Talon

  “And if she’s not our target?”

  “Then she’s not our target. We cut her loose and move on. What’s the problem?”

  I didn’t answer right away. I didn’t want to tell him that the thought terrified me in a way a twelve-ton raging dragon never could. I’d never been on a date; I didn’t know what was required.

  But most of all, I didn’t know if I could control myself around her anymore. The feelings she stirred in me—the heat, the desire, the urge to touch her—that was all new. I’d never felt anything like this before.

  “Nothing,” I said finally. “No problems. I understand.”

  “Good.” Tristan smirked and threw back a scallop. “Because you have a party to attend tomorrow night.”

  * * *

  Nearly an hour after seven, the first guests—besides me, anyway—finally started to show. With more beer. Several kinds, including a large keg, which they carted around back and placed next to the hot tub on the deck. Soon there was a steady line of teenagers coming up the drive to the house, and the living room quickly became crowded, as did the deck and the swimming pool out back. Music started from somewhere, cranked up until the bass vibrated the walls, and groups of teens danced and surged against one another in the center of the open room. I had moved to one end of the sofa, watching the chaos and occasionally taking sips from the plastic cup in my hand. The beer tasted cheap and lukewarm and, frankly, unpleasant, but as Tristan had said, everyone else seemed to be drinking and I didn’t want to look even more out of place than I already was. When in Rome...

  “Hey, Garret! It is you!”

  Lexi Thompson emerged from the swirling crowd, grinning down at me. I smiled and nodded, but flicked a casual glance behind her, looking to see if she was following.

  “Fancy meeting you here, stranger,” Lexi continued, raising her voice to be heard over the music. “We just keep running into each other, it seems.” The smile grew wider, as if she had just proven a point I wasn’t aware of. “Or are you here for someone else?”

  I ignored that question. If anyone knew Ember’s whereabouts or state of mind, it would be Lexi, but I didn’t want to be that obvious. “Lexi,” I greeted calmly. “Did you come here alone?”

  She rolled her eyes. “Fine, then. I’ll pretend not to know who you’re talking about and just tell you that Ember is supposed to be here tonight, though I haven’t seen her yet. But...” She fixed me with a surprisingly fierce glare. “This is a warning for you. Ember is my friend, and I’ve seen too many jerkwads blow through town, thinking they can have a fun little fling and be gone the next day. If that’s what you’re after, then you should leave right now and not come back. Ember doesn’t want that, and she deserves better. If you hurt her, you’ll have me to deal with.”

  “I’ll keep that in mind,” I said, secretly thinking that one teenage girl wasn’t nearly the threat a twelve-ton raging dragon or even a single armed Talon servant was, but she sounded serious, and I admired that she would stand up for her friend. Also, hearing her threats, irrational as they were, gave me a bit of hope. She wasn’t warning me away from Ember, she was telling me not to hurt her friend if I did pursue her. Which meant that Ember hadn’t written me off just yet.

  At least, that’s what I hoped it meant.

  Lexi nodded.

  “Good. Just remember that. Now, one last important thing.” She glanced around, then tossed me something small. I caught it—a tiny square of blue plastic that crinkled when I held it up. My face felt suddenly warm, and Lexi grinned. “Just in case.”

  “Alexis Thompson!” snapped a voice behind us, making my heart leap. Ember emerged from the crowd, giving the other girl a murderous glare as she stalked around the sofa. Lexi eeped and fled, vanishing into the mob, as I quickly stuffed the item between the layers of the couch.

  “You are in so much trouble, Lex!” Ember called, scowling at the other girl’s retreating back. “And you can forget about that deal we made—I am not telling you anything now! Hey, Garret.” Ember shook her head and looked down at me, her expression caught somewhere between a smile and a grimace. “Tell me my psychotic, soon-to-be-dead friend didn’t just give you what I think she did.”

  I forced a somewhat pained smile. “I don’t think I can answer that without crawling into a dark hole for the rest of the evening.”

  She laughed, and suddenly everything was okay between us. “Come on.” Without hesitation, she reached down, grabbed my hand and pulled me to my feet. “Let’s go dance.”

  Dance? I felt a twinge of panic as she tugged me forward, but I forced it down. I’d never done this before—dancing, drinking, letting others touch me. I would just have to adapt. Ember dragged me through a mass of writhing, twisting bodies to the center of the floor, but just as she stopped and let me go, the song faded, and the DJ’s voice cracked over the speakers.

  “All right, let’s slow it down,” he crooned, and another song began, slower and much less frantic than the last. Around us, the wild bouncing and twisting calmed, as couples wrapped their arms around each other and began swaying to the music.

  Swallowing, I looked down at Ember. She met my gaze, green eyes shining beneath her hair, stepped close and slipped her arms around my neck. My breath caught, and every muscle tensed as she pressed against me, still holding my gaze.

  “Is this all right?”

  I forced myself to breathe, relax. “Yes.” Carefully, not really knowing what to do with my hands, I placed them around her waist, feeling her shiver, as well. She began swaying back and forth with the music, and I followed her lead.

  “I’m sorry for yesterday,” she murmured after a quiet moment, as we circled in the center of the floor. “I didn’t mean to spring that on you. And I didn’t mean to take off like I did, either.”

  “I thought I might’ve done something wrong,” I said quietly.

  She shook her head. “No, it wasn’t you. I just...” She sighed. “I’ve never kissed anyone...or dated anyone. I was pretty sheltered growing up, there weren’t many boys around. Well, except Dante, and he didn’t count. I mean, he’s a boy, of course, but he’s my brother so I don’t really think of him as a boy, not like you... And now I’m rambling, aren’t I?” She grimaced, ducking her head to hide her face. “I’m just new at this,” she muttered into my shirt. “I’ve never done anything like this before.”

  She was so warm. Her body shifted against me, and I closed my eyes. “That makes two of us,” I murmured.

  “But it can’t be that scary, right?” She looked up, cocking her head at me. “I mean, compared to surfing twelve-foot waves and shooting rabid zombie hordes, this should be easy.”

  That coaxed a tiny smile. “You would think so.” I recalled all the battles I’d faced over the years—the fighting, the chaos, dodging bullets and claws and dragonfire. None of it held a candle to what was happening now. “At least I don’t have to worry about you wanting to eat my brains,” I said, then wondered where that had come from.

  She laughed softly, the sound making my heart skip a beat. Pull back, the soldier warned. Don’t let her in. This is a mission, and you’re getting way too comfortable. Pull back now.

  I ignored it. Having Ember so close, her skin warm on mine, I could feel my resistance melting away, vanishing like a paper held to a flame. It should have been terrifying, made me retreat behind the wall I’d built up over long years of training. That barrier between myself and pain, of watching brothers and comrades killed, torn to pieces before my eyes. The mask I donned, blank and indifferent, when a superior officer was screaming in my face. I should’ve pulled back, but right now, I was more content than I’d been in a long, long time. I could get used to this, I decided, tightening my hold on the girl. I could, very easily, close my eyes, lower all my defenses and lose myself in her arms.

  Ember leaned close, resting her head on my
shoulder, making my heart skip. “I don’t know what I’m trying to say,” she muttered, sounding frustrated. Her breath feathered across my neck, raising goose bumps. “I like spending time with you. I don’t want to lose that. I don’t...I don’t want you to leave.” One hand fiddled with the front of my shirt, tracing patterns and sending little pulses through me. “Of course, if I’ve read too much into things, go ahead and point out that dark hole so I can get comfortable, ’cause I’m never coming out again.”

  “I don’t think you have to worry about that,” I said, my voice coming out rather husky.

  She looked up at me, her face inches from mine. Time froze around us, the other dancers fading away, until it was just us in the center of the music and the darkness. Her arms slipped behind my neck and tightened, pulling faintly. But she didn’t move from there, just continued to watch me with solemn green eyes, her fingers brushing the nape of my neck. This time, she would let me decide.

  Raising a hand to her cheek, I leaned forward.

  “Hi.”

  A new, unfamiliar voice interrupted us, making me pull back. Annoyed, I looked over to face a guy with dark, messy hair and a leather jacket. His arms were crossed, and he wore a dangerous smirk as he stared at me. I frowned, not recognizing him, but Ember gave a tiny squeak and stiffened in my arms.

  “Riley?” she gasped, the instant recognition making me tense. “What are you doing here?”

  Ember

  Okay, this night was officially weird.

  I’d thought I knew what I wanted. Before we’d come to the party, Lexi had pretty much convinced me that Garret would be there. Kristin had invited him, after all, and her birthday parties were the stuff of legends. Half the town had probably heard about it by now. Even when I pointed out that he might not come, and I had no way to contact him if he didn’t show, that hadn’t deterred Lexi. She’d already made plans to stalk the beaches and local hangouts every day until we found him.

  As Dante and I had pulled up in the car, parking behind the long line of vehicles already in the driveway, my hopes had shriveled a bit. I’d thought Garret probably wouldn’t be there; he didn’t really seem the party type. I’d steeled myself for disappointment, telling myself that we could look for him tomorrow. All was not lost if he didn’t show up tonight.

  At the edge of the yard, Dante saw a cluster of his seemingly endless circle of friends and hurried off to join them, leaving me alone. Rolling my eyes, I continued up the steps, planning to track down Lexi so we could cover more ground together. But then, as I’d walked through the front door, there he’d been, sitting on the couch and looking highly uncomfortable as Lexi tossed him what I hoped was not a condom. My stomach had twisted as I’d stalked up. Even through the mortification, all I could think of was kissing him again, feeling his heartbeat under my palm, breathing in his scent. If these were purely human experiences, then I would just be human for a little while. Talon would disapprove, but Talon could go to hell. They’d already taken so much of my summer away. This part of it was mine.

  He was about to kiss me, I could see it in his eyes. I could feel it in his hands, flattening over my back, the way his heartbeat picked up, the sudden intent in that metallic stare. My dragon instincts hissed and cringed away, not liking this, even as my own heartbeat thumped in my ears, echoing his own.

  And then, I felt a shift in the air, a subtle change that my dragon recognized instantly. Even before I heard his voice, the hairs on the back of my neck prickled, and a sudden heat spread through my insides.

  I turned and met the gaze of the rogue dragon.

  “Riley?” I said in disbelief. I’d almost blurted out Cobalt, but caught myself just in time, remembering to separate the two. My dragon instantly flared with excitement, sending fire and relief singing through my veins. He was safe! He was still hanging around. “What are you doing here?”

  The rogue dragon smiled, eyes gleaming. Ignoring my question, he shot a mock-inquisitive look at Garret, though I could practically see the dragon watching the human like he was about to cook him in the middle of the living room. “Mind if I cut in?”

  Garret went rigid, his arms becoming steel bands around my waist, though he gave no outward sign of alarm. His voice was coolly polite when he answered. “I do, actually.”

  Riley continued to smile, but his eyes glinted. It was clear he thought the human defying him was amusing, which made me kinda nervous. Riley was a rogue; he didn’t play by Talon’s rules. I didn’t think he’d be stupid enough to Shift here, surrounded by dozens of eyewitnesses, and blast Garret to cinders, but I couldn’t be certain.

  Besides, I needed to talk to him. There were so many questions I wanted answers to, so many things about Talon that needed explaining, and he had magically shown up, right here at Kristin’s party. Of course, in true Riley fashion, he had shown up at the worst possible time, but I couldn’t let him get away now. And my own dragon was bouncing against my skin, thrilled that he was here. She hadn’t forgotten that night, soaring the waves with Cobalt, and neither had I.

  “Garret,” I said softly, bringing his attention to me. “I know him. Let me talk to him, just for a second.”

  He wasn’t pleased. His jaw tightened and his eyes went blank, but he gave a stiff nod and stepped away. Turning, he melted into the crowd without a backward glance, and I was alone with the rogue.

  Taking a breath, I was about to suggest we go somewhere private to talk when another song began, faster this time, stirring the dancers into a surging, writhing sea. Riley suddenly grinned and stepped close, moving gracefully with the music, his smile challenging. After a moment’s hesitation, I joined him, pretending to be reluctant, but I couldn’t ignore the excited fluttering of the dragon within. Riley continued to smile, but his eyes were mocking.

  “Well, Firebrand, here we are again.” His voice was low and cool, meant only for me as we danced close. Not touching, but I could feel the heat that radiated from him, as if a fire blazed near the surface. “And I see you’ve assimilated quite nicely. You do realize that was a human, right? In case you’ve forgotten, you’re not exactly like him.”

  “Keep your voice down,” I snapped back, though with the music pounding the walls and the general obliviousness of the crowd, there was little chance of someone paying attention. Still, it was something Talon had pounded deep into my head; never, ever talk about dragon-related things in the company of humans. “That’s none of your business, anyway. How did you even know I’d be here?”

  Riley grinned. “I told you I’d find you again, didn’t I?” he crooned, moving even closer. “You seem surprised, Firebrand. Did you forget about me?” His voice was mocking, but his body moved like liquid, graceful and sure. He wasn’t a stranger to this type of scene, that was for certain. My stomach danced, and the dragon surged up like a flame, wanting free.

  “Where have you been, anyway?” I asked. He just raised an eyebrow, obviously having no intention of answering that question, and I frowned. “They’re looking for you, you know,” I said, leaning even closer. “They sent agents in last month, because someone ratted you out.”

  Dante, I added in my head, though I didn’t say it out loud. Fear suddenly twisted my stomach. Dante was here, at the party. If he spotted Riley now...

  Alarmed, I backed away, making him frown. “You should go,” I told the rogue. “It’s dangerous for you here. If my brother sees us—”

  In a blindingly smooth move, Riley slipped behind me. Before I knew what was happening, his hands were on my waist, sending a flare of heat through my stomach as he bent close. “Don’t worry about me, Firebrand,” he said in my ear as I wavered between leaning into him and shoving him back. “I know how to take care of myself. Question is, do you still want to know about Talon? Who they really are? What they want?” His lips grazed my cheek, breath tickling my skin. “I can tell you, if you’re still interested.�
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  I stiffened. He chuckled and slipped his hand into my pocket, very briefly, before pulling back.

  “My number is on there,” he told me as I felt in my pocket and discovered a scrap of paper, folded over several times. “When you want to talk,” Riley continued, serious now. “When they show their true face—and they will, Firebrand, make no mistake about it—I’m here. You can always come to me. I want you to come to me.”

  I didn’t know what to say to that. Riley was watching me, gold eyes bright and intense across the space between us, stirring the fire within. Dammit, why did he have this effect on me? Was it because he was a rogue? A fellow dragon, who dared to defy Talon and live his life the way I only wished I could? Or was it something else, something deeper? Something my dragon instincts responded to on a primal level? Riley as a human was charming, mysterious and, yes, if I had to say it, smoking-hot. But when I really looked at him, all I saw was the dragon.

  Movement on the other side of the room caught my attention. I looked over to see Garret’s lean, bright form gliding across the floor toward the exit.

  Garret

  I had to get out of there.

  I’d felt the first prick when the stranger had appeared asking to cut in, a sudden twinge of something odd and unfamiliar. Anger and...something else, something that made me want to shove the stranger back, though I kept myself calm. It flared up again, even stronger, when Ember admitted that she knew him, that she wanted to talk to him. I’d retreated to a corner to observe the pair, feeling grim and irrationally sullen, watching as they danced close. When the stranger suddenly moved behind Ember, putting his hands on her hips, I’d clenched my fists, fighting the burning desire to stalk over and drive a fist into his mouth.

  That was when I’d caught myself. What was happening to me? Why should I care what Ember did? It shouldn’t matter if she danced with someone else. It shouldn’t matter that they seemed comfortable together, that Ember sometimes looked at him with dark, lingering eyes. The stranger was a temporary setback, nothing more. He wasn’t important.