Inferno (Talon #5)(29)

“Yes, sir.”

“And, Sebastian.” Martin looked at me. “You know you’re likely to be a target. From what I hear, a few of the men have already singled you out. But we’ll need every able body we can get for the upcoming war, so you are forbidden to put anyone in the infirmary unless it’s a matter of life or death, is that clear?”

I suppressed a wince, wondering if Martin knew Peter Matthews was here. I’d never told him about my old rival, but it wouldn’t surprise me if the lieutenant somehow knew of our history. “Yes, sir.”

“Good.” Martin looked down at the closed weapon case on his desk. “Because it appears that our next mission will be rescuing a colony of dragons in the middle of the ocean.”





RILEY




The next few days, things were tense. I went out of my way to avoid the soldiers, and I noticed Sebastian doing the same, particularly when the soldiers of the other chapterhouse were around. Ember stayed near me or St. George when she wasn’t in her room, and Wes ventured out only to use the bathroom across the hall.

And then there was Mist. Or, more accurately, the lack of her. I knew she was around; sometimes I’d catch a glimpse of her slipping out of a room, or hovering in a corner, watching and listening, while everyone talked. It worried me; she was an ex-Basilisk and shady as hell. If she was sending Talon vital information about us, we’d be dead before our little rescue operation ever got off the ground. But Mist was either too good to be caught, or she was just a naturally cautious person, because I never saw her in the act of something overtly suspicious.

One night, I was more restless than usual. I lay on the hard mattress, listening to Wes snore in the corner, the million thoughts swirling around my head making sleep impossible. Per normal, I wondered if my underground was all right; Wes had checked their status as soon as he’d woken up, and every couple hours thereafter until we went to sleep. They were fine for now, but they were still just kids and I worried for them constantly, hoping Jade could keep them safe while I wasn’t there.

I thought of Ember a lot, still feeling the ache of the severed life-mate bond deep inside. It wasn’t as sharp as before, where Cobalt had raged and mourned the loss of his Sallith’tahn, but it was still there. I’d buried it under work and planning, keeping myself deliberately busy so I wouldn’t have to think about it, but in the quiet hours of the night, it crept up again, reminding me of what I’d lost. Strangely enough, I didn’t hate the soldier for it. If Ember didn’t want him, there’d be nothing he could do to change her mind. But watching them together… Ember truly seemed content with her human, so who was I to interfere?

I did think she was being shortsighted and setting herself up for heartbreak; humans didn’t live very long compared to dragons, even if there wasn’t a war going on. Sixty years, eighty years; it was a heartbeat to us, the blink of an eye. Even if the soldier didn’t get his head blown off in the next year or so, he would eventually grow old, wither and die, as all humans did. And Ember would still have her whole life ahead of her like the rest of us. That was another reason dragons rarely formed attachments to humans; they just weren’t around very long. Even my friendship with Wes was a bit of an anomaly. I was sure that Jade or Mist didn’t have a best girlfriend that was human.

Mist. I shifted on the mattress, putting my hands under my head to stare at the ceiling. Mist had been on my mind a lot lately. Mostly because I knew she was up to something, and yet I could never pin her down long enough to prove it. Infuriating Basilisk. It was all the more aggravating because I should know her tricks; I had been doing this far longer than her. I knew she thought she was smarter than me; maybe this was a game to her, see how far she got before I finally caught on.

Annoyed and knowing I wouldn’t get any sleep tonight, I swung my feet off the cot and sat up. Wes’s snores vibrated through the room as I checked my watch—3:22 a.m. Still too early for even the soldiers to be awake. I wished I knew what that Martin guy was planning, and what the damn holdup was. Organizing a raid on a heavily armed facility in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean wasn’t something you could pull out of your ass, but still. We were wasting time; the breeders weren’t getting any younger, and Talon wasn’t getting any less powerful.

A rustle in the hall just outside the room made the hairs on my neck stand up. It was barely audible, especially through the locked door and the snores of my hacker friend, but my dragon instincts stirred. Something, or someone, was out there.

I stood up and glided to my door, opening it just enough to peer through the crack.

A glimmer of pale, silvery hair vanished around the corner at the end of the corridor, making my gut clench and my suspicion flare to life. Mist. The Basilisk was up and on the move. This was my chance. Now we would finally see whose side she was really on.

I pushed the door open as smoothly as I could, careful not to make it creak, and slipped into the hall after the girl. Barefoot, I followed that faint shimmer of silvery hair through narrow, pitch-black corridors, the stone floor cold against my feet. Mist moved swiftly through the underground bunker, silent as a ghost, thankfully not looking back. She might not have seen me in the darkness and shadow—I’d be difficult to spot in my black jogging pants and T-shirt—but she was an ex-Basilisk. Naturally wary and suspicious.

Then again, so was I.