Chapter Twenty-Five

Lindsey

Straining, my shoulders burning with agony, my wrists bleeding, I slowly edged two fingers into my pocket. My cell, uncooperative, slid to one side, evading my fingers. Not willing to take a break and rest, gather new resolve, I chased it, seeking to catch it between my index and second fingers. I forced it against the seam where it stayed, stuck.

"Come on," I groaned. "Come to Mama. Be good now, that's it."

My fingers caught the cell's edge, and I pulled it a fraction of an inch before I lost my grip. Panting, sweat stinging my eyes, I rested without taking my fingers away. I shut my eyes, focused on my breathing, regaining my focus, ignoring the pain of protest my knees offered up. The burning in my shoulders and wrists.

Something rustled in the underbrush. My eyes shot open, searching for the source of the noise. Austin? Had he come back to kill me? I nearly shifted in my panic, risked going dragon, despite the chance I'd be blown to smithereens if I did.

A medium sized shape emerged from the thicket. My eyes had long adjusted to the darkness, but the creature was indistinct. A shadow. It paused, perhaps studying me as I stared at it. A coyote. Coyotes sometimes attack people. I sat still, neither offering a threat while controlling my fear.

Maybe it can sense the dragon in me. Perhaps it can smell what I am. If it attacks me, we're both dead.

The coyote, if that's what it was, moved back into the bushes and was gone.

I breathed heavily. "Shit."

After a long, few moments, I felt ready to try again. "Come to Mama."

I tightened my fingers' grip on my cell's edge. Cautioning myself to not hurry, to take it slow, I gently pulled on the phone. It came with me. Holding my breath, not daring to let go, I slid my two fingers further down for a better grip.

"Glory halleluiah."

I breathed deeply as my phone left my pocket and filled my palm. I relaxed my shoulders, rolling them to relieve some of the stress while flexing my hands. I turned the phone around, seeking the on button. I pushed it.

A moment later, I was rewarded with the light from the screen and the reassuring ding said it powered on.

"Come on, Brody," I whispered. "Come find me."