The dark alley dissolved into silver sparks. Raluca’s blood burned within her, but with a painless heat rather than the agony of dragonsbane. Her wings stretched out, her talons emerged, and a furnace roared inside her. With a sudden leap, she was aloft, her wings beating hard as she arrowed straight upward, toward the distant fighters overhead.
Raluca had always been a very fast flyer; it was only that which had allowed her to catch Nick before he could hit the ground. Few dragons could have done the same. Her speed enabled her to quickly reach the heights where the gold and brass dragons fought.
Once she was close enough to see them, she understood why they were still in the air. Grigor wasn’t fighting Lucas, but trying to evade him and fly down to the alley. Lucas was flying below him, blocking him at every turn with slashing claws and bursts of flame. But while Lucas was bigger and able to prevent him from flying down to attack his friends, he wasn’t fast enough to catch Grigor. Neither dragon was injured, but both were obviously weary.
Raluca, however, had been flying for mere minutes. She was still fresh. And she was faster than Grigor. Both dragons, intent on their fight, didn’t see her until she was almost upon them. Raluca caught Lucas’s eye, then darted upward.
Grigor, his attention divided, he
sitated for a fatal moment, allowing himself to get trapped between Lucas below and Raluca above. In that instant of indecision, both dragons struck.
Lucas lunged up as Raluca dropped down, folding her wings and landing with her full weight on Grigor’s back. She dug her talons into his wings, pinning them to his sides. Before Grigor could twist to flame either of them, she bit down on his neck, not piercing his skin but holding his head in place with the threat of it.
Lucas’s golden wings beat hard, his muscles straining as he bore the weight of them both. Raluca felt Grigor tensing his legs, no doubt to claw Lucas’s back. She bit down harder. He retracted his talons, and let Lucas lower them both to the ground.
They landed with a jarring thud. Raluca spread her wings, lifting off, and dragged Grigor off Lucas’s back. She stayed on top of Grigor, pinning his wings and keeping her teeth locked on his neck, as Lucas became a man in a whirlwind of brilliant sparks.
He wore a plain button-down shirt and black slacks, neither tailored nor expensive, and no jewelry at all. His golden hair, chiseled features, and perfect posture were the only elegant things about him. Raluca was puzzled, then remembered that he had been undercover. Like the rest of his team members, he obviously hadn’t had time to change.
Lucas got in a huddle with his teammates while Raluca waited, uncertain what to do. Then Destiny handed Lucas an odd-looking gun.
Lucas aimed the gun at Grigor and said, “You can let go of him now.”
Raluca sprang off him. The instant she did, Grigor leaped into the air. Lucas fired the gun. It made a soft popping noise rather than a bang. In mid-air, Grigor became a man with a yell of pain, and fell about ten feet down. He hit the ground with another yelp.
Hal pounced on him and handcuffed him, then yanked him to his feet. “Rafa, call Ellie in.”
As Rafa pulled out his phone, Raluca thought of human things — her concern and love for Nick, her pleasure and relief at Grigor’s very literal downfall, and her plan to buy shoes without high heels, immediately — and became a woman.
Her first glance was to Nick, who was still sitting up with his back against Shane’s chest. He managed a smile as she ran to his side. “You were amazing. I knew you could beat that asshole.”
Hal hauled Grigor closer. Her cousin was bruised, scraped, and limping, and looked furious. “How dare you use my own dragonsbane gun on me!”
Destiny laughed. “Finders keepers.”
But Lucas glared at him. “How dare you try to murder my friends and usurp the throne of Viorel!”
Hal gave Grigor a shake. “You’re done with murder. And you’re not getting the throne. Price is dead. Fiona is delivering the rest of your crew to the nearest police station. The cops know us here, and they’ll believe us when we tell them what happened — minus the shifting, of course. Especially when we’re turning over wanted gangsters and international assassins. They’ll all be in jail for a long, long time. As for you, I’ve got just one question. Did Constantine have anything to do with this?”
Grigor’s indignant expression seemed completely sincere. “No! I loathe the man. And I want to be a real king, not a puppet. He’s the last person I’d ever conspire with. Or even speak to!”
“Excellent,” Lucas said. “In that case, the two of you can share a cell for the rest of your lives.”
Nick looked at Raluca. “Is that enough vengeance for you?”
Raluca imagined Grigor and Uncle Constantine, locked up forever in a dark, dank dungeon, with a drop of burning dragonsbane always on their skin to prevent their escape. Worse yet, with no company but each other. She smiled. “It is. In fact, this will give me revenge on my uncle as well. Their loathing is mutual.”
Nick started to chuckle, then cut himself off, wincing. “Good. They deserve each other.”
Lucas gave Hal a plaintive glance. “I may lock him in Protection, Inc. for the night, may I not?”
“Lucas, of course I’m not asking you to fly to Europe tonight,” Hal replied. “You just got back! Lock that asshole in a bedroom for as long as you like.”
“Take Raluca’s clothes out first,” Destiny said.
“Nick...” Lucas gracefully knelt down, then paused, as if uncertain what to say. It was odd to see him caught in an awkward moment, when he had been so assured when Raluca had seen him last. Finally, he said, “I am sorry I came too late to protect you.”
Nick seemed taken aback. “You came just in time.”