part0039

I pushed my way through the throng of people, the bass of the music pounding in my chest, my eyes pinned on Ryoko. She wasn’t doing well with staying polite anymore, not that I believed she should with how little these “men” were listening.

When she was within my reach, I latched onto her arm and pulled her close. “There you are! I’ve been looking everywhere for you.”

Ryoko looked to me and smiled. “Sorry. I got a little caught up.”

I noticed the two men’s growing interest in my presence and needed to defuse this ASAP. I tugged Ryoko away. “Well, let’s go. Everyone is waiting.”

“Wait, hold on.” One of the men stepped in my way. I looked up at him through my lashes. Yellow-tan skin, dark eyes and hair, he was a good-looking man and the sly smirk he was flashing me screamed heartbreaker. Or maybe it was the dog tags. I was always suspicious about soldier’s intents when it came to the affairs of the heart. “No need to run off so quick. We were just asking your friend here if she wanted to dance with us. You’re more than welcome to join us.” The soldier stepped behind me, resting his hand on my lower back. “I’d be quite happy if you did.”

I pulled away and tugged Ryoko with me. “I’m going to pass. Our friends are waiting for us.”

He snaked his arm around me again and bent close to my ear. “You don’t have to be scared, baby. I don’t bite… too hard.”

My eyes narrowed, and I shoved him away. “I said no. Now leave us be.”

He scowled and I spun on my heels. I didn’t make it more than four steps before a deeper voice spoke. “Hold on, sweetie.”

A large, strong hand grasped my wrist, but that wasn’t what my mind focused on. A crunching sound hit my ears, and I stilled. Ryoko’s ears twitched and she zoned in on me just as the pain slammed into me. I screamed as I turned to see what happened, my body locking up in various places.

“Eira!” Ryoko shrieked. Her shout got the others around us noticing the issue and even the music stopped, the entire club going silent.

My assailant was an enormous man, like some freak out of a movie. Dog tags hung from his neck, identifying the reason why. He’s like the soldier Raikidan and I ran into the day we visited the temple. Were the two related in some way? If they were, were they the new experiments I’d heard about? If they were, it was obvious Zarda no longer cared about how the experiments looked as long as they had the modifications he needed. He would be able to use the looks as a reason to get rid of them in the end.

That didn’t matter at the moment. The throbbing pain in my arm, as well as the numbness ebbing over my hand did.

The man who grabbed me let go and pulled away, his buddies staring at him. “What did you do?”

The hulking man took a step back. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to. I–it was an accident.”

I stared at my arm, cradling it gently. He crushed it. He crushed my wrist.

“You asshole!” Ryoko roared. She launched herself at him, slamming her fist into his chest as hard as she could, uncaring if it harmed him or not.

The man stumbled back, coughing. He’s a Brute class. No doubt about it. He can take those hits. Ryoko’s rage blinded her, and she continued to assault the man. But her attacks weren’t hurting him like it would another person, not even any Brute I knew. Something was not right.

The hulking man grabbed her and threw her to the ground, but she bounced back and body-slammed him. The other two men talked to each other, trying to figure out what to do—and figure out how Ryoko was able to stand up to this Brute. You’d think everyone in the military knew her.

People behind the soldiers pushed their way through, their dog tags clearly identifying them. One look at Ryoko engaging with the Brute, and then me holding my arms, they knew what went down.

One looked to the man who had accosted me. “What the hell happened here?”

“I don’t know. It happened so fast,” he said. “Who is that woman?”

The first man’s brow rose. “How do you not know of Ryoko? She’s one of the best former Brutes we’ve ever had in the military.”

The man who had accosted me swore, the name now ringing bells.

I looked behind me when patrons shuffled away and watched Raikidan and Rylan push their way through. Raikidan reached me first and looked at the way I held my arm. The immediate pain had dulled to a throbbing, but I also couldn’t feel my hand at all. His eyes darkened, and his lips curled back into a snarl before he focused on the man Ryoko was beating on.

Before I could think to stop him from getting involved, he charged over to the man just as he threw Ryoko off him. Raikidan’s fist slammed into the hulking soldier’s gut. He choked and then fell to his knees, struggling to breathe and holding his abdomen. Raikidan pulled his arm back and then threw his fist into the man’s face, my ears picking up the snapping of his nose. Ouch, nice hit.

Raikidan continued to hit him over and over again, his face filled with rage. An odd feeling fell over me as I watched him beat this man up because of me. It was warm and had some sort of pulling effect toward him. It confused me. Most feelings were confusing for me, but I’d never experienced this one.

Blood splattered across the floor. No one jumped in to aid the Brute, and the Brute soldier couldn’t catch his bearings between Raikidan’s swings. If this continues, Raikidan may just kill him.

“Rai, stop,” I called out.

He halted mid-swing and his attention snapped to me. His muscles tightened when his eyes landed on my held arm.

“Please, no more. He gets it.”

Raikidan looked down at the Brute, now spitting out blood on the floor, and hit him one last time before stalking back over to me. Azriel, along with what looked to be his entire bouncer staff, pushed their way through the patrons. He assessed the damage and barked out orders to get the soldiers out. Rylan left me to give a hand. Ryoko offered to help, but Azriel declined and requested she help me. She nodded, but upon seeing Raikidan reaching me, she winked and stayed put for a bit longer. Thanks, Ryo…

Raikidan looked down at my arm and scowled. “How bad does it hurt?”

I looked away. “My… body is in shock. I can’t feel my hand and there’s a dull ache in my wrist. Pretty sure he crushed it. If I don’t get it fixed up before the shock wears off, I’m going to be in excruciating pain.”

His lip pulled back and some sort of sound came out of his mouth, but I wasn’t able to discern what. I assumed it was some sort of Draconic. “What needs to be done to heal that right? I can go find—”

I let go of my bad arm, flinching from the slight movement, and placed my good hand on his chest. “It’s going to be okay. Azriel is a former military medic and has many medical clearances. I’m sure he has something here. And if not, we can talk to some other unconventional contacts.”

“Why did you have me stop? How can you be so calm after what he did?”

“Because I didn’t want you to kill him. It’s not worth going to jail for.”

He held my gaze. “Yes, you are.”

My heart skipped a beat and my face warmed. What? I looked away and went back to cradling my arm. He was wrong. Whatever messed-up reason he had for saying that, he was wrong. I’m not worth anything.

Ryoko came up to us then. I suspected she’d seen enough and didn’t want things to get anymore awkward between us. “Ray, you should go give Azriel a hand. Some of the soldiers aren’t cooperating, and I think having the guy that beat up a Brute could spark them to listen.” She placed her hand on my back. “I’ll get Eira situated in Azriel’s office for when he can tend to her.”

Raikidan nodded, giving me one last look before walking off. Ryoko gave me a gentle nudge and the two of us headed through the club to the back.

Azriel’s office was just down the hall, past the kitchen. It was a rather large room, with a mahogany desk and comfortable chair, couch for lounging, and a few bookshelves filled with various items.

I sat down in Azriel’s chair while Ryoko fetched some towels. When she returned, she created a comfortable rest for my arm and then pulled up a chair for herself. “How are you feeling?”

I shook my head. “I don’t know. I don’t know what to make of what happened, and I’m feeling pain and numbness in different parts of my arm.”

She nodded. “From the sound of it, he got you good, but it didn’t look like he grabbed you all that hard.”

“I saw another Brute like him in the city my first week back here. He smelled like tank water. If it weren’t for the smells here, I’m sure I would have gotten it off him, too.”

“So, a new Brute. Why would he be here, then? It’s protocol for them not to be in such settings with civilians until five years after release.”

I grunted. “My guess is the group assigned to show him around wanted to have their own fun when they weren’t supposed to, and hoped he’d behave himself.”

Ryoko snorted. “That wouldn’t surprise me.” She looked at my arm. “As bad as it is to say, I’m glad it was you that he grabbed and not some civilian. There wouldn’t be a way to save their limb.”

I agreed. Civilians, as advanced as they were compared to an ordinary human, didn’t take too well to the types of accelerated medical treatments we experiments could.

Ryoko’s eyes softened and her ears drooped. “Sorry I was the cause of this.”

I shook my head. “Not your fault they wouldn’t listen.”

“Yeah, but you had to jump in.”

“Well, I didn’t have to. Rylan was going to, but since he decided not to take you up on the dancing offer, I thought it wouldn’t be right for him to play ‘white knight.’”

She shrugged. “He didn’t have to. He’s not interested. It is what it is.”

“Except he is.” I pointed at her when she went to open her mouth. “Don’t even try to say he’s not. I know what I saw when we first arrived.” I pointed to my head. “I know what I felt. He just has far more control than Blaze.”

She pursed her lips, and then smiled wickedly. “Regardless, had he jumped in, then your hot date wouldn’t have been able to swoop in and beat the snot out of that guy.”

I narrowed my eyes. “Ryoko, he’s not my date.”

“Not with the way he looked at you when we first arrived.”

“He didn’t look at me any different than he does every day. Indifferent and uncaring, as he should.”

She nudged me. “Stop being a pain and just admit that some guy likes you and you’re totally okay with it.”

I let out a long sigh. “Ryoko, I’m in too much pain to deal with this right now. Just stop for once.”

She frowned and studied me. “You’re not telling me something. Something about him.”

My mouth spread into a thin line.

“What? We always tell each other stuff.” She thought for a moment. “Does he have a girlfriend?”

I sighed. “No. And he’s not into men as far as I know, so I wasn’t lying to Azriel, either.”

She chuckled and then leaned forward. “Then tell me what’s going on.”

I frowned. “I’m sorry, Ryo, but I can’t. I gave him my word it’d stay between the two of us.”

“Oh…” She sat back up. “Okay then.”

She accepted that a little too easily. I knew Ryoko far too well. Despite her placating tone, this topic was far from done with in the future.

The door to the office flew open and Azriel strolled in, a medical kit in hand, and Raikidan close behind. The latter looked extra-irritated. Azriel, on the other hand, looked excited. “All right, doctor is here!”

Ryoko and I laughed. That explained it.

He came up to me, placing the medical kit on the desk. “Now, be good for me, Laz, and I might give you a lollipop.”

I snickered. “No promises.”

Azriel rummaged through his kit, pulling out various tools and devices. I noticed Raikidan take up position by the door, leaning against the wall, as if he were expecting trouble to come through any minute.

Azriel pulled out a cylindrical object from the kit. “Let’s get a good look at what we’re dealing with.”

He pressed a button on the side of the cylindrical object, and used both hands to pull it apart. Thin rods of metal on the top and bottom connected the two parts, and a hologram projected in the center. He held the object over my wrist. The hologram distorted and displayed an x-ray view of my bones. As I thought, there wasn’t a single bone that had more than an inch of unbroken length.

He sucked in a tight breath. “That’s… bad. I’m going to use a regenerative serum. It’s the only way you’re going to get that fixed at this rate.”

I chewed my lip, not liking the idea. “How much better is that serum than in the past? I know natural healers that would make this process better than that stuff.”

“Don’t worry. It’s leaps and bounds better than when we were active military. Nowhere near as painful, and does a better job. Will still take about an hour with the damage you sustained.”

Ryoko let out a low whistle. “Not even I knew it improved that much. That’s amazing!”

I agreed, but still didn’t like the idea of using the serum. Azriel didn’t care. He rummaged around through the medical kit, pulling out a small gun.

I watched him carefully as he looked for more items and pulled out a small cloth, a bottle and a vial of clear liquid, and a needle sealed in a bag, aware of my increasing heart rate.

I swallowed, unable to look away from the needle. It’s okay, Eira, it’s not like that. But even so, I wasn’t going to enjoy this.

Azriel soaked the cloth with the liquid from the bottle and lightly wiped it over my wrist. He was gentle, and the strange-smelling liquid left my skin more numb than it had been before. Perspiration dripped down the back of my neck. Azriel then loaded the needle and small vial into the gun. I tensed.

Ryoko got to her feet and rested her hands on my shoulders. “I’ve got you.”

I looked away from Azriel and my arm. “Thanks…”

Azriel grasped my arm gently and pressed the gun to my arm. My free hand clenched tightly, and I flinched from the pain when the gun silently went off. Although the numbing solution did well for numbing the top layer of my skin, it did nothing to numb everything underneath. I felt the needle slice into my flesh and the solution spread through my arm as Azriel continued to press the trigger. It wasn’t a pleasant feeling, to say the least.

I counted until the vial was empty. I knew because I felt the needle retract, and Azriel let go of my arm. I took a deep breath before I turned my head back to him. Azriel ejected the vial and needle, placing them in a bag to be disposed of. He put the gun back into the medical kit and pulled out a roll of white bandages. Picking up my hand, Azriel quickly and precisely wrapped up my arm.

“That should do it.” He set down my arm. “In an hour, you shouldn’t have anything but a small scar to show for this night.”

My pulse started to slow back to normal. Ryoko let me go and stepped back. “So, that’s it then? She was the last thing to be dealt with?”

“Well, no.” Azriel began to pack up. “I’m waiting for those boys’ commanding officer to show up. Actually”—he looked at her—“if you’d be so kind as to help me with that, I’d appreciate it.” He glanced at Raikidan. “Your new friend here was more interested in beating up the soldiers than helping. Of course, since this is because of Laz, I can’t say I blame him. So, I thought it best he keep an eye on her instead of getting into trouble.”

Ryoko grinned. “I’d be happy to assist.”

While I agreed with Azriel’s perspective, I knew what Ryoko was up to, and I didn’t like it. She went over to Azriel, a skip in her step. Azriel tucked his medical kit under an arm and then allowed Ryoko to hook her arms into his free one.

He glanced back at me as they left. “Behave now, you two.”

I flipped him my middle finger just before he shut the door. Raikidan came over and sat down in Ryoko’s chair. An air of silence fell over the room. I focused on my arm, playing with a part of my cloth wrap as I thought about recent events. This Brute we dealt with was an anomaly. Ryoko wasn’t the toughest Brute out there, but she ranked near the top, and even he had outclassed her. And if my suspicions were correct in his relation to the other Brute Raikidan and I ran into, I wondered if these were some of the new soldiers we were told about by Aiden. If so, Zarda wasn’t keeping to any visual appeal standards. I wouldn’t doubt he’s using it as an excuse to get rid of them later when he’s bored.

Raikidan looked at me. “You don’t expect me to talk, right?”

I chuckled. “No. I much prefer comfortable silence over idle chit chat.”

He nodded and silence fell over us again. That is, until my arm spasmed. The uncomfortable sensation made me cringe and instinctively I grabbed the good part of my arm.

Raikidan bolted out of his seat. “What’s wrong?”

I shook my head and waited for the episode to subside before speaking. “Nothing’s wrong. That’s just the effect of the serum. It’s mending all the tissue and bone damage incrementally. I’ll be fine.”

He sat back down and then frowned. “I’m sorry I didn’t get to you sooner. I thought you’d be fine to handle the problem.”

I chuckled. “Trust me, I didn’t expect this, either. You have nothing to apologize for.”

He pulled his chair closer and rested his forehead in the crook of my neck. “Yes, I do. I need to keep you safe. I failed to do so.”

I sat there, rigid from the close contact. But as uncomfortable as I was, a strange sense of calmness spread over me. No, calm wasn’t the right word. I felt more okay with this than I thought possible. What’s going on with me?

“R–Raikidan, what are you doing?” I finally managed to ask.

He pulled away, a frown on his lips. “It’s a calming gesture for us dragons. I guess humans don’t work that way?”

My lip twitched. “It might work for a normal human, since they’re okay with being close to others. But I’m not normal.”

“So that didn’t help you at all?”

I shook my head. “No.”

His brow knitted as he went to thinking. “Can… can I do it again? It helped me.”

I chewed my lower lip. Was it okay? He wasn’t human. Nothing weird would happen because of that fact. “Sure.”

He rested his forehead against my neck again and took slow breaths. I focused on my wrist, a pulsating sensation making its way up my arm. I’m going to be hit with another spasm. As if on cue, my arm twitched as a healing spasm took hold. The sensation of pain shot through my arm, and I clamped down on my lip so as to not cry out.

I exhaled when everything subsided. Raikidan’s arm reached around me suddenly and pulled me closer, burying his face deeper into my neck. An uncomfortably warm sensation flooded over me.

“R–Raikidan, what are you doing? We didn’t agree to this.”

He didn’t respond, and his grip remained tight.

I glanced back at him. He didn’t look at me and his whole body appeared tense. My brow knitted. “Is this situation really affecting you that bad?”

He tilted his head to look at me, those deep sapphire pools snaring my gaze. “Why wouldn’t it? I failed to keep you safe when I told you I would.”

“No, you told me you’d help me get revenge.”

“And as a Guard, I swore to protect you. I’m not going back on that while I remain here.”

My cheeks burned, and my mouth dried a little, and I didn’t know why. I didn’t understand what this dragon did to me. No one had been able to get me to react like this. That’s a lie. I pushed the memory away. I told myself to never think on that. It was for the best…

I looked away. “I’m not worth getting upset over.”

His grip on me tightened and he pulled me closer. “I disagree.”

My heart rate picked up and I pulled on his arm with my good hand. “Please let go.”

“What is wrong with what I’m doing?” He tried to look at me again. “I get you’re human, but this is normal for dragons.”

“It’s not normal for humans.” I pulled on him some more. “It’s… a possessive action. Please let go.”

He listened this time. “How possessive are humans?”

I glanced at him and then focused on my healing arm. “Depends on the person and what the object of their obsession is. Some get annoyed when something happens to the object they possess or want to possess, and some… get violent.”

Raikidan leaned on the desk, his arms crossed. “Sounds like us dragons.”

I looked at him. “How often do you get violent?”

“Well, it depends, but if someone doesn’t have expressed permission, whether that object is inanimate or living, like a dragon or non-dragon, that’s the more likely state we’ll be in.”

My brow furrowed. “Non-dragon? Like humans and elves?”

He nodded. “It’s most common for reds, as they like to mingle and live amongst the non-dragons, but it can happen to any color. Even a black, believe it or not.”

With what he told me about black dragons, I found it hard to believe. “Why people?”

“The dragon forms an emotional bond with the being, attaching to them enough to see that living being as a treasure. They’ll then protect them with their life.”

I looked down at my hand. “Must be nice having a dragon protecting you like that.”

“I watch your back.”

“Not like that.” I fiddled with my cloth binding. “I’m no treasure. A muddy rock at best.”

“No, you’re not.”

What did he know? He was a dragon who claimed to know little about humans. I looked at him, only for those captivating eyes of his to snag me. My pulse slowed, and everything around us disappeared. I tried to say something, anything that would bring me back to reality, but the words didn’t come.

Raikidan moved, breaking the eye contact, and rested his chin in the crook of my neck. He wrapped his arms around me again and I resigned to this fate. He wasn’t going to listen, and if I was honest with myself, it wasn’t really all that bad. I did feel calmer, safer even. Allowing myself to look at this objectively, it wasn’t as alarming as I’d let myself believe.

Raikidan tilted his head, and still it was okay. I found myself reaching up and resting my hand on the side of his face. He didn’t pull away, and still, everything remained okay. It didn’t make sense to me. It has to be because he’s a dragon. I wouldn’t have given such lenience to a human.

Azriel’s office door flew open, and the two of us jumped. I immediately regretted it and cried out as excruciating pain shot through my arm. Raikidan reacted by placing his hand on my shoulder and looking at me with worry. I gave him a reassuring smile. It was my fault for not being aware of my surroundings.

Azriel’s voice carried into the room. “Eira, are you okay? Do you need some painkillers?”

“I’m fine. I just need to not be surprised by sudden entrances, thank you.” I looked up, only to be surprised by the familiar man standing in front of Azriel, our hasty door-opening culprit. “General Zo?”

He stood in the doorway, staring at me. Unlike when I’d seen him before, he wore standard civilian clothes, but dog tags hung around his neck. This was standard attire for soldiers, playing off the lie that their service wasn’t forced. A stupid façade. The majority of civilians didn’t care that we had no say in what we did or that we only served orders every hour of the day. But I guess it helps soldiers get through their miserable lives by pretending they can have normal lives sometimes, so there’s a plus there.

Zo took another moment to speak. “You’re the injured civilian?”

I looked to Azriel. “No one else was hurt, right?”

He shook his head. “Just you.”

I look to Zo. “Then, yep, that’s me.”

Zo looked to Azriel. “Then who beat up one of my men? You said he was in here too.”

Azriel pointed to Raikidan. “He is.”

Zo’s brow rose. “A civilian beat up a Brute? You expect me to believe that?”

“I do, since he’s my newest bouncer.” Azriel, what the hell are you doing? “Ryoko recommended him to me because of his strength. He got his chance to prove it today.” Azriel looked to Raikidan. “And yes, Rai, per your earlier request, you’re getting off-time pay for assisting me earlier with the corralling.”

“Better be,” Raikidan muttered. “And it’s Ray. Only Eira calls me Rai.”

Azriel huffed. “I don’t get special treatment, too? What is this?”

I giggled. “Because it’s fun to hear you whine.”

He pointed at me, his eyes narrowed with mischievous intent. “Watch it, young lady. I can mess with your hours now that I’m your boss.”

I stuck my tongue out at him and Zo chuckled. “You two seem to know each other well.”

I nodded. “Azriel and I met… three days after Rai and I arrived in the city.” I grinned Azriel’s way. “He was all bummed out he’d lost his good streak.”

“I did not,” Azriel said, crossing his arm. “It was only delayed.”

I waved him off. “Yeah, yeah.”

Zo approached and sat down on the desk, his eyes focused on me. It made me uncomfortable. “As amusing as this banter is, I do need to ask you a few questions.”

“I’m more than happy to answer your questions, General.”

He tapped my chin with his knuckle. “Just Zo, remember, Sweetcheeks?”

I laughed. “Right—I forgot, sorry.”

“Now, tell me what happened.”

I gave him a quick but thorough explanation of the events that transpired, and then looked at my bandaged arm when I came to the end. “Then the big freaky guy grabbed me and this happened.”

Zo’s brow furrowed. “Azriel said he harmed you, but didn’t go into detail.”

“Well, he—” My arm spasmed and I cringed.

Zo jumped off the desk and stared wide-eyed at Azriel. “You gave a civilian regenerative serum? Are you insane?”

Azriel crossed his arms. “Your Brute completely crushed her wrist. It’d take several surgeries and weeks of healing for her to maybe get full use of that hand back had I not. I tested her to make sure she was compatible, and then gave her a low dose determined safe for civilians. I know what I’m doing.” Azriel looked my way. “That was your third spasm, correct?”

I nodded, wincing—this pain the worst of them yet—and he nodded back. “I thought so. Everything is happening on time. You’ll have one more in ten minutes. That’ll be the last.”

I let out a small breath of relief when the spasm died down. I hated this stuff. Improved or not, I should have sought out a shaman to give me proper healing. “It’s fine, really.”

Zo sat back down on the desk and brushed my bangs out of my eyes. “Are you sure?”

I nodded, using the motion to pull away a bit and tried to flex my hand. It hurt to try, but my hand moved, showing the serum was working. “See? I’m a lot tougher than you think.”

He chuckled. “I suppose so.” He turned his head and brushed my bangs with his fingers again. My brow furrowed and he smiled. “Sorry. Your hair color fascinates me. I—”

I held up a finger, finding this the perfect opportunity to throw off any suspicion about my identity. “Don’t say you think it’s natural. I’m so tired of hearing that.” Zo blinked as I ranted. “Who in their right mind thinks purple hair is natural? I mean, c’mon!”

“Well, uh, you have a good point,” he managed. “What color hair do you have naturally?”

“Red,” Azriel said as he walked over to one of his bookshelves. This pulled Zo’s attention from me, allowing me to give my friend a questioning look when he turned around with a picture frame in hand. Azriel walked over to the desk and handed it to Zo, winking at me when Zo’s eyes fell on the photo.

Zo chuckled. “You two are something else.”

I leaned to the side to look myself to find it a photograph of Azriel and me. The two of us were pulling on each other’s faces to make each other look as ridiculous as possible, and my hair was in fact red in this image. And not an orange kind of red like I had for that failed mission with Ryoko. This red looked much like what you’d see for a fire elementalist, and the color Raikidan sported in his hair. I remember that day. It was about a week before I’d gone on the run. I had just finished an undercover assignment and he’d stopped by for a visit. Azriel, you are a genius.

Zo looked at me. “You look good with red, but I think you pull off this violet color well. You should keep it this way.”

“She’ll color it as she pleases,” Raikidan said.

I looked at him to find a clear scowl directed at Zo. What’s up with him?

Zo cleared his throat and passed the photo back to Azriel. “Of course. My comment was merely a suggestion.”

I pushed Raikidan by the shoulder, though he didn’t move much. “Don’t be mean. Or I’ll let Azriel get creative with his work punishments.”

Azriel grinned. “Please do.”

Raikidan glanced at me. “I’ll give him the same permission for you.”

I stuck my tongue out at him. “He loves me too much.”

Zo looked intrigued. “You’re going to be working here as well, Sweetcheeks?”

I went to open my mouth, but Azriel beat me to it. “Yes. She’s my newest waitress.”

Zo looked at me, his eyes showing his clear interest in the matter. “Really?”

Azriel, I’m going to kill you! I forced a smile. “Yeah. I needed to try something different, and since Rai was coming to check out open positions, I tagged along.”

“Well, you’re in good hands with Azriel.” He tapped my chin with his finger and then stood up. “I need to get going. Stay out of trouble from now on, Sweetcheeks, you hear?”

I chuckled. “Trouble is my middle name.”

He chuckled and touched my chin again before leaving. Azriel followed him and had a quick conversation before closing the door.

He looked at me with a raised brow. “Sweetcheeks?”

I hung my head. “Don’t get me started. It’s not my idea to put up with it.” I then pointed at him. “Speaking of not my idea, how about consulting us next time before you spontaneously hire us.”

Raikidan nodded, agreeing with me.

Azriel held up his hands. “Sorry, but I didn’t have time to consult you. Zo showed up quicker than I expected, and I needed a legitimate excuse to why Raikidan was able to beat the guy up. All my bouncers need to have exceptionally high strength to handle the clientele I bring in. You know this.”

“And what about me? It’s not like Raikidan said I was working here, just that he would convince you to dish out creative punishments.”

“I figured you two came as a package deal.” He smiled. “Plus, I’m sure the shop doesn’t pay as well as I can.”

I sighed. He wasn’t wrong. At the rate the projects were crawling in, Zane wasn’t able to technically pay all of us individually, plus fund the rebellion. It was why we had a shared fund stashed away in the house.

Azriel came over to me. “How’s the pain?”

“I’m coming out of shock slowly, so the pain is increasing, but not as bad as it could have been had I let it be.”

The door of the office opened, and Rylan and Ryoko strolled in. Rylan looked… confused. “Azriel, have you seen Blaze? I looked everywhere for him.”

“He left with four young ladies before the incident happened,” Azriel said.

Rylan pinched his nose. “I knew he was up to something. I shouldn’t have let him hold onto the keys.”

“No use getting worked up about it. This is Blaze, after all,” I said. “Nothing we can do to stop him. We’ll just use the bikes. They can each fit two people, so it’s not a big deal.”

“I’m almost healed up. I can drive.”

Rylan crossed his arms. “Even if your bones are fixed, you shouldn’t put too much tension on them for a few more hours.”

I looked to Azriel, who shrugged. “I don’t see an issue with her driving. It’s not like she’s using that wrist to twist the throttle.”

“To add to that, Raikidan can’t drive a motorcycle,” I said.

Ryoko’s hand shot up into the air. “I can drive him!”

While Rylan didn’t physically react to the excited offer, the bond tugged hard on the back of my head. That didn’t please him in the least.

I shook my head. “I’m more than capable of driving him.”

She winked at me. “I’m sure you are.”

I rolled my eyes and went to spit out a retort, but my arm spasmed. Luckily this wasn’t nearly as painful as the last three times.

“And that’s four,” Azriel said. “You’re good to go. Your arm will hurt for a few hours, but by the morning, you should be as good as new.”

I flexed my hand, the pain a dull ache. “Thanks for patching me up.”

“I’ll always help you, Laz, you know that.”

I smiled and then stood up. “We should head out.”

Azriel sighed. “And I should go make sure the dance floor has been properly sanitized. One thing, though, Laz.”

“Yeah, what’s up?”

“Watch Zo’s hands when he’s around. He’s an ass grabber.”

I pinched my nose. “Perfect. Thanks for the warning.”

We said our goodbyes, and left the building. I noted, besides the closed-off dance floor, everything had returned to normal in the club. When we reached our parked motorcycles, Raikidan climbed on behind me. I secured my helmet and then started up the machine. I planned to wait for Ryoko and Rylan, but the two insisted on arguing who would drive.

“We’ll see you two lovebirds at the house.” I shifted the motorcycle into gear and drove off.

“Lovebirds?” Raikidan said. “As in the small tropical birds that mate for life?”

I nodded. “Yeah. Humans use the expression to tease others who care about each other a lot. Especially if they’re too stubborn to make anything official between them.”

“I see. So, it’s in no way a reference to the bird’s life mating?”

I shook my head. “No. I told you before, most nu-humans don’t mate for life. Not anymore, at least.”

“I see. Thank you for answering me freely.”

Why is he thanking me? He’d been acting weird all night since the incident.

I shook the questions from my head and focused on driving. It wasn’t anything to be concerned about.

The rest of the ride was quiet. Ryoko and Rylan never caught up with us, so I suspected either they continued to argue long after we left, or they took a different route.

The garage door opened at my command when we drew near, and I parked my motorcycle in its usual spot. As we hopped off, the sound of Ryoko’s motorcycle echoed through the garage. I waited for them to pull up beside us, finding out that Rylan had managed to win their mini-argument.

“I thought you two were going to be there all night,” I teased.

Rylan snorted as he cut the engine. “She’s stubborn, but not your kind of stubborn.”

I noticed Ryoko’s good mood when she removed the helmet and grinned. “So, what did you bribe her with?”

He hung his head. “Ice cream.”

I laughed, and Ryoko smiled wide as she hopped off the motorcycle. “Any kind I want, too!”

“Well, I hope you’re not thinking of having it now. It’s a bit late,” I said as I headed for the stairs.

She held her head high. “If I want ice cream at one in the morning, I will.”

I glanced back at her. “What, some guy break your heart, so you need to watch sappy love stories and mend your soul with ice cream?”

Ryoko laughed and caught up with me, leaving the confused men behind. “You’re too funny, Laz.”

The two of us were ascending the stairs by the time they caught up. When I opened the door to the living room, we stopped short. In front of us stood a very angry little girl.

“Where were you?” she demanded.

“Uh, out?” I pushed past her and called out down the hall, “Seda, I need a communicator.”

“Yes, I’m aware you were out,” Genesis said. “And I know exactly where you were, because I was awake when Blaze came home an hour ago.”

“I guess his escapade didn’t last as long as he’d hoped,” Ryoko mumbled.

Rylan snickered, and Genesis’ eyes darkened more.

I leaned against the back of the couch. “And what’s your point, Genesis? We’re allowed to go out and have fun every now and then. It’s called a morale boost.”

She opened her mouth to speak, but then noticed my bandaged arm. Her eyes went wide. “What happened? Blaze never mentioned anything about you getting hurt.”

“Probably because he was too focused on the four girls he left with to notice the real issue that happened,” Rylan said.

Genesis’ face scrunched. “I didn’t need to know that detail, thank you.”

Seda came out of her room just then and sashayed down the hall. I took the communicator from her and placed it on my head. The visor slid across my eyes, and I searched for a particular communicator signal.

“Whatcha need, babe?” Aurora asked when I connected.

I could tell she was typing away at some project, and I ended up shaking my head with a chuckle. “Do you ever sleep?”

She laughed. “Sometimes I wonder, but that’s what happens when you have insomnia.”

“Fair enough. I need files.”

“All right, what type of files?”

“I need as many files as you can get on these new experiments coming out.”

Her end was silent for a moment. “Any particular reason?”

“I ran into one a week or so ago, and we ran into another one within the past few hours. There’s something weird about them. Those files will help me figure out what to plan.”

“All right, if you say so.” She typed some more on her keyboard. “I’ll see if Arnia can sneak them out. Anything else?”

“No, that’s it. Have fun not sleeping.”

She laughed and then cut the line. I handed the communicator back to Seda and stretched.

“So, what is going on?” Genesis asked.

“We ran into some freak show of an experiment at the club,” Ryoko said. “Some super-strong Brute class. He snapped Laz’s wrist as if it were made of paper, and even I had difficulties with him.”

Genesis placed a hand over her mouth. “That’s horrible.”

I shrugged. “Azriel patched me up, so I’m okay. Now we just need more information on him and another one Raikidan and I ran into outside the club.”

She nodded. “Agreed. We need to know what kind of trouble these Brutes could cause us. I’ll leave you all to rest, then.”

She walked off and Ryoko looked at me. “You gonna take a shower?”

“That was the plan.”

“Okay, I thought about taking a bath, but I can wait.”

“Or you can take your bath and I can take my shower. They are two separate units, after all.”

Ryoko shrugged. “All right. Just knock before you come in.”

I headed for my bedroom. “Sure.”

I didn’t bother closing my door after I entered. I knew Raikidan would be in shortly after, and if I was going to take a shower, I wouldn’t be in here long. I took off my jewelry and laid the pieces down next to my daggers on my large dresser. I picked up the armor cloth, so it would be a fast switch to my nightclothes and turned around.

As I did, I noticed Raikidan sitting on my windowsill. He leaned on his arms, with his jacket under them, and watched me. I was really confused. I hadn’t heard him walk in, and as I looked toward the door, I realized I never heard him close it.

His gaze was intense and I couldn’t look away. Slowly I walked closer to him. He stood up and met me halfway, paying no mind to his jacket as it fell to the floor. He stared down at me as we stood close to each other and I stared back. I wasn’t sure what was going on with me.

Slowly he lifted his hand and touched my chin with his finger. In an instant I felt self-conscious and a little uncomfortable. “W–what are you doing?”

“I don’t like his scent on you.”

I blinked slowly. He didn’t like a scent on me? Was he talking about Zo’s? It made sense. Zo had touched my chin multiple times. But if that was true, why was he touching my face?

Raikidan touched my bangs in the same fashion Zo had, and it clicked. He was covering Zo’s scent with his own. Raikidan touched my chin once more, and as he pulled his hand away, I grabbed it with mine. I pulled it back and forced him to cradle my cheek.

I closed my eyes and opened them a moment later. “I’d prefer your scent on me over his.”

Without warning, I let his hand go and walked out of the room. As I made my way to the bathroom, I thought deeply over the situation I had just been in. I couldn’t figure out why I had been unable to look away. It was like some stronger unseen force was compelling me to do it. It was like the second day I had been with him at the waterfall. That compelling sensation was the same.

With an ordinary person, these reactions I was having would have been disturbing to me, but they weren’t with Raikidan. He hadn’t reacted when I placed his hand on my face. He had reacted only when I spoke. I felt the brief stop of his pulse before I let his hand go. His reaction was primal—almost subconscious. It wasn’t a reaction a human would have had. A human would have reacted to the touch.

Did my reaction to him really have to do with the fact he was a dragon? Was Ryoko right in claiming I had some sort of bond with him? Would I ever find out? How would I react if I did?

I knocked on the door and then entered the bathroom. Peeling my clothes off quickly, I jumped into the shower stall and let the steaming water wash over me. As I stood there, my mind went back to those questions. But then, one bigger one came to mind.