Even expecting it, it still hurt like hell. And it knocked him clear out of the sky. No chance to soften his landing with a single flap. He hit hard, plowing into the dirt.
Tyrez roared as he vanished back into the clouds. Head spinning, Lucas concentrated. This was the trickiest part of the entire plan—he had to morph not back to himself, but to Ash.
He’d never done a morph between a target’s beast and his human half. The Torshin was already running to where he lay crumpled in the dirt. If Lucas screwed it up, Demeti would finish him before he could blink.
Lucas gritted his teeth and grabbed the visual. The narrow, high-cheekboned face with its remarkable, haunting eyes. The long, golden hair that matched the scattering of scales over cheeks and forearms. The body was perhaps the easiest—Ash and he shared the same lean muscles, although Ash was a little taller. He left the skin naked, without scales—he was supposed to be semiconscious. It wasn’t far from the truth.
He finished the morph just in time—Demeti loomed over him, crimson eyes gleaming in triumph. Lucas tried to crawl away. The shaking in his limbs was not all subterfuge. He collapsed before Demeti was tempted to give him another blast. He couldn’t maintain his morph if truly unconscious.
Lucas?Nikolai’s voice, barely audible.
I’m here, Nikolai. Just not in the form you’d expect.He passed a shaking hand over his eyes, and from between his fingers, glanced to where Nikolai was being carted toward the gleaming gate. He saw the dull, gray eye roll his way and raised a cautious finger.
The eye widened.What are you up to?
Oh, you know, the usual mayhem.Rough hands grabbed him—Dires, shifted to human, dragged him toward the gate.
Getting yourself captured isn’t mayhem. More like suicide.
Nope. Dying isn’t in the cards, bro. Just you wait and see what I have in store for you.Lucas glanced at the sky. Along the horizon, in perfect formation—Dragons, bearing down on them.
It was the last thing he saw before they dragged him through the gate.
* * *
Aria couldn’t find Lucas anywhere, and it was making her frantic.
In her bodyguard job, she’d been faced with many tense situations. She’d handled them very capably and with a calm, professional detachment, just as she had been trained. But every time she thought about Nikolai’s situation, she wanted to go charging into Galeran’s lair swinging her tail spike and screaming.
Which would be the next closest thing to suicide, and she knew it. Didn’t stop her desire. Perhaps it was fortunate that she had no idea where they were.
Where was Lucas? As usual, the Morph seemed determined to be as elusive as possible. Everything about his demeanor shrieked that he wanted her to stay away. But what she sensed from him was another matter. It was powerful enough to stop her ability to breathe. Every time he touched her, it set her world on fire.
She didn’t sense him anywhere at the moment. Not even the tiniest whiff of the usual turmoil that was Lucas. Had he gone for a walk in the jungle? Or had he decided to try flying on his own?
That last thought had her almost jogging to the ledge, and shading her eyes as she stared up at the sky.
Movement in the bushes revealed Cara, walking along a narrow path that wound up to the cave. In her hands was Mai.
“Have you seen Lucas?” Aria asked.
“He’s gone.” Cara’s jaw jutted and her eyes flashed.
Gone? Aria’s heart squeezed, just a little. “Gone where?”
Rather than answer, Cara looked up. Aria followed her gaze and spotted three incoming Dragons. Tyrez, Ash, and Dani.
“This time, tea might not suffice.” The Watcher’s voice possessed an unusual edge.
Fifteen minutes later, Aria’s jaw hung open as she listened to three Dragons explain their plan to her.
Theirinsaneplan.
“Demeti has him?” Her heart thundered in her ears, and her fingers curled as the talons erupted from her fingers.
“Demeti thinks he is Ash,” Tyrez explained. “They have a long and rather nasty history. It worked like clockwork—Demeti didn’t pass up on an opportunity to recapture Ash. He’s taken Lucas back to Galeran’s hideout.”
Aria peeled her lips back from teeth threatening to grow very long and sharp. “So now Lucas is in the hands of a madman. How is this a good plan?”
