Talon

A mottled purple bruise marred the skin above her bicep. I drew in a sharp breath, not knowing why I was so furious.

  “What happened?”

  Ember squirmed from my grasp and stepped away, not meeting my eyes. “Nothing,” she replied, pulling her sleeve down. “Walked into a door. A very rude, boorish door that didn’t get out of the way fast enough. It’s nothing to be concerned about. If I see it again, I’ll be sure to kick it.”

  “Ember...”

  “Garret, trust me. There’s nothing you can do.” She looked up, forcing a challenging smile. “Now, are we going to go surfing, or what? I hope you’re up for what I have planned.”

  I exhaled slowly, pushing back the desire to find whoever was responsible for that bruise and snap their neck. “All right,” I said, nodding. “Let’s go. Whatever you dish out, I’m ready.”

  She grinned, regaining some of her defiance, and backed toward the surf. “All right, then, hotshot. Let’s put your money where your mouth is.”

  Ember

  “Ready?” I said to Garret. We sat together, straddling the same surfboard, the telltale swell of a large wave getting rapidly closer. I knelt at the front of the board, facing him and the doubtful look on his face.

  “This isn’t going to work,” he told me.

  “It’ll work. Paddle.”

  “Ember—”

  “Shut up and paddle!”

  The rise loomed closer. Garret flattened himself on the board and paddled, while I spun on my knees and crouched low, peering forward like a figurehead. The wave crested and started to break just as we reached the top. I leaped upright as Garret did the same, but I wasn’t used to being this far out in front, or compensating for two bodies on the board. It wobbled, I wobbled...and lost my balance.

  With a yelp, I toppled off the board. Just before I hit the water, I saw Garret crash into the surf, as well, and then the world went into spin-cycle mode for a few seconds. I closed my eyes and held my breath until the pounding surf ran out of steam, and I staggered upright, looking around for Garret.

  He knelt a few yards away in the sand, the water sluicing around him as it returned to the sea. The sun blazed down on his bare, bronzed shoulders as he tossed his head back, flinging water from his eyes and hair. I felt that odd twisty sensation in my stomach, before pushing it down and splashing up to him.

  “Well, that didn’t work. Ready for round two?”

  He peered up at me, a faint smile on his face. “I’m going to get pounded a few more times before this is over, aren’t I?”

  “Hey, if you’re scared—”

  “I didn’t say that.” Still smiling, his pushed himself upright, giving me a half amused, half exasperated look. “Though I must be a glutton for punishment or something. Team Human versus the Ocean, round two.”

  * * *

  It took us three more tries. The first two were learning experiences, figuring out where to stand with another person on the board. The third wipeout was totally my fault; I flailed wildly to keep my balance, accidentally hit Garret in the face and sent us both into the drink.

  I met him back in the shallows, where he was dragging the surfboard toward him by the cord attached to his ankle. When he turned around, his left eye was slightly puffy and red, and I grimaced in embarrassment.

  “Sorry about that.”

  He shrugged. “I’ve had worse.” Seeing my sheepish expression, he offered a reassuring smile. “Ember, it’s all right. I know how to take a punch, trust me. This is nothing.”

  “Lemme see it.” I stepped closer and rose on tiptoe to better peer at the wound. Garret didn’t move, going perfectly still as I examined his face, his eyes fixed on a spot against the horizon. His skin was smooth and tan, though there was a faint dark circle forming around one eye, making me wince. I also discovered another scar, a thin raised line across his temple, nearly invisible beneath his hair. What did he do, I wondered, to get so many?

  That ominous, niggling doubt entered my mind again, and I shoved it back. I would not think of that. He was not part of that murdering cult. He couldn’t be.

  “Well?” His voice surprised me, strained yet strangely nonchalant. Like he was fighting his own instincts not to back away. “What’s the verdict?”

  “Um, you might have a black eye later tonight. A small one.”

  He actually chuckled at that, sending a flutter through my stomach. “And here I thought the waves were the most dangerous things I’d be facing.”

  My heart was suddenly pounding, and I took a few steps into the water to calm it down. Garret’s eyes followed me, his mercury gaze searing the back of my head. My face felt warm, and I peered out over the ocean, shielding my eyes from the sun and his piercing stare. “Well, it’s not gonna feel great with all the sand and salt getting into it. Wanna call it quits?”

  “Quit?” I heard the challenging grin in his voice, and glanced back at him. He was smiling again, his eyes playful. “Giving up already?” he asked, cocking his head. “I told you I can take whatever you dish out. Or was that last wave too scary?”

  I blinked in astonishment. Was he teasing me? Where did this Garret come from? Maybe that last tumble through the waves had jostled his brain a bit. Whatever it was, I wasn’t complaining.

  “Okay, then,” I said, throwing back my own smirk. “You asked for it. One more time.”

  We strode back into the ocean, mounted the board and searched the horizon for potential waves. Or at least Garret did. Instead of watching the water, I stared at him instead—his face, his profile, his bright hair and the sculpt of his chest and arms.

  Humans are the inferior species, Scary Talon Lady had said that morning. If not for their numbers, we would have subjugated them long ago. Remember this, hatchling—we might look like them, walk among them and have integrated into their world, but humans are nothing but the means to an end.

  “Here we go,” Garret murmured, and I peered past his shoulders to where a swell was growing and coming toward us rapidly. He faced me again and smiled, making my heart stutter. “Ready?”

  I nodded. The wave rose up and started crashing down, but Garret had already leaped to his feet. I followed, losing my balance for a split second, but then two strong hands came to rest against my sides, steadying me. Heart in my throat, I faced forward as we rode the wave down together, moving in unison. I didn’t dare look back, but I could sense Garret’s fierce grin over my shoulder, and couldn’t hold back a whoop of triumph.

  We stayed on the board until the wave flattened out in the shallows, and I whooped again, fist-pumping the air. Unfortunately, that was enough to overbalance the board, and we toppled into the water together, making a loud splash.

  Laughing, I stood up, blinking water from my eyes. Garret rose in front of me, shaking out his hair, raking it back with his fingers. His shoulders heaved with silent laughter, his whole face alight with triumph and pure happiness. My stomach flipped, and I softly said his name.

  Still smiling, he looked down at me.

  Rising on my toes, I put my hands on his shoulders, lifted my face to his and kissed him.

  He went rigid, hands coming up to grip my arms, but he didn’t push me away. I could feel the tight coil of muscles beneath his skin, the acceleration of his heartbeat, echoing my own. His lips were salty from the ocean, warm and soft, even if they weren’t responding.

  My insides fluttered, sending curls of heat through my stomach and shivers all the way down my spine. So, this was what it was like to kiss someone...and mean it. I’d seen people kiss each other thousands of times before, and I remembered Colin’s wet, nasty mouth on mine, forced and disgusting. I hadn’t understood why kissing was so popular among humans. Why would anyone want to get that close to someone’s face? In dragon society, rubbing muzzles or bumping snouts was a sign of ultimate trust; you rarely wanted your
head that close to a jaw that could crush skulls and breathe fire. I’d always thought of kissing as one of those common human behaviors I’d never understand. I hadn’t known...it could be like this.

  Wait. I was a dragon. What the hell was I doing?

  Breaking the kiss, I pulled back and peeked up at Garret. He stared at me, his expression hovering between confusion and shock. His hands, still gripping my upper forearms, dug somewhat painfully into my skin.

  “Um.” Wincing slightly, I drew away, and he let me slip from his grasp. His arms dropped to his sides, and he continued to watch me, metallic eyes suddenly unreadable. I might’ve been embarrassed, if I wasn’t slightly freaking out on the inside.

  I just kissed a human. I kissed a human. Oh, man, what is wrong with me? Raking my hands through my hair, I tried to sort through my jumbled thoughts, but it was hard when I still felt the heat of his gaze. I have to go home. This has gotten too crazy.

  “Sorry,” I muttered, backing away from the still-motionless human. “I, uh, I should probably go. Hang on to the board if you want, I’ll pick it up some other time. See you later, Garret.”

  Garret finally moved, shaking himself as if coming out of a trance. “Didn’t Lexi drive you here?” he asked, and his voice, normally so calm and self-assured, shook a bit at the end.

  Crap, she had. Damn him and his logic. “It’s okay.” I waved it off, though I still couldn’t look at him. “I can walk back, it won’t take too long. Or I’ll call Lexi to pick me up. If all else fails, I can stick out a thumb.” I just have to get home, right now.

  “Ember, wait.” His voice, low and compelling, stopped me in my tracks. Even though I knew I should keep moving, head up the beach without looking back, I couldn’t bring myself to walk away from him. I heard him pick up the surfboard, then splash through the water after me. My dragon instincts growled and shied away as he caught up, even though my stupid traitor heart leaped in my chest. “You can’t hitchhike all the way back,” Garret murmured, though he couldn’t bring himself to look at me, either. “I’ll drive you home.”

  Garret

  The drive back was... Awkward was probably the word for it. Ember remained silent, gazing out the window and studiously not looking at me. I kept my hands on the steering wheel and stared straight ahead, though I could still see the girl from the corner of my eye. Neither of us spoke or looked directly at each other, which was good because my mind was churning like a tornado.

  When she’d kissed me...all my senses had frozen. Again. I’d been surprised—shocked, really—when her lips touched mine, but I hadn’t responded, not even to push her off. That was crazy. My reflexes were better than that; she should’ve never gotten that close. No one could lay a finger on me in the Order, and in the space of a few days I’d allowed this girl to not only touch me, but to lean in and kiss me. If Ember had been one of Talon’s operatives, I’d be dead a dozen times over.

  The simple truth was that I’d been dropping my guard around her. She was fun and disarming and easy to talk to. Potential target or not, I...liked spending time with her. But that wasn’t the most disturbing thing.

  No, what was most troubling was the fact that when the kiss ended and Ember drew back, I’d almost stepped forward to kiss her again. And now, with her sitting just a couple feet away, she called to me. I was acutely aware of everything she did, every little motion, shift or sigh. Even when I wasn’t looking at her, I could feel her presence, prodding against mine. And it was driving me crazy.

  When we pulled up to her street, Ember was reaching for the door handle almost before the Jeep stopped moving. As her door opened, I wondered if I shouldn’t try to stop her, or at least talk to her. But the door slammed before I had finished the thought, and the moment was gone.

  Numb, I watched her cross the street and stride up to the beach villa without a single glance in my direction, her surfboard bobbing under one arm. With every step, I wanted to call to her, go after her, but something held me back.

  As she neared the front door, I felt eyes on me, and I glanced at the top window of the house. A figure watched me through the glass, the late-afternoon sun gleaming off his red hair, before he turned away and vanished from sight.

  * * *

  Tristan wasn’t home when I returned to the apartment, which was a blessing, as I wasn’t in the mood to talk to anyone. Instead, I went to the freestanding heavy bag in the corner of the living room and hit it hard enough to rattle the chains. I didn’t want to think. I needed to find my focus, calm this strange, restless energy coursing through my skin. I slugged the bag again, trying to drive the image of a red-haired girl from my system, erase the feel of her lips on mine.

  I wasn’t even aware of how much time had passed when Tristan walked in. Stopping short of the living room, he regarded me with a half amused, half concerned look. Panting, I let my arms drop, my knuckles raw from pounding the bag, feeling sweat running down my face and into my eyes. With a start, I realized more than an hour had passed since I’d walked into the apartment, and I hadn’t stopped or slowed down since I’d thrown that first punch.

  “Soooo...” Tristan began, raising an eyebrow at my sweaty, exerted state. “How was your day?”

  My mind still hadn’t calmed down. This whole time, I could still see Ember, still feel her hands on my shoulders, the instant when her lips touched mine. I gave the bag one last, resounding punch, then leaned back against the wall and closed my eyes, breathing hard. For a second, I considered not telling Tristan what had happened on the beach that afternoon, but quickly decided against it. I’d never kept anything from my partner before. Absolute trust was required when someone held your life in his hands.

  “Garret?” Tristan’s voice was cautious now, and I heard him step farther into the room. “What happened?”

  I scrubbed a hand over my face. “This afternoon,” I muttered, dropping my arm. “On the beach. Ember...she...she kissed me.”

  Tristan’s eyebrows shot into his hair. “Come again?” he asked, as though unable to believe what I just told him. “Ember Hill, the girl we’ve been following all this time, the one we’ve pegged as a potential sleeper...kissed you?”

  I shoved myself off the wall, unable to stop flashing back to that instant. “I’m too close,” I said, walking to the window. Beyond villa roofs and the tops of palm trees, the ocean sparkled in the sunlight, only reminding me again. “I lost focus,” I continued, “and it wasn’t the first time it’s happened. I don’t think I should see her anymore. It’s just going to jeopardize the mission.”

  “No,” Tristan said firmly, and I looked at him in surprise. “No, this is what we want, Garret,” he explained. “You have to get close. It’s the only way to discover anything, to really know if she’s the sleeper or not. The more she trusts you, the more likely she is to slip up. You can’t stop now. You have to keep seeing her.”

  Continue spending time with Ember. The thought left me relieved and terrified all at once. “How do I proceed from here?” I asked, walking back. I had no frame of reference for this kind of thing, no experience to draw upon. And how was I going to pursue this girl, pretend to like her, if she didn’t want to see me again? “After she...kissed me...she almost ran away. It seemed to spook her pretty badly. What am I supposed to do now?”

  “Did you ask her out, make any plans to see her again?”

  “No.”

  “Why not?”

  “I...I was...”

  “Too busy being ambushed?”

  I sighed, giving the bag a halfhearted punch. “Yeah.”

  Tristan grinned. “Well, you’re just going to have to suck it up and hunt her down, partner,” he said, far too cheerfully, I thought. “Be bold. Don’t take no for an answer this time. It shouldn’t be too difficult. If she kissed you, she has to like you a little.”

  “If she’s the sleeper, she should
n’t like me at all,” I protested, crossing my arms. Dragons didn’t have those kinds of emotions. They were flawless mimics of the human race, which was what made them so dangerous, but they had no real concept of friendship, sorrow, love or regret. At least, that’s what I’d always been told.

  Tristan shrugged. “Maybe this is part of Talon’s training. Do what the humans do to blend in. Seems like something they would attempt, either for control or to throw us off the trail. Or maybe she is just a normal civilian. In any case, you’re going to have to continue the ruse until you find out. Think you can handle that?”

  A ruse. That’s all it was. Pretend to like this girl. Pretend to have feelings, to pursue some kind of relationship. Earn her friendship and trust, knowing I might have to destroy it, and her, in the end.

  It felt wrong. Dirty and underhanded, something they would do. But...I was a soldier, and this was my mission. I had to remind myself: if Ember was the sleeper, she wasn’t an innocent. She was a dragon, a creature who secretly despised mankind and possessed no empathy, no humanity, whatsoever. Even their young, their hatchlings, were just as devious and monstrous as the adults. Maybe even more so, because they seemed so human. Destroying hatchlings before they became cunning, immensely powerful adults was the fastest way we could win this war.

  Even if I had to lie. Even if...if I was honest with myself, a small part of me leaped at the thought of seeing her again.

  And even if a smaller part, one I shoved to the darkest corner of my mind, was appalled and sickened by what I was planning.

  “I can handle it,” I told Tristan, and stepped around the bag, heading toward the bathroom and a cold shower. “I know what I have to do.”

  “Good to hear. And, Garret.”

  This time, Tristan’s voice was ominous. I looked back warily.

  “Don’t make the mistake of falling for this girl,” he warned, watching me intently. “If she’s a normal civilian, you don’t have any business getting involved. Not with our life. But if she is the sleeper, and this is some new way they’re teaching their hatchlings to assimilate...” He shook his head, and his eyes narrowed. “If the time ever comes when you have to pull that trigger, you can’t have any doubts. You can’t hesitate, even for a moment, or she’ll tear you apart. You understand that, right?”