“Dragon, I highly suggest you choose not to act on whatever is going through that thick skull of yours. We have a proposition for you.”
A rumble rolled up his throat. “A proposition?”
The man smirked, or perhaps that was his smile. Deo sniffed the air and retched at the scent of dark magic and decay. The man spoke, distracting Deo for a moment.
“Yes. All you need to do is mate with that female. You give us what we want, and you are free to leave.”
Anger burned away his revulsion to make way for pure rage. His dragon screamed. His arms scaled up and Deo held the dragon in the limbo between their human and dragon forms.
“And, if I don’t?” he asked.
The man’s smile fell. “Then you are signing not only your death warrant but hers as well.”
Deo looked back at her, scared, cowering, innocent.
“Why her?” Deo asked.
The man shrugged. “Wrong place at the right time. We would have used one of our own, but your little hoard of dragons has all but wiped out our numbers.”
That gave Deo a burst of pride, but also understanding. “Why can’t you leave my brothers and me alone?”
A man that Deo swore he recognized from Kal’s memories pushed into view of the small peek-through door.
“Why? Why? Because you are what I’ve searched for far too long. A superior species. I intend to create the perfect being, and your species is an integral part.”
He rolled his neck as a chill ran down his spine. “Perhaps you should let this go. I will not mate with the female.”
The man’s face twisted, his eyes growing cold.
“The scientist traded you for money. Why do you remain loyal to someone who doesn’t want you?”
Closing the slight gap between himself and the door, Deo braced his hands on the door frame and peered through. “You underestimate my species. We are devoted to our mates and to the freedoms of others. Regardless if I am wanted or not, I will never harm another.”
The familiar male’s pasty skin appeared to color with a tinge of pink. He was alive. Information Deo would continue to catalogue against this enemy.
“Look dragon, all I ask is for a small favor. Give me what you have taken from me, and I will let you walk out of here.”
Deo snarled. “I have taken nothing from you and what’s stopping me from walking out of here, anyway?”
The man, Dr. Rollings if he recalled correctly from Kal, did not appreciate his defiance.
“I have control over several demons. If you try, I will release them. Perhaps you are not as affected by them, but she wouldn’t survive. Are you really a superior species if you sacrifice someone for your own freedom?”
Deo stood still, thinking. Could he do this? Risk her for his own life. He wasn’t even trying to escape. He could not. He would not take another, though. He only wanted his Aisha, but he couldn’t let this female die because of him.
He didn’t want this woman to suffer. An innocent never deserved to suffer.
“I would not sacrifice her for my own freedom, but I will also not give you what you want,” Deo said.
The doctor's ashen skin shifted for a second, a blink of an eye and it was gone. It had turned to something even more repulsive, gone so fast Deo wasn’t sure what he’d even seen.
“There is no demonic magic in this room?” Deo asked, unsure he’d get an answer. Perhaps pushing an evil scientist too much was never an excellent idea. Deo wasn’t sure how the man was alive after their last attack. Perhaps that was why he was so pale? Trying to remember him the way Kal did though, everything was tainted. Blurred with the rage of Kal’s dragon's memories.
“I think we are done for now. Just remember, if you choose not to do as asked, she won’t survive and I can’t guarantee you will either,” said the doctor as he reached for the sliding closure to the hole.
Deo looked back at her. She didn’t exactly look healthy as it was.
“What have you done to her?” he asked, as if he could help without any medical equipment.
Dr. Rollings stepped forward. “I don’t have to answer to you, dragon. But if you must know, it’s a little concoction of my own. You’ve seen a variation of it in my other daughters, although one is much more successful than the other.”
Deo knew he meant Lilly, and his stomach churned again. This man was much worse than they’d given him credit. A far larger threat than originally thought.
Against his better judgement, Deo realized he couldn’t conceal this from his brothers. He couldn’t allow them to be subject to another surprise and it looked like surrender wasn’t going to be an option for him either.
Deo backed away from the door, the whites of the doctor's eyes the only thing he could see through the square hole.
Walking back to the girl, she flinched.
“I don’t want to die,” she said, her words feeble.
He nodded. “That is not in the plan.”
She smiled and stood up. Brushing herself off.
“I want to say I am a big enough person to just let you do what they ask and then leave so at least one of us gets out. But would you come back for me?”
He shuddered. Yeah. She was cute. Yes, the thought might have crossed his mind as one of a million options that wouldn’t work. He wouldn’t touch her, he couldn’t. His heart was claimed, even if she didn’t want him anymore.
“That also isn’t an option. Just hold tight.”
15
Her stomach wretched as she tried to stand up. Nothing came out. It couldn’t. She was down to stomach acid and vital organs. None of which would settle her.
Pulling herself up the banister, her legs wobbled. What had just happened? Her hands white-knuckled the wood as she fought to keep herself up. This felt
