The wyvern shifter took advantage of his instinctive recoil to wriggle away from him, rolling to her feet. She turned to flee—
And was stopped dead by a crimson wall of scaled muscle blocking her path. The red dragon growled at her in warning, his enormous bulk filling the alley.
“Thanks, Dai.” Chase got to his own feet. He glared at th
e wyvern shifter. “Don't even think about shifting. You aren't going anywhere.”
The woman lifted her chin, matching his glare defiantly. She was dressed in an eclectic mix of ripped black leather and PVC, and had an asymmetric haircut with a thick green stripe dyed into the front. “Bite me, pony-boy,” she spat at him. “We both know I can outfly you any day of the week. If I didn't want to be here, I'd already be gone.”
His pegasus raged, demanding to trample the wyvern shifter, but he reined his stallion back. Despite her aggressive attitude, there was something vulnerable about her yellow-green eyes and soft, round face. She wore her punkish outfit as if it was a carefully-constructed suit of armor, a way to protect herself from the world rather than an expression of her true self.
Nonetheless, Chase stayed poised on the balls of his feet, ready to grab her if she made any sudden moves. “What are you doing here? Did you start this fire?”
“My employer ordered me to.” The wyvern shifter folded her tattooed arms, setting her jaw. “But he doesn't know I'm still here. I stayed because I want to talk to your boss.”
“If that is so, you have found him,” said Ash's calm, cool voice. “I am the Phoenix.”
Dai moved back a little to allow the Fire Commander past. Ash looked as composed as ever, but his feet left black, scorched footprints in his wake. Griff followed him, his sharp golden eyes narrowing as they fixed on the wyvern.
Commander Ash stopped in front of the wyvern shifter, his hands clasped behind his back. “What is your name?”
“Ivy,” the wyvern shifter said, flinching a little as she met the Commander's calm gaze. “Ivy Viverna.”
“Ms. Viverna, you have already committed crimes that call for judgment before the Parliament of Shifters,” Ash said. Even from several feet away, Chase could feel the heat radiating from the Commander's motionless form. “But if you have truly committed arson, then you are under my jurisdiction, and subject to my judgment. Do you understand?”
“Some shark shifters tried to scare me into surrendering to them, by telling me that it would be much worse if you caught me.” Ivy hugged herself, her body language an odd combination of fear and determination. “They said you can burn anything. Even a shifter’s inner animal.”
Commander Ash inclined his head in silent confirmation.
Ivy's lower lip started to tremble. “Can—can you burn away my wyvern?”
Ash considered her for a long moment. “I could. But why would you wish that?”
“I can't touch anyone.” Ivy held up her bare hands. Chase's own wrists still burned an angry red where she'd briefly grabbed him. “I'm poisonous, all the time, even in human form. I just want to be normal.”
“If I burned your wyvern, you would be an ordinary human,” Ash said dispassionately. “But you would not be the same person.”
“I don't care.” Tears welled up in Ivy's eyes. “I'd rather be anyone else but me. I can't have a regular job. I sell my poisons on the black market, but sometimes even that isn't enough. Then I have to take dirty money for dirty work, or else my little sister doesn't eat, and, and I've never even held her hand! I don't want to live like this any more.”
“She's telling the truth,” Griff said softly, his golden eyes compassionate.
“Wait,” Chase said suddenly, something about what she'd said earlier nagging at him. “What do you mean, some shark shifters came after you?”
“They said their boss was pissed because I damaged his plane.” Ivy swiped her sleeve across her eyes. The PVC hissed where her tears touched, acid eating pits into the shiny black material. “I don't know anything about that. My employer just told me to make sure I killed the pilot. He didn't care about the plane.”
“Connie.” Red rage misted Chase's vision. He would have gone for the wyvern shifter, but Ash flung out an arm to block him. “You tried to kill my mate.”
“I'm not an assassin,” Ivy flared up, her own fists clenching. “I took the money, but I only ever meant to make the plane crash. I tried to do it slowly enough that the pilot would be able to bail out safely, once they realized what was happening. I didn't want to hurt anyone!”
Chase glanced at Griff, who shrugged. “Still telling the truth.”
Chase stared hard at Ivy. “So if you're not working for Sammy Smiles, who are you working for?”
Ivy shook her head. “I don't know. I've worked for him for years—selling poisons for him to use against his rivals, mainly. Not to kill them! Just, just little doses, enough to take them out of action for a while, when he needed them out of the way.” She didn't meet any of their eyes, shame clear in her young face. “Anyway, he's always been very, very careful not to let me find out who he is.”
“Who else would want your mate dead?” Griff asked Chase.
“I don't know, but when I find out they'll be dead,” Chase growled. “Ivy, if you want to have any chance of not spending the rest of your life behind bars, you'd better tell me everything you know about this employer of yours. Now.”