Page 33 of Primal Dragon

Q’s shoulders shook with a silent chuckle. “James used to say that to me too.”

“Here we are,” Henrik said as he pulled the car over and pointed. They were near the shipping yard for Lake Michigan.

“Shipping crates, it is,” Q said. “Now what?”

“Now we do some recon.” He checked his clock. “We have an hour before the next part of the plan activates.”

Q was already getting out of the car. “Then let’s go.”

9

Liquid Sunshine

Quinn was scared out of her mind. There were a hundred different things that could go wrong and if Stefano found out he was being betrayed at any point during this whole thing, they could both end up very dead.

She followed Henrik close behind, cursing his long strides. Luckily, she was faster than her curves would give her any credit for. The shipping yard was quiet but there were crates everywhere.

Henrik followed his magical GPS that would lead them to wherever Letty was being held. Quinn really hoped that Syrena was right, that Letty was truly okay. That all the people who had been captured were all right.

The night was especially cold. The sky was clear, and the stars were watching them as they snuck through the shipping yard avoiding guards in the main areas. Quinn’s only weapon was a stake of silver and a little bottle labeled liquid sunshine. Henrik had given her the stake and she’d pulled the liquid sunshine from the box James had given her. They wouldn’t let her take the gun, mostly because she admitted to having no experience with guns.

Henrik ducked into the darkness and Quinn followed suit without question. He told her to walk where he walked and emulate whatever he did. She followed his orders as best she could, considering his stride was twice as long as hers. She was not the expert when it came to breaking a vampire trafficking ring wide open.

Her heart hadn’t stopped racing since before they got into Henrik’s car. She’d argued with Henrik about being here, but she wasn’t scared to die. She wouldn’t turn around and leave. She wanted to be here. James would do it for her. But she was scared.

“Hey, Q.” Henrik grabbed her shoulder. She turned and looked up at him. “You’ve got to calm down. My dragon can sense your fear. The vampires definitely will,” he whispered.

Quinn nodded and took a deep breath trying to ease her nerves. They headed through the shadows together. They knelt in between two crates. Henrik pointed at the large orange steel crate in front of them. She got the message, that was where they were going.

There were two guards standing in front of it. About two minutes later, another two guards came strolling by. Heavily monitored. Clearly, they were protecting something.

Henrik was wearing a t-shirt and jeans, and a moment later he was only wearing jeans. Then he kicked off his shoes and started on stripping those off.

Quinn knew he was going to shift into his dragon form, she didn’t know that meant getting naked first, but, of course, it wasn’t like dragons wore pants. That would be ridiculous.

Then he was crouched there completely naked next to her. She tried to keep her poise and act like a guy who’d seen all the junk in the world. But there he was, completely naked and hot and so naked.

She didn’t want to be in the middle of an operation to rescue a bunch of women and hopefully her friend. She wanted to be alone with him in her bedroom again.

How she’d resisted not climbing him like a tree when he’d been all but naked in her bed, she’ll never understand. Maybe after all this was over, she could find out just how far their chemistry would take them.

Henrik nodded at her and then he disappeared out of their cover. She didn’t know how long it took for him to shift, but she knew what sign she was looking for.

Green fire erupted across the cement right in front of the crate. The vampires scattered. They were yelling and finding their own shelter. Quinn needed to wait for the second signal, but she needed to see him.

Hanging in the air above them was a giant, magnificent dragon. The green was beautiful, and he shimmered in the moonlight. Her nipples tightened hard around the barbells she wore, completely distracting her for a moment. She shivered as she watched the dragon take on the vampires below.

“All right, little one, it’s our turn.” Cillian’s voice was right in her ear.

She quelled the scream, slapping her hand over her mouth.

Then he was moving and so was she. They headed right for the doors. There was a big padlock on it, but Cillian yanked it off like it was made of Styrofoam. He pulled open the door wide enough for them to enter one at a time.

She pulled out her flashlight and shined it right into the face of a vampire. Pale, lots of sharp fangs, bright red eyes, and suddenly all the horror around vampires made so much sense. Cillian shoved her out of the way before she could scream. There was a blur and then the crate door flew open. Cillian was left standing inside with her.

“We must hurry.”

She scrambled to her feet. She shined her light on the boxes just past the door. There was a woman lying at the bottom of a cage blinking up at her. She looked pale and dirty.

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