The Assassin

Chapter 5: Zephyr

I think the owl was a test. Oliver, that’s the guy’s name, wants to see if I would actually do it.

I did. I killed him with my bare hands, and then I took a picture of his dead body before racing off and vomiting all over a mountain. The force of my dry heaves started an avalanche, which thankfully covered what little I had vomited up.

I send the picture to Oliver before deleting it from my phone. Then, I stay on top of the mountain and begin a lament for the owl. He had been a kind shifter, and he had trusted me as all shifters will because I’m a dragon. I betrayed that trust, and I hate myself for it. I can only hope that one of us can find Ancalagon quickly so I can stop this before I completely lose myself.

The look on that owl’s face and his desperate “Why?” will haunt me for the rest of my life.

When I finish my lament, I shift back, waiting for instructions. It has taken me two weeks to finally be able to kill the owl, and I haven’t seen my son in all that time. I have no idea if he’s okay. That’s what finally pushed me over the edge. I need to know that Ancalagon is alive.

When I shift, I see that Oliver has texted me back.

Oliver: Well done. Meet me at our spot tomorrow.

Me: I want to see my son.

Oliver: And you will when you pick up your next target.

My next target. He means the next shifter that he wants me to kill.

I drag myself back up to a standing position, putting my things into my small sack and shifting, grabbing the sack, and heading back to the city. I can’t continue my lament in the city, but at least I can change my clothes. I’ll need to figure out how to replace the ones I’ve borrowed from Tana. Killing someone with your bare hands is bloody, and her clothing is ruined.

When I arrive at the penthouse, the lights are off again. However, as soon as I land, I can tell that Ishir has been back here. The last couple of times, his scent had become more and more faint, but now, it’s strong again, and the relief I feel from his scent nearly brings me to my knees.

But I don’t deserve such relief. That owl and his family will receive no such relief.

I walk inside, not bothering to turn on the lights as I head to the shower. I need to wash the blood off of me. As I pass the dining room table, I stop, smelling Ishir’s scent very strongly right here.

I flip on the lights, and I see a stack of clothing. I lean forward and can smell Ishir’s strong scent on the clothes. For a moment, anger and jealousy flash inside me. Who is he scenting clothing for?

I snatch the note that is sitting beside the clothing, ready to kill whoever these clothes are for, and this time, there will be no remorse. Ishir is MINE! I may not have claimed him, but he’s still my mate.

I open the note and begin reading:

Zephyr,

I don’t know what you’re doing in the city, but if you need anything at all, let me know. You are welcome to stay here as often as you’d like. Feel free to sleep in my bed; maybe it will help you get some much-needed rest. I noticed you were borrowing Tana’s clothing, so I took it upon myself to get you some. Let me know if you need more, or if you need anything else, I’ll get it for you. I’ll be away for a while, and Tana rarely comes to the penthouse, so make yourself at home. I put some food in the fridge for you.

Your Mate,

Ishir

I look at the note and then at the clothing. He got me clothes? Because he realized I was borrowing Tana’s? I see he also got me a hoodie to replace the one of his that I was using. The thought of sleeping in his bed and wearing clothes that smell like him has me practically weeping with relief. His scent will calm me, and it will help me get through the meeting with Oliver tomorrow.

I go take a shower, then crawl into Ishir’s bed naked, purring at the smell of him surrounding me. I fall into a deep, dreamless sleep for the first time since Ancalagon was taken.

The next morning, I get up and get dressed. While I slept well and feel more awake than I have in a while, my stomach is in knots, so I can’t eat the food Ishir left.

I head to the abandoned building to meet Oliver. I don’t knock, I just walk in. This time, I smell the others.

“Ahhh, there she is,” Oliver says, turning when I walk in.

“Where’s my son?” I ask, seeing the screens are black.

“All in good time. My scientists here don’t believe that you are truly the air dragon. I thought maybe you could give them a little demonstration of how you command the air,” he tells me.

“I don’t command the air. It isn’t something that can be commanded. I manipulate it,” I tell him.

“Show us. We’d like to see it in action,” Oliver says in his usual placating fashion.

I don’t think, I don’t hesitate, I blow my wind so hard that I send the five ‘scientists’ or whatever they are flying into the walls of the warehouse, hearing the satisfying crunch as all of their bones shatter.

“How was that?” I snarl at Oliver.

He stands up, the bored lounging gone. “That was stupid, air dragon. Do you forget that I have control of your son? I am the one that decides how much pain he’s in, and you just pissed me off!” he says, and the screens come to life.

As I watch, Oliver hits a button, and I hear a speaker squeak on the other end.

“Pump him!” he says, and a moment later, Ancalagon is screaming in agony, pulling against his restraints, his eyes going red in pain and fury.

“NOOOO!” I scream, racing to the monitors touching the screen.

“Ancalagon! Ancalagon!” I scream before turning to Oliver. “Stop it! Stop it!”

“Enough,” he says, and I watch as Ancalagon falls to the floor, panting. “Do not cross me again dragon, or your son will pay the price. Are we clear?”

“Yes,” I say tearfully as my son begins keening on the screen.

“Now, you will have to pay for what you did. So, rather than giving you the target I was going to give you, I’m giving you two. You will need to kill both of them before you are allowed to see your son again. The sooner you kill them, the faster you see him,” he says and flicks off the monitors.

He reaches into a drawer and pulls out two files. This time, one is a predator, a fox, and one is an apex predator, a panther.

“See you soon, or not. I guess that depends on you, doesn’t it?” he says to me.

I grab the files, leaving as quickly as I can. I run far enough away that I can shift, shredding my new clothes, then fly as far away as I can. I land on a mountaintop, and I begin my dragon’s lament again.

I feel him before I see him, Avani. He hovers over me and then finds a spot and shifts. He walks up to me, taking my giant dragon head in his hands and pulling me to him.

“Zephyr,” he says, holding me while I cry. “You’ve been doing this for two days. I know you’re angry and sad, but you have to take care of yourself. You need to eat, Zephyr,” he says to me.

I swing my head, ready to send him flying, but this isn’t Ishir. This is Avani. He holds on, and rather than going flying, he uses his element to pull my head back to him.

“Stop, Zephyr. Enough. All you’re doing is making yourself weak. If you’re weak, you’re no good to our son. Stop!” he commands.

I snarl at him, angry that he thinks he can command me. I whip up a windstorm, throwing it at him with everything in me. He doesn’t budge.

“If that’s all you’ve got, Zephyr, then you’re just proving my point. You’re getting weak. I need you at full strength. Ancalagon needs you at full strength,” he says, continuing to hold my head.

“SHIFT!” he commands. His command shouldn’t force me. Yes, I feel the need to obey him, he’s the strongest of us, but if I didn’t want to, I should be able to resist him. This time, however, I can’t. I’m forced back into my human form.

Avani catches me, wrapping his arms around me before I collapse on the ground. He kneels with me, rocking me back and forth as I continue to sob in this form.

“You have to stop this, Zephyr,” he says, much more gently. “You’re too weak. Take some deep breaths with me,” he says and begins breathing deeply.

He doesn’t understand, doesn’t realize that I caused the pain that my son had to face the other day, and I can’t tell him. If he knew the deal I’d made with Oliver, he’d kill Oliver, and then what would happen to my son?

When I finally start to calm down, Avani pulls back, looking at me. “Ishir and I are continuing to look for him. We’ve just about got all the laboratories wiped out. Then we’re going to start working our way to the city. If you want to join us…”

I shake my head. I may not know where Ancalagon is, but I know where Oliver is working. I don’t want to inadvertently lead them to Oliver and cause my son to suffer any more than he already is. His scent has faded over the past few weeks from the warehouse, so it’s possible that Ishir won’t be able to find the spot.

“We should split up, cover more ground,” I tell him.

He takes my face in his hands, pulling me to look at him. “We’ll find him, Zephyr. I promise. We won’t stop until we do,” he tells me. But this, I know, isn’t completely true.

I know that Avani will fight to find Ancalagon, and if we find him, he’ll kill everyone who had anything to do with his son’s disappearance and torture. But Avani has his own family. He has a mate, a young daughter, and a son that is due soon.

And if this baby has the dragon gene, he’ll have to take his mate far away from everyone at the end of her pregnancy. I heard from Kaylani that Merethyl began acting like a dragon with their first child, and she didn’t have the dragon gene, just dragon DNA. This baby, a boy, I’ve heard, has the dragon gene. So, it won’t be long before he will have to take his mate away, and he’ll be gone until she delivers this baby.

Cedric, too, has a family and a pack, so he can only help search for so long before he has to return home. That leaves me and Ishir, and I’m working for Oliver, leaving me little time to search for my son.

Avani makes sure that I eat before he leaves, forcing me to swallow pieces of food past the lump in my throat and the nausea in my gut.

When he finally leaves, with my not-to-be-kept promise of keeping in touch, I shift and head to my cave of treasures. Like all dragons, I have my own, where I keep the treasures that my family and I have found over the years. My treasures come from the air, things that blow in the wind.

When I arrive at the steep mountain top, covered in ice and snow, I use my element to open the tip of the mountain before making my way inside. When I do, I ignore the gemstones and jewelry that I’ve found in the dirt of the forest, in the sand of the beaches, and in the desert. The wind blows things all over the world. I even have some smaller satellites in here that fell from the sky.

I walk to the wall with my samurai swords. All of us have them from the days of dragon riders. The swords of our riders that were maintained by our ancestors. One in particular has always called to me, and I pull it off the shelf, listening to the sing of the metal as I unsheathe it from its casing.

The metal glints in my cave, and I slide it back into the covering before using the strap to put it over my shoulder.

It’s time for me to begin hunting the fox and the panther.