Barely bending his knees, he leaped out and dropped hard on a gritty unnatural surface. Pain shot up his legs and knees. He breathed through clenched teeth.
Someone ordered, “Turn to your right and walk straight ahead.”
No one but his father had ever given him orders.
Every cell in his body wanted to revolt, but that would only cause Ruadh undue stress. Plus, he had no choice unless he wanted to die here with his eyes covered.
Following the order, Daegan took short steps, all the leg movement allowed by the coating.
Footsteps surrounded him and fell in behind him.
“Stop.”
He waited as something in front of him made a whooshing noise.
“Move forward.”
When Daegan complied, his feet touched cold metal. The whoosh happened again, closing off his fresh air. Probably an elevator.
Tristan had shown them to Daegan in Atlanta, but he’d preferred to avoid being locked inside the metal box. He sensed two humans with him as the unit descended slowly. The thumping of their hearts raced to see which one would beat the fastest.
If only he could reach Tzader, Brina, or Tristan telepathically, anyone who could rescue Casidhe.
Alone inside the dark covering over his head, he replayed her face, her eyes, and her lips in his mind. He could still taste her. The kiss had been impulsive, but one he would not regret.
Right or wrong, he longed to kiss her again.
He’d wanted for little early on in his life, but he’d never felt this crushing need for a woman as he did for Casidhe. He’d never had any woman affect him the way she did. In foolish moments, he imagined keeping her with him to find out more about this attraction.
Casidhe’s fear-drenched gaze would haunt him for whatever time he had left to breathe if he failed to send her help. She would know by daylight that something was wrong when he did not return. She was no shrinking female.
Lovely, resourceful, and tough, she might find a way home, but she had no phone and little money.
She did have the scepter they retrieved from the hidden world, but she had to hand it over to the oracle as payment for helping them find the grimoire box.
The box he’d lost going over the cliff.
One failure after another.
The grimoire could save his people, all nonhumans, and humans. They needed Daegan and that box to survive and force the Imortiks behind the death wall.
Please let Casidhe be safe from supernatural beasts. She could hold her own with humans and very likely best any who went up against her ancient sword.
“You think he really does not understand us?” one of the men asked quietly. He spoke English, but his words had a clipped Latin accent.
“Hell, I don’t know,” another man answered with an accent similar to that of Casper, a Belador ally from Texas. “Even a deaf mute will say somethin’ when he gets hungry. If he don’t talk then, not our problem, John. Our job is only to capture and deliver.”
“You saw the red monster, did you not?” John asked nervously.
“Well, yeah. I’m sure one of them fighter jets probably filmed that beast.”
“Then where do you think this ... dragon went?”
“Don’t know, man. Heard someone say it dove in the water after two jets passed it. Must still be down there.”
The elevator slowed and stopped. More whooshing noise and a sterile unnatural smell met him, reminding him of being inside buildings in Atlanta.
“Walk forward.”
Daegan sighed at the endless orders, patience the only weapon in his arsenal at the moment.
Bootheel clicks echoed, sounding loud as if he walked through a tall space with hard walls. The elevator had descended longer than he would have expected to be one or two levels down.
“Hold up. Who are you?” a man on his right called out.
With no idea what was going on, Daegan stopped and listened for any hint of what might be happening.
Another set of footsteps approached from the opposite direction. A new male said, “I am to accompany him the rest of the way, corporal.”
That voice sounded smooth with an odd accent, but what lifted the hairs on Daegan’s head had nothing to do with the man’s speech.
Daegan had caught a brush of energy.
Ruadh pushed hard under his skin. Enemy.
Daegan asked his dragon, Which enemy?
Do not know. Feels wrong. Ruadh sounded drained.
The corporal argued, “No, sir. Not unless you have orders from the top, in print, that override mine.”
“I do have authority,” the nonhuman replied. “Ask your superior.”
That’s when Daegan felt more than a brush of energy fly past him with the words.
When the corporal replied, he sounded drugged. “Yes ... you can take the prisoner to his cell. Carry ... on.”
Mystery nonhuman spoke quickly and with power. “You will not recall meeting me, corporal. You and your subordinate will return to the elevator, take it back to the top floor, and forget you met me or say you handed off the prisoner.”
“Yes ... sir.” The men who had brought Daegan down walked away and left on the elevator, based on the familiar sounds.
The humans did not realize a nonhuman was among them?
Who had infiltrated this human operation and why?
What the hell was going on? Daegan had hit his limit of being fair. Casidhe sat alone, vulnerable to any threat and with no way home. He’d been led around by humans and now a nonhuman shows up?
The nonhuman said, “Begin walking forward and I will give you directions.”
“Who are ya?” Daegan snarled, fed up with everyone.
“You are in no position to argue,” the faceless intruder snapped back.
Power boiled inside of Daegan. Ruadh roared for release. The sound of walls shaking joined the floor vibrating beneath his feet.
Just like his dragon had reminded him, Daegan would not go quietly. Neither would he be controlled by another nonhuman. If this bastard had the power to do so, then he would be forced to show it.
Tension churned the air.
“Stop if you want my help.”
As if Daegan would trust an unknown power for help? He did not sense fear so much as hesitation on the part of this stranger. “Answer me. Who are ya and what do ya want with me?”
His new captor did not reply.
“Only a fool would think I am harmless,” Daegan warned in spite of the venom and coating his body fought.
If this stranger could teleport, he would have done so with Daegan by now. On his next inhale, Daegan smelled anise. Where had he smelled that before?
Power pushed back at Daegan.
Too bad this stranger could not see the mean smile twisting Daegan’s lips. He called upon Ruadh to give him as much energy as he could.
Daegan’s head began to grow and twist in shape, but not dragon yet.
The black bag ripped open enough to see with one eye.
With his head distorted and one eye able to see again, Daegan stared at a human glaring back at him.
The stranger hissed, “Stop. I have come with an offer.”
Daegan’s voice came out a dark gravel. “The answer is no. Ya hide yourself like a coward.”
His boring face with dull-brown eyes, rough-chopped dirt-colored hair, and thin lips rearranged into something more disturbing and angry. “You think a dragon is safe from me? Attack me and you will regret your decision.”