Grace

As Heath and I backed toward the bushes, the mutant continued to circle us.

Oh, God. Where is Victoria?

“More are coming,” Heath grunted.

A thick iron gate at the base of one of the buildings slid open, and out flew three more mutants. Their screeches stung my ears as they lurched forward.

Heath let out another storm of fire, which I did my best to spread around us as a shield, but of course, these were creatures of fire themselves. Although the blaze was uncomfortable against their skin, they seemed to have a high tolerance for it. The wall of fire that Heath and I were making—Benedict’s wiggling eyebrows couldn’t help but make an appearance in my mind—was more of an annoyance to them than any real kind of threat.

“Come,” Heath whispered, his hand closing around mine. I wanted to kick myself for feeling butterflies in my stomach at his touch, even at a time like this. “We need to find Victoria, and then we need to get to that gate.”

As the mutants were close to forming a full circle around us, we ducked down and darted for the nearest tree, next to where we had last seen Victoria. But she was nowhere in sight now. I scanned the compound in panic, my eyes falling on the group of hunters who had been overseeing the mutants. Strangely, they were all gathered near the border of the fence, firing their guns at the treetops. Huh? Where is Victoria? Why are they shooting at the trees?

Heath and I worked to build up another shield of fire around us as the mutants closed in again. They were getting more and more resistant, more and more daring in the face of it. And Heath was not a full dragon. He did not have the same stamina as his father when it came to unleashing fire.

I continued to cast my eyes desperately about the clearing, hoping that I’d somehow missed her. But she was gone.

“They must have taken her inside already,” I whispered. That was the only thing that could’ve happened.

The blaze enshrouding us made Heath’s eyes glimmer with fire as he looked at me. He clenched his jaw, then glanced toward the buildings. “If they’ve taken her in there, we need to return and get help,” he said. “Two of us won’t be enough to retrieve her.”

Tears of fear heated the corners of my eyes at the thought of abandoning Victoria. But Heath was right. We couldn’t take these hunters on alone. We had to get help.

Some of the hunters had already stopped shooting and were turning from their distraction to face us. If we were going to make a run for the gate, it was now or never. I was sure that they would start firing at us next given that the mutants hadn’t managed to gain control of us yet.

“Now!” Heath hissed. His hand still firmly clasped around mine, he pulled me across the clearing. Discarding our ring of fire to focus all of our attention on running, we found ourselves dodging bullets. But there were too many hunters shooting for us to dodge them all.

A sharp pain seared through the back of my shoulder.

Before my brain could fully register what had just happened, an overwhelming nausea gripped me. It felt like somebody had strapped lead to my feet. I could no longer keep up with Heath. I stumbled, tripping over a rock and falling to the ground.

“Grace!” Heath shouted, rushing to my side. His large hand gripped my upper arm. He tugged me upright while gazing around wildly at the hunters and mutants closing in on us.

With a deep roar that was worthy of any dragon, Heath billowed more fire. Then his right hand slipped behind my shoulder and I felt another biting pain. As he withdrew his hand, he was holding some kind of dart. A dart whose tip was coated with blood. My blood. They shot that into me. A drugged dart? At least that meant they had not intended to kill me… yet.

Hurling the dart aside, Heath slid his arms around my body and with a strong thrust of his legs, he hurtled us the remaining feet toward the portal. Holding me firmly against his chest, he pushed us both off the edge, sending us spiraling into a freefall through the ocean of stars.

Even as we fell, and the drug flowing through my veins made me feel close to losing consciousness, all I could think about was my cousin. She’s just a human.

Be okay, Victoria. Please be okay.

Victoria

Before I could ask another question of my strange, wild rescuer, he said, “We should continue.”

“No, wait,” I said, gazing up at him desperately. “My cousin and my friend are back there. Heck, my whole family’s back that way!”

He’d looked like he was about to stoop down and haul me over his shoulder, but now he paused. “Family?” he murmured.

“Yes, and where am I?” That should’ve been the first question I asked.

“The Woodlands,” he replied.

The Woodlands. Realm of the werewolves. Well, at least that explained his appearance. But… the hunters?

“What are those hunters doing here? They’ve set up, like, a base?” I could hardly believe the words even as I spoke them.

The man’s face turned somber. He swallowed hard, then nodded.

“How is this possible?” I asked.

He shook his head. “I do not know.”

“Well, where did you come from? What were you doing in that cage?”

At this, he turned his back on me and I could’ve sworn that his breath hitched. His shoulders heaved as he took in a deep, steady breath. “These men with their monsters and steel stormed our halls.”

Our halls?

“They captured my father, the ruler of the Blackhall tribe, along with my whole family. They…” He paused, his voice shaking slightly. “They slaughtered my father, my mother, and all my brothers and sisters.”