I needed wings, dang it. But clearly, my wishes weren’t enough to entice my inner Dragon to sprout them.
As if guessing my thoughts, Cara reached a hand to my arm. “Come with me.”
I followed her up to the fourth floor, and we jogged past the cafeteria, then through to another hall lined with doors.
Cara paused to hammer on one, and Marcus answered. The Watcher darted past him and entered what appeared to be a suite.
“Where’s Havoc?” she asked.
I heard splashing from down a side hall, but Marcus pointed to the balcony. “He’s out there. What’s up?”
“Bree’s in trouble.” Cara headed for the balcony.
Havoc was already standing, staring, when we appeared. “Bree’s being chased in the mountains,” Cara told him. “Tyrez and Talakai are already on their way. They need you.”
“They just left,” the big red Dragon shifter said. “I wondered where they were off to in such a fucking hurry.” His wings sprouted from his shoulders, and he turned to fling himself off the balcony.
“Wait!” I called, lunging after him. But he was already airborne, finishing his shift as he flew.
I leaned way out over the railing. “I need to be there,” I said through gritted teeth.
“I will take you.” Marcus moved up beside me. The bones were altering beneath his skin, and feathers erupted amid his hair.
In seconds, the large balcony was filled with a brown-and-gold-dappled Gryphon. I turned to Cara.
“Go,” she said. “Bring her back.”
I had no idea how to ride a Gryphon. But Marcus offered a foreleg, and I grabbed a handful of feathered mane, then used it to jump onto his shoulders.
“Hang on,” he said, a split second before he launched himself off the balcony.
It was good advice, but not needed—my fists were curled into his mane, and every muscle in my legs tightened. Marcus’s body rose and fell with every beat of his wings, the powerful muscles working beneath me, and it felt as though I was going to be shaken loose at any moment.
But somewhere in those mountains, was Breana. And she was in big trouble—her muscles were weak and her mind foggy, as though she were drugged. Her pursuers were closing in. Then I sensed her tuck her wings and dive.
When they hit the ice-cold water, I swayed, my fingers tightening. The gold-dappled head swung to view me with one eye.
“Hold on,” he repeated.
“She’s in a lake,” I gasped.
His luminous eye narrowed, and then his head straightened. Ahead of us was Havoc’s giant red Dragon. Tyrez and Talakai had already disappeared amid the snow-capped peaks. I saw Havoc alter course slightly, and Marcus followed, turning his head once more.
“I k-know the lake,” he said. “We’ll find her.”
We followed Havoc into the mountains. The air immediately grew colder, and I peered down through the fog and cloud, looking for water.
Then ahead of us, a bellow. Not of fear or pain. But a challenge. Havoc vanished in a steep dive.
Marcus banked so abruptly I ripped out a few feathers.
“Sorry!” I shouted.
“Havoc says t-to look-k for her.” Marcus’s words whipped back to me. “He’s got-t the ones that are after her.”
We emerged from the clouds, and I saw Havoc and another Dragon, totally entangled and falling like a rock for the lake below. They vanished in a spray of water and ice. Within moments, the water it all turned red.
As Marcus, seemingly unconcerned, leveled out to soar just above it, another Dragon appeared above us. The rider was wielding a type of dart gun and began firing at us.
