For someone who spent part of his time as a solid ton of equine muscle, Sebastian was remarkably good at stealth. Much better than myself, although I managed to stagger along in his wake as we hugged chimneys, skirted rooftop storage sheds, and hopped between buildings. They were built pretty much on top of each other, which eased our progress.
Eventually, the Bellati came to a halt along the wall of a large rooftop structure. When I slithered around the corner, he pulled me down to a crouch beside him. I thought I heard a motor running from inside the building.
“Ventilation pump. Next building be the hotel,” he whispered. “It’s level with this building, but from the roof of this pump room, we should be able to get a view.”
I went to stand, but he pulled me back down. “Which be why there be a guard up there,” he continued.
“You should have led with that,” I accused.
“Stay here,” he ordered.
He straightened and grabbed the edge of the pump room’s roof. Levered his eyes to the edge with an admirable display of controlled strength, his feet dangling above the ground.
I was staring right at him when he vanished. One second there, the next, poof, he disappeared over the roof’s edge. So fluidly, and silently, that my mouth dropped open.
My pounding heart interfered with my ability to listen, but I strained for the signs of a scuffle. And heard nothing.
I flinched when the silhouette of a head and shoulders appeared over the edge. Then a long-fingered hand extended to me.
I had to jump to reach it, but despite lying prone, he grabbed me and hauled me up with ease. I crouched beside him and did my best to copy his smooth crawl across the gently sloping roof.
On the way, we passed the guard. The sightless eyes stared up at the night sky, his head resting at an awkward angle.
I shivered. I guessed that Bellatis didn’t take prisoners.
We hadn’t reached the edge when I heard the squall—a distinctive sound, and all the short hairs on my neck stood on end. It was followed by a series of shrieks akin to something made by an angry bear cub. Or cubs, as there was more than one set of lungs involved.
My heart twisted, but I welcomed what the screams meant. We were in time—the cubs were still here.
We reached the edge and peered over.
The hotel roof began right below, and three guards stood facing out from us, toward the street. They were the same species as the one Sebastian had taken out, with blue-tinted skin. I didn’t think they were shifters.
The roof below us was flat, with a decorative raised parapet along the edges. It had several smaller buildings on it, but in the center was a single-story structure that housed the stairwell.
More blue-skinned guards surrounded it. This structure housed the only lights, and silhouetted against them were the Dragons.
There was no mistaking them—their broad shoulders, heavy muscles, and glittering scales. It helped that they hadn’t fully shifted. They all had kept their wings arching over them and casting huge batlike shadows.
Darius stood with them. My hatred of him reached new levels as I stared at the alpha. I wanted him to die.
Sebastian must have sensed something from me. “We’ll get him. But the Dragons be the issue.” I glanced at him, and his eyes gleamed from the depths of his hood. “I will take them on if I have to. Getting the twins out safely has priority.”
I agreed with that. I counted five scaly shifters, each brandishing a long sword with strange protrusions along the hilt. The weapons matched the scale color of the Dragons—like they’d been part of them.
My eyes scanned them with a sense of urgency that embarrassed me. With the dim lighting, I couldn’t be sure that Talakai wasn’t among them.
Then something moved at their feet. Tumbling, paws flailing, claws flashing in the light. Two furred forms, fighting to free themselves. One attached itself to a Dragon’s leg, and he kicked it away.
Sebastian uttered a low sound. Not quite a growl. But I backed it up with one of my own.
The bastards had collared and leashed the twins.
I must have moved because Sebastian’s hand fastened over my arm. “Hold,” he whispered. “This has to be timed just right. Otherwise, those Dragons will scoop them up and take off.”
I nodded just as the door to the stairwell opened, and two more blue-skinned men stepped through. Followed by a woman who looked human. And then, by a tall, thin man that shared an ancestry with the guards. He carried himself with an arrogance that set my teeth on edge.
“Grievan,” Sebastian hissed. “Wait until they hand off the cubs. Best case—the Dragons and Darius take off once the exchange be done, and we be only dealing with Grievan’s guards.”
