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I dove through the hole in the fence, feeling the wards’ influence fade as I passed through and my dragon self stretched beneath my glamor.

The moment had come.

Only one dragon would survive what came next.

CHAPTER 22

Outside the prison’s huge perimeter fence, the vastness of the Nevada desert spread all around, bathed in monochrome moonlight—barren, beautiful, isolated, and perfect for the final showdown with my brother.

My glamor twitched as I readied to let it go.

Syros staggered several yards away, then straightened. I could see the change already beginning—his shoulders broadening, his silhouette elongating against the starlit sky.

“Just you and me now, brother,” he laughed, his voice deepening to a rumble. “No wards. No cages. No pathetic friends to hide behind.”

He still didn’t get it. Probably never would. My friends were everything to me.

I stepped forward, feeling the last of the wards’ influence fall away. “You should never have hunted me down. If you hadn’t threatened them and the hotel I’d have left you alone.”

His skin began to ripple, scales pushing up beneath his glamor. “I had to hunt you. You and me, we’re the last. It’s in our nature to kill. I need you gone so I can take the ultimate crown.”

“You still don’t understand, do you?” I shook my head and flexed my hands at my sides, gradually letting the glamor go. “It was never about power, not for me.”

Syros laughed, the sound cracking into a roar as his face elongated, teeth lengthening into fangs. “Power is all there is! That first night I came to you, I offered you a choice. The demon, the vampire, your little pets could have lived long, uneventful lives if you’d just submitted to me.”

I showed him my claws, moonlight gleaming off their razor edges. “Uneventful is not really how the SOS Hotel works. It’s mostly chaos and mayhem.”

“After I kill you, I’m going to see to it that place is reduced to ash, starting with your wretched friends⁠—”

The desert night erupted in twin bursts of energy as we both shifted.

My bones stretched and cracked, glamor falling away as my spine elongated and wings burst from my back. My skin hardened into iridescent scales. I roared as the last pieces of humanity fell away, replaced by claws sharp enough to tear through steel and jaws that could crush cars like candy.

Syros roared too. Larger than me, his scales shimmered a deep tropical green, so dark they absorbed light rather than reflecting it. His eyes glowed with molten hatred, wings unfurling to block out the stars.

We circled each other, two primordial beasts, our massive bodies kicking up dust from the desert floor, tails lashing, wings flared. The prison’s tiny searchlights cut ineffectually through the darkness. Victor and Zee were down there, so were thousands of others. A few blasts of fire from Syros, and it would all be scorched rubble.

I had to end this now. End him.

He struck—a blur of scales and fury. His massive tail whipped toward my head. I ducked. Displaced air rush over my wings and back. I lunged for his exposed flank. My teeth scraped against his armored hide, searching for a weak point between scales, but skittered right off. His heart . . . I had to get to his heart and rip it out for good. He couldn’t heal without a heart.

Syros roared and twisted, one massive clawed talon swiping down. Pain lanced across my shoulder as his claws tore through scale and muscle. I disengaged, leaping back to create distance.

Blood—my blood—stained the desert sand. But the wound was already closing, dragon healing mending the gash even as Syros spun around for another attack.

This time I met him head on. Our bodies collided with thunderous impact, the sound echoing across the desert. We grappled, claws seeking purchase, tails lashing, wings whipping up dust storms. I was smaller, and quicker, but Syros had raw power on his side.

He caught me in a deadly embrace, his larger body driving me back, toward the prison. We crashed to the ground, me on my back, my wings pinned painfully beneath me. His jaws snapped inches from my throat—too close! I strained to lever him back and protect my belly at the same time.

He snapped at my face again.

Oh dear.

This was . . . not going well.

In fact, we’d been here before. I’d fled then, leaving him for dead, running and running, until coming to this world and finding one broken but bright demon whose shadow I could hide in.

I couldn’t run now. There was too much at stake, too much to fight for. My wonderful, funny, brave Zee. And Victor—my strength, my rock. The SOS Hotel, worth so much more than the rotted timbers and dodgy electrics holding it together. Staffed by people who cared. A sanctuary for all. A beacon of hope.