Cadence slowly moved closer to her nest. The tiny dragons stirred. They seemed agitated, as if they sensed the tension in the air. One of them let out a tiny flame, no bigger than that from a lighter.
Her heart clenched. She needed to hold them in her arms. She took another step forward, and the woman moved to block her. “Ah, ah, ah,” she chided, waving her finger in Cadence’s face. “Mine.”
Rage shot through Cadence, and she shoved the woman to one side. The woman pressed back against the nest and blasted ice at Cadence, and Cadence didn’t dare fire back at her, because she was standing right in front of her dragonlings.
“Want some more?” the woman sneered.
“Enjoy breathing while you still can,” Cadence said furiously.
Then she directed a glare at Humphrey. “How could you possibly think that you would get away with this?” she demanded. “The Elders will have you killed.”
“Not if I control dragon fertility,” Humphrey said calmly. “Dr. Hamill and I are working together on this. I will get to say whose clutch lives. I will get to say which infertile dragons may finally get to conceive. Besides, it’s not like you’re going to tell them about this. You’re going to sign a document that states that you agree to be my mate, and that you nullify your marriage to Orion, and you are going to leave here with me today and never see him again, or your dragonlings will die.”
“Orion would never agree to letting you take me or his children. He already told you that.”
“If he wants his dragonlings to survive, he’ll have no choice. I can legally claim the ice dragonlings, at least, and I assure you, things won’t go well for them if I don’t get my way. You know, there are Elders who want to have grandlings. I can promise them successful hatchings. They’re not going to investigate too thoroughly.”
There was a loud thumping sound on the door.
The security guard hurried over and stood in front of it as the doctors glanced at each other uneasily. Humphrey’s man joined him.
Humphrey grabbed the scroll and shoved it at Cadence.
“Sign it,” Humphrey said quickly.
The thud sounded louder.
“What’s that noise?” Cadence demanded. She glanced at the door; it was starting to glow.
Humphrey let out a scream of rage.
“I am going to kill one of your dragonlings now!” he shouted. “And another one every five seconds until you sign!”
“Wait!” the blonde woman cried out. “You didn’t say anything about murder. I can’t let you do that. I could go to jail for it – I’d be an accessory.”
“Not if you’re dead,” Humphrey snarled. He let out a blast of ice at the woman, who didn’t have a chance to shift and protect herself; her entire body froze solid in an instant. Her mouth was frozen open in a silent scream, and she slowly tipped over and shattered on the hard floor.
As she fell, Cadence took advantage of the distraction to hurl herself between Humphrey and her nest.
“Move, you bitch!” Humphrey grabbed her by the arm. As he did, one of the dragonlings let out a surprisingly strong blast of flame, burning his arm. He screamed in pain and jerked back. The door melted into a pool of glowing slag, and Orion and his men rushed through.
Cadence frantically pushed the dragonlings to the back of the room, and shielded them with her body. They squeaked furiously behind her – dragonling attempts at roars, as their fledgling instincts told them to fight the man threatening their mother and their clan. Her heart swelled with protective love for them, and icy scales crackled up her arms and steely blue claws curved from her fingertips. She knew her eyes were a fierce ice blue.
Orion and his men had dragonfire in their eyes. They stormed across the room, stopping when they came face-to-face with Humphrey and his goon. The two doctors stood a couple of paces back, but they held their ground – Orion would have to go through them to get to Cadence and his dragonlings. And he would. He would have blasted mountains to the ground for them.
But they couldn’t go dragon here. The room was lined with incubators, and inside them fragile, precious dragon eggs. As much as he wanted to watch Humphrey scream as he was consumed by fire, he and his men couldn’t risk shifting.
Humphrey narrowed his eyes, wondering why Orion was hesitating – then he barked a laugh as he understood. “Weak,” he sneered.
But it was doctor Hamill who made the first move. He barged forward, meaning to shoulder his opponent to the ground. For a human facing down a group of dragons he was brave – or foolhardy. Maybe it was arrogance that made him think he could possibly win. Certainly it was a misjudgment to choose to attack Alcott. His obvious age and his twisted leg said he was an easy target. The stream of fire he spat at the doctor, so hot it left glowing after-images on Cadence’s retinas, said otherwise.