Page 133 of Red Fury

“You can’t take her,” Ivan says, his eyes looking red.

“Stand down, Ivan.”

“Yes, but—” He bares his fangs, hissing. Then he launches himself at us.

There is a popping noise, and Ivan falls to the ground, a dart protruding from his chest.

Roman puts his gun back in its holster under his fancy suit. I note that there is a second weapon as well.

“Please…” Roman gestures to the waiting choppers. “Shall we go?”

I shake my head. “We’re not coming with you. We’ll be just fine. Leave us.”

Once the drug leaves Shadow’s system, she’ll be fine. I need to get her back to my apartment.

“I’m afraid I can’t do that,” Roman says, and there’s something in his tone that makes my dragon go on high alert. “This isn’t what I wanted either, but here we are. Please let me help you.”

“No.” I take a step back, preparing to shift.

Several males jump out of the choppers, all of them armed to the teeth with automatic weapons. Within seconds, they form a wide circle around us.

“I must insist,” Roman says.

41

Shadow

Consciousness creeps back slowly. My eyelids feel heavy, weighted down by exhaustion that seems to have seeped into my very bones. There’s a strange buzzing in my head, and for a moment, I can’t remember where I am or what happened.

Then I hear his voice.

“Shadow? Thank fuck, you’re awake.”

My eyes snap open, and the first thing I see is Fury sitting in a chair beside the bed, leaning forward with his elbows braced onhis knees. He’s wearing jeans and a black T-shirt that stretches across his broad chest. There’s worry etched in the lines around his eyes.

Why is he worried?

Where am I?

I push myself up on my elbows, blinking hard, my brain still fuzzy even though it is clearing slowly…too slowly. The last thing I remember was Roman Kozlov and his men, the tranquilizer darts…

“What? How did I—?” I look around the room, my confusion deepening with each detail I take in.

This bedroom looks like something ripped straight from the pages of an interior design magazine. The bed has a massive headboard upholstered in cream silk, and the sheets beneath me feel soft. Everything is…beautiful.

“Where am I?” I ask; my voice sounds rough with disuse.

Relief floods Fury’s features as he leans back in the chair. “You’re okay. For a minute there, I…” He shakes his head.

I frown. “What happened? I had the weirdest dream.” The words tumble out before I can stop them. “More of a nightmare, really. There were two Kozlovs, and a helicopter…no, two helicopters. I…it…we—”

“It wasn’t a dream.” His smile is gentle. “There are two of them. They have to be identical twins because they look the same.”

“No shit,” I whisper. “How did we get here?”

“Turns out we’ve been dealing with the wrong Kozlov. Ivan is Roman’s twin. Roman was out of the country, and his twin impersonated him because he wanted to broker the arms deal with the Mainland government…with Harrison.”

“The nuclear weapons deal,” I say.