Page 168 of Red Marked

“Star!” I all but growl it.

She backs up until she bumps into me. I put her into the passage first, keeping my body between her and the cavern. Holt stays crouched in the moonlight and watches us go.

The crevice doesn’t seem quite as narrow this time around. I don’t feel the rock. I watch the pale shape of her back, and I listen for claws behind us. There aren’t any.

I suck in my breath when it gets a little tighter.

We come out into hot, wet air and a wall of dragons. They’re all still in their scales. It’s too dangerous to be in your skin in a jungle this thick, where anything could come out of the trees before you had the room to shift. Atlas rumbles when he sees us, and his head sags. Rift pushes past him and runs her snout over Star from her hair to her heels.

“Thank fuck!” Brian yells from Rex’s back. “Atlas was about two minutes from taking that cliff apart.”

Star turns to me. “I’m sorry, Flint, I⁠—”

“Save it!” I snap. “Let’s get back. Now, Star.”

She shuts her mouth.

I shift, and she follows suit. Atlas breaks a path to the river, and then we’re in the air and flying for the center.

48

Star

I’m buzzing with excitement, but I’m also a little afraid of what Flint is going to do.

He’s angry.

I can actually feel it coming off him in waves.

I had hoped he would have calmed down by the time we got back to the center, but he hasn’t.

We land almost in formation.

I think the others can sense it because we’re all silent and have been the whole way home.

It’s…tense.

Rex crouches so that Brian can slide down off the rig, and, for once, even Brian keeps his mouth shut.

I turn to the building. Rift turns with me. Behind us, the males turn to the fence.

I pull my dragon in. The silver goes away, and the night air is warm and humid on my skin. My clothes are in the heap right where I left them.

Rift dresses next to me. She looks at me sideways twice and says nothing.

There is the sound of zippers, and the thump of someone stamping into a boot. That’s all.

“What happened in there?” Atlas asks when the last of us has turned around.

“Did you get the information?” Brian holds the dart case to his chest. “Please tell me that wasn’t for nothing. You gave me a heart attack, Star…um…Pearl.” His eyes flash to Flint, who looks like he could murder someone.

Crap!

“Everyone is dismissed,” Flint snarls.

Dane takes a step back.

Flint drags air in through his nose, and when he talks again, he sounds almost normal.