“A trip to where?” I asked.
Lucas’s eyes flashed, but he didn’t answer me.
“And if I keep taking it?”
“Same destination, only a slower journey.”
A chill traveled through my core. “So—what will happen to me?”
Rafael seemed to share my panic. “I need access to a crystal, so I can cure you,” he said.
“You didn’t sound too sure before,” I pointed out.
He grimaced. “My healing talents have been—damaged—by the bloodmagic. I am not sure they will be sufficient to cure you.”
When I stared at him, he continued, “What I have left should be enough to hold you until we can get you to Cara.”
Lucas crossed his arms. “There is another option.”
I raised my brows at him.
“You have the Dragon virus in you. Dragons rely on crystal dust as a supplement. If the virus can be accelerated, it might turn the addiction into a normal craving.”
“Would that work?” Rafael asked.
Lucas met his eyes. “It did with me. But we aren’t sure that Riley will transform into a Dragon shifter. She’s only part Morph. Whatever her other part is could be resistant to the virus.”
I focused on the bit that had almost slid by me. “You were an addict?” I asked.
“I took the dust to break Nikolai free from a bad situation,” Lucas said. “And in the process, I became addicted. But the Dragon in me cured it.”
I’d started to shiver again, and my interest in the topic was waning. Rafael frowned when he looked at me, and then to Lucas.
“I can help with finding her Dragon, if it is there. But I need those crystals.”
Lucas’s mouth pulled straight. “I’ve managed to score us a safe place to hide. The owner’s wife said she will get me the crystals, but I have to do something for her.”
I peered at him through narrowed eyes. “What do you have to do?”
But Lucas brushed me off. “Nothing I haven’t done a million times before.”
I didn’t like the sound of that, but my shivering was getting worse.
Rafael glanced at me, and then back to Lucas. “If you’ve got somewhere better for us to go, we’d better get there. She’s losing ground.”
I wanted to argue with him, but he was right.
I was getting worse.
And it seemed that Havoc’s bite might be my ticket out of this mess.
I almost reached to tell him that, but pulled back on it. He hadn’t expressed one ounce of regret for what he’d done.
Be damned if I was going to admit I might have reason to be grateful for it.
* * *
Lucas opted for Dragon wings over the disguise offered by his cloak. I watched them sprout from his shoulders with fascination, despite my bleary-eyed state. Would I be able to do that?
