Page 37 of Phoenix Rise

Still, bluff was all I had, so I waggled my brows at her. “Lucky for you, I’m no bleedin’ virgin.”

“Well, it’ll be your first time as my Dragon.” The smile she gave me could have curdled milk. I breathed a sigh of relief when she contented herself with slicing my chest with her talons before she swayed out of the room.

I glanced toward Talakai, but the Dragon hung with his eyes closed, clearly shunning any interaction.

I had questions. Many questions, to be honest. Like just what had he done to get blacklisted by the Guild? But I didn’t think he’d have the answers I needed to my most pressing queries.

After all, he’d been born a bleedin’ Dragon. Whereas I was pretty sure I was turning into one. Or, at least, turning into somethingelse.

Because I felt like crap. Not that Xumi’s dungeon was exactly a pleasure palace. My arms ached as though they were being slowly torn from their sockets, which they probably were. The pain was to be expected, and through years of cage fighting, I’d developed a certain level of tolerance.

It was the fever that had my heart racing.

It had come on only a couple of hours after Talakai had bitten me. At first, I told myself it was just part of my natural healing process. Sometimes my body superheated while it healed. No way the virus could affect me that quickly.

But the hot flush and shivers persisted after the tooth punctures had scabbed over. I was finally forced to admit the blasted Dragon virus was at work in me. What would it mean for my future?

If I had a future.

What would Anna think of being mated to a mutant? I didn’t want to even consider it. And I’d managed to keep it from her, not an easy thing when she popped in and out of my head.

She’d seemed quite interested in the heavyset individuals with arms the size of tree trunks and weird red eyes.

The dungeon staff arrived. Maybe Jacques could use them to find us. One tromped down the stairs and over to the controls. A moment later, my feet touched metal, and I began the excruciating process of working bloodflow back into my arms. Across the room from me, Talakai was doing the same thing.

He’d refused to gab with me since the bite incident. Wouldn’t even look at me. Was it because he was ashamed, or had his mind slipped its gears altogether?

If Anna didn’t find us soon, would there be anything left of him to save?

As for myself, since I’d hoofed the son’s junk, I now had manacles on my ankles, just like Talakai. The caretaker stomped over to me and strung a cannister from a strap he fastened around my neck—it had a straw for me to suck upon. All our subsistence was in liquid form, as it precluded the need for hands.

It tasted like crap, too. The tingle as I swallowed was, I was pretty sure, due to crystal dust. She was feeding me like a bleedin’ Dragon.

I examined the caretakers closely, looking for any details that I hadn’t yet passed on to Anna. Was Jacques even close to finding us?

It had been a crap shoot from the beginning, really.

The caretakers removed the now empty cannisters and turned the hoses on us. Ice-cold water was not my idea of a relaxing bath, but I endured. Once they’d rinsed the grates beneath us, they turned off the water and stomped out again.

Through the entire thing, the Dragon hadn’t uttered a word. He’d barely opened his eyes, even while sucking on his meal. But now, to my surprise, he spoke. And his words revealed he’d been more aware than I realized.

“You have to give her what she wants.” His voice was so hoarse I scarcely recognized it.

“It’s not up to me, mate,” I repeated.

“The pheromones might work.”

I shot him a look. “You know something I don’t?”

His metallic eyes opened. I’d always found them difficult to read, but now they appeared haunted, almost lost in the hollows around them.

“Your scent has changed,” he said.

I stared at him. My scent was my own—I hadn’t noticed a difference. But as I inhaled, I conceded, with reluctance, that just maybe he was right. There was the faintest hint of ozone to it now.

Dammit. “That’s bloody quick,” I pointed out.

His lips twitched. “I’m irresistible.”

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