Page 34 of Ensnared

He’s making it sound like a public service. Control the weak-minded humans so that they don’t get themselves into trouble. “But it’s our choices that make us who we are.”

“I think drawing breath in and out, the pumping of blood in your heart, those things make you who you are. Without them, you’re nothing. You’re dead. We can continue debating this later, but it won’t change the reality.” He points the direction we were moving. “You will keep walking, and you will learn how to control the humans, because otherwise, I’ll kill you and your small family members, and I’ll deal with the consequences and be done with it.”

I clench my hands into fists. “Fine.”

“Whether you like it or not, we aren’t about to let the local humans run free under our rule.”

Axel’s half-grin is pissing me off.

“If you refuse to help, someone else will do exactly what I tell you to make them do. Or, I’ll force you. The end result is the same no matter how you handle it.” He leans a little closer. “Your resistance is, quite literally, futile.”

I hate him. Was I just thinking that it was kind of cute how he and Gordon were helping Sammy? I must’ve temporarily lost my mind. He’s the devil. The devil in jeans and a button-down shirt.

“Your style choice sucks.” I shoot past him at a jog. “And I hate you.”

He’s laughing as he catches up. “That’s more like it.”

“You want me to learn to push humans around, and make them do whatever we want, and then what? Why do you even need that?”

“In addition to creating a sustainable life for us while we’re stuck here, their job will also be to aid in the search for the heart, of course.”

“And how exactly are we going to do that, without more information from you?”

“I told you I’d provide that,” he says. “It’s not really a secret, our search. It’s just that, if the wrong people find out?—”

“By the wrong people, you mean anyone with their own, liberated brain.”

“Exactly.” He bobs his head. “If they find out, they might try to keep us from achieving our goal.”

“Humans’ greatest strength is in their freedom,” I say. “And in this case, telling them should only help you. I’m sure the humans outside of Houston want you gone as much as I do if not more.”

“You know, some humans actually reach a point where they like their dragon.”

“Liar.”

“Some of them are getting along just fine right now.” He shrugs. “Not all of the ensnared are as angry and downright rude as you.”

“How sad for them,” I say. But in that moment, I realize that my mom will probably be wherever we’re going. “Whoa.” I stop again.

“What?” He sighs. “You can yell at me all you want, but please keep moving. I have a lot of things to do other than shoving my errant ensnared and her tagalongs into closer housing.”

“My mom was taken,” I say. “I bet she’ll be there.” Unless she threw one too many fits and was already killed. That idea fills me with dread. My mother won’t eat meat. She won’t use any products that aren’t carbon neutral. She follows the signs of the universe to determine the trajectory of her day. Sometimes, when I got home from school, she’d just be gone. She’d leave us in the care of our neighbors, because she was called to pursue a path that led her away from us for a few days. She can be a real fruitcake, and she hates nothing in the world more than unjust authority.

Her feelings on that caused almost every fight she and my dad ever had. She’d claim he was trying to make her do things she didn’t want to do, and she’d utterly flip out.

“She probably will.” Axel looks uncomfortable. In all the time we’ve spent together, which admittedly hasn’t been that much yet, I’ve never seen him look like this. If he were human, I’d say he was uneasy.

“What?”

“Don’t be surprised if she doesn’t act like herself.” He frowns, and I realize he’s stopped badgering me to move.

“You aren’t shocked that she was ensnared?”

“Brights typically run in families,” he says. “I’m not shocked.”

“She’s one of my people,” I say. “You said you’d protect five humans.”

He shakes his head. “No. She’s ensnared. That trumps our arrangement. I won’t have any power or authority to interfere with another dragon’s property.”