She got a foot balanced beneath her and used an expert rotational grapple to free one arm from the clinging guard, before reaching again for the button at her neck. It still refused to release.
The Torshin nailed her with a blast, and her world lit on fire.
It sent both her and the guard flying. They hit the ground hard, and Demeti sent another to scorch through Aria. It backlashed into the guard, throwing him into the wall as though slammed by an invisible fist. For just an instant, his image wavered—and she glimpsed a slim form...
Demeti nailed her again, this time aiming for the collar. Aria screamed as it came to life, writhing around her throat and pulsing with an icy fire that pierced straight through her. As she clawed at the glowing metal, she was dimly aware of energy sizzling around her and the screams from the dying guards. Their hoarse shrieks were punctuated by howls growing ever louder—her pain-fogged gaze saw that the door to the stairs stood open, the frame smoking.
Through it poured huge, hairy forms.
Dires—easily five hundred pounds of muscle and fur, their claws and teeth dripping blood. Some of it was undoubtedly their own, but no gun could stop a Dire, not unless you managed a head shot as it leaped for your throat.
Frantic, Aria struggled against the collar. She hammered repeatedly on the release button, and Demeti’s grin widened as he raised his hand—and this time she saw the blast travel to the metal around her throat.
“That was my gift to you, my dear Dragon. And you are now mine.”
His? Through a haze of pain, her mind struggled to understand. Aria curled her fingers, the razor sharp talons gleaming. She’d shred him for this...
“No, my dear. You need to learn. Pets don’t slash the hand that feeds them.”
This time his blast turned her world to icy-white static. She screamed again as it surged through her brain and body. When it ended, she could only lie there, panting.
Chaos ensued throughout the room. There was no sign of the guard who had tried to carry her to safety—the spot where he’d fallen lay empty. But bodies littered the floor. Every door to the storage rooms had been blasted open, and Dires were ransacking the goods within—loading most of it into bags they carried slung over their shoulders. Some had shifted to human form to help stuff them full.
Her shock was absolute. Underlords were gods in this realm. No one did this, and expected to live afterward. At best, killing Udo and stealing this stash would forever cut Demeti off from the supply chain. At worst, the underlords would band together and put a contract out on the Torshin.
It was as though he didn’t care about any of that.
The white static died away, and she became aware that he stood over her. She looked up into his crimson eyes, and they gleamed with hate.
“I couldn’t believe my luck when I found out that Udo had himself a Dragon. Turns out it’s true that these underlords would sell their own mothers for the right amount of currency.”
She stared up at him with dawning horror. The Torshin wasn’t here to rob Udo’s stash, although he was game to do so. He’d come forher. And she’d walked right into it, putting the collar around her own throat.
“The underlords will kill you for this.” She was annoyed that her voice shook, but then, it only matched the rest of her.
He sneered. “They can try. Smug Udo didn’t realize that I don’t pay for my toys, but I owe him for getting my collar onto you. For that, I gave him a quick death.” He wrinkled his nose. “If a bit smelly. I so detest the stench of burning fur.”
He pulled something from his pocket—a glowing ball that levitated off his hand before swirling in a circle. Trailing behind it was a luminescent line.
That line shot toward her. She tried to push away, but it wound around the collar and stuck there like a leash.
No sharding way.With a snarl, Aria came off the floor in a smooth, fluid leap, talons extended.
She never reached him. The energy coursed along the leash to her collar, knocking her back. This time it kept going until she was a quivering heap on the ground.
Demeti grinned down at her. “How I’ve missed having my own Dragon to play with. Now get on your feet, my pet. Your new life begins.”
9
When the Torshin’s blasts took out Xoltos, Lucas acted without thought to get Aria out of the line of fire.
He lunged after her, wrapped his muscled Trog arms around her running form, and carried her to the ground.
Or tried to. When she stayed on her feet and fought him like a tiger, he realized his mistake. She should have been terrified, but Aria wasmad. She thrashed to get free of his protection, and she was not only fiercely strong, but evaded his grip with an expert rolling maneuver that left him flailing.
Then the Torshin’s crazy energy surged through her, into him, and blasted him across the room.
The impact with the wall almost knocked him cold despite his thick Trog skull. And that would have been disastrous, because unconscious, he would have lost control over his morphing ability. With blackness pulsing at the edges of his mind, he clung to clarity with grim determination.
