Page 15 of Monster

Jaeger drew in a deep inhale as Logan continued to move his hands down the edge of whatever was covering the ice dragon’s back.

“Never mind the smell… what is that on your back?”

Logan and Drake’s heads turned his way.

“Molten metal,” the doctor answered before returning to stare at the mess that was Jaeger’s back, looking perplexed.

“Lore poured it on us to prevent us from shifting and tearing the place down,” Drake said.

“You have this as well?” Deacon asked. Somewhere in his memory, he recalled seeing Drake’s back and the sun glinting off it. He’d been almost delusional at that point and thought it was his mind playing tricks on him.

Apparently he’d been wrong.

“I do,” Drake said, his jaw tight.

“If you two were any other type of shifter—this might’ve killed you. I can’t even begin to imagine the pain you were in.” Logan shook his head and caught Deacon’s stare a moment before turning back. “Because you’re dragon shifters, you survived and immediately began to heal.The healing flesh wrapped around the metal and in places… fused with it,” Logan added before pulling off his latex gloves one by one. “I had hopes we could surgically remove it… while painful, they could’ve potentially healed. Fused as it is… I don’t know that surgery is an option.”

“Is there another way?’ Deacon asked.

“We’re trying to figure out how to get it off without causing more damage or pain,” Logan said before sighing. He was quiet another moment, frowning. “Killian and Finn have an idea… I’m just not sure they want to endure it. Or if it won’t push their dragons over the edge.”

“What idea?” Jaeger asked, turning to look over one shoulder.

“Melting it off,” Logan said.

Deacon winced at the thought alone. From the look on Drake’s face and the hissed breath coming from Jaeger, Deacon sensed neither liked that particular idea. Who could blame them?

“I know it would be intensely painful—possibly more so than it was the first time around,” Logan said. “Once the metal was molten again, we could… scrape… it off your backs.”

“Along with layers of flesh and muscle,” Drake said.

“You’ve both endured this pain once. It would be unfair to make you go through it all over again.It’s been so long since it was done… some skin has regrown over the edge of the metal, over the areas where the metal and skin fused, and you’ve got massive scarring in places… hell, shifters don’t typically scar. It shouldn’t be there. Who knows how long it might take to heal if we melted it off… if it completely healed at all.”

“But there’s a chance we could shift again?” Jaeger asked, a hopeful light to his voice.

Deacon was shocked there could be hope after the things these men had been through. He’d seen lesser men broken from lesser torture.

“Once healed, perhaps,” Logan answered.“I won’t make promises. And I haven’t given up hope there could be a second option. It just might take time and research.”He rose to his full height.“Molten metal,” Logan muttered as he scrubbed his jaw, looking thoughtful.“Perhaps we could limit the pain you endured if we put you deep under. Seriously deep.”

“Dragons don’t go under,” Deacon said, eyeing Drake.“At least, I don’t.”

Drake scoffed. “Why do you think Lore did this to us? His drugs didn’t work on us.He couldn’t keep us sedated or a babbling idiot like the other shifters. The only way he could keep us in our prison was to lock us in our human forms.”

Deacon paused, his mind reeling with questions. “Have you attempted to shift since?”

A look of disgust crossed Drake’s face.“Of course. Many times.The pain’s so great, I’ve nearly passed out a time… or ten.”He looked away.“The very flesh feels like it’s ripping from my body. The bones of my back and wings feel as if they’re being crushed as they try to force themselves through the metal.”

Deacon winced at the thought. “Do you have the power of mind control?”

“You mean, ‘How did we fail to stop them from doing this in the first place?’, right?” Drake asked, glaring at Deacon. A puff of smoke rising from one nostril and a glimmering of scales appeared over his skin… and was gone as quickly as it appeared.

“I meant no disrespect,” Deacon said, sensing the question had angered the smoke dragon. “You’re not a full fire breather… I wasn’t sure you had the same gifts.”

“Ahhh, please don’t tell me you’re one of those who considers my kind half-breeds?” Drake glared at him before turning away again.

“I didn’t say that, either. I’ve never met a smoke dragon before, so I don’t know how similar… or how different we are,” Deacon said. Smoke dragons were a hybrid breed, born from both fire and air dragons.Some were said to breathe fire, others supposedly couldn’t. Their biggest gift was the ability to turn into vapor—when in dragon form. Weapons would pass right through them, as if they were a ghost. They could become corporeal in seconds… and fade back into smoke as easily.

It allowed them to walk through walls.

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