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Nick’s eyes turn to vertical slits and he starts to radiate power, washing a sense of fear over me. I steady myself, knowing his rage is not directed at me. “Let’s catch this guy, Nick. Let’s make you and your friends safe and bring Christov some justice.”
Nick closes his eyes and tries to even out his breathing. I give his hand a squeeze, and he clasps onto it as if it were a lifeline. Maybe it is. I’ve never seen him upset before. I don’t like it. I want to kill the bastards who caused him so much pain. No one hurts my family, and that includes Nick. I may not feel the need to claim him romantically, but he’s my family. My partner. He’smine. Again, I’m being territorial. I’m as possessive as a werewolf these days. I’m probably a jealous bitch, too, though I’ve never been put to the test. My men are amazingly loyal. I give Nick’s hand one more squeeze before I squat down beside Christov’s head. Nick crouches down beside me and runs his hand over the dragon’s head and down the back of his neck.
I eye the gashes in his throat with trepidation. Those wounds are not the only ones the dragon suffered. He looks like he’s been slashed to bits and even burned in places. Whatever happened, he put up a hell of a fight. “Be ready to catch me,” I murmur as I pull the glove off my right hand. “I have a feeling this is going to be intense.”
I take a deep breath and place my hand on the dragon over the slashes in his throat since it’s the place where I’m likely to get the strongest imprint.
It’s quiet and calm gliding through the deep waters of the lake. I’m shocked that Christov isn’t freezing, but he seems impervious to the cold. He’s happy. He loves the water. Feels free there. He loves to let his dragon out, and his dragon loves it, too. They are completely in sync with one another.
Christov sees the large hole in the ice that his family keeps open for diving purposes, and he races through the water toward it. He leaps from the water and up onto the ice just like a seal or a penguin would. He shifts and heads for the house, fully clothed and dry as a bone, whistling like he doesn’t have a care in the world.
He gets only a few feet before he’s hit in the neck with a tranquilizer. It’s not a normal one. He doesn’t just pass out like I did when I was hit. Instead, he falls to his knees and lets out a strangled cry. Poison, maybe? Whatever it is, he’s clearly in pain.
When he falls onto his hands and knees, three figures slink from the tree line toward him. I curse when I see that they’re wearing ski masks. I can tell that two of them are men and one is a woman, but other than that unhelpful tidbit, I won’t be able to pick them out of a lineup.
“Hurry!” the female shouts. “Secure him. He’s weaker in human form but still strong.”
Christov writhes in agony but pulls the dart from his neck and breathes through the pain. Sweat breaks out on his forehead, and he glares at the men now advancing on him with a large net in their hands that glows with magical power. The men stop. “Are you sure he can’t shift?” one asks.
“Impossible,” the woman states confidently. “That tranq was laced with liquid gold—a mythic’sonly true weakness. I promise he can’t shift.”
The two men converge again. “Get away from me,” Christov grinds out through a clenched jaw. He pants several times, fighting the pain.
“Don’t think so,” one of the men says with a smug laugh. “You’re going to earn us two million dollars.”
The second man throws the glowing net over Christov, and the two of them jump into action, tackling Christov and trying to secure him. Christov thrashes wildly, throwing one of the men completely off him while the other jumps on his back. He’s got a zip tie in his hands. I’m not sure that would hold Christov, but he seems determined to tryit. As they struggle, Christov releases a mighty roar and his form shimmers. Seconds later, Christov stands before them in his dragon form, the magical net lying in shreds below him. “Look out!” one of the men shouts to his friend, who nearly gets smashed under Christov’s fin.
Christov, though he’s meant for the water, still has a lot of power in his tail. He whips it around, catching one of the men and sending him sailing through the air toward the trees.
“Shoot him again!” the second man shouts to the woman as he dodges Christov’ssnapping mouth. Christov may be a water dragon, but he’s got teeth a great white shark would be envious of. “Galina! Tranq him!”
Galina, the female, fumbles with a tranq gun and fires again. The dart hits its target, and Christov roars again. It doesn’t get past his scales, but he’s beyond pissed now. He rears his head back and shoots a stream of ice from his mouth the same way that Nick breathes fire. I had no idea he could do that. It’s mesmerizing to watch.
Galina isn’t surprised. She jumps to the side and shoots her gun again, hitting him with another dart. Again, it doesn’t penetrate his rough, scaly skin. The third man, who took a short flight toward the trees, is on his feet and comes running back, a large, broad sword in his hands, and charges Christov. Christov spits another blast of ice and hits the man square in the chest. Ice shards pierce his body all the way through, and he immediately falls to the ground. “Terlack!” Galina cries, rushing toward him. She drops to her knees and scoops him into her arms, but even I can see that the man is dead.
Christov’sdragon roars in pain again, and I look over to see that the other man has a sword like Terlack and is slicing and stabbing at Christov. Christov tries to get at the man, but he’s quick, and Christov is starting to slow down. He swipes at the man with his tail, but the man ducks and rolls out of the way. The move puts him right beneath Christov’s front fin, and he shoves his sword into the soft underbelly of the dragon.Christov cries out in agony as the man pushes his sword further into him, burying it hilt deep. Christov collapses, unconscious.
Galina charges toward the dragon and her accomplice. “Sabin, you idiot! The bounty said he’s wanted alive!”
“You said he couldn’t shift!” Sabin yells back. “He was going to kill us!”
“You could have just maimed him. You didn’t have to kill him. Now the only other dragon on this half of the world is Nick Gorgeous.”
“There’s no way we could capture Nick Gorgeous. He’s one of the most powerful creatures in the world.”
“My point exactly,” Galina snaps. “Now we’re out a two-million-dollar bounty.”
“He killed Terlack,” Sabin says stubbornly. “We would have been next.”
There’s a long pause, and I wonder why I’m still in the vision. I’ve been sucked into long visions before, but I’ve always been thrown out of them when the person I’m touching dies.
Finally Galina releases a long, dramatic sigh and in a much calmer voice says, “We’ll collect his blood.”
Sabin shakes his head. “But the bounty said—”
“I know what the bounty said!But dragon blood is better than nothing. Maybe we can still recoup some of our losses. If the client doesn’t want it, somebody will. We’ll take his scales, too. I think those are supposed to have healing properties. Could be worth a lot.”
Sabin runs back toward the trees and grabs a pack while Galina starts prying scales from Christov’s body with a long knife. I’m horrified by the process. She’s basically skinning him. My stomach churns, and for the first time in my life I wonder if I can throw up inside a vision. I know I want to.
