Ember peered down at me, her hands resting on my shoulders, soft fingers gently brushing my neck. Her stare was awed, as if she couldn’t quite believe this was real, that it was really happening. I knew, because I was feeling the same.

“Kiss me,” I whispered. Make me forget, for a night, that this isn’t real. Make me believe that this could be my life. That I’m not betraying everything I know to be here, to feel like this.

Ember bent down. Her lips touched mine, and my doubts vanished.

The soldier disappeared. Everything disappeared, except her. I felt nothing but her hands on my skin, her lips, her body pressed against me. I kissed her until I was consumed with her, searing this moment into my consciousness, driving away the soldier and St. George and everything about the war. I would get back to it tomorrow. Tonight, I wanted to be normal.

Tonight, Garret the soldier didn’t exist.

Riley

Two dragons were sitting in my living room when I walked through the door.

I frowned at Wes, who was hovering in the foyer waiting for me.

“What happened?” I snapped, looking past him to the pair of teens on my couch. Hatchlings, both of them, looking scared, dirty, and exhausted as they huddled together on the floral cushions. Naomi, or Nettle as she was called by nearly everyone, was a dark, thin girl with dreadlocks that stuck out in every direction. Remy, a sandy haired kid with piercing blue eyes, peered at me over the chair back, solemn and grave.

Wes shrugged helplessly.

“I can’t get them to talk, mate. They said they were waiting for you.”

Sighing, I stalked to the kitchen, opened a cupboard, and yanked out two bags of chips. Walking back to the living room, I tossed them at the hatchlings, who caught the bags and stared at me, unsure of what to do.

“Eat something first,” I ordered. Hatchlings were, by definition, almost always hungry, as their metabolism required large amounts of food to keep active and healthy. Shifting, too, took huge amounts of energy, which was why we were always ravenous soon after a change.

And a hungry dragon was a nervous, restless, irritable dragon, something I did not need right now. If I was going to get to the bottom of this, I needed them calm.

“It’s fine,” I assured them, as they still hesitated. “Go ahead and eat. Knock yourselves out, really. We’ll talk afterwards.”

Clearly starving, they tore open the bags and plowed through the contents, barely stopping to chew. I left them demolishing the chips and wandered onto the deck, leaning my elbows against the railing.

Damn. Something was definitely up. Nettle and Remy shouldn’t be here. I’d left them both at a safe house in Boulder, Colorado, high in the mountains. What had driven them to find me? Something serious. Something that had caused my other safe houses to disappear.

It was probably a good thing they’d showed up when they did. Maybe now I could figure out what the hell was going on.

I sighed, looking straight down from the balcony. Far below, the ocean crashed against the rocks, and the salt-laced air tugged at my hair and clothes. Frowning, I scrubbed a hand over my eyes, trying to dissolve the memories that flickered to life, again. Now was not the time to think about them, but it was no use. For some reason, every time I smelled the ocean, heard the crashing waves, and felt the wind on my face, I thought of her. Of Ember and that brief night of flying the waves. Of racing a fiery red hatchling who called to my dragon, igniting an inferno within. I didn’t understand it. Ember as a human was young, naive, stubborn, and impulsive. Ember in her true form was all of those things, but also fearless, defiant, and beautiful.

I shook my head, pushing myself back from the railing. This was crazy. I couldn’t be distracted now. Ember was beginning to come around, but things were moving too slowly for my liking. I should’ve told her everything about Talon this afternoon. Unfortunately, I would have to deal with this new problem before I did anything else.

“Riley.” Wes poked his head out the doorframe. “I think they’re ready for you, mate.”

Pushing Ember from my mind, I stalked back into the living room.

Nettle and Remy perched nervously on the sofa, two empty chip bags crumpled on the end tables. Wes had apparently gotten them drinks as well, as a pair of open sodas sat dripping on the polished wood.

“All right, you two,” I said, sinking into the armchair facing them.

“Start talking. From the beginning.” They stared at me, clearly not sure where to begin, and I sighed. “What happened to the safe house?” I said to get them started. “And why are you here? Only your guardian was supposed to know of this location. Where is he, anyway? Did you trek all the way up here by yourselves?”

The hatchlings exchanged a glance, then Remy took a deep breath.

“Chris told us to come,” he began in a surprisingly steady voice.

“He gave us the location, where to find you. He’s the one who sent us here.”

I frowned. Chris was the guardian in charge of the Boulder safe house. All the nests had one: a human who knew about us and who’d agreed to look after one or two vulnerable hatchlings until they were old enough to be on their own. Most of them were ex-TALON servants, already living in hiding; if you were a human employed by the organization, you were in for life. As much as Talon despised having their dragons break away, they were even more fervent about not letting their humans go and risk exposing our existence. For the few humans who did escape, they lived with the fear that St. George or Talon could show up on their doorstep any day, so after years of tracking them down and convincing them I wasn’t part of Talon anymore, we’d come to an agreement. I would keep the organization off their backs as best I could, and they, in turn, had agreed to watch over the hatchlings I broke out of TALON.

“Chris sent you here?” I repeated, and they bobbed their heads in unison. “Why?”

“We don’t know!” Nettle burst out, making Remy flinch. her dreadlocks bobbed as she gestured wildly. “He just woke us up in the middle of the night and told us to pack our things. Didn’t say what was going on, just shoved us into a taxi and ordered us not to come back!”

A chill settled in my gut. I looked at Wes, who nodded and left the room, probably to check the status of the Boulder safe house. I turned back to the hatchlings. “He didn’t say anything to you at all?”

“No.” Remy shook his head. “But he did seem really freaked out.

Kept glancing out the window and pacing while we packed.”