“I never thought I would stand here holding a civil conversation with a soldier of St. George,” she mused. “What is your name, human?”

“Garret.”

“You may call me Jade,” the dragon returned with a slight nod. “And it seems we have a lot of work to do.”

RILEY

“This is it,” Wes muttered.

I slowed the car and pulled off the road, easing to a stop at the edge of an empty, barren stretch of concrete several miles from anywhere. A rusty chain-link fence surrounded the perimeter, and in the distance, I could see the bulky shapes of buildings, run-down and seemingly abandoned. Danger and trespassers-will-be-prosecuted signs hung on the fence every hundred or so feet, and there were no guards, vehicles or anything to indicate that a top secret facility used for housing breeder dragons lay just beyond the barrier.

“Looks abandoned,” Wes remarked. “But, if the facility is here, I’m sure that’s what they want you to think.”

“Yeah,” I agreed, gazing out over the long stretch of pavement and concrete. One of Talon’s ploys, especially if they wanted to keep something hidden, was to buy all the property surrounding the thing as a buffer zone, then leave it empty and deserted. A common tactic to hide in plain sight, and one that worked well. “The facility itself will probably be underground somewhere,” I mused, scanning the cluster of buildings near the center. “We won’t know until we get closer.”

“Be careful of guards,” Wes muttered. “If this is the facility, security is going to be tight, even if it is hidden. Though I still don’t know what you intend to do once you find it, mate. Waltz in and free all the breeders with no opposition whatsoever? Just you and the bloody hatchling?”

“I told you,” I growled at him. “This is just recon. I’m not going to storm the damned gates. But I want to see what we’re up against.” We’d argued over timing and strategy during the entire fifteen-hour drive from Louisiana to West Virginia, and I still hadn’t been able to convince him that I wasn’t going to die in a blaze of dragonfire trying to lead the breeders to safety. “I know what I’m doing,” I said impatiently. “This isn’t any different than when we rescued the soldier, or the countless other times we’ve gone up against Talon. I’m not going in half-assed and, after all this time, you should know me better.”

“I do know you, Riley,” Wes returned in a low voice. “Don’t you dare throw that in my face.” We’d been speaking in near whispers for a couple hours, mostly because of the sleeping Ember in the backseat. She had finally drifted off, and I’d kept a close eye on her in the mirror, watching for any signs of nightmares. But for maybe the first time in weeks, she seemed to be sleeping peacefully, and the last thing I wanted was to wake her up.

“Yes, I am aware we’ve done this before,” Wes went on, still glaring at me. “I will readily admit that, either through skill or bloody dumb luck, you have gotten yourself out of situations most men would die in. But I also know what’s at stake here, Riley. I know how long you’ve been searching for the facilities. If this place had an impenetrable security system and a few hundred guards, that wouldn’t deter you at all, would it?” The human continued to stare me down, defiant. “You’re not going to abandon this, no matter what happens. Are you?”

He paused, waiting for an answer, and I sighed. “No.”

“That’s what I thought,” Wes muttered, shaking his head. “This is your personal white whale, mate. I just want you to be careful. To not become so obsessed, you get yourself and everyone around you killed.”

A shuffle from the backseat made us pause. Ember stirred and sat up, blinking sleepily as she gazed around. Her hair stuck out at odd angles, almost like horns, as she rubbed her eyes. “Where are we?” she said, yawning. “Are we there yet?”

At the sound of her voice, Cobalt stirred, and I took a deep breath to calm him down. Ever since that night, when it had taken everything in me not to Shift, not to respond like Ember wanted and join her in my real form, consequences be damned, my instincts were on a hair-trigger reaction. That moment we’d shared afterward, that kiss, hadn’t made it any easier.

What the hell are you doing, Riley? I’d thought when I had retreated to my room that night. Did you really just kiss the girl, like a human? What is wrong with you? You’re not the damned soldier of St. George. She doesn’t want that from us.

Truthfully, I had no idea what I was doing. This whole situation had turned my life upside down, and I was doing things I never would have considered before. Things I had scoffed at a few months ago. Kissing a girl? Promising to be more human? What was wrong with me? I had no idea, just that Ember called to me, but due to circumstance, there were very few times we could both be ourselves. So, for now, anyway, I guess I would give this human thing a try.