16. Riggs

16

Riggs

As Breana dozed off, I breathed a sigh of relief.

I'd left Sid with Adilyn in our room, and come here to lie on Breana's bed. I turned my head and inhaled her scent on the sheets…

My entire being longed for her, so badly I shook with the strength of it. Through her mind, I caught the merest echo of Caliel's song, and sent him a burst of gratitude. Although I was pretty sure he couldn't hear me.

I, too, felt his loss as a soul-deep thing. Although it was a snarly, growly kind of relationship, he and I had started to form a connection. I hesitated to coin a term for it, but if I was pressed—I would call it a bonding thing.

A brotherhood.

But now he was gone, and there was no guarantee he'd find his way back to the bond. Cara had told me he would need to mate her as Slade. But how would that work if Slade wasn't fated to be with her? How much of the matebond was physical, and how much a thing of the soul?

Breana was worried as well, but there was little we could do about it now. Judging by what I felt seething within her, I needed to get her out of there, and sooner rather than later.

But doing so was going to be tricky as heck. A lot rested on Caliel's newly broad shoulders.

A pulse shot along the link—and it tightened every cell in me. What radiated from Breana pierced straight through to old fragmented Dragon memories and stitched them together—because the beast within me wanted to fly her to the stars.

But she wasn't a Dragon… or was she? As another throb of pure heat, and this time I thought I sensed something more than the Ice Drake at work deep inside my mate. Another presence, lithe and supple and seductive as heck, giving me glimpses of gleaming pale scales and silvery wings.

A beautiful Dragona.

No Dragon had ever bitten a Centaur. There was no knowing if Breana would be susceptible to the virus in my saliva. Would she turn into a Dragona? Was that what was resonating with me?

I didn't know.

Dang it, I needed to know.

Instead, I sighed and stretched out on her bed with the naked sword lying across me. It was holding back her Ice Drake…

I turned my head into her pillow as her scent enveloped me, slowing my heart. Enabling me to follow her as she slipped into sleep…

As soon as she started to dream, the Drake took over. I only caught a glimpse of Breana, and then, the monster was there instead.

Unlike the Earth and Storm Drakes, she was much finer in build but still powerful, with heavier musculature than a Dragon.

She arched her neck and hissed at me, showing all her teeth. I was instantly engulfed in ice fog. Her scent hit me like a freight train, ratcheting everything to rock-hard status in an instant.

It called to my Dragon, and suddenly, I was looking down at her from a greater height. My wings arched over both of us.

I remembered, now, the rush of air over my scales, the way I tilted my wings to twist and turn—the sunlight dancing off the clouds to light the vapor trailing off my wingtips, and the cold kiss of air as I climbed.

I remembered it all.

I arched my own neck and rumbled at her.

The Ice Drake lowered her head, but hissed again. And then her body began to change—until what stood before me wasn't a Drake.

She was long and sleek and gorgeous. And so pale a blue she was almost silver. Not an Ice Drake.

An Ice Dragon?

I thought my heart would burst from my chest. The air vibrated with the power of my rumble. If she were a true Dragona, she'd already have launched for the sky. But she'd only ever flown as a Gryphon, and with Caliel. She crouched, and then she hesitated.

A faint alarm bell went off within me. If she lost control in a dream, could it translate to real life? We were fighting to keep the Drake contained, but the Dragona in her wanted to be set free, too.

My Dragon didn't care. It wanted to seize her by the throat, and take her up, and up, until it could go no farther. My entire body shuddered with the power of that desire.

A familiar energy engulfed us, and a silver light obliterated the moon, the stars, and the distant mountains. The truth was in the sword's power—and I couldn't let this happen.

She crouched again, her gaze focused above her. Before she could leap into the air, I pounced on her. Held her down as she writhed beneath me, pale eyes snapping icy fire. My forelegs turned white with frost.

"Yous have to shifts back," I said.

"No," she cried, trying to squirm free. Her body rubbed and writhed along mine, and my Dragon fought me for control.

"Shifts back," I demanded, calling on the power of the sword. It wrapped around the both of us, stopping her from freezing me, and pushing back on her Dragon.

The Ice Drake re-emerged from the Dragon, and the battle began in earnest. The scent coming off her drove my beast wild. It was all I could do to hold her still, and not mate her. I knew now that I was right—I needed to win this battle, or when she awoke, the Drake would have emerged.

And then Victor would have her just where he wanted.

The realization swamped my thoughts and gave me control over my Dragon. I hissed at the Drake and pushed more energy at her. Bit by bit, I forced her back.

The human emerged so slowly that it would have been excruciatingly painful, if it had been real. But finally, she lay limp between my forelegs.

I sighed with relief as I shifted back to human, and pulled her into my arms.

"I'm burning up," she whispered against my chest.

"We will get you out," I said. "You just have to hold on a little longer. Can you do that?"

Her head nodded against my chest, and then, her hand spread across me. Her touch set me on fire.

I lowered my face into her hair. "We can't do this. Even in a dream—it will just give the Drake what she needs to emerge and take over."

She looked up at me, her eyes flashing silver.

"Just rest, Breana," I whispered to her. "I am here. I will guard your dreams."

She closed her eyes, and her breathing slowed as I held her. I sat like that and kept the Ice Drake at bay. Until finally, her form faded away as she awoke.

I blinked up at the ceiling. We'd been down for hours—the dawn's early rays danced through the window.

My body ached for her. But we were so linked that I didn't dare even give myself relief.

So instead I rose and headed for a cold shower.

Cara caught up with me at the entrance to the cafeteria.

"Eat quickly, then touch base with your teammates," she said. "Meet me at the forest gateway in twenty. We have someplace to be."

I gritted my teeth. The only thing I wanted to hear about was rescuing Bree. Somehow, I didn't think that was why she wanted me.

Caliel agrees it is time to get me out. He is working on a plan, Breana said. But there are a lot of variables, and he doesn't have anything definite yet.

A healer trained to preserve life, in charge of the rescue effort that will most likely involve the taking of it. Perfecto.

She was quick to defend him. He's smart. He'll think of something .

I took a deep breath. When in doubt, follow the orders. So I took my tray to the Team Dragon table.

It was already full. Nar and Leah were, as usual, absorbed in each other, although I thought I saw Nar checking me for wings.

As I sat down, he offered Leah a bracelet that he pulled from somewhere beneath his scales. Which may not have seemed so strange, except she frowned at him and pushed it away.

Think our Sea Krayt is a thief, I said. And Leah isn't happy about it.

Yeah, Nar has more issues than being a pervert, Breana said.

Adilyn sat beside Sid, eating something I didn't wish to have defined.

Sid leaned toward me. "How is Bree?" he asked in his rumbly version of a whisper.

I searched for the right words. "Holding her own." I glanced at Nar, and added, "I hope."

The Anisau's eyes flashed yellow. "When you want to get her out of there, just say the word."

"How could we get her out of there?" Leah asked.

I hadn't even realized she was paying attention. I exchanged a quick look with Sid.

"I don't know," I said. "But Bree is on our team, and we don't abandon team members."

Nar tilted his head to look at me. "Why did Victor take her, anyway?"

"Vic and Bree share a complicated history," I hedged.

"They were both altered by that Sorceress, right?" Leah leaned in closer.

"Yep," I answered.

"Does this Vic guy want to mate her?" Nar asked.

It was like getting sucker punched in the gut, but I managed to keep it from showing. I think.

I was unexpectedly rescued by Leah. "Everyone wants to mate Bree. She's beautiful."

"All that matters is that we get her out of there," Sid admonished. "We don't abandon our own."

I appreciate the sentiment, Bree said. But if they come after me, they will die.

I know. But to the team, I said, "Thank you."

My stomach was so tied in knots that I couldn't eat much. I finally offered my last two egg-stuffed rolls to Sid. "I've got someplace to be."

His eyes met mine. "Be safe, my friend."

I offered him a tight smile. "I will."

Nar's curious gaze followed me as I made my way out of the building and across the field to the forest gate, where Cara waited for me.

She had a pack slung over her shoulder and oven mitts wrapped, strangely, around a teapot that steamed gently.

I ignored it and forged straight to my main topic of concern. "We have to get Bree out of there."

Her eyes darkened in sympathy, but what she said was, "We need that proof. Or we will lose this war."

It was an answer, of sorts. And I understood it, but my heart warred against it.

If you come after me now, it could destroy everything we've worked toward. I am enduring this for a reason. We have to hold on. Caliel will get me out.

I sighed and took Cara's pack off her shoulder. As I did so, I thought I caught movement out of the corner of my eyes, against the surrounding trees.

As Cara oriented the gateway, I glanced around and saw nothing but trees, bushes, and birds.

When I looked back at the Watcher, she was also frowning at the bushes. But then her hand closed around my arm, and she took me through.