“If she’s the sleeper, she shouldn’t like me at all,” I protested, crossing my arms. Dragons didn’t have those kinds of emotions. They were flawless mimics of the human race, which was what made them so dangerous, but they had no real concept of friendship, sorrow, love, or regret. At least, that’s what I’d always been told.
Tristan shrugged. “Maybe this is part of Talon’s training. Do what the humans do to blend in. Seems like something they would attempt, either for control or to throw us off the trail. Or maybe she is just a normal civilian. In any case, you’re going to have to continue the ruse until you find out. Think you can handle that?”
A ruse. That’s all it was. Pretend to like this girl. Pretend to have feelings, to pursue some kind of relationship. Earn her friendship and trust, knowing I might have to destroy it, and her, in the end.
It felt wrong. Dirty and underhanded, something they would do.
But…I was a soldier, and this was my mission. I had to remind myself: if Ember was the sleeper, she wasn’t an innocent. She was a dragon, a creature who secretly despised mankind and possessed no empathy, no humanity, whatsoever. Even their young, their hatchlings, were just as devious and monstrous as the adults. Maybe even more so, because they seemed so human. Destroying hatchlings before they became cunning, immensely powerful adults was the only way we could win this war.
Even if I had to lie. Even if—if I was honest with myself—a small part of me leaped at the thought of seeing her again.
And even if an even smaller part, one I shoved to the darkest corner of my mind, was appalled and sickened by what I was planning.
“I can handle it,” I told Tristan, and stepped around the bag, heading toward the bathroom and a cold shower. “I know what I have to do.”
“Good to hear. And Garret.”
This time, Tristan’s voice was ominous. I looked back warily.
“Don’t make the mistake of falling for this girl,” he warned, watching me intently. “If she’s a normal civilian, you don’t have any business getting involved. Not with our life. But, if she is the sleeper, and this is some new way they’re teaching their hatchlings to assimilate…”
He shook his head, and his eyes narrowed. “If the time ever comes when you have to pull that trigger, you can’t have any doubts. you can’t hesitate, even for a moment, or she’ll tear you apart. You understand that, right?”
Ember’s face flashed before me once more, smiling and cheerful, the memory of her kiss making my stomach tighten. I shoved it away ruthlessly.
“Yes,” I said. “I understand.”
Ember
“Where’ve you been?” Dante asked as I came up the stairs, intending to go straight to my room to hide out the rest of the night. Unfortunately, my nosy twin stood at the top step, gazing down with wary green eyes.
I snorted. “What are you, my egg nanny? I’ve been surfing, what’s it look like?” I sidled past him and headed toward my room. He followed me down the hall, suspicious gaze searing the back of my neck.
“Who was the human that drove you home?” Dante asked. “I haven’t seen him before.”
“That was Garret,” I replied, hoping he wouldn’t see my burning face. “He’s the boy I told you about before, remember? The one that we met on the beach with Kristin and Lexi? The one who beat up those trolls for us. He’s a nice guy.”
Maybe too nice, my dragon whispered. I could still feel his lips on mine, the sudden impulse to reach up and kiss him, the flame that had lit my stomach when I did. What would Talon say if they knew?
Talon can eat their own tail, I thought back. That wasn’t the problem. Strictly speaking, pursuing a relationship with a human wasn’t entirely forbidden by the organization. Making a human fall in love with you was an easy way to control them, an easy way to get what you wanted. Dante was an expert at this; no matter where he was, who was around, he always had someone ready to give him a ride, a phone, the shirt off their back. He didn’t even have to try very hard.
I thought it was pretty devious myself, but everyone in knew how to manipulate human emotions. The fact that I had kissed a human meant nothing.
The reason I’d kissed a human was something else altogether.
I reached my room and turned to close the door, but Dante stepped between the frame, stopping me. His expression hovered between suspicion and concern. “Are you all right, sis?” he asked, watching my face. “I was worried about you. You took off with Lexi right after your training session, and you turned off your phone.”
The memory of my sadistic trainer made me bristle. “Geez, you sound like Uncle Liam,” I scoffed, trying to get him off the subject.
“I’m fine, so you can dial down your neurotic twin-radar. Garret and I went surfing, that’s all.”
And I kissed him. And I want to see him again, badly, so I can do it some more. Lizard bal s, I am so screwed in the head.
“I can’t dial down my neurotic-twin radar,” Dante said, not moving from his place in the doorway. He stepped closer, putting a hand on my arm. “Not when my twin is upset. Not when I can sense something is really bothering her.”
“You know that overprotective twin-brother act? It can go a little far sometimes.”
“Hey, you and me? We’re all we have here.” Dante’s voice was completely serious. “If I don’t watch out for you, who will? So, come on, Tweedle Dee.” He gently squeezed my arm, then dropped his hand.
“What’s going on? Did that human hurt you?”
“What are you going to do if he did? Eat him?”
“I’d be tempted, but no.” My twin gave me an impatient look. “And you’re evading the question. What’s wrong, Ember? Something is bothering you, and I want to know what. Talk to me.”
I hesitated. I did want to talk to someone, someone who could empathize, another dragon who might understand these strange, new, human feelings coursing through me. Feelings that, according to what my trainer had said just this morning, had no place in the life of a dragon. Would Dante get what I was experiencing? I’d always told him everything before.
“I was…um…just thinking about something my trainer said today,” I confessed, which wasn’t a complete lie. “She told me that humans are the inferior species, that we shouldn’t get too attached to any of them, because they’re just fodder in the long run. And that they would destroy us if they knew what we really were.”