Dragon's Challenge Read online

  “What was he stabbing people for?” she moaned, grabbing a bottle of rubbing alcohol to pour into one of Sly’s wounds. She didn’t want a repeat of Stephen’s injuries. “We could have got him out of there!”

  “I don’t know. They didn’t let us talk to each other.”

  Adam snorted. “The guards or the other prisoners?”

  “Both.”

  Adam nodded. “That’s how it was for us, too. Guess they really hated us. There were some of Cooper’s people in our jail, but I could only ever keep hold of Evan.” He pressed harder as the blood leaked through the cloth he was using. “This is some seriously fucked up shit we’re dealing with here.”

  Sly laughed, the sound trailing off into a cry of pain.

  Maura forced aside all thought of what might have happened and what she wished had happened. She concentrated on taking care of Sly instead. Once they were far enough away, then the dragons would be able to fly them to their new camp and Karey and Erica would be able to take care of them. It was her job to keep them alive until then.

  And then she would figure out what to do next.

  ***

  The two wolf shifters that joined their little group healed quickly, much faster than Stephen had. Unfortunately, the drama of the prison break had long-lasting repercussions. They had to abandon the camp at once and the non-dragons were dropped off at various locations. Maura stayed with Erica for several days as they trekked through the forest moving between human and cat forms to avoid being tracked.

  Erica didn’t complain about it, although she seemed rather annoyed. Not that Maura blamed her. She was just happy that Erica didn’t try to take off.

  “Where am I supposed to go, Maura? I mean, I could go back to the police and tell them what I found, but will they believe me?” Erica shook her head as they set up camp for the night. There would be no fires; they were both hungry, thirsty and cold. “Not to mention if they’re taking in everybody from the Academy, I could be on their list, too. I was the chief physician for a long time. I know about stuff that I’m not supposed to know about.”

  “We can only hope that they won’t. I don’t suppose that we helped your case, either. Though you do know the real reason why Evan brought you with us, right?” Maura settled down underneath the lean-to they’d built out of loose sticks and branches that they could break off. “He was worried about you. Went overboard—”

  “Yes, I know.”

  Maura sighed. “We could take you back if you wanted. And you could cooperate with the police—”

  “Sell you out? No.” Erica sat next to her, huddled close for warmth. “No. You’re the best chance we’ve all got. Just because I’m in no condition to take these risks doesn’t mean that I want you guys to go back to jail.”

  “Condition?” A suspicion sneaked into her mind. “Erica, are you—”

  “Yes. Yes, I’m pregnant. And you can’t tell anybody. Especially not Evan.” Erica’s gaze grew distant as she wrapped her arms around herself. “I know how he feels about me, but nothing can happen. Got it? Nothing at all.”

  Maura opened her mouth and then closed it again.

  Erica shifted slightly, shivering, and Maura didn’t think it was entirely due to the cold. She started to ask if everything was alright, but Erica blurted out, “And what about you and Stephen?”

  Heat rushed to Maura’s face, warming her otherwise cold nose. “What do you mean?”

  “I’ve seen the way you two look at each other. You’ve been out here by yourselves. Tensions are high. It can make a person do things that they wouldn’t normally do. Lowered inhibitions…” Erica gave her a tense smile and Maura understood; she was distracting herself from her own circumstance by focusing instead on Maura. “You can’t tell me that it hasn’t crossed your mind.”

  The fantasies that Maura had used to distract herself on the most hopeless of days came back to her. Images of Stephen’s chest, naked and gleaming as she gave him a sponge bath. His naked form the few times when she walked in on him changing or bathing. They’d tried their best to keep things professional, for sure. But it all started before the two of them confessed their feelings.

  “Yeah it’s crossed my mind,” Maura admitted. “But nothing’s happened.”

  “Why not?”

  Maura sighed. “Because it’s all too complicated. The situation. Everything that’s happening. It’s just too much to try to add…” She pressed her fingers to her temples. “No. That’s not true. I was afraid. Afraid of things changing.”

  “Changing… and then losing him?”

  Maura hesitated, then nodded. “Yes. That’s exactly what I’m afraid of. But I don’t know—”

  A huge, heavy form dropping into the forest made them both jump. Maura bit back a scream. She and Erica clung to each other. But when the figure shifted form and spoke, Maura let out a cry of relief.

  “It’s me,” Evan called. “Are you both okay?”

  Maura and Erica climbed from their shelter. “Yeah,” Maura said.

  “Good. Good.” Evan let out a heavy breath. “Good… Because we’ve got a problem.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Stephen growled, nursing the bruised knuckles on his left fist. Even though he’d have liked to punch Sly in the face, a tree was his victim. The sapling was cracked in half, hanging at an odd angle. The wolf didn’t look at all impressed with him. Adam and Karey stood nearby, Adam’s arm wrapped around her protectively.

  When Evan landed and Maura and Erica slid off his back, Stephen rushed over to them. He briefly checked on Erica before he focused on Maura. As much as he wanted to pull her into his arms and comfort her the way Adam was comforting Karey, he couldn’t make himself embrace her. Not in front of anybody, at least.

  Maura opened her mouth, her gaze lingering on him for a moment, then she turned abruptly away. “Why do we have a fire?”

  “Because this is so off the grid that not even satellites will find us,” Sly answered for her. “And because we needed light to actually see each other and have a proper talk. We’re far enough away from where they’ll be searching for us that nobody is going to spot it.”

  Maura narrowed her eyes at him but nodded. “Okay. Well, we are all here. So what is going on?”

  “Didn’t your pet dragon already tell you?” Sly snarled.

  Stephen growled, his flames flickering higher. It didn’t matter what the situation was, he had no call to be so rude and nasty toward Maura! This wasn’t her fault any more than it was any of their faults. She was neck-deep in this.

  “Evan did not tell me what is going on, if that is what you mean,” Maura replied calmly. Stephen was always in awe when he saw how calm Maura was in these situations. He himself wanted to beat the crap out of Sly, but she remained completely calm.

  The other wolf snorted and glanced away.

  “I’m leaving,” Sly said. “And none of this find separate ways to the same location shit. I don’t want any part of this, and I’ll take care of myself from now on.”

  Stephen bit back the curse that he longed to let fly. Maura’s eyes widened as she opened her mouth. “We stand the best chance at resolving this if we stick together.”

  “How? You tell me how and maybe I’ll give a thought to staying.” He waited half a beat before snorting. “Only you don’t have a plan, do you? None of you do. We can’t just break everyone out of jail and think that’ll solve anything. I’m not risking my neck for this. The rest of you can do whatever you want. But I saw enough sick shit while I was undercover in the Pack that I don’t want to deal with any of this again.”

  At that, Adam pulled Karey a little closer to himself, snarling. Smoke leaked from his nostrils. Stephen had to bite back a snap at him. Even though Sly wasn’t threatening Karey, he understood that Adam was just feeling defensive.

  “There are a lot of people who want to kill us,” the other wolf murmured. “And they’ll take any opportunity to use this as an excuse. It’s as much for your protection as it i
s ours.”

  Maura sighed. “In all fairness, the bounty on my head says dead or alive anyway. But I can’t make you stay if you feel it’s better if you leave. But is there a place we’ll be able to find you if needed?”

  Sly narrowed his eyes at her. He snarled silently before turning away. “Devil Mountain. But that doesn’t mean that I’ll actually help.”

  Maura might not want to try to force them to stay, but Stephen was sure as hell tempted. But he understood if he did try to stop them, it could end up making the situation even worse. After all, if they took offense at it, they could fight back. Maybe even go to the cops and turn them in for their own sake. Stephen didn’t trust these wolves. He didn’t know anything about them except that they had been agents working for the Academy in Pack territory. But what if they had been double agents?

  They hadn’t really known if they’d gotten all the traitors out of their own ranks, after all.

  Stephen snorted as the wolves disappeared into the dark forest. He kicked the ground and threw another log onto the fire, causing sparks to explode up into the air like fireworks. He slumped down, glaring at the flames while his own burned an erratic pattern inside his belly.

  “We’re better off without them. Just the Blaze Ops.”

  “I’m not part of the Blaze Ops,” Erica pointed out. Her voice, which had been sharp and snappy from the start, was low and uncertain now.

  “Yeah, but we know you,” Stephen said. “We can trust you not to abandon us.”

  Erica looked away.

  Here, Adam let out a heavy sigh. “Stephen—”

  He knew what was coming without waiting to hear what Adam was going to say. Fury ripped through him, and he was on his feet before he even knew what he was doing. “You can’t be serious!”

  “I have responsibilities. And Karey.” Adam pulled his mate close to him. She turned her face away, as though ashamed that she was the reason Adam was going to abandon them. “We have a child on the way. I can’t just ignore that. The situation being what it is, what can we do? I’m sorry but I can’t see a way we can actually win this.”

  Karey chewed her lip. “I’m sorry. But especially with a death bounty on your head… I don’t see how we really have a choice.”

  “You have a choice,” Stephen insisted but stopped when Maura put a hand on his shoulder.

  Her eyes were narrowed, and disappointment was heavy on her face, but she nodded at them both. “I understand. The situation being what it is and with Karey’s history… they wouldn’t show her mercy in this situation.”

  Stephen opened his mouth to argue, but even as he did so, he realized that Maura was right. Karey had been a part of the Pack and had faced a lot of accusations already in her life. It didn’t matter to a lot of people that she had been terribly abused, made to think that her own thoughts weren’t worthy of being had. It had taken an incredible amount of strength to turn her back on her father, the Alpha, and accept that he would probably kill her for it.

  And with a baby on the way? His shoulders slumped. He really couldn’t blame Adam for wanting to get her out of here.

  “It’s not the way I wanted you to find out.” Adam stared hard at Stephen. “You were going to be the first we told. We were just waiting until we could actually see you.”

  Stephen nodded, not returning the look. If the situation had been different, he’d have been happy for them. With how it was, though, he could only imagine the added stress a pregnancy would have on them.

  “When will you be leaving, then?” Stephen asked stiffly.

  “Considering the circumstances?” Adam grimaced. “As soon as we can.”

  Karey put her arm around his waist in silent support. “I’m ready to fly whenever you are.”

  “Then we should get away at once.”

  Erica stood. “If everybody else is leaving, do you think you could drop me off in a town around here? Or wherever, really.”

  This time surprise did cross Maura’s face. Stephen hid his own in his hands. So everybody was taking off and all their efforts to bring people back together to fight this enemy were going to be for nothing. And, a creeping sickness made his flames burn low, Maura had said that the bounty on her head was lifted to dead or alive. That meant that the people who were no doubt hunting them for the bounty weren’t going to be worried about taking her in alive.

  Why would whoever was behind this want her dead, though? She wasn’t a fighter, not like the Blaze Ops. She was the head of the Magnus Academy, sure, but she wasn’t dangerous. With the way things were, it wasn’t like they were going to get any help from the Academy anyway.

  And with Karey and Erica both leaving, they weren’t going to have any medical help if things got hairy again.

  “I thought you said you were going to stay.” Maura’s voice held a slight note of panic.

  Stephen looked up sharply, his fires rising. The instinctive need to defend her made smoke belch from his lips, but what was he supposed to do? If Erica wanted to leave, it wasn’t like threatening her would change her mind. She was stubborn to a fault—she needed to be chief physician in charge of taking care of stubborn dragons, after all.

  Threatening her would only backfire.

  Maura glared at Erica, her hands clenched. “You said that if you went back, they’d only come after you, too. Or do you intend to sell us out, then? Tell them where we went and—”

  “No. I’m not going to say anything like that to them. But if everyone is leaving, then I’m jumping ship, too. Think about it,” she said, her voice lowering to a growl, “when I was outnumbered five to one, I had reasonable deniability. I could say I didn’t have the chance to escape. But now? You’re a leopard, I’m a lioness. I could beat the crap out of you, no problem.”

  “But Erica…” Evan’s tone was small, heartbroken. “But we can keep you safe.”

  “You can’t even keep yourself safe.” Erica seemed to slump for a moment before she straightened again. Her gaze hardened, and she set her mouth stubbornly. “And I’m with Cooper, Evan. And I know that you’ve got a crush on me, but it’s not happening. I’m with him and even if I wasn’t, I wouldn’t want to be with someone like you.”

  Evan flinched and drew back.

  “That was unnecessary,” Stephen snapped, getting to his feet.

  “I don’t have time to worry about jilted feelings,” Erica snapped. “Now are you going to take me back or will I have to lead a trail straight to you?”

  Evan was the one to speak. “I’ll take you back. But not in the same direction that Adam and Karey are going. I don’t want to lead a trail to them, either.”

  Stephen wanted to argue more, with all of them. But they’d already made up their minds. Within minutes, they were gone. Everybody had abandoned them. The only one that was coming back was Evan, and Stephen wasn’t entirely certain he’d be able to make it back. With Erica deciding to cover her own ass rather than do anything to help them, she could set the cops on him before he had a chance to get back.

  “So everyone is just giving up,” Stephen murmured. “You know, this is how we’re going to end up dead.”

  “Stephen.” Maura sat next to the fire, her arms wrapped around herself. “We can’t blame them for protecting themselves the best way they can. We’ll just have to figure out where we’re going from here. If we can’t get anybody else out of jail…”

  She sighed.

  Stephen sat beside her, remembering what else there was for him to be upset about. “How long did you know about this dead or alive bounty?”

  Maura flinched. “A while.”

  “And is it just you or the rest of us too?”

  “Just me,” she whispered as she turned her face away.

  Stephen bit down on the rising anger. “And when were you going to tell me?”

  “I wasn’t.”

  Smoke billowed from his nostrils. Luckily for him, the wind changed and blew the smoke from the campfire into their faces right at that moment, so Maura didn�
��t notice. She coughed as she shifted her position, so she wouldn’t have to breathe it. It gave Stephen enough time to calm himself and ask, “Why not?”

  “Because it wouldn’t have made a difference.” Maura stared into the fire. “And it still doesn’t. So I don’t want to talk about it anymore.”

  “Maura—”

  “Please.”

  Stephen ground his teeth together. As much as he’d have liked to tell her that it didn’t work that way, that this did change things and they needed to plan what they’d do next, she just looked so lost, so unlike herself, that he couldn’t argue the point. So he nodded and added a little wood to the fire.

  “Fine,” he murmured. “But we will talk later.”

  Maura nodded. “Later.”

  Chapter Twelve

  With the night so deep and dark around them, the only light came from the fire. They let it burn lower as they waited for Evan to return. Maura kept herself hunched as she was, staring into the flames and wondering where it all went wrong. Was there something she could have done to stop this? Should she have brought out her secret weapon to stop the Blaze Ops from being shut down in the first place?

  “Maura?”

  She looked up to see Stephen staring intently at her. It was a stare that made her shiver. And she thought about their conversation and then the conversation that she’d had with Erica. Was it the situation stopping her from acting on her feelings? Or was it something else entirely?

  “We’re going to get through this, okay?” Stephen scooted closer and took her hand in his. She shivered, only now realizing just how cold she was. “I know it’s scary, and I know that I’ve been acting like you have all the answers. I’ll admit, I have been thinking of you as being the leader here. The one who does have all the answers.”

  He glanced away, tossing a pinecone into the fire.

  “I’ve been acting like I have all the answers, too,” Maura murmured. “But the truth is, I have no idea what I am doing. I don’t know what to do. I can’t do it on my own, and everyone is leaving and I… I’m so tired.”