Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons #2) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,101

She could still be down here.”

He waved them into the chamber, then sprinted back down the tunnel. Otto sucked in a shaky breath and followed him. Unfortunately, the four shifters in the hall entered the chamber, two going left around the orb, two going right. Their hands shifted, growing fur and changing from fingers with fingernails to paws with long, razor-sharp claws. They swiped at the air, as if they knew I was camouflaged somewhere in there. Maybe they did. One of the shifters was the lion from the bathroom.

Sindari, I’m in a bit of a bind. I scooted out of the way the best I could, but the chamber wasn’t that large. Any second, these guys would be close enough to see through my charm.

I had to back out of the tunnel to avoid being seen. The Pardus brothers just rushed past. They’re searching the chamber with the dwarf and also the room outside the door. Do you want me to charge in and attack?

Ugh, did I? With Dob less than ten feet away fiddling with that box?

The lion shifter was almost to me, swiping his claws in the air. Hoping I wasn’t about to get myself in deeper trouble, I moved away from the wall and dropped low to crawl under the orb.

As I’d feared, its effect on me intensified. It floated only a couple of feet above my head, its pulsing power beating in sync with my heart. Not letting go of Chopper—I was positive that was the only reason I hadn’t thrown myself at the orb yet—I worked my backpack off my shoulders.

“I heard something,” someone said.

I froze. Sound was the one thing the charm didn’t hide. It was hard to imagine hearing anything over the throbs of the orb, but the shifters had ears far better than mine.

“What happens if you touch it?” one of the shifters asked. A new visitor?

“Don’t. We have to find that bitch.”

Two sets of legs came closer to me. Careful not to make any noise, I removed and opened the case holding the small spheres of the gas compound that Zoltan had made. I also pulled out four magically enhanced grenades that Nin had given me. What were the odds that they would take out this whole chamber, including the orb and the control box enslaving the dwarf?

I laid out my goods on the floor and shifted into a crouch, hair almost brushing the bottom of the orb. I struggled to keep my thoughts my own, not to let in the images of pleasure it kept promising me. Nothing had ever been harder.

Dob was still facing the control box, but two of the shifters came right up to the orb, their feet pointing toward me. Any second, they would crouch down and swipe their paws at me.

I lifted one of Zoltan’s spheres, on the verge of hurling it out and against the wall—maybe I would get lucky and even Dob would gag on the noxious gas—but neither of the shifters crouched down. They reached out and pressed their arms and their bodies to the orb. They were so close that I could have kissed their knees.

“You idiots,” one of the shifters closer to the wall said. “Not now.”

Groans of pleasure came from above.

A scream of pain echoed back down the tunnel. Had Sindari attacked?

Was that you? I asked silently.

No. You didn’t give me the command to attack. The dwarf just cried out. Nobody’s next to him.

Dob chuckled, his hand lowering from the control box.

The dwarf screamed again. Dob strode past and back into the tunnel. Maybe he would torture the dwarf until he made the weapon he wanted.

No, I vowed. He wouldn’t.

I rubbed Zoltan’s charm to activate it—I hadn’t tested it and could only pray that it worked—and flung out four of the glass spheres. They shattered as they hit the far wall.

I’m going to need your help as soon as possible, Sindari, I thought, grabbing the last two spheres and my grenades and rolling out from under the orb and away from everyone left in the chamber. I stuffed the spheres in my pocket for later.

The two shifters plastered to the orb didn’t move, but the lion shifter must have seen where the spheres had originated. He lunged under the orb and raked his claws through the spot where I’d been. His eyes widened, locking right on to me—he was close enough to see through my charm’s magic.

As I scrambled back to the wall, greenish gas wafted from the