“Nope, we’re really here for the gorilla. Get on your fucking knees, Torren.”
“Please, please,” Candace begged, pushing on Butte’s chest. “He can’t go behind bars. He won’t do well in there. He needs the crew.” Torren would go straight HavoK in a cell. It would be torture.
Butte gave an odd, wild smile in the moment before he wrenched her hands behind her back.
“Ow!” she cried as her shoulder ripped and burned.
“Get your fuckin’ hands off her!” Torren bellowed.
And then all hell broke loose. Nox shot up in front of Torren and shoved his chest back hard, but HavoK was already unstoppable. The silverback ripped out of Torren, and it was all Nox could do to get himself and Nevada out of the way as he charged at the sheriff.
The sound of gunfire popped off. Two bullets hit HavoK’s massive arm, but he didn’t slow at all. More gunfire, but this had a different tone. Candace screamed as a dozen red-feathered darts hit Torren’s body. Nox and Nevada were hit too, and in an instant, all three hit the ground.
“Change and I’ll kill you,” Butte murmured against Candace’s ear as he wrenched her arms back at a worse angle.
She hissed at Butte as her eyes watered. “Torren!” she screamed. He roared and arched his back against the ground, face contorted with pain.
His body was breaking slowly, bones snapping, muscles twisting and reshaping.
“Oh, my gosh,” she whispered in horror.
“Give them another round, but don’t hit Vyr,” Butte demanded. His voice went strange when he said loudly, “The meds won’t suppress his dragon.”
“Lie,” she called him out.
He ripped her arm upward, and she grunted in pain, but she didn’t lose her train of thought. “Vyr, he’s lying. They aren’t darting you on purpose. What’s happening? Vyr!”
The dragon shifter was standing on the edge of the chaos, his eyes drifting from Torren, to Nox, to Nevada, and back to Torren as they writhed in pain. Vyr looked bigger, all puffed up, veins sticking out on his arms and neck. His face was red with fury, and his eyes were silver with elongated pupils. A deep rumble emanated from him and shook the ground beneath her feet.
“Get ready,” Butte said quietly into a radio at his shoulder.
Who the fuck was he talking to?
Frantically, Candace looked around. She squinted and searched as far into the woods as she could. There was movement everywhere. Vyr’s Mountains were full of people dressed in black with thick vests, helmets, and high-powered rifles. The rumble of heavy equipment drowned out the forest sounds. Tanks? Shit.
“Candace,” Torren choked out. He was halfway through the Change the meds were forcing. Whatever they’d shot him with was Turning him human again. He looked like he was in so much pain, teeth clenched, face strained, body contorting, breaking. Breaking like her heart was to watch him in agony. Four officers ripped him off the ground. “Candace,” he tried again. “They’re going to kill him.”
And everything made sense now in this moment of perfect clarity. They didn’t care about arresting Torren for fighting. That was the ploy. They were using Torren to poke the dragon. To agitate him into Changing. To turn into the Red Dragon so they could have the excuse to unleash Armageddon on him.
They weren’t here to arrest anyone. Vyr wasn’t going to shifter prison. They were here to eliminate him.
Torren was in his full human form now, and he pushed upward, eyes on Vyr as he tried to reach him, but there were too many holding him back. More and more officers piled on him as he inched his way toward Vyr. More were throwing themselves on Nox too, and Nevada was pinned down by the lady officer with a handgun trained on the back of her head.
“Vyr!” Torren yelled. “Don’t Change! Vyr! Look at me! Don’t. Change!”
Inch by inch, Torren was being dragged backward toward a black SUV.
Don’t let the devil out. That’s what Vyr had told her, but the only devil she saw was in Vyr’s eyes as he watched his crew under attack.
Torren was being restrained by eight people but was still making ground toward Vyr, his face desperate as he begged his best friend not to Change. As he tried to save Vyr’s life. They probably had a dozen missiles trained on the Sons of Beasts right now, just waiting for the Red Dragon to rise up.
Nox was fighting hard too, struggling against the pile of humans detaining him.
Nevada’s face was still shoved in the snow, but she was screaming for Vyr not to Change, over and over. “Don’t Change, they’ll kill you. Don’t Change, Vyr. Do you hear me? They’ll kill you!”
Torren would never be okay again if they killed Vyr. He was the keeper of the Red Dragon, and she was the keeper of the new Kong. She had to do something. She had to do anything.
Vyr’s chest heaved, and he blasted a stream of fire from his human mouth to the nearest police cruiser. It exploded with a deafening sound, but not even that drowned out the awful sound of his enormous, tattered, fire-red wings ripping out of his back. Vyr lifted his clawed hand into the air, and then he flicked his fingers and the second police cruiser slammed into a tree with such force, the impact vibrated through her chest.
What the hell? Vyr could control matter? No, no, no, he shouldn’t let the humans see this. Shouldn’t let the cameras capture his true power.
“Vyr!” she screamed. “Stop!”
Fucking polar bear that kept her pinned. She had a plan, but it was going to get her hurt and possibly killed. But there was a chance she could stop this if she was fast enough. Vyr was fighting the Change, but the Red Dragon was coming out of him whether he wanted it or not.
“Torren, do you remember the first time Vyr burned you?” she called out. Please, let him understand.
“Yes, I remember! Candace!” Torren yelled. There was understanding and desperation in his eyes in the moment they locked onto each other. “Do it.”
“Get a dart gun!” she yelled. She didn’t know if she was throwing that order out there for Torren, Nox, or Nevada. It didn’t matter who got to one, just that one of them did. “Shoot him!” Candace kicked backward as hard as she could, and gasped at the impact her foot made with Butte’s shin bone. His grip faltered as he bellowed in pain. She ripped out of his hands and spun, slashing her claws across his face viciously.
She bolted, because Vyr wasn’t himself anymore. There was no humanity in his gaze, just the promise of cold-blooded vengeance. Time slowed to a crawl as she sprinted for him. His crimson wings, tattered on the edges, with rips and holes as though he’d been in a hundred battles, stretched across the entire clearing. His body was shaking, blurring, right on the edge of the Change, and she was running out of time. He beat his wings and was airborne in the moments Candace reached him.
She could feel Butte right behind her. Feel his breath on her skin and hear his growl. She wasn’t being chased by a man anymore. If she turned around, she would see a monster polar bear hunting her.