Chapter 14

FOURTEEN

Evander

The moment the Phoenix Institute sent their most recent seismology numbers, I was put into a helicopter to check it out. The thing is, there have been many earthquakes over the years, but nothing followed the patterns we've been looking for… until now.

This is it. It's finally happening . I only hope that I won't be too late.

The pilot next to me turns a little and speaks over the loud sound, "There was another earthquake just a few minutes ago. This one was even stronger than the last one, and it fits the pattern exactly… at least, the end of the last pattern."

Adrenaline pumps through me. "We need to get there now . Quicker. Do you understand me?"

He nods. "I'll do my best, Captain."

The man needs to do better than his best. If the scientists are right and I don't get there fast enough to capture the specimen, people could get hurt. Worse than that, the public could learn about what we've been doing, and shit will rain down on us. The program will be closed, and the government will try to take over. And having worked in the military, I know things always go wrong when they get involved.

"Captain Pierce, Evander, Sir, you're going to want to hear the chatter on the radio."

I switch it on, and instantly know we're in trouble.

"There's a giant lizard in the sky."

"There was an earthquake, people are trapped."

"Part of the road is down."

"The fucking thing breathes fire. It's a goddamn dragon."

I grab my phone and dial the scientists. They pick up without a ring, though I have to shout over the noise of the blades. "A dragon has been spotted."

There's silence, and then a voice says, "We're sending backup. Until then, keep an eye on the situation. And be careful." They hang up, and I slide my phone into the side pocket of my bag, a feeling of foreboding spreading over me.

A motion catches my eye, and my heart leaps into my throat. "To the right!" I shout.

A green dragon darts out from the clouds and nearly collides with us. I brace for impact, another shout of warning in the back of my throat, but the helicopter manages to maneuver in time to avoid the creature before it disappears behind us.

My heart beats loudly in my ears. It was green, powerful, and magnificent. Just like the drawings.

I've never been like the scientists, who had absolute faith that the creatures really had existed in the past. There was no evidence of where they'd gone. Or, to be frank, evidence that they had ever even existed. Without that evidence, I wasn't about to blindly accept everything the scientists were saying, including that they believed that the dragons hadn't really died, but were slumbering, in a state of hibernation, waiting to awaken.

I'd simply found the whole concept of dragons fascinating. I'd found the fact that the exact readings they'd predicted would come from dragons waking under the earth were being recorded at the Phoenix Institute. But until this moment, I didn't really believe it would happen. I was intrigued, and I liked being involved in this research. But now? Everything had changed.

"Green lizard in the sky."

"A red dragon went down."

I stiffen. Are there two of them? Or are the locals just confused?

My stomach flipped. God help us if there's two of them.

I need to stop. I need to think back to everything I'd heard the scientists discuss about what dragons were like when they were alive. Some of the beasts were intelligent, while others were mindless killers. They could heal at incredible rates, fight like mad, and dominated the skies. Some of the scientists even believed that in the days of dinosaurs, the dragons' favorite pastime was plucking the pterodactyls from the sky and devouring them in the air.

Oh, shit.

"We need to land!" I yell to the pilot.

Dragons are territorial. They won't want to share their sky with us. The scientists had described in detail how the dragons would tear apart winged dinosaurs. There is no way in hell I'm going to experience that first-hand.

"No safe place," the pilot says, with a shake of his head, completely unaware of the danger we're currently in.

"The road!" I point. "Land it!"

He shakes his head again. "That's a negative, Sir. The road isn't suitable for landing, too much loose debris."

"Fucking land this thing! Now!" I shout, my patience wearing thin as I try to keep an eye on the sky in every direction. Fucking civilians, I think. If this had been a military operation, the damn pilot would have followed the order, then told me why it was a bad idea.

"At the institute. It's not too far."

I'm about to argue again, when I see movement directly above us. "Down!" I shout as I cover my head and duck.

Glass shatters all around us, and the roar of the blades is nothing compared to the roar of the dragon. I peek out and see its talons clamped onto the front of the chopper, stopping the blades from spinning. Then it leans in, smashing the glass dome around us, and rips the pilot out of his seat as he screams. The dragon pushes off of the aircraft, carrying the pilot in his mouth.

I think I see him begin to chew, but then the helicopter is spinning, falling, and finally hits the treetops. It descends through the trees, losing velocity on its downward journey. The branches reach in through the gaping hole the dragon left. They tear at my flesh. The ground comes rushing at me. The helicopter snaps in two, and what's left of the nose crashes down, causing the seat I am sitting on to come loose from the frame. I'm ejected to one side, and I leave the chopper behind me on the road as I slide across it.

When I finally stop, I unbuckle with shaking hands. If the dragon has scented this thing, I have to get as far from it as possible. Anywhere that isn't this empty road in the middle of nowhere.

Fuck.

I untangle myself and my bag, spot my smashed phone, then jump out of the seat onto the open side of the road. I have one minute to gather my wits when a truck screeches to a halt in front of me. The woman waves at me to get out of the way, but I shake my head. This is my ride. If I don't get on it, chances are that dragon will be eating me soon.

Lifting my badge, I show it to her. It doesn't technically mean much outside of our base, but she doesn't know that. Hopefully.

The woman shakes her head, and points for me to get out of the way. What. The. Hell.

I pull out my gun and point it at her. To my surprise, a look of blind determination flashes in her eyes. She doesn't blink. She doesn't move.

Killing her would be a hell of a lot of paperwork. I put my gun away, irritated. I'm still getting her vehicle. I need to get to the Phoenix Institute and communicate a plan with the base to capture this dangerous dragon.

Moving as if I'm going around her to let her go, I act quickly, darting and throwing open her passenger door even as she presses on the gas. I manage to dive into the truck, clinging to the seat as my body threatens to fly out onto the road.

She curses and slows. So, I guess the asshole is willing to disobey an officer, but not let me fly out of the truck. Good to know. Fully climbing in, I slam the door behind me, suddenly overwhelmed by the stench of a man's cologne. And not a good one. But that's not my focus right now as much as it disturbs the senses.

"Turn around! I need you to take me back up the mountain!" I command.

"No fucking way!"

Irritated, I turn to face her and stop short. She's easily the most beautiful woman I've ever seen in my life. She has curly bright auburn hair, freckles, and green eyes. She's also wearing clothes that have been torn to shreds, as if by sharp claws. The bloody slashes run across her chest, stomach, and thighs, openly soaking her clothes in blood.

This woman already encountered the dragon, and somehow, lived to tell about it. At least, for now. But how? Just pure luck, like me?

As I stare while she drives like a maniac down the road, swerving around the debris from the helicopter, I watch her wounds rapidly healing before my eyes. They knit back together until they're nothing more than pink scars. How the hell is that possible?

Unable to help myself, I reach out and touch one of the marks. But it's exactly what it looks like: a scar. A scar as if from a deep wound, although several weeks old.

She jerks and smacks my hand away, her green eyes blazing with anger. "I've already been attacked once today. You try it, and I'll end you."

My mind starts working. The scientists had theories about the dragons. One was that they were sleeping, but another was that they were immortal… well, immortal in a strange way. Born anew with each generation in a new body. Basically, reincarnation. This theory had been debated over and over again, because the only way it worked was if the dragons could take on human form. Mankind would, of course, see dragons in the sky otherwise.

But what if both theories were right?

"Did the dragon attack you?"

I can practically feel her heart speed up, and judging by the visible pulse at her throat it was already going fast. "Dragons aren't real."

She's swerving around the road, trying to avoid rocks, abandoned vehicles, and even trees. Her hands are at ten and two. Her gaze is focused, although I can sense panic humming underneath her pale skin.

"Well, the green one that attacked my helicopter and killed my pilot certainly felt fucking real."

Her eyes widen and swing to me for the briefest moment. "He killed someone?"

My mouth quirks. "How do you know it's a he ?"

Her eyes are back on the road. "Just a guess, because men are dicks in every species."

The institute and the green dragon are no longer my focus. My backup will handle that dragon. There may be some loss of life given the fact that they're several hours out, but I can't change that. There will most certainly be some destruction, but my goal is to get a live dragon back to HQ, and I think I have one right here.

My objective is clear.

"You looked like hell a minute ago."

Her green eyes narrow. "You're not exactly good looking yourself."

Now, I know she's lying. I'm a good-looking man by anyone's standards. I don't just have a six pack, I have eight. My arms are like pythons, I have the kind of smile that lights women's panties on fire, and I'm tall. There's nothing for a woman not to like about me. But her lying to me doesn't matter, because it wasn't what I was talking about.

"Your scratches from the dragon…"

She glances down, those stunning eyes of hers widen, and she looks back at the twisting road, her skin an even paler shade. So, she either didn't know about the scratches or didn't know they could heal like that. I'm not sure which. But again, if she's an immortal dragon, reborn into human flesh each generation, she wouldn't know. I don't think.

"Were you the red dragon?"

She's breathing hard. "I don't know what you're talking about. You're crazy."

I usually like to play a little with people. Get them riled up. Get into their heads. Given my history, it's no surprise, but I don't like what I'm doing to her. It turns my gut, and the feeling leaves me unsettled. If there's one thing I'm typically good at, it's separating my feelings from my job, but I'm struggling here, and I don't like it.

"Here's the thing, I was sent here by chopper because Specter Inc. received word that the seismic patterns recently seen suggested the appearance of dragons on earth once more. So–"

"What are you saying?" she barks, her hands tightening on the steering wheel. "They knew this was possible? Those assholes put all of us at risk?"

"That's not my point."

"What? Your point is that you work for the assholes who allowed this to happen?"

I almost reach for my gun. Pointing it at her might shut up the loud mouth . But I swallow down the instinct. If she's a dragon, the last thing I want to do is piss her off.

"My job is to bring back the dragon, or dragon s , to my bosses."

She gestures to the sky with one of her hands before clutching it back on the steering wheel again. "Then, go, do it! Go capture the sky lizard or whatever."

My gaze drifts down to the slashes in her clothes. She's still covered enough, but the flashes of her skin are erotic in an unexpected way. I think I find her more attractive like this than I find most women naked. But even as I'm distracted by her body, I notice the fact that even the scars have disappeared now, leaving her perfect, creamy skin behind.

"Not even a scar now," I comment, like I'm commenting on the weather.

She glances down, winces, then glances back up and curses as she nearly slams into a rock. "Can you stop distracting me with your nonsense before we both end up dead? And buckle up!"

"Buckle up? You want the guy who pointed a gun at you to buckle up?"

"Yeah, not for your sake though. I can't imagine how traumatized I would be to see your body splattered across the pavement. So do it."

I obey, but I want to tell her she's right. Those kinds of memories stay with you. I've seen more lives lost than I ever want to think about. Some have blended together, but some have certainly reserved a special place in my mind.

"Unless you want me to drop you here so you can find the dragon?" she suggests hopefully, slowing down just a bit, even though she's glancing up at the sky.

I decide it's best to just come out with it. "The thing is, I think I'm with another dragon right now."

She glances at me, and I can read her like a book. She's trying to evaluate me. To see what I know and how certain I am about what I'm saying. Maybe she figures me out. Maybe she doesn't. But her guard goes up again.

"Are you trying to be funny?"

"I'm not."

She releases a slow breath. "Well, there's no dragon here."

I don't skip a beat. "What's your name?"

"What's your name?"

I don't mind giving it. She'll learn it no matter how this goes. Besides, it's not valuable information. Right now, everything I learn about her is valuable. So I'll give her what I need to in order to learn what I have to. This is a game, and I'm going to win it.

"Captain Evander Pierce," I say, then wait. When she says nothing, I press on. "I didn't catch your name."

She seems to debate her response for a painfully long time.

"Sam."

It suits her. "Just Sam?"

She glares. "When we get to town, we're going our separate ways. Got it?"

"Got it," I say. "And when we get to town, you should let me radio my base to let them know about you. They'll take you back to our base, where you'll be safe. Both from the other dragon and from yourself." I don't know for sure she is in danger from the other dragon, but reading her responses, the way I've seen her scan the skies, it's a reasonable assumption.

She snorts. "Does anyone believe the shit you spew?"

"A great many people. You should see the list of ladies who have fallen for my charm."

"Pass."

I study her. She's young. Although she's not much younger than me, she feels young. This must be scary for her. Overwhelming even.

"We need to be honest with each other."

"Who says we're not?" she asks.

I adjust my approach. "Let's say you are a dragon. Let's say that you thought you were human until just recently and something triggered you, and suddenly you were able to shift into a dragon. How do you think things will go from here? Do you think your loved ones will be safe around you? Do you think you might need help and guidance from the only team in the world who have extensively studied dragons?"

She's starting to listen. Starting to consider my words.

"Information is power. Talk to me. I'm an expert from Specter Inc. Maybe I can offer some assistance."

Okay, so I'm not an expert-expert. I'm not one of the scientists, but I've been drawn to lore of the dragons from the time I learned about them through Specter Inc. I might not understand everything, but I've picked up enough useful bits that I think I can gain her trust until I get her back to base.

"Let's just say," her voice comes out soft and shaky, her eyes going wider, even though she keeps them on the road, "I was in a shaft in the mountain during a class, studying seismology, and an earthquake hit. We were all thrown about… me, the professor, the other students, and… and my best friends. Heat was coming from the ground, and I found a dragon in the center of the shaft. It spotted me. It took me. It dropped me. And then I shifted into a dragon too. It attacked. It was trying to hurt me, but I shifted back and got away."

I'm breathing hard. Spell-bound by her story. I remind myself that I'm supposed to be giving her information now. Enough so that she believes me. Enough so that she won't hesitate to go to the base with me, or think too much about what will happen to her once she gets there.

"Throughout history, there have been countless stories about dragons. Drawings have been found that span centuries, originating from all over the world. Our scientists asked the question: what if dragons had truly been real? From there, two hypotheses emerged, based upon the fact that no dragon bones have ever been found. One of those theories was that dragons went deep within the earth and have slumbered through the ages, only wakened by specific earthquakes below the earth's surface. The other theory was that humans somehow had the ability to shift into dragons, and that dragons are immortal. This theory only worked if we accepted that humans would not be aware of what they were. The only question was how they could be triggered to turn into dragons. The scientists have run countless tests, but the only connection they found between the times artwork was found involving dragons was a pattern of earthquakes. They theorized that the quakes were the connection between all of this."

"So dragons can be born or awakened?" she asks, sounding intrigued.

I nod. "That was the idea. We, of course, believed that only one of the theories could be right, but you and that dragon prove otherwise."

She shakes her head slowly. "This is impossible. This is fantasy. Fairy tales. Not science."

"And yet, it is," I tell her.

Silence falls between us, and I give her a moment to think, though not too long. I need her to begin to see me as an authority on dragons. As a person she can trust and talk to. But I don't want her to think too hard about what Specter Inc. might have done to encourage the seismic pattern that awakened the dragon, nor about what they plan to do with them.

"You should know, dragons are creatures driven by scent. If he's scented you, you're in danger. The only place you can truly be safe is with me."

She gives me a funny glance. "Scent?" Then she smirks. "That must be why it hasn't followed me. The cologne that spilled in this truck."

Is that what that smell is? "That doesn't mean you'll be safe for long. I need to get somewhere I can reach my bosses and get us out of here while I still can."

"I'm not going to go anywhere with a strange man."

I try to keep my voice soft, almost reassuring. "Think about it, Sam. How do I know all of this? I'm not just some random man. I'm here to help you. Are you really going to refuse that help when that's exactly what you so desperately need?"

She begins to chew on her bottom lip, and I hate that my cock jumps in awareness of her. If we were at a bar, somewhere late at night with a drink in front of me, I'd call her lips cock-sucking lips.

"Alright," she says.

I hide my happiness. I've snagged an actual dragon. The scientists will be pleased.

And after that… I try not to think about what will happen to her.

"We're pretty close to town," she says, relief in her voice.

Then I'll call the scientists and her life will change forever.