Page 88 of Damien’s Mate

They’d all fulfilled their oaths, accomplished their missions.

Just because her father hadn’t been given the mission by the right people, didn’t mean it didn’t matter as much as it always had.

The artifacts could still be returned to their rightful owners.

She just had to figure out how to get them—and herself—out of here.

And she had to do it alone, one more time.

But she would do it. She had someone who mattered to her more than anything—a mate to go home to. She thought of the carving Damien had made for her, the strong, wild man embracing the lioness.

They’d always belonged together, even before she put a lion in him. And she’d be damned if she’d let a bunch of traitors keep them apart.

Suddenly she heard a soft hissing noise, from the darkest corner of her cell. She turned. Embedded in the wall was a ghostly face—a young boy with tangled dark hair and green eyes.

Dragon Boy? “What are you doing here?” she whispered.

“Watching you,” he said. “Titan and Brandon asked me to.”

They did? Warmth spread through Lila. And hope. She wasn’t alone after all. She had a crew.

“I don’t suppose you can get me out of here,” she said.

His ghostly form stepped into the cell. He ran his hand over the wall, and it flickered with dull orange light before fading again.

He shook his head. “If you were in a normal place I could, but this cell—this whole compound—is warded by powerful Draken spells. I’m not strong enough in my magic to defeat them.” That seemed to annoy him. “Yet,” he added.

She didn’t have time to worry about his adolescent ego. “So you can’t come in here physically, either?”

Another headshake.

She bit her lip. He wasn’t going to be able to help her. “Can you—can you go back and talk to them? Can you tell Damien—I’m going to try to get away, but I don’t know if I can. Tell him, if I don’t make it back—tell him I’m sorry. Tell him… I love him.”

The boy rolled his eyes. “That’s gross. But anyway, I already sent Nick to tell them you’re in trouble. So you’ll see your mate soon, and I won’t have to give him barfy messages.”

“They’re coming? Here?” No, they couldn’t. It was too dangerous. “But—”

At that moment, the outer door of the room opened. Dragon Boy faded. The guard who had taunted her earlier walked in. He put a bottle of water just inside the bars of her cell, and threw a rag in after it.

“Clean yourself up,” he said. “The Draken prince will be here son, and you can’t go before him looking like that.”

Why not? Lila thought. He was going to torture her anyway. She wondered how long she could hold out, and if the others would get here in time.

Or if they could find a way to get here at all.

If she could at least get out of the cell…

The guard was still taunting her, but she’d stopped listening. She dropped her head in her hands. “Dragon Boy?” she whispered as softly as she could. “If you can hear me, can you give me fifteen seconds, then appear behind the guard and get his attention?”

She heard a soft hiss of acquiescence.

Lila pretended to sob, wrapping her arms around her waist, and surreptitiously unbuckling her belt. They’d only patted her down for weapons; they’d left her with everything else.

Apparently there was no such thing as suicide watch in the Lion Guard.

The guard was busy making fun of her weak, feminine tears when Dragon Boy appeared behind him and said, “Hey! You! Asshole!”

The guard whirled around, and saw what he believed was a ghost behind him, eyes burning green. As he watched, it began to turn into a ghostly dragon, lip lifted in a snarl, lightning playing around its open jaws.