House Of Dragons Read online

  When I arrived, I found her already there, waiting by a large potted plant. We began making our way out of the building, past small clusters of people waiting at the different elevator bays, and other clusters of people milling about the lobby, talking to each other with foam cups of coffee in their hands.

  Once we were outside in the crisp autumn air, I spoke to Dana in a low voice, even though there wasn’t anyone immediately nearby. “I think there are too many listening ears at the café. Let's get in your car and take a drive to the nearest park or something.”

  We did just that, arriving within minutes. It was only then, after Dana had parked the car in the little lot adjacent to the small city park, that she finally let loose with her characteristic rapid free-flow of words, basically telling me everything I already knew about the situation with Mason and Alex, saying that Dean had finally told her everything.

  After a while, she finally paused briefly for air before speaking again. “You know, I have to admit that when Dean first told me all this, I was terrified, just because the Darkwings are such fierce fighters. Thinking about all this now, though, it’s pretty obvious to me that they’ll never be able to take over the country with Mason. They may be stronger than some of our own were-dragons, but we make up for that in numbers, which will help our side a lot. I even wish that I could help during any battle myself.”

  I said that I wished the same about myself. “I’d do anything to help Alex, because I really love him. Last night, I had a dream that he was holding me, and I had the strongest sense...this kind of deep-down knowing in my heart…that he’s the man I’m supposed to spend the rest of my life with.”

  It was true, and the dream had been even more powerful and vivid than I was able to describe to Dana.

  “I’ll do anything to stop him from getting killed, or to help him fight Mason, Michael Black, and the Darkwings.”

  It was at this moment that I realized that even though I was simply a human woman, maybe there was something I could do to help Alex if the need ever arose.

  *

  That evening, I didn’t see Alex or Mason, but I did get a simple five-word text from Alex. I miss you so much. I texted back that I missed him so much too, which was definitely the truth. The moment his text had come in, I was actually curled up in bed with the part of the blanket that still held his scent. It was as if I’d become addicted to him or something, going into withdrawals when I couldn’t get my “fix.” Unlike with a true addiction, though, I wasn’t sure that I’d ever be able to wean myself off him. I definitely never wanted to.

  Shortly after showering and dressing the next morning, I sipped a cup of steaming hot tea in the kitchen, realizing that it was Halloween. Maybe Dana and I can pass out candy to kids in the building, I thought, right before hearing some kind of a thunderous boom in the distance. It honestly sounded like a bomb had gone off somewhere in the building. Horrified, I realized that this was entirely possible, since the Darkwings had bombed different public buildings in the past. Once, about three years earlier, they’d even bombed a shopping mall during the Christmas shopping season, killing eleven people.

  Petrified, I grabbed my phone and called Alex, irritated when the phone just rang and rang, for what felt like a hundred rings, when in actuality, it was only four. On the fifth ring, I expected to get his voice mail, so my annoyance turned to surprise when it sounded like he’d picked up, although without saying hello.

  I waited a second, then said hello myself. “Are you there, Alex? Can you hear me?”

  There was a long pause.

  “Well, I’m here, but I’m not Alex. He’s a little busy right now, getting his ass kicked so hard I expect to see his eyeballs come flying out of his head any second. You might have just heard some kind of a loud boom or a crash, which was just one of my friends slamming him on the roof of the building. He’s actually been beat up so badly already that he seems completely unable to shift.”

  It was Mason. The moment I’d realized it was him, my blood had seemed to turn to ice water.

  “Oh my God, Kira…you should really see this. I mean…my friend, Michael, really seems hell-bent on torturing Alex for a bit first before killing him. I guess Michael has a bit of a sadistic side, although I’m probably not one to talk. I roughed up my grandfather pretty good before killing him in his own office just ten minutes or so ago. Like Alex, the poor old bastard couldn’t even muster the strength to shift in order to defend himself. Kind of sad. I kind of really didn’t give a shit, though.”

  I couldn’t speak. I could barely even breathe. I could hear muffled sounds in the background that sounded like they might be groans of pain. I knew they were likely Alex’s, and something terribly bitter began rising in the back of my throat.

  “What’s the matter, Kira? Are you surprised that I’m not exactly the prince charming that you probably thought I was? It doesn’t matter anyway. Alex will soon be dead, and then you’ll just have me, and I wasn’t kidding when I said something to you along the lines of thinking we’ll make a good team. Once you get all your sad little tears about Alex out of your system, I know we will make a good team together, whether you like it or not. I say that because I’m soon to be the commander-in-chief of this nation; so, I think I’ll feel fully entitled to take whatever the hell I want and make it mine, which includes you.”

  “If you kill Alex, Mason, I will kill you, so help me.”

  With adrenaline flooding my body, I could suddenly speak again, as the ice that had seemed to flow through my veins at the sound of Mason’s voice became something like scalding hot lava. It was so hot, in fact, that it was making me break out in a sweat.

  “And I really mean it, Mason. If you kill him, or allow him to be killed, or even allow him to continue to be hurt, I’ll kill you. And if I’m not able to do it myself, I’ll at least see that it gets done. I’m sure all the many, many were-dragons still loyal to Alex are charging in to help him right now, as we speak.”

  “Well, no, that was so two minutes ago. Some of them tried to charge in to help him, but they got a little caught up in a line of Darkwings. See, there’s more of them than anyone anticipated. Well, I anticipated all of them, but I’ve secretly been working with them for quite a while now.”

  I suddenly found myself jamming my tennis shoes on my feet without even being aware of having decided to do so. “Are your friends still hurting Alex, Mason?”

  There was a long pause.

  “Well, I don’t know if hurting is the right word as much as murdering is. But, yes, they’re still going at it pretty hard and heavy. They’ve shifted into their wolf forms now, I guess just to make it easier for them to rip him apart with their teeth.”

  After dropping my phone, I ran into my bedroom so fast that my tennis shoes barely touched the hardwood flooring. Trembling from head to toe, I flung open the door of my walk-in closet, dashed inside, and grabbed my handgun from a shelf. This had been what I’d been thinking of the day before when I’d been contemplating ways that I could possibly help Alex if need be. When the government agents had taken me from my apartment over a month earlier, I’d packed my gun in a suitcase without either of them seeing. Then, unbelievably, no one had checked my suitcases for weapons when I’d arrived in New Detroit. I hadn’t even told Alex that I had a gun. It had just simply never come up in conversation before.

  Using my gun, I was determined to do whatever I had to do to save Alex’s life, even if that meant putting my own life at risk. After all, I knew he’d do the same for me. The only problem was that I wasn’t that great of a marksman. After having purchased my gun a few years earlier during a rash of home invasions in my neighborhood, I’d taken a few firearms safety classes and had learned how to shoot. However, I just didn’t seem to have any natural skill, and I soon grew tired of practicing. And once the people responsible for the home invasions were caught, I locked my gun away and hardly ever thought of it again.

  Racing out of my apartment, I now desperately wished that I�
��d had more patience and had spent more time at the gun range. Now that Alex’s very life might depend on my ability to hit a target, I couldn’t possibly have been filled with more regret.

  You just can’t think about that right now, Kira, I thought while hopping in the elevator. Just stay focused on the task at hand.

  When the elevator arrived at the highest level of the building, I all but flew out of it and raced down the hallway toward Alex’s penthouse, which he never kept locked when he wasn’t home. Once there, I threw open the front door and raced to the back of his apartment, where an ascending set of stairs led to another door. It was this door that led to the roof of the building, where I just prayed that Alex was still alive.

  *

  Not having any reserve of ammo in my closet, I only had six bullets, and I knew I had to make every single one of them count. However, very unfortunately, I wasted one immediately when stepping out on the roof. It was just an accident. Just a stupid, stupid accident. Having taken the safety off, I put my finger on the trigger when emerging from the doorway. I was immediately greeted by a snarling shifter wolf not fifteen feet away from me. Startled, I’d just accidentally squeezed the trigger and fired. The bullet seemed to go somewhere up in the sky, which was a small favor, because I could have easily hit Alex, who was already clearly in bad shape, completely covered in blood. Down on the ground maybe only twenty feet away from me, still in his human form, he was still being beaten by men and wolves alike, although it looked like he was making a valiant attempt to fight. He was at least trying to shield his face from the snapping jaws and razor-sharp wolf fangs that were coming at him fast and furiously.

  My accidental gunfire served to alert everyone on the rooftop of my presence, including Mason, who was still in his human form, just standing and watching his own brother being ripped to shreds.

  Immediately, he looked in my direction, and then smiled and called out to me. “Kira! Fancy meeting you here! I really hoped I might. Thank you for coming on up.”

  Disgusted by his tone, I began walking toward him, aiming my gun at him. Mindful of how inexperienced with firearms I was, I just wanted to get a little closer to him before I fired another shot. However, very unfortunately, I never got the chance. One of the wolves charged at me from the side and knocked me over, snarling. Dropping my gun, or maybe more like wildly throwing it up in the air, I screamed, falling to the rooftop. Then, almost before I could even blink, Mason had run over and grabbed my gun.

  Then, he hurled it over the side of the rooftop. “I don’t think you’ll be needing that anymore.”

  Instantly, every pore in my skin seemed to exude boiling hot sweat, despite the fact that the wind atop the fiftieth floor was positively icy, and I was only dressed in jeans and a sweatshirt. Literally frozen with fear, I could only make some sort of a feeble whimper, knowing that Alex was probably going to die, and now, I was probably going to die right along with him. Despite the fact that Mason wanted me for his own, I had no doubt that he still might have no problem killing me for my audacity in coming at him with a gun. Unlike Alex, Mason probably saw me as completely replaceable, I figured.

  In response to my feeble whimper, he just leered at me. “Oh, what’s the problem? Are you rethinking your whole ‘hero’ plan now? Too bad, because once my boys finish off Alex, you’re now next. In fact, I think I might even do the job myself. I might even really enjoy it after the stunt you just tried to pull.”

  Finally forcing myself to unfreeze, I began trying to get up, driven by panic.

  However, Mason forced me back down again with a boot on one of my shoulders. “Oh, no you don’t. You just stay down and watch the show. I want you to watch while Alex gets killed. I want you to see every last gory detail.”

  Whimpering again, I turned my face in the direction of Alex, and suddenly, my whimper turned into a loud gasp. This was because Alex was actually on his feet now, swinging at his attackers wildly, although with power that couldn’t be denied.

  Allowing the tiniest little bubble of hope to rise in my heart, I called out to him. “That’s it, Alex! Keep fighting them! Just keep going!”

  He did, and within just a few seconds, he’d shifted into his dragon form, massive and majestic.

  Shrieking with joy, I somehow managed to crawl out from under Mason’s boot and hop to my feet. “That’s it, Alex! You can do it!”

  Just then, most of the other shifters on the roof, including Mason, shifted into their dragon forms as well and took to the skies, breathing jets of fire. At that same moment, the sight of another group of dragons flying in from the west caught my attention, and within a few moments, it became clear that they weren’t Darkwings. Instead, they began attacking the Darkwings, blasting several of them with fire so hot that it was tinged with shades of purple, blue, and green.

  Overjoyed, I began to think that Alex was really going to live, and so was I. However, a snarl coming from somewhere on the rooftop drew my attention, and I saw a single Darkwing wolf remaining, looking up at the battle in the sky. One of his hind legs was mangled and bloody, really just hanging onto his body by a thread, and I figured that this was maybe why he hadn’t been able to shift into dragon form with his fellow Darkwings. At any rate, I wasn’t going to waste time contemplating this. With him still remaining on the rooftop, I knew I had to get to safety, and fast, before he noticed me and attacked.

  With my heartbeat hammering in my ears, I tiptoed back to the door leading to Alex’s penthouse, soon finding that it was locked. I wasn’t quite sure how this had happened, if it had just slammed shut behind me or what, but it didn’t even matter. Immediately, I went to my plan B, which was hiding behind a metal duct on the roof until someone could come help me.

  I wasn’t exactly sure if the duct I was thinking of as a “duct” in my mind actually was even a duct or what. It was just some kind of large metal outcropping on the upper western corner of the flat roof of the building. It might have been a heating vent or some kind of an air conditioning unit. It also vaguely resembled an extremely wide and tall smokestack, like one that might be on the top of a manufacturing plant. Regardless of what it was exactly, my only hope for survival at present was to hide behind it and just pray that the single remaining Darkwing wolf didn’t spot me.

  Slowly, I began making my way over to it, glancing over at the wolf every so often to make sure that his focus was still on the melee that was taking place in the sky. Fortunately, it was. At least, it was until I was maybe just three or four feet away from the duct. That was when the wolf began sniffing the air and then suddenly turned toward me, as if catching a whiff of my human scent had just suddenly reminded him of my presence.

  Terrified, I let out a shriek of sheer panic, hearing some kind of a loud whooshing noise at the same time. The wolf charged at me. Screaming, I lunged out of the way, landing on my side on the roof. It was from this vantage point that I saw what had made the loud whooshing noise. It had been Alex’s mighty wings, beating against the air. He was diving now, and when he reached the wolf, he snatched it up in his mighty jaws and then unceremoniously tossed him over the side of the building. I could hear the wolf howling in terror, but just for a second or two before the sound quickly faded.

  Suddenly weeping with relief, I got to my feet, calling out Alex’s name.

  After landing on the rooftop, he immediately shifted into his human form and sprinted over to me, pulling me into his arms. “Are you okay? Are you hurt anywhere?”

  I nodded into his chest. “I’m fine. But what about you?”

  He was still covered in blood from head-to-toe; however, from what it looked like, his wounds were healing already. Very fortunately, fast-healing wounds were a benefit of being a shifter.

  Alex told me he was just fine. “I need to get back to the battle, though, and you need to get to safety.”

  “I tried that, but the door to your penthouse is locked, and I don’t have a key.”

  “Neither do I, but at this point, I think we�
�ll just kick the door down.”

  He soon did just that, then hustled me inside his penthouse, telling me to stay put until he came back. I said that I would, and he gave me a hasty kiss on the lips, then told me that he loved me. With my eyes overflowing with tears, I told him that I loved him too.

  For the next several hours, I basically just paced around his penthouse, anxious beyond belief, wondering if he and the other fighters were doing okay. I paced the same route so many times that I very well could have worn a groove in the floor from the living room to the kitchen. Periodically, loud booms coming from somewhere far above the building told me that two dragons had collided. Each time this happened, I cringed, praying that Alex wasn’t one of them. I was becoming sure that if anything happened to him, it would be the end of me too.

  Around noon, thoroughly exhausted and spent of all adrenaline, I finally sat down on the couch to wait for him to come back. And somehow, even though I definitely didn’t mean to, I fell asleep. Immediately, I began having hazy nightmares about Alex being hurt. Unable to wake up from these nightmares, I just somehow went through them, seeing scenes of Alex bloodied on the roof and feeling powerless to help him.

  Apparently, despite my nightmares, I was out like a light for hours, because when I finally awoke to the feel of his arms around me, the apartment was dim with the approach of evening. Immediately, I flicked open my eyes and saw Alex beside me, shirtless and in a pair of jeans, clean of all blood. His hair was damp, indicating that he’d just taken a shower.

  Gasping with relief to finally see him in the flesh, I grabbed onto him, then asked if he was okay.

  He said yes. “I’m perfectly fine. I can’t say the same for Mason and most of the Darkwings, though. Many of them were killed today. In fact, a majority of them were.”