Dragon's Isolation - Miranda Martin Page 0,55

does nothing to affect Melchior.

He finally loosens his grip, and Shidan slides to the floor unconscious. I drop next to him, sobbing. I lift his head into my lap, and my tears fall onto his beautiful face. Addison’s feet appear in one corner of my blurry vision. I can’t stop sobbing.

I’ve lost him. I’ve lost my love. All that we’ve built is gone, and I don’t think there’s going to be a way back. This is it. I’m alone.

Addison crouches down and wraps an arm around my shoulders, pulling my head onto her shoulder. I can’t speak. Words are useless anyway. There are no words that are going to bring him back.

“We need to lock him up,” Addison says. “Before he wakes up. We can’t let him be free.”

“No,” I sob, though I know it is the right thing. I know it has to happen, but I can’t. I can’t let him go. If we lock him up, it’s over.

Melchior grabs Shidan’s arms and tugs him off my lap. I leap to my feet and slap his face. My hand stings, then throbs. Melchior doesn’t say a word as he lifts Shidan and places him over his shoulders.

“NO!” I scream. “No, no, no, no, no!”

I drop to my knees as hope dies. I’ve failed. Addison holds me again and we sit in the hall while I sob, my heart breaking. Melchior walks towards the lab. I can’t leave him. If this has to happen, I need to be the one who locks him away. I need him to see me, for him to have some hope. Whatever small glimmer of it I can give him, I must. Rising, I wipe my face with the heels of my hands and walk after Melchior.

“Careful!” I yell as Shidan’s head cracks against the door Melchior is trying to get through.

Melchior glances back, blood caking his left eye closed, but he nods. Addison moves past me and holds the door open so that Melchior can get through it easier. We make our way through the lab and into the hall where they’ve been locking the others up. The hall we enter seems longer. A death march is what it feels like as we walk down it.

There’s an empty room, past both Ladon and Ormarr. I jump when Ladon slams against the door, roaring. Ormarr glares out the window of his, teeth bared. It’s not only scary, it kills the last glimmers of hope that I’m desperately clinging to.

Addison opens the door to what is going to be Shidan’s cell. The open door yawns onto a dim room with thick, reinforced walls. Melchior turns sideways and slides into the opening. He’s being careful to at least try not to hurt Shidan.

Suddenly Shidan growls and his tail sweeps around, slamming against the back of Melchior’s legs. Melchior drops to the ground and Shidan slams his knee into Melchior’s head.

CRACK!

Bile rises in my throat at the sound. “Shidan! NO!”

Addison races into the fray. Shidan grabs her by the front of her shirt lifting her off her feet. He pulls her close to his face and growls. Addison blanches, lips trembling, and her body shaking. I run in too, grabbing his face with both my hands. I tug him around to me.

His eyes are bloodshot, his lips curled back, his tail is sticking up behind his head. He looks from me to the room behind him. His growl is low, deep, rumbling in my core.

“Shidan, no,” I beg him, voice quavering. “It’s for you.”

“Son,” he growls and tosses Addison aside.

She hits the wall with a thud and a cry of pain, sliding down. I shake my head, put my hands on his chest, try with all I have to shove him into the doorway. I know it’s the right thing to do. He needs to calm down, time to fight this disease. Time for Addison to find a cure. If only a little time, it’s all we need.

He bends his knees, dropping lower so his face is level with mine. He stares into my eyes, and a rumble emerges from his lips. He shakes his head.

“You?” he asks, and the disappointment in his eyes is clear.

He steps around me, effortlessly. He doesn’t harm me, doesn’t lay a hand on me, but he moves past leaving me behind.

“Shidan, no! Please!”

He looks over his shoulder. His eyes narrow, his jaw tenses, but the beast rolls off of him. It washes across my skin, making it clear the man I know