Inferno (Talon #5)(57)
“Talon doesn’t know about this place,” I replied. “After the Night of Fang and Fire, there was nowhere else to go. The rest of Riley’s safe houses had been compromised. Plus, it’s the only location that can hold a large number of dragons without them being seen by the general public.”
“Still.” Ward shook his head. “No guards. No defensives. Not even a lookout. How do these lizards expect to fight if they are attacked?”
“They’re not soldiers, sir.” I nodded to a pair of faces in the window peering out at us with wide, anxious eyes. “Many of them are teenagers. With few exceptions, none of them have been trained for war. Until very recently, if anyone did arrive on their steps with the intent to kill them, they ran. Because that’s all they could do. They didn’t stay to fight a battle they would lose, and they knew talking would be useless. We—St. George—taught them that.”
Ward grunted. “That is still no reason to lower your guard,” he stated, unappeased. “Especially now. Talon is trying to destroy us all, and has an unlimited number of soulless abominations, or whatever you call them, to do it. If we must stay here, I want some measure of warning before Talon strolls in and slaughters everything.” He blew out a short breath and curled a lip, as if preparing to do something abhorrent. “I’ll have to speak to that blue lizard, and see if we cannot correct this oversight.”
“His name is Riley. Sir.”
Ward’s jaw tightened, but before he could say anything, Lieutenant Martin broke in. “We’ll be in the bunkhouse,” he stated. “Give us an hour to settle in, and then come speak with me, Sebastian. If you would.”
“Yes, sir.”
The windows buzzed up, and the van continued around the farmhouse and out of sight.
As I ran a tired hand down my face, a hollow thump came from the back of the semi, sounding suspiciously like a tail had been smacked against the wall in impatience. Ember, it seemed, had had enough of waiting around. Not that I could blame her; spending hours in the back of a tractor-trailer couldn’t be pleasant for anyone. Even though she’d been able to Shift back to human form, she had opted to stay with the four pregnant dragonells so they wouldn’t be alone for the journey. Of course, that also meant she’d spent two days in a dank, poorly lit shipping container as we’d sailed back to the coast. I hadn’t seen her in human form since we’d assaulted the facility, and I knew the accommodations for the dragons, while necessary, had not been ideal. I just hoped the red dragon had not reached the point of snapping at anything that got close to her.
I opened the door and exited the rig, seeing Riley ahead of us, dropping down from his seat with Mist close behind him on the passenger’s side. He gave me a nod as he strode around the back of the semi. I returned it before walking to the doors of my own truck and pulling them back with a rusty groan.
A cloud of warm, stale air billowed out of the opening, smelling of rust, grease and the faint, musky scent of dragon that was unlike anything else in the world. Ember stood in the frame, in human form and wearing the black Viper suit that masked her from head to toe. Her arms were crossed, and she gazed down at me with half teasing, half exasperated green eyes.
“Jeez, Garret,” the girl stated as my heart jumped in both worry and relief. “Were you aiming for the potholes? You must’ve hit every dip from here to Florida.”
I masked a relieved smile and held out my hand. Without pause, Ember took it and hopped down from the truck, right into my open arms. I pulled her close as her arms circled my neck, and we stood like that for a moment, the late-afternoon sun beating down on us.
“We made it,” she breathed into my neck. “We’re home.”
“Yeah,” I murmured. Home. That was a strange thought. For years, the Order had been home, the soldiers of St. George my family. And then, for a while, I hadn’t known where I fit in. I was adrift, an outsider, mistrusted by dragons and hated by the Order that raised me. Now, I was certain I’d found my place. This was where I belonged, with Ember and Riley and a bunch of rogue dragons.
Ember pulled back to gaze at the farmhouse over my shoulder. “And the house is still standing,” she remarked. “It didn’t explode or burn down while we were gone, so that’s a good thing.”
Four scaly bodies were curled up at the back of the container, so entwined with each other that it was impossible to tell them apart. “Everyone okay?” I called into the darkness.
Glowing dragon eyes peered at me, wary and mistrustful. I spoke as gently as I could, opening the doors a bit wider so that the light spilled into the truck. “Come on,” I urged. “Everyone follow me. I’ll show you where you’ll be staying. Don’t worry about being seen—we’re pretty much in the middle of nowhere. You’re safe here, I promise.”
Slowly, the pile of dragons uncurled. Cautiously, they edged out of the truck, then gazed around in wonder, eyes wide as they took everything in. I reminded myself that they hadn’t left the island in years, perhaps decades. The tight confines of the facility was all they knew, so the outside world was probably very strange and exciting. Ember watched them from a few feet away, her expression shadowed with sympathy and understanding. Perhaps she saw herself in them, wide-eyed and eager, from very long ago. Before her world was consumed with fighting and war, blood and death. Before she was forced to leave that ordinary girl and ordinary life behind and become a soldier.