Chapter 27

27

Black and khaki scraps flew across Simon’s vision, accompanied by the sounds of ripping fabric, an instant before his world darkened to leathery black. A screaming roar ripped through the air, temporarily deafening him.

She’s scared .

Simon tensed, realizing he could distinguish Lilis’ emotions from her sounds. Just like he’d heard the pain in her roar when he’d arrived at the Barrens during her fight, he could hear her terror now.

This must be the guy starting all the fires.

And the one who’d nearly killed Lilis.

Rage filled Simon with strength and energy unlike any he’d ever known. Lilis pressed one clawed paw against his chest, drawing him backward, even as she continued to shield him with her wing.

I don’t think so.

Ducking from under her wing, Simon found their entire surroundings engulfed in flames. He covered his nose and mouth. As a fireball sailed past him, he dashed forward, crossing the distance to the fire-handed asshole in a split second.

Leaves scattered in every direction to the sounds of talons scraping across rocks and debris as Lilis scrambled behind him, but Simon moved faster.

He grabbed a fistful of the other man’s long black hair and wrenched his head backward into a tree. “You don’t fucking touch her.”

His opponent vanished in a spark of light just before Lilis tackled Simon from behind again. Her body shuddered as something hit her, and she growled in Simon’s ear, the message clear: Leave him to me.

“I’m sorry.” He stroked his hand down her warm scales. “But I can’t let you be the only one risking your life.”

He pulled out of her grasp again and charged the asshole who’d dared to hurt her. Another fireball appeared in the man’s hand, and Simon knocked him to the ground before he could blast it.

They tumbled through the underbrush, wrestling for dominance as a cold wind thundered past to the beats of Lilis’ wings. Was she able to stop him from starting another fire? Unwilling to test that theory, he struggled harder against his powerful opponent. It was like trying to pin a bulldozer to the ground, but Simon was fueled by fear and an innate need to protect Lilis at all costs. “You won’t hurt anyone else again. Ever. ”

Heat built on his left side, and Simon realized the flammable shithead was preparing to set him on fire. He punched down as hard as he could into the left side of the man’s neck and shoulder, near his collarbone.

Right into his brachial plexus nerve.

His adversary grunted, and his arm went limp, the heat extinguishing instantly. Simon hauled him to his feet by his injured arm, facing Lilis. He pinned his newly subdued enemy in place by twisting his arm painfully behind his back.

“Talk fast,” he instructed. “Everyone you’ve been working with, why you’ve been setting the fires, and how many others you’ve killed.”

“I’m not telling you anything .”

“Wrong answer!” Simon angled his captive’s arm more painfully, threatening to dislocate it. “You started fires that endangered people for miles. My patients! You set traps for innocent creatures. You attacked a human firefighter. ” A young father-to-be. Simon’s past fused with his present, and suddenly, he was a little boy again, holding prisoner the driver of the car that had killed his parents. “I swear if she doesn’t kill you for that last one, I will. ”

“Don’t be stupid! I didn’t attack the firefighter. I was trying to save him from two demons like your dragon,” he panted, his muscles slackening. But Simon refused to trust any weakness and dug into the man’s nerve bundle again. The asshole grunted, but didn’t fight back.

“Don’t lie. He saw you. You pulled off his helmet after you yanked him down a hill.”

“Never.” His prisoner drew up to his full height, despite Simon’s grip on his arm, and nodded his chin at Lilis. “If I can handle her, I can take out anyone I choose.” Despite his bragging, he swallowed audibly and seemed out of breath. When he spoke again, his voice came out more quietly. “I’ve been checking on him in the hospital to make sure he recovers under your human care. I would’ve brought a healer to him if he’d needed it.”

Lilis let out a small whine, the sound tingling Simon’s awareness. He glanced at her.

Her slitted green eyes were glazed over, and her mouth hung open, tongue hanging out and chest heaving with her heavy breathing. She met his gaze, and Simon read pain there.

The poison.

He lowered one hand to their enemy’s hip, digging in his fingers just above the sciatic nerve. “You have exactly three seconds to get your poison out of the air. Or I will activate every nerve in your body.”

The man growled and struggled against him. “I can’t!”

“Two seconds.”

“It’s not me.” He fought harder against Simon, but his strength was nowhere what it had been moments before. “I swear on my flame!”

Simon lifted a questioning eyebrow at Lilis. The poison wasn’t his? But then?—

Before Simon could finish his thought, Lilis rose on her hind legs and flapped her wings, shaking out her body. She landed with a tremendous thump , staggering off balance. As she slimmed into her human form, she pitched forward. Simon dropped his prisoner to run to her.

He gathered her into his arms, shielding her body with his own, but she pressed him back, keeping her eyes on their opponent.

The man wheezed behind him. “You picked poorly, human.”

Simon rose, helping Lilis stand next to him. “I chose my heart. If you kill me for it, so be it.” He slipped his shirt over his head and offered it to Lilis, but she pressed it away.

“I don’t want to rip your clothing, too.” She stepped in front of him. “If you touch Simon, nothing will save you from my dragon.”

The man watched them in silence for several heartbeats. Finally, he blew out a breath. “If I regret trusting you, you’ll have worse than me to contend with.” He glanced at Lilis. “In case I don’t make it out of here, my name’s Kas. Knowing it might buy you a few extra seconds with the person we’re going to meet. Now, come on. We need to leave.”

“You’re not going anywhere .” Another masculine voice rang out through the forest, loud enough to send several birds and squirrels scattering. Yet another man Simon had never seen stepped from behind a tree, flanked by the pasty man and woman who had morphed into weasel lions and attacked Simon days before.

Lilis gasped. “ Shepherd? ”

Shepherd held up a gun and pointed it at Lilis with a grimace. “I really, really hate demons. Fucking useless creatures, both of you. You couldn’t even manage to kill each other. Isn’t that all you do?”

“I am not a demon,” Kas spat.

“You walk in fire !” Shepherd’s scream made his two weaselly companions cringe. “And you wield powers no human should have. I know your kind.”

“I trusted you!” Lilis shrieked. “I protected you!”

“You mean when you left me and ran off after Hoyt?” He shook his head. “I liked you, Gerru, I really did. But then you pulled that little stunt, and I knew you were one of them.”

“Hoyt is a member of our team! He’s human !”

“How do you know their kind?” Simon spoke quietly, but the silence that followed his question dropped like an anvil. He stepped from behind Lilis, who immediately moved in front of him again.

Shepherd scoffed. “She can turn into a dragon , and she stands there now, naked as a temptation for anyone! And that one moves through all planes of existence. Of course they’re demons. What’s not to?—”

“But how did you know that?” The word temptation boiled Simon’s blood and shot bile up his throat. He draped his t-shirt across Lilis’ shoulders to distract himself from wanting to wring Shepherd’s fucking neck. Whether Lilis decided to cover herself or not was up to her . “I never would’ve known she was a dragon if she hadn’t caught me falling out of a freaking helicopter. I didn’t even know this other guy’s name until about three minutes ago.”

“Animals don’t need names,” Shepherd snarled.

The pale man at Shepherd’s side frowned. “But you have one, Alex. And so do Alkmini and I.”

“Shut up, Dimitri, no one asked you.”

You have one.

Simon’s heart pounded. “You’re one of them. Aren’t you?”

“ Never .” As though to contradict his own protest, Shepherd growled. “I overcame my father’s blood. And I’ve continued to purify myself ever since by ridding the world of the rest of them. One by one.”

Kas coughed, though whether it was genuine or to cover up a laugh, Simon couldn’t tell.

“You don’t have dogs.” Lilis practically breathed the words. She leaned backward ever so slightly, resting some of her weight against Simon’s chest. “You just smell like them. You’re a manjeja, just like these two knuckleheads, aren’t you?”

“Hey!” Alkmini and Dimitri protested in unison.

“I’m human! And nothing else!” Shepherd practically screamed like a child before taking a deep breath to calm himself. “Of course I have dogs. They are beautiful and loyal animals.”

Simon snorted. “Unlike you.”

“Watch your tongue!”

“Why? I fit your standards better than you, being fully human .” Simon gave a disbelieving laugh. “For once, I am actually the ideal. One hundred percent human. And the best part? You’re showing your human colors right now, with all your betrayal and killing.”

“ They kill! And they lie! I’m doing what I have to do.”

Kas coughed again, the sound raspy. Should someone who manipulates fire be so affected by smoke?

“Wanna talk lies?” Lilis snapped. “You were in the hospital the day I visited Hoyt for your own stupidity! Not because I left you behind. You got too close to the flames when you came out here to kill more demons, didn’t you? And you have the balls to blame me ?”

Though her words had their usual bite, her voice sounded weaker, and anxiety churned in Simon’s gut. Why wasn’t she simply attacking Shepherd? How many times had he seen her charge head-first into danger? And now she chose talking over fighting? And Kas was still coughing. Neither chose inaction.

Something was very wrong with them.

Lilis growled at Kas, nodding her head at Shepherd. “Why aren’t you doing something about him?”

A combination of annoyance and disgust flickered across Kas’ face. “I can’t.”

Shit . The poison was affecting them. Lilis was strong, but what would getting shot do to her when she was this weak? Would she survive?

“Wait, how many other demons have you killed?” Dimitri asked. “You said you were only getting rid of the demons who hunt us . We went after this dragon for you.”

“Every demon hunts humans.” Shepherd spoke with the cold, calm superiority of a zealot. “It’s their evil nature. I didn’t lie when I said every demon who hunts us. ”

Simon took advantage of Dimitri’s distraction to step closer to Shepherd. He could see the Flame Jumper sweating. He wasn’t completely unaffected by whatever was in the air. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see Kas inch closer as well.

“But what about us?” Pain laced Alkmini’s voice. “We’re family .”

Shepherd jerked away from the two weasels, as though physical distance could also provide genetic distance. Another step and Simon estimated he could reach Shepherd before he fired a shot.

“Your connection to me grants you some humanity.” Shepherd continued with his sanctimonious lecture, his voice infused with the confident benevolence of someone who regularly hid in their own twisted beliefs. “You can be redeemed.” He aimed the gun at Lilis, and Simon’s heart stopped. “Lilis, on the other hand…”

Simon leapt without thought.

He blinked. High-pitched ringing in his ears. Growing pressure in his ribs. Like a sledgehammer trying to crack him open. He couldn’t move.

He blinked again, but the body-tearing pain remained. And as the ringing slowly subsided, screaming took its place. And growling. Flashes of white streaked in and out of view, with scattered crimson.

The demons… Lilis…

He tried to get to her, but the sledgehammer became an anvil of pressure and pain. He struggled to breathe and put his hand over his chest to ease the agony.

Why am I wet?

Simon lifted his hand, and it came away ruby red.

Blood. I’m bleeding.

Sounds dimmed. Or maybe only the yells and snarls grew fainter. Simon couldn’t tell.

His eyesight began to blur, and he realized through a fog that he’d probably been shot. He squeezed his eyes shut, trying to blink them clear.

“Why did you do that?” Lilis sobbed. “I told you, I survive everything .”

Simon opened his eyes again, and what he saw wrenched his heart more than any physical pain. Tears streamed down Lilis’ face. “I couldn’t take the chance… poison … don’t cry.”

“I’m flying you to the hospital.” Lilis tried to lift him, but Simon cried out as pain exploded outward from his heart through his back and arms.

Shot. I’m dying.

Again.

Kas moved into Simon’s darkening vision. “You can’t. If you show up as a dragon, no one will notice he’s been shot until it’s too late.” Warmth blossomed in Simon’s chest. “Shit. I can’t flash out. You’ll have to fly us both. My friend is a healer. She can?—”

“I’m too weak. I can only take Simon.”

“She knows you nearly killed me once. If you show up without me, best case, she’ll just refuse to help Simon. Worst case, she’ll kill you both.” Kas swore. “You’re running out of time.”

“I—I’m not strong enough. Simon, I?—”

Simon managed to get Lilis’ face back in watery focus. “Don’t apologize.” He sighed as his body relaxed, energy and pain draining out of him. “My Lilis. I’ve always loved you… I will find you again. Next time…”

“My Simon. There won’t be a next time,” Lilis whispered. She kissed his lips.

Her body darkened and expanded, sprouting elegant wings and scales that shone with the light of the sun itself. And as she completed her change, her dragon’s face appeared above him, looking down.

Fear.

Now that he could read her, Simon understood her expression. The same one she’d worn as she chased him after he’d fallen from the helicopter.

He wished he could thank her for the extra days, the chance to know her again in this life. But he could no longer speak.

She lifted her head to the sky and blew a stream of fire that separated into a rainbow of colors.

Simon would have laughed if he could have. Must have been one hell of a drink.

But the flames didn’t disappear. Instead, they circled around the dragon’s body, reforming into a kaleidoscopic ribbon, gossamer-thin, sparkling, and beautiful. She closed her mouth, cutting the flow of fire. The slim band of light remained, emanating from her chest.

Lilis nuzzled Simon’s face and let out a small rawr . Simon again understood her meaning without words.

Of course I accept you. He opened his mouth to tell her, but no sound came out.

As his lids drifted closed for the last time, Simon could see the unattached end of the glittering ribbon fly into his chest.

Simon gasped.

Unimaginable strength flooded him, powering through his limbs and filling him with rejuvenating energy. His muscles stiffened at unfamiliar sensations in his heart, and he flailed.

Stop fighting . Lilis’ voice in Simon’s mind made his breath catch. Was he hallucinating?

No. You can hear me now. Stop resisting. Your body is trying to heal at my pace. I’m giving you what I can, but I can’t keep it up.

Simon relaxed and instantly felt what Lilis described. A small foreign object moved through muscles, blood vessels, and finally, skin. His body ejected the bullet, and practically every part of him sighed with relief as the wound stitched itself closed.

He sat up gingerly and braced himself as a wave of dizziness overtook him. Lilis shrank quickly into her human form and flopped onto the ground next to him, gasping for breath. She leaned her head on his shoulder and nuzzled him again. Despite her smaller human size, Simon nearly fell over backward with exhaustion.

“Sorry,” she panted. “Dunno how to regulate. You’re feeling my fatigue.”

Simon glanced down at the fading illuminated band connecting him to Lilis, and his breath left him in a whoosh .

The colors.

Everything glowed on a new level. The reds were so deep, he could feel them in his core, as though watching his blood flowing through the world. And there were colors he’d never seen before, shades between purple and black with clear tones that changed before his eyes. Did they exist? Or was he hallucinating?

The greens blended with the earth around him, and he sank his fingers into the dirt, sensations bursting along his skin. He felt hot. Hotter than he ever had, as though he had swallowed a furnace. But it wasn’t uncomfortable. Just different.

Powerful.

Even as the rainbow link disappeared from view, he could feel it shining brightly as ever on some plane beyond his vision and he knew it remained.

“Lilis? Does this mean…?”

She tipped her face up, and her smile shone with all the love Simon felt. “I claim you as my mate, Simon.”