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The man straightened and grinned. “He’s got spunk. His sire will like that.”
“Hmm, he’s going to be trouble, more like.”
“Just knock his head, we don’t have time to dick around.”
“Agreed. Sorry, lad.”
Jori felt the full impact of the back of a meaty fist, then the solid bricks of the wall behind him. Then nothing.
First, the sense of having been hit by a truck overwhelmed him. Pain throbbed in most of his body as it rocked and bounced.
They were in a vehicle.
He cracked his eyes open and his head swam as he tried to focus on his surroundings. Kymri sat with her back against the inside of the van wall, watching him. An ugly bruise was blossoming across the side of her face.
“I’m going to kill that motherfucker,” he said, but it came out more like a wheezing groan.
Her smile was weak as she leaned to help him sit up. Determined to get vertical he resisted the urge to flop back to the floor of the van. “I’ve been in quite a few scraps in my time, but I’ve never been taken down by a backhander like that.”
“If he were human, you wouldn’t have been.”
Jori chuckled, “Thanks for the ego stroke.”
Kymri reached out and linked her fingers through his, bringing his hand to her lips. Her eyes were trained on his. “Things are going to get messy, Jori.”
Her serious tone rolled through his body, “I know.”
“You’re going to have some decisions to make. You should take this time to think about what’s important to you. Really important, because that will be tested very soon.”
He looked down at the thick iron bands on her wrists, “They stop you from shifting?”
She nodded.
Then she couldn’t escape. He remembered what was said before about probabilities for the destiny of female dragons, when they were discussed back in the queen’s chamber. Had Elora been shackled to prevent her escape too?
He swallowed hard. Thoughts of his mother living like that wrenched his insides as he stared at Kymri. If that was his mother’s fate, it likely would be hers too. He wouldn’t let that happen.
He looked around the cabin of the van for something to try to pry the iron apart - a screwdriver, anything. There was nothing. Just an empty space. Unlinking their fingers, he reached for the cuff, inspecting it for a slip lock.
“What weapons do you have hidden on you?”
“They took them from me. Besides, you won’t be able to open it,” she said. “Only their king will be able to. He created them, he holds the power to open them, and from what my understanding is, he never does once they’re locked in place.”
“Bullshit, there has to be a key of some kind.”
She shrugged, “Maybe. Maybe not.” She sat calmly, her hands resting one atop the other over her lower belly. She wore the same expression he recognized from their earliest meetings on the island. That nearly unreadable expression when she was still deciding whether she was going to kill him or not.
Anger rose in him fierce and hot, “Why are you so damned calm? We have to get out of here.”
“They won’t hurt you.”
“So? Doesn’t mean I want to go with them; they’re freaks.”
A brow rose as she considered him.
“Not because they turn into dragons, dammit, because of their fucked-up way of thinking. No one deserves dominance over another.”
“Do you really believe that? Really?”
