Page 91 of Damien’s Mate

Damien said, “Lila has one. And I’m not coming back without her.”

At first Lila thought it was going to work. She strode across the courtyard, head down, carrying the artifact bag over her shoulder like a sack of supplies.

She got a few glances, but no one stopped her.

She was almost halfway across when the dragons were spotted overhead. The courtyard was filled with the sound of horns, coming from some kind of PA system.

Everyone stopped to look upwards, except her.

People began to pack in at the edges of the courtyard. She was going to have to push through them to get into the building.

She was getting more curious glances now. She should be interested in the dragons, she realized. Everyone else was. Hating to lose a second, she stopped and looked up.

There wasn’t just one dragon. There were four. And they were arrowing in fast.

Thirty feet away from her, a door opened and the Lord High Commander marched out, flanked by his personal guard.

Lila quickened her steps. That was the door she had to go in. If the Lord High Commander saw her…

But she had to take the chance.

She was dodging through the crowd, now, still trying to keep her head down so no one could see her face.

Suddenly a rough hand grabbed her. “Hey! Soldier! Where’s your post?”

He swung her around, and her uniform hat was knocked off. Her hair tumbled down.

The soldier’s eyes widened, and then he called out, “Lieutenant Commander! It’s the prisoner! She’s escaped!”

The crowd parted, and Lila was faced with Lieutenant Commander Rodan himself.

Chapter 38

The dragons landed in the courtyard, their wings sending up clouds of dust and grit. Two of them Changed to human, but the other two remained in Draken form, on guard.

Rodan grabbed the sack and looked inside to make sure the artifact case was there. Like she’d be carrying around a sack of beans or something.

On the other hand, it was enough of an embarrassment to him that she’d escaped from the cell. She guessed he wasn’t taking any chances.

He gave a curt order, and the soldiers dragged her before the Draken prince, barely waiting for the Lord High Commander to give the formal greeting.

This time, they did force her to her knees.

But they couldn’t make her bow her head. She looked up at the Draken prince, growling.

He gazed down at her. He was nearly seven feet tall, like Squatch, but lean and slender and almost Fae looking, where the polar bear was huge and bulky.

He looked like he was used to looking down his nose at people.

“So this is the renegade lioness,” he said. “Where are the artifacts?”

Rodan stepped forward with a bow, and held the burlap sack out to the prince. He curled his lip in distaste and gestured to his second.

The other Draken reached into the bag for the artifact case. “Your Grace—” Rodan warned. The Draken stopped. “The case is keyed to the operative. With an—ah—exploding failsafe.”

A slow smile spread across the Draken’s face. “And I suppose she refuses to relinquish it?”

Lila didn’t answer.