The doors slid shut and the elevator began to move.

I breathed a sigh of relief. We were in. On our way to the Vault, and whatever secrets lurked in the depths of Talon’s underground. My heart pounded, and I glanced at Ember, standing quietly in the center of the box. I was putting her in danger, again. The last time we’d ventured underground into a shady facility, we almost didn’t make it out. At least this time I knew what to expect, up to a point, but everything beyond that was unpredictable and dangerous as hell.

The elevator continued to descend for several minutes, before it slowed and came to a stop with barely a bump. In the two seconds before the doors opened, I was aware of several things at once. Wes, cringing against the panel, as far away from the door as he could get. St. George, pistol in hand, raising the gun to aim through the opening. And Ember, standing in front of the doors, muscles tensing as her eyes glowed a brilliant emerald green.

Then the doors opened, and a ripple of energy went through the box as Ember roared and lunged through, becoming a bright red dragon as she did and sending a cone of fire roaring down the hallway. Screams rang out, followed immediately by gunfire, and everything dissolved into chaos.

EMBER

The final few seconds before the doors slid open, I was terrified.

This was the part of the plan that I’d been dreading. Not the sneaking into yet another highly secure enemy base. Not having to time everything perfectly to make it through the doors and into the elevator room. Not even the knocking out of a random Talon employee and stealing his key card to get down to the Vault. That was all fine. Everyone, from Garret to Riley to Wes, knew what they were doing. Wes would be able to hack into the security system. Garret would be able to distract the clerk to let Riley and me sneak into the back. Riley would be able to get the key card, and Wes would be able to figure out the code.

But passing the final barrier to get into the Vault—the guard station at the bottom of the elevator—was up to me. Or, at least, I had to cause a big enough distraction for the boys to take out the guards. Armed guards, who would certainly try to kill me as soon as they saw a small red dragon burst through the doorway. More fighting. More killing. I was sick to death of it all, but I knew we had to succeed here, or even more of us could die. The hallway was too narrow for two dragons to be there simultaneously, and being smaller than Cobalt, I could maneuver better in cramped spaces. Plus, Garret and Riley were better shots, and I could easily Shift between human and dragon thanks to the Viper suit. It made sense that I would go in first, but that didn’t make it less terrifying. Hopefully, the element of shock would give us enough time to eliminate the threat quickly.

I let out a roar as I lunged through the doorway, blasting the air before me with fire, not even knowing what I was aiming for. I heard a scream, and a body lurched away, flailing wildly as flames engulfed him. Two others at the end of the hall pulled guns as I turned on them, shouting something about intruders and sounding the alarm. Gunfire boomed through the corridor, and something sparked off a chest plate, making me snarl and recoil in pain. At the same time, Garret and Riley stepped out of the elevator, guns raised. Their pistols barked, and the two guards jerked away, collapsing to the tile.

I winced, but then Garret lunged past me, heading toward an open doorway on the side of the corridor. A large window stood beside the frame, looking out on the hall, probably the guard station where they viewed all the security footage. The soldier ducked through the frame, and a second later gunshots rang out from inside, making me wince. Garret emerged, a grim expression on his face as he joined us.

“I don’t know if I stopped him from sounding the alarm in time,” he said, looking at Riley. “Talon could be on their way. We should move fast.”

“Wes!” Riley snapped, glaring back at the elevator. “Get out here. The shooting has stopped so you can stop cringing now.”

“Oh, well, pardon me for actually having the sense to get out of sight when bullets start flying through the bloody air,” Wes snarled back, coming out of the elevator tube. “I don’t have scales or armor or the testosterone God gave a gorilla, so you’re all going to have to calm your tits until it’s safe.”

Quickly, I Shifted back to human form so I wouldn’t be so blatantly noticeable, as a bright red dragon strolling through the room would probably raise some flags. Turning from the three motionless humans on the floor, I looked at the thick metal door at the very end of the hall.

“So, the Vault is through here, right?” I asked, hurrying after Riley as he strode forward. Wes followed reluctantly, and Garret hovered behind us, watching our backs. “All we need to do is go in, find the evidence against the Patriarch and get out again, right?”