Battle Bond: An Urban Fantasy Dragon Series (Death Before Dragons #2) - Lindsay Buroker Page 0,96

have been able to. Maybe this guy was extra sensitive.

Sindari glided out the door into the hall. He’s catching a hint of my scent. I’ll lead him away from you.

I hated the idea of being separated from Sindari, but it was better than being discovered too soon. Don’t leave me for long. I pine without your companionship.

I know this.

The shifter left the room. Trusting Sindari to evade him, I slid the closet door shut and lifted the panel the rest of the way. I leaned it against the wall then whispered, “Eravekt,” and Chopper’s blue glow flared bright.

It illuminated a chamber dug into the dirt below the house with mud and puddles on the ground. Something that looked like cement had been sprayed on the lumpy walls, maybe in an attempt to keep water from seeping in. Droplets lined a few cracks in the hardened gray material. Fuzzy growths of mold dotted two of the walls, and my chest tightened.

While I debated whether to dig out my inhaler before I started wheezing, I lowered my head, twisting to see what was on the wall underneath me. A door. A huge metal vault door with a spinning handle that looked like something out of a submarine.

How had they gotten it down there? There was no way they could have fit it through the access panel in the closet.

The dragon that Sindari had already sensed came into my range. Dob. No mistake.

I pulled out my phone and texted Dimitri. Stay ready, but don’t send in the brute squad yet. Dob is around.

Isn’t that a reason to bring them in, not the other way around?

They’re not going to fight a dragon.

Is he coming for you? Dimitri demanded.

I could sense him wanting to help—he’d made a few enchanted weapons to use on the shifters, but they would be laughable against a dragon.

I hope not.

That’s not an answer.

Just hold tight.

I hopped to the muddy ground, wanting to see what was behind that door. I could still sense someone with a magical aura, but as before, it was nebulous and hard to identify. The door itself held some magic, and I wondered if it was what was making it hard to get a good read on who was inside.

Easing forward, I gripped my lock-picking charm and rested a hand on the cool steel. The metal tingled under my fingers, a testament to an enchantment on it. I tried to open the door, in case someone had left it unlocked, but the spinning wheel of a latch didn’t budge.

That was fine. This was what my charm had been designed for. But when I closed my eyes and urged it to thwart the enchantment, nothing happened. Oh, I sensed the magic from the charm trying to obey, but like a true bank vault door, this had state-of-the-art security. Or state-of-the-art magic?

I could try to hack it open with Chopper, but if it was as thick as it looked, that would be asking a lot even from a magical sword. Besides, that would make a ton of noise. I couldn’t forget that I was right under a house full of shifters with very good hearing.

One more try, I decided, resting my hand on the exact spot where I guessed the locking mechanism would be. Once again, I willed the charm to work, and I imagined funneling some of my own energy into it. Zav was positive I had some inherent magic, and I had seemed to draw upon something like that when I’d broken the dark-elf bonds.

You can do this, I told myself, ignoring the offensive moldy air curling down my trachea and the tightness of my chest.

A thunk-clink came from the door. I felt the reverberation in my hand. Was that it?

I tried the wheel again. This time, it turned.

With no idea what was on the other side, I only opened the door a crack and paused, listening and waiting. I didn’t hear anything, but intense magic flowed out, startling me so much that I scurried back several steps and lifted Chopper in a defensive gesture.

Nothing rushed out besides the magic and a faint lavender light, but the magic called to me, inviting me.

I tried to sort through what I sensed. I hadn’t encountered anything like it before. The being with the aura was still in there, close to the door, I thought, but there was something else that was the source of this power. It was what was trying to draw me in, almost like one of