are right, Riggs. Caliel's voice was weak, but firm . Listen to them.

You have to breathe, my Dragon. With Breana's words came a pulse of warmth and love that soothed my jagged nerves.

"Did Tyrez know that Daize would betray him?" I whispered.

"No." Ash's face contorted with anguish. "I couldn't tell him that Taran would die. The timelines told me that he would have gotten himself killed if I had. But he knew that his life was in danger."

The pain in his voice drained the last of the anger from me. I leaned against the closest tree, and Mandy moved in again, laying her hand on my arm.

"I don't need any help," I protested.

"Just let me confirm that," she said.

Were all Watchers trained to ignore their patients? But then I sighed as the warmth of her healing energy coursed through me, removing the last of the pain.

The crashing of foliage announced the arrival of Cody and the rest of Team Dragon. Nar was clinging to Sid's back, and Leah was sitting on Cody's Sabre form. Adilyn flitted over to me.

"We tried, but they gated away before we even got close," she said. Her tiny Faerie face scrunched up in anger.

Cody's gaze scanned over us and came to rest on me. "You good?"

No. No, I wasn't. But I couldn't see any point in stating that. Because I knew, dammit. I knew that if any of us had made it to Victor in time, none of us would have walked away.

And the bastard would still have Breana. And the sword.

"I'm fine," I said.

Nar and Leah stared in amazement at my wings.

"You're—you're a Dragon." Nar's mouth dropped open.

Dang it. Just what I needed. "Only partly," I said. "I can't fully transform."

It wasn't entirely a lie, but I didn't like the look Nar gave me. Both his and Leah's eyes were flashing like mad as they conversed back and forth. But I had other concerns.

Cody turned to them. "You two go back and tell the headmaster what has happened. I'll be along right away with details, but he'll want to recall all the teams immediately."

Nar glanced again at me, but he took Leah's arm. The gateway swirled in response to their homing crystal, and they disappeared within it.

I took a deep breath when they'd done so and turned to Cody.

"Breana has decided that the best way to get the intel we need is from within Victor's organization. What we have to do now, is figure out how the heck to get her out, once she does so."

They all stared at me.

Then the Anisau shook his craggy head, and said, "Just how are we going to do that?"

"That," I said through gritted teeth, "is the question of the day."