It was safe to assume the others were Nariti, Iyadre, and Vadriq and I knew Nariti's eye color on the blue, so that left the green and the gold to sort out. Vadriq's voice purred from the gold. "I would apologize for smashing your cell, but I imagine you're happy to be out."
"This is going to ruin your whole day," I told them, craning my neck to really get a good look at the rainbow of shifters that stood before me.
Eskal stretched his wings. "Better their day than ours. To hell with the secrecy pact. Too long have we allowed humans to cage our young and force us into hiding. Perhaps the wolves had it right all along."
"You're really going to have to catch me up on that," I told him as he crouched before me.
Another ride. My heart leapt and I scrambled to climb on. I'd had little time to think about how to brace myself on the vast back but I had an idea or two. I shoved my heels up under his wing joints in the hollow between the joint and his ribcage. Then, I fastened my hands on a massive spiked scale on either side. I had to thread my ankles through the spaces between those scales further down to get the footing I wanted, but I felt a hell of a lot more stable when he took off than I had the night before.
I looked back to see Iyadre and Nariti take off after us. Vadriq snarled at a man with a gun, though I was uncertain if he was a uniformed officer or not, and watched him snort a blast of hot air at the man. The human toppled to the ground, clawing at his clothes as if they were on fire.
I was pretty sure they weren't.
That would have to do.
We climbed until the sky drowned out the world below us. I buried my head against the warmth of Eskal's scales, the air just a little too thin for my comfort. I dealt with it as best I could, but some small part of me hoped that we would land sooner rather than later.
The great head turned to look back at me. His brow was furrowed with concern. I didn't dare let go of him to gesture that I was cold or that I was starting to gasp for air; what if I fell off? Surely, he could swoop and catch me but people really aren't designed for that kind of force.
People don't bounce well.
A chirp, like a bird's, echoed thin and high in the air. As one, the flight fell toward the ground at breathtaking speed and I clung to him for my life. I'd only gone horseback riding a few times, but I was absolutely certain that I was going to build a saddle for this dragon before I did this again.
After a terrifying drop, they leveled out once more. In broad daylight, we swept through the city. People stared, cars wrecked, and fingers pointed in our general direction. I didn't care. Maybe if they'd bothered to believe in something bigger than they were-
Whew, that was some whiplash. I shook the thought away, but it didn't completely give up. What was I turning into?
Eskal landed in front of his home, sending hundreds of people screaming down the street as they streamed from their homes. One older woman snatched up her fluffy little dog and ran off faster than I'd have guessed her capable of. Beneath me, Eskal transformed and caught me before I hit the ground. He arched a brow at me, forever smug, and carried me inside by simply kicking the door down.
"Gather what belongings you have. The hoards will have to sustain us until we can create a new den elsewhere," he said, putting me down on the couch.
Naked. Every single one of them were naked. I watched as a parade of gorgeous, sculpted men passed me and didn't dare to touch any of them. Maybe Nicole had been a little bit right about getting distracted by the handsome men and what they were offering; but it wasn't that kind of offering.
I just needed the money.
The thing that scorched me the worst of it was that she'd offered me more, immediately. Why not offer me more before I'd had to sign on to something like this? I was a good worker, smart, enthusiastic about the work despite the roughness of it.
"Is there anything at your room that you need?" Iyadre asked, head tilting down at me.
I jumped, startled. "If someone would be kind enough to take me down there, there are a few things. I'm kind of fucked for a job, aren't I?"
"I would doubt most heavily that the museum is going to allow you into their good graces in any form, any time soon," he answered. "Vadriq? Are you up for another flight?"
The formerly-a-golden-dragon turned to look at us. "I'm taking her to her room?"
And I realized this wasn't the first time this group of men had been forced to bail on short notice. It was possible that, with the money they had, they could set me up with another job in the future. But returning to the site now meant I'd be stuck in jail forever. Could I walk away from the whole situation? Sure, it was a possibility. I was certain that they'd equip me with the money I needed to get started somewhere else.
But I didn't want to.
Instead of just turning on me and leaving me in the dust, they'd exposed themselves to the world to save me. This time, it hadn't had anything to do with getting the eggs out of a worrisome
