30. Miles

THIRTY

MILES

I shifted and sprinted out to get between the dragon and Celina. Dragons were the most dangerous of all shifters. They were bigger, stronger, and could breathe fucking fire. Knowing that, I had no clue how dangerous a dragon would be after being suppressed. God only knew how long this Jared guy had been keeping his dragon stuffed away deep inside. The beast might be completely uncontrollable.

"Get the women out of here," Tate shouted, waving his hand toward Celina and Mariana.

I growled, not wanting to leave my friend to face the danger alone, but Celina needed to get out of here. I couldn't have given two shits about what happened to Mariana, but I did as asked. I shifted back and grabbed Celina by the hand, and ran back toward the cars. As I ran past Mariana, I scooped her up around the waist with my other hand. She cursed and struggled but allowed me to haul her and Celina behind my truck.

I set them down in the gravel and turned to look at Tate. He was still standing and looking at Jared, who was already fully shifted. The dragon was gnashing its teeth and dragging its claws across the ground, digging deep furrows in the dirt. It looked enraged. My body tingled with adrenaline, and I let out a relieved sigh when Tate finally shifted. He was at least twice the size of Jared's dragon, and had much more control. Living symbiotically with our beasts was the best way to develop your full potential. It was obvious Jared and his dragon weren't on the same page.

Mariana held her head between her hands like it was about to explode. "What's happening? How is this possible?"

Not taking my eyes off Tate and Jared, I said, "You really had no idea this guy was a shifter?"

"He can't be…that's not possible."

"I don't know if you've noticed, but your bodyguard just turned into a three-ton, fire-breathing dragon. I don't know how much more evidence you want of what he is."

"He's my brother, not my bodyguard, and I've never seen him do that before. How could he hide it all this time?"

"She's telling the truth," Celina said. "I saw her shock when she found out. She really didn't know."

I nodded, watching Tate ascend into the sky, his wings making big booming sounds as he rose. The other dragon saw him rising into the air and screamed a hiss of rage, and blasted the sky with a gust of flame. I flinched back. Even two hundred feet away, the heat was intense enough for me to think my eyebrows were going to get singed. I ducked back down.

"I have a theory," I said. "I think Antonio created a drug of some kind to suppress the shift. Something that prevents a shifter from changing. He experiments on them constantly. The only way to do that safely is to control their shifting." I looked at Celina. "Why did he attack you? When Tate and I pulled in, he was choking. He could have killed you. That wasn't the deal."

Celina glanced at Mariana, then back to me. "He lost it once I figured out that Antonio isn't his biological father."

Mariana went silent. The screeches and roars of the dragon fight the only sounds around us. Finally, she shook her head and whispered, "That can't be right."

Leaving her to contemplate the implications of the news Celina had just given her, I looked back over the truck's hood again. Tate and Jared were back on the ground. Tate swiped at the smaller dragon with a talon and opened a four-foot gash in its side. Jared shrieked and shot a stream of fire across Tate's chest and face. Tate closed his eyes and brushed off the flame like it barely fazed him, then shot forward and latched his jaw and teeth into Jared's left arm. Things were getting rough. Even this far back, I didn't think we were safe.

"Celina? You two get in the truck. The keys are still in the ignition. Get the hell out of here. Blayne and Steff are at the office, waiting on word from us. Go."

I looked down, and Mariana had a strange look in her eyes. She was muttering something I couldn't make out as Celina dragged her up to her feet. She was almost limp, and Celina struggled to get her to her feet. I stepped forward to help, and Mariana burst into action. She pulled a gun from the back of her waistband and pressed it against Celina's head, her other arm wrapped around Celina's neck. I froze, the fight behind me forgotten. All I could see was the woman I loved seconds from death. I held my hands up, showing Mariana that I wasn't doing anything.

"He's a traitor to the cause," Mariana said, nodding toward the dragon that had been her brother a few minutes ago. "I need to finish the job myself."

I growled at her menacingly, but she shook Celina and jammed the gun into her head hard enough for Celina to wince and whimper. "Stop that shit," Mariana hissed. "Give me the files."

She seemed out of it; her eyes wouldn't stay focused on anything, and her lips kept twitching like she was on the verge of saying something but kept stopping herself. Her unstable condition sent my wolf and me to the edge. We were both ready to attack, and the only thing holding us back was the gun against Celina's head. Every second that ticked by made it more likely Mariana might shoot her—either on purpose or accidentally. Her finger was on the trigger and tightened and released every second. I was fucking terror-stricken.

Mariana tugged Celina toward the door of the truck. "Get in."

I nodded to Celina, urging her to comply. I didn't want her to get shot for not listening. My brain was running through a thousand plans of attack. Each thought I had ended with Celina on the ground, her brains blown out by the psycho with the gun.

Behind us, Tate had Jared on the ground and was biting him in the throat. It wasn't hard enough to kill him, but just enough to subdue the other dragon. Tate seemed to have things well in hand. I wished the same could be said for me.

Mariana opened the passenger door, but instead of shoving Celina in, she turned back to me and put her hand out, keeping the gun on Celina. "The drive and any copies."

Snarling, I shoved my hand into my pocket and pulled out the thumb drive. The heat and smoke from the fighting dragons made it difficult to breathe. I coughed and wiped at my eyes. "This is it. All I've got."

I tossed it to her, and she snatched it out of the air, then looked down at the small piece of plastic and metal. "Are you sure this is all of it? You better not be lying to me."

I wasn't lying. Even if I were, there was no way she would be able to tell. I nodded. "You've got everything we were sent."

From behind us, we heard a human scream of pain. We turned to see that Jared and Tate had both shifted back to human form. Jared was on the ground, writhing in pain. Tate knelt above him, a hand pressed on the younger man's chest.

"It's all right," Tate said. "I know it hurts. Breathe through the pain. You've gone too long without ever shifting. The pain will fade…just focus."

Jared cursed but nodded and closed his eyes. "I didn't know it would hurt this much."

Tate shrugged. "It usually doesn't. But most of us do this a lot younger than you did. I've never heard of a shifter going this many years before their first change."

I'd been too distracted by the scene to notice that Mariana had released Celina. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Mariana walking toward Tate and Jared. Her gun was out, and the barrel shook as she aimed it at her brother.

"Jared?" her voice cracked as she screamed. "Are you a traitor? Have you been working with them all along?"

Tate and Jared snapped their heads in her direction. Tate stood and backed away, getting out of the line of fire. Jared rolled over onto his stomach and put a hand out toward Mariana, as though that would stop a bullet. "Put the gun down. You don't need to do this."

"You shut your bastard mouth." She screamed frantically. I had a feeling that she was one small push away from fully losing it. "Did you know what you were this whole time? Did Dad know?" She was in full-blown hysterics now. Everything felt like it was balanced on the edge of a razor. Anything could happen in the next few seconds.

"Mariana?" Celina said.

The gun swung around and aimed at Celina again. Mariana was wiping tears from her eyes. I clenched my jaw, wishing Celina hadn't brought the attention back to her.

"You aren't going to get any answers like this. You need to calm down and put the gun down."

"Shut up. I know more about what's going on than you do." She sneered at Celina in disgust. "God, you were so hard-up for some dick that you fucked an animal like him?" She gestured toward me with the gun. "Fucking disgusting. Bestiality, that's what it is, or one step away from it anyway. You realize the only reason I pretended to be your friend was because my dad wanted you out of town so he wouldn't have to deal with the headache of covering up the disappearance of a famous author. That's all. I was never your friend. I could never be friends with some slut who'd fuck a dog."

The gun was bobbing back and forth as Mariana became more unhinged. Tate was inching around, trying to get an angle of attack. I did the same, moving closer, hoping I'd have the chance to do something.

"You are one pathetic bitch, you know that?" Mariana said. The hurt in Celina's eyes made me want to tear this woman's throat out for hurting her like that.

Jared got to his feet and limped toward Mariana. "Stop this, Mariana. Stop while there's still time."

Nothing he said would stop her. It was evident that Mariana was on a mission to make Celina feel small. To try and destroy what little self-confidence she had.

Mariana spun and aimed the gun at Jared. "You're just as bad. Filthy animal." She turned and screamed at all of us. "Every one of you. All of you are animals. I'm surrounded by monsters."

Mariana set her eyes back on Celina and raised the gun. "You know, maybe I can do something for you. One small act of kindness. I can end your worthless existence."

No. Now was the time. I heard Tate and Jared scream, Celina gasp, and the sound of my feet sprinting toward Mariana. The last thing I heard was the ear-splitting sound of a gun going off.