the siren shifter go so readily into the melee before, but a flash of his now-green eyes tells me he’s beyond caring about his own safety at this point. The thought brings tears to my eyes, the reality of it sinking in: they came for me. They actually came for me.
Shade tag-teams with Landon, lunging for the struggling wolf shifter and completing his transformation before he even hits the ground. He pins the man to the floor, sinking his powerful jaws into his shoulder and eliciting a cry of pain from the trapped guard. It’s only as my attention turns to Silas in the doorway that I realise the worst has yet to come.
They have a dragon shifter of their own. Of course they do . The giant reptilian beast, his scales a shimmering green colour, is doing his level best to force his way into the room. Silas is keeping him at bay, his wings spread defensively as the two of them exchange blows with their mighty claws. Because dragons are immune to the effects of dragon fire and highly resistant to other kinds, Silas seems to be using his own body as a shield to deflect the majority of his opponent’s flames. My heart leaps into my throat when I see that he’s flagging a little. The second that dragon shifter makes it into this enclosed space, he’s going to light us all up, Hawthorne included.
Hawthorne...
Wait a minute. Slowly I force myself to turn my neck, every single muscle in my body protesting the movement, which feels as difficult as running a marathon. My former school president is nowhere to be seen, but there’s an emergency exit door now standing open in the back of the room. The coward can’t even be bothered to stand and fight his own battles! Well, no matter, I guess. We’ve got our hands full enough as it is. If he comes back with reinforcements, though…
I begin to thrash weakly against the straps holding me to the table, for all the good it does. We might be evenly matched right now, but there’s no telling how many other Academy loyalists he has working in this facility.
The enemy vampire shifter sees my renewed efforts to free myself and immediately ignores Hunter in favour of lunging at me. Adrenaline rushes through me, and I close my eyes, bracing for the death blow, but a snarl from Silas makes me glance up. He’s craned his neck around and unleashed a targeted fireball, not enough to catch me, but enough to hit the vampire squarely between the shoulders.
She gives out an inhuman shriek, self-preservation instincts kicking in as she drops to the ground, giving Shade a perfect opportunity to pounce. This gives the other wolf shifter a window, however, and soon enough there’s a second giant wolf charging us. Hunter zooms across the room, picks him up by the neck, and hurls him into the back of the room, where there’s the sound of laboratory equipment scattering across the floor.
“Hunter,” pants Silas. Hunter and I look up at the same time to see the enemy dragon bearing down on Silas in the doorway; he’s the bigger of the two, and it was only a matter of time before he would turn things around.
“Go!” Shade snaps, still in wolf form. “I’ll cover you!”
Hunter nods and rushes to help Silas hold off the dragon, and in the meantime Shade, now unoccupied, charges across the room to assist Landon with the remaining guard, another siren. His commands are useless against the guys, and within moments they’ve overpowered and dispatched him.
With the vampire shifter still fighting the flames and the wolf shifter lying dazed in a heap of medical supplies, all four can now turn their attention to the dragon in the hallway. “Get out of the way,” Hunter commands Silas, squaring his shoulders.
“What?” Silas demands. “What are you…?”
The vampire shifter turns his red eyes on the dragon , and I see them burning with a vengeance. “Trust me, Silas.”
There’s a brief pause, and then Silas releases his grip on the other dragon. They both come tumbling backward into the room, knocked off balance by the sudden shift. Hunter wastes no time seizing his chance. Without a second thought, he leaps onto the dragon’s long neck, grabbing it at the base of its head with his powerful arms, and breaks its neck with one swift movement. The dragon shifter crumples to the floor, already changing back into human form as Hunter