Page 16 of Monster

Deacon suddenly realized just how terrible Drake’s prison of metal was. If he’d been able to shift, he couldn’t evaporated right through the walls of Zed’s prison.

As if reading Deacon’s mind, Drake met his stare. “Yeah… it’s just that bad.”

Did he read my mind? Dragons couldn’t read one another… could they?

Deacon put up his mental barriers and eyed the smoke dragon.

Jaeger interrupted, breaking the tension in the air. “I can’t speak for Drake, but for me… I’m ashamed to admit it but… they were able to use my dragon’s greed against me.They set up shop in an old church. There was a huge pile of gold on the altar… all while they waited in the balcony above.Once my dragon scented the hoard, I wandered on in, unable to stop myself. As soon as I was under the balcony, they poured the molten metal from above, dropping me to my knees.” Jaeger let out a bark of laughter.“It was like some medieval level shit, I swear. Someone must’ve watched too much Monty Python before they made that plan.”

Drake’s face darkened as Deacon turned to him.

“I assume your tale is similar?”

The dragon nodded.“Pretty much.”

“It also doesn’t help that their mental blocks are some of the best I’ve seen—especially considering they’re human.I’ve never seen humans strong enough to defend against our mental prods and pushes,” Deacon said.

“Yeah,” Jaeger said.“Some are better than others and we nearly escaped a few times when the weaker ones came too close. But they quickly realized they needed to keep their strongest working near us.”

“One shift and you could’ve annihilated that place,” Drake added. “One shift and I could’ve laid waste to every human in there. There was little odds we’d ever get out without being able to shift.” The dragon paused and caught Deacon’s stare. “If it hadn’t been for you, Deacon, we’d still be there. Thank you for that.”

Deacon sensed it had been hard for Drake to say those words, especially after Deacon had toed across the line. “Save your thanks. There are still more shifters to save,” Deacon said. “I brought you with me for a purpose. We could use strong warriors in the battles ahead.”

“I’d say we’re little help without the power to shift,” Jaeger said.

“We’ll figure out a way,” Logan added.“It just might take a while.”

“And hurt like a motherfucker,” Jaeger said.

Drake grunted. “To be able to shift again? I’d do it.” Drake paused, sighing. “I’d just need to be mentally prepared for the pain.”

Jaeger rose from the bed, turning to look at Drake.“My dragon spirit agrees with you. It would be worth it to shift again.”

“To pay Lore back… that would be worth any pain,” Drake said.He turned to Deacon.“I’m up for whatever you have in mind.”

“Me, too,” Jaeger added.

Deacon smiled.“After that attack, they’ve circled their wagons.They’re prepared and ready for us to attack again. We need to throw them off guard. We sit back and we wait.”

“Wait? For?”

“Our plan the day I met you was a simple extraction—two shifters they were using to run security on the building and their computer systems.Now their data is fair game, and our hackers are getting everything they can so we can map out our next plan of attack. We now know every one of their moves. The next time we go in—we need to be prepared to clear house and save every shifter they’ve got imprisoned within the walls.”

“A total annihilation of Project Zed,” Drake said.

“At least, this piece of it.From what we’ve found, there are more labs. We shut this one down and move on to the next.” Deacon sat on the edge of the closest bed, feeling winded.“We wait. We get stronger. We prepare.”

“We’ve had enough of waiting.There has to be something we can do in the meantime,” Drake said.

“I’m sure we can find something here to keep you both occupied.Once you’re healed, of course.”

Jaeger moaned. “I can’t spend one more night in this hospital.It reminds me too much of the lab. But then, I’m not sure where we can go with no gold to line our pockets.”

“I had a hoard.No idea if it still exists after all this time,” Drake spat.

“Hoard or no, we’ll make room. Once the doctors release you, there’s an inn with a few more cabins left,” Deacon said. “We can supply you with clothes and food in the interim.”

“Until we can decide how to treat them, there’s no reason they need to linger here,” Logan said.“We can release them tomorrow if you have the room for them.”

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