Garret hesitated, then stepped beside me, putting a hand on my back. Surprised, I glanced at him as he bent, scooped an arm under my knees and lifted me off my feet. I gasped, wincing as the motion tore at the open wounds beneath my suit, but then he shifted me gently in his arms, and the pain receded.

“Garret.” My heart pounded, my stomach tying itself into knots at being so close. I put a hand on his chest, feeling his own heart thudding beneath my palm. “You don’t have to do this,” I said, torn between exhilaration and embarrassment. “I’ll be okay…”

I trailed off at the look he gave me. Sorrow, regret and longing glimmered in his eyes for just a moment, before they blinked and became remote once more. “Let me do this one last thing,” Garret said quietly, and offered a faint smile when I frowned in confusion. “You carried me to safety once. Now it’s my turn.”

He sounded sad for some reason. Like this was the last thing he would do for me. Wanting to ease the tension, I looped an arm around his neck and smiled. “You know, if you really wanted to impress, I could Shift right now and you could carry me out like that.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “Somehow, I don’t think I’d get very far. Riley would walk in and see a dragon lying on top of a crushed soldier. He’d probably take a picture to remember it, always.”

I chuckled, feeling some of the awkwardness subside. A soldier of St. George carrying a dragon to safety—what was next? Sighing, I leaned my head on his chest, as Garret walked easily through the maze with me in his arms. His heart beat steady and sure against my ear, and I relaxed. We were okay, all of us. St. George had come for us, and we’d survived. Talon had sent two deadly double agents to force me back to the organization, and I was still here. Riley was alive. Garret was alive. We’d taken the worst Talon and the Order could throw at us and had come out on top.

But the casualties were high, even if they weren’t on our side. I didn’t have to look up to see the dozen or so Talon agents, sprawled throughout the warehouse. More dead humans than I’d seen in a lifetime. Dead humans that would probably show up in my dreams for weeks to come. And of course, somewhere in that mess of blood and darkness was the lifeless body of a purple dragon. A girl who, at one time, had been just like me.

Anger burned, and shockingly, I felt my eyes stinging. It was a waste. Such an awful, stupid waste, and for what? Faith didn’t have to die. Talon didn’t have to send her. Why couldn’t they just leave us alone? Why was it so important that I return to the organization? Now a hatchling and a dozen humans were dead, because someone in Talon had ordered my assassination…

“Garret,” I whispered, clenching a fist in his shirt, “wait!”

He stopped and gave me a puzzled look. We were almost to the exit; I could see the open door to the rail yard dead ahead. Riley and Wes would be here soon, and we had to get out of here before Talon, the Order or the authorities showed up. But something still nagged at me, and if I didn’t resolve it now, I’d drive myself crazy wondering.

“I have to go back,” I told Garret, whose puzzled look deepened to a frown. “You don’t have to come. Put me down and go wait for Riley if you want. But I have to go back. There’s something important I forgot to do.”

Dante

She should have called by now.

The clock on the wall was too loud, every ticking second like a miniature drill in my brain. The senior dragons did nothing, said nothing, sitting around the table with the patience of mountains, their blank eyes on me. Occasionally, they would speak to me, or each other, their voices cool and remote, but for the most part, they waited, silent and unmoving. I mimicked their positions, trying to remain calm and patient, staring at my folded hands until the image was seared into my retinas.

The phone buzzed on the table.

I jolted in my seat like I’d been stung. Without waiting for Roth’s approval, I snatched it up and put it to my ear, my voice low and grave.

“Faith? Is it done?”

“It’s not Faith.”

I froze. The room froze. I sat rigid in my chair, the eyes of four senior dragons on me, as her voice echoed in my ear, low and unmistakable. They couldn’t hear the conversation, but from the looks I was getting, it was clear they knew something wasn’t right. Heart pounding, I closed my eyes, knowing it was useless to hide it.

“Ember,” I said, and felt the attention in the room sharpen to a razor’s edge. I swallowed hard and forced myself to speak calmly. Maybe I could salvage what was left of this assignment. “Where are you?”

“I think you already know that, Dante.” Ember’s voice was icy. She’d spoken to me that way only a couple times in her life, and I had painful memories of one, and a tiny scar from the other. “Considering you were the one who set this up.”

The weight of the combined stares was becoming unbearable, four senior dragons pinning me with hard, intense eyes. “Where is Faith?” I asked.

A heartbeat of silence. “She’s dead.”

The ground dropped out from under me. I sat there, unable to believe what I’d just heard. I’d always known Ember was rebellious, reckless and stubborn, but I’d never thought her capable of this. “She’s dead?” I choked in disbelief. “You killed her?”

“I didn’t kill her.”

“The soldier, then,” I guessed. “St. George. You’re with him now, aren’t you? And you let him kill her.” There was no answer on the other side, and my voice hardened. “How could you let him do that?”