The Assassin

Chapter 3: Zephyr

I would hate my mate if I could. I want to blame him. I do blame him, but I know that it’s not all his fault that Ancalagon is gone. The probability that the hunters stumbled across my son, killed a herd of shifters, and were prepared to transport a baby dragon while I was away for one night is highly unlikely. So, I’m angry at myself for not realizing that I was being watched, but I’m putting that blame unfairly on Ishir.

When he comes for me, I can’t be with him. The pain in my heart, the agony of knowing that those hunters have my son, makes me unable to listen to Ishir. And why would he want me anyway? I’m a dragon. I’m supposed to be the strongest of the supernaturals. I’m supposed to be the protector of the supernaturals, and I can’t even protect my own son. What man or shifter would want a mate that can’t protect their own child?

None of them.

So rather than wait for his verdict that I’m not good enough for him, I leave. Okay, I knocked him off the mountain first. I couldn’t handle his gentleness, his soft words. They only made me feel worse. But I need to express some of this grief before pulling myself together and going in search of my son again.

I know Avani and Merethyl are searching. I know that Kaylani is searching, and most likely, Tana and Kenna are searching as well. I heard Ishir is searching. And yet, despite all of us out here looking for my son, we still haven’t found him.

That gives me pause. Why haven’t we found him? I mean, we have the best hunters on the planet looking for my son, but we haven’t found him yet. Why?

We’re looking in the wrong places. We’re looking where the dead Chief used to keep supernaturals. We should be looking somewhere else … but where?

I stop my lament, thinking of where you could hide a baby dragon. There are plenty of places, but if you’re not in the wild, it doesn’t mean you’re not underground. The Chief was successful because he hid in plain sight.

Avani and Merethyl told me about the time they killed the Chief. And they told me that he had a son who escaped. Ancalagon is a lot like his father, reminding me of the saying ‘like father, like son’. Maybe the Chief’s son is like him, hiding in plain sight, only not in the wild.

I turn my head, looking in the direction of the city. What if he is in the city, hiding in plain sight, and my son in the bowels of that horrible place? He could be holding my son underground anywhere in the city. If he is, I can find him. I know it.

With renewed vigor, I begin flying to the city. I know Tana has a penthouse there. I’ve never been, but I’ll recognize her scent and, of course, Ishir’s scent since he still lives there, too. If I get there and his scent is strong, I’ll move on. But if it’s faint, as I expect it will be, I’ll land, borrow some of Tana’s clothing, and begin searching for my son in my human form.

I wait until it’s dark and then begin flying over the city. It doesn’t take me long to catch Ishir’s exotic scent and follow it to a dark penthouse. I should have known that Tana would be in the condominium in the tallest building in the city. Her place is on the top floor, with a convenient patio to shift and land on.

I walk to the sliding glass door and find it open. Of course, it is. This is how Tana and Kenna come home. I walk inside, taking a moment to look over the space where Ishir lives. I follow his scent to a room that makes me sway. His scent is so strong. I want to crawl into his bed and roll around on his sheets, covering myself in his scent. But I can’t do that. I’m here for a reason ... my son.

I step away from his room and move down the hallway to Tana’s room. I can smell Cedric’s scent of a spring rainstorm mixed with Tana’s campfire scent. I walk into the room and go to the closet. She and I are a similar size, so her clothes fit me well enough. However, my feet are smaller than hers, so I go to Kenna’s room and find a pair of shoes that will work for me.

Because I can’t help myself, I find a black hoodie in Ishir’s closet and pull it over me, surrounding myself with his scent and calming my nerves immediately.

I dig around the apartment, finding a spare key. I make sure it works for the door and the elevator before heading downstairs. I walk out into the streets, my senses overwhelmed with the smells of exhaust, different types of food cooking, and the loudness of everything around me: car horns honking, people yelling at each other, music blaring from multiple places. How do people live here?

I pick a direction and begin walking, trying to filter through the scents all around me to find my son’s. His scent of upturned earth after a tornado, would stand out here where everything else smells like machines and sewage.

I walk up and down the streets, finding a stopping point in two directions and working my way out of the city from there. Hours later, I’ve found nothing. I return to Ishir’s building and begin walking the same grid pattern in the other direction. By now, there are very few people on the street.

The shifters give me a wide berth. It’s the humans that don’t know what I am. I had to knock out a couple of them already. They approach me, thinking I am an easy target. They learn too late how wrong they are. I didn’t kill them, but they’ll wake up with a nasty headache.

I’ve just about given up when I catch the scent. I instantly go on alert, my nose rising in the air, sniffing until I catch it again. I turn, following my son’s scent. It continues to get stronger, and I pick up my pace, staying alert to my surroundings. If my son is here, they probably have some sort of security.

My son’s scent leads me to what looks like an abandoned building on the outskirts of town. I don’t hear him, but that doesn’t mean anything. He could be sedated.

I carefully open the door, sliding inside the space quickly before quietly closing the door behind me. Maybe I should contact Avani and the others, but I’m not wasting another moment, letting these creatures hurt my son.

I’ve barely taken three steps into the warehouse space when the light flicks on, lighting the room. There, in the center, is a man leaning against a desk with computers lined up behind him.

“Well, well, well, if it isn’t the air dragon. Finally. I thought maybe you weren’t as intelligent as I’ve heard,” the man says.

“Where is my son?” I snarl, the wind whipping up in the space around us.

“He’s safe, for now. But that very much depends on you and what happens between us today,” he says, obviously enjoying this.

I throw a blast of wind at him, knocking him to the ground, the smirk on his face replaced with a scowl.

“Now, now, b***h. You want to be careful. I’m the only reason your son is still alive.”

“WHERE. IS. HE?” I snarl at him.

He stands, grabs a remote, and turns on the computer monitors. Instantly, I see Ancalagon, a muzzle on his face, thrashing against the restraints that are holding him to the ground.

“He’s not here, not any longer. I’m not stupid,” he says.

I take a step toward the monitors. “Let him go.”

“I don’t think so. After all, his father did kill mine,” the man says, making me turn to him.

“What do you want?” I ask.

“Now THAT is the right question to ask me. What I want is for you to work for me. In exchange, I’ll keep your son alive.”

“Why should I trust you?” I ask him.

“You shouldn’t. But I will tell you that your son is only alive because I choose for him to be. I’ve already implanted one of those explosives into his head. With a simple push of a button, I could kill him, and there’s nothing you could do about it.”

I look back at the monitors, seeing my son, my son who loves to fly, restrained on the ground.

“What do you want me to do?” I ask, knowing I’ll do anything for my son.

“I want you to take out the shifter population for me. I want them gone, all of them, but I have a list of the ones that I want taken out first. If you do that for me, your son lives. If you don’t, well, maybe he does, and maybe he doesn’t.”

“How do I know you won’t kill him, anyway?” I ask.

“You don’t. But every week, you will meet me here, give me an update on your progress, get your next assignment, and then you can see your son on the monitors. Take it or leave it.”

I look at the monitor, watching as my son continues to thrash against his restraints, and I know I will do what he’s asking. I’ll go against everything in my blood, in my soul, to save my son. The dragons are meant to protect the shifters; it’s why they call Avani the Dark Protector. But for Ancalagon, my son, I will sell my soul to this devil in the hopes that it will save him.

“I’ll do it.”

“Good. I’ll see you in one week with your first assignment.”