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V alentine managed to wait until Apollo had eaten half of his pancakes before asking, "Bas shifted when he had sex. I wonder why you didn't? Lachie not hit the right spot?"

"Wow, did you just wake up and choose violence today?" Lachlan said, bristling. Apollo patted Lachlan's knee under the table.

"Val is being nosy because he's fascinated with the dragon shifting. Not that it's any of your business, bro, but Lachlan hit all my spots. Taranis said that it's usually heightened emotions of some kind. Sex is just one possibility."

"I suppose Bas and Bridget are so tangled up in each other's heads, it might have forced the shift," Valentine said, rubbing his chin.

Lachlan's hackles lowered a little when he realized that Valentine had asked such personal questions only out of curiosity about their dragon side and not to tease them about hooking up.

Valentine began to ask another question when a red light shimmered across Apollo's glass of water. Lachlan tackled him to the ground a split second before the windows shattered. Three men dressed in head-to-toe black tactical gear swung through the smashed windows.

"Quick! Get up!" Lachlan said, dragging a swearing Apollo to his feet.

Magic streaked out of one of the mage's hands in a whip of light, aimed straight at Valentine. Valentine spat out a word, and the whip bounced off a shimmering golden shield. The man stumbled back, and Valentine grabbed his butter knife and drove it into the man's eye.

Lachlan picked up a chair and tossed it at another mage advancing on him and Apollo. It hit him in the legs, and he went down in a stumbling roll.

Apollo grabbed some of the knives from their wooden block and started throwing them with an accuracy that had them skewering the assailant's body armor. Lachlan used the distraction to go back into the bedroom and grab his sword.

Valentine muttered a spell and vanished before reappearing behind the man who was closing in on Apollo and snapped his neck.

The third mage was back on his feet. He was so busy trying to keep Valentine in sight that Lachlan slipped behind him and drove the tip of his sword through the gap in the side of his body armor. He fell, dead before he hit the floor.

"Everyone okay?" Lachlan called out.

"Fine," Valentine said, and Apollo nodded.

Something shot through the broken window, and a silver canister landed at Apollo's feet. Before Lachlan could shout a warning, Apollo picked it up and threw it back out again.

"Will you fuck off! I was having breakfast with my boyfriend, you twats!" Apollo screamed out the window. He switched to French and kept shouting curses and obscenities.

"I'm going to marry him so hard one day," Lachlan said, eyes wide. He had never seen Apollo so angry. He had called him his boyfriend in front of everyone.

"Focus, Lachlan. Apollo! Get away from the window, dumbass. We need to move, so get your shit," Valentine shouted. Lachlan dragged a still screaming Apollo back and tugged him toward the bedroom.

"Get your shoes on. That was just a first wave," Lachlan said, stuffing his gear into his bag. He pulled out a dagger. "You have done knife work by the looks of your aim."

"Yes," Apollo said, taking it. He was still red-faced and golden-eyed.

Lachlan kissed him hard and fast. "Stay behind me. They want you, not me. No arguing."

There was a crash from upstairs, and Valentine appeared on top of the stairs a moment later.

"Heads!" he called, and a helmeted head sailed down to bounce on the floor. "Fuckers have snipers all over the roofs. Caught one climbing through my window."

"We go down. Spooky tunnel it is," Apollo said.

Valentine hurried down the stairs, his satchel over one shoulder. "Good thinking. We have maybe two minutes before they do something drastic to flush us out."

"What spooky tunnel?" Lachlan asked, sheathing his sword.

Valentine went to a cupboard under the stairs. Inside was a wooden panel. He tapped the top corner three times, and it swung out.

"These were built during the war. They lead into the catacombs. We found them when we were kids, and Mom almost had kittens when she found us playing in them. I'll go first." Valentine swung himself down into the dark hole. "Watch your step."

There was another crash upstairs, and Apollo followed his brother. Lachlan shut the door to the cupboard under the stairs and then the wooden paneling. He dropped down into the tunnel and switched on the small light attached to the strap of his duffle.

"Catacombs twice in one trip. Shit bloody luck," he groused.

The iron ladder under his hands felt crumbly, and he tried hard not to think about how old they were. No wonder their mother had lost it when she found the boys using it.

"I've hit the bottom. Be careful. Three rungs are missing, and there's a drop," Valentine called up.

A loud boom shook the building, and Lachlan hung onto the ladder for dear life as the world shook around him. He looked up as the top of the tunnel lit up with fire.

"Hurry up, Lachie!" Apollo shouted.

Lachlan unfroze and hurried down the ladder. It shook again. The bolts holding it to the wall loosened, and he began to fall back.

"Just drop, Lachlan! Trust me! Let go!" Valentine shouted.

Lachlan shut his eyes and let go. He dropped like a stone. Something warm wrapped around him, and he hit the bottom of the tunnel with a bounce. He opened his eyes and saw Apollo's pale face as he pulled him to his feet.

"What the fuck was that, Val?" Lachlan asked, shaking a little as he took Apollo's hand.

"Something I've been working on, like a slow descent spell. A hand cloud? I don't know how to explain it. Good to know it works. This was the first time I tested it on something living," Valentine said, and Lachlan's knees wobbled.

Apollo squeezed his hand, and he knew he couldn't have a meltdown just yet.

"Why do you even need a spell like that?" Lachlan said, trying to take some deep breaths.

"I don't know. Maybe because my father and brothers are turning slowly into dragons, but we don't know how to be dragons, so we could accidentally shift mid-air when we are trying to learn to fly, and I don't want them to fall to their deaths?" Valentine replied angrily.

Lachlan couldn't see his face properly in the darkness but could hear the genuine worry in his voice. Valentine always pretended he didn't care, but the more Lachlan hung around him, the more he saw how much he used that callousness as a mask. He pulled Valentine into a quick hug.

"Thank you, Valentine. It was terrifying, but it saved me, so thank you," Lachlan replied. They couldn't afford to stand about bitching at each other.

Valentine patted him once on the back before pushing him off. "You're welcome."

"They have bombed the apartment. Dad is going to be so pissed," Apollo said in a small voice. "Where do we go now?"

"Hunter hotel. We can check in under some of the Ironwood aliases, and the Sanguis Vitae will have a harder time tracking us down," Lachlan said, taking out his phone.

"Layla put a digital catacomb map on here so I could find Apollo.

Let's use it and stay underground as much as possible.

I think the mages have a way into the city's CCTV. "

"My wards should have picked them up, but I didn't make the perimeter wide enough," Valentine muttered.

Apollo patted his brother on the back. "It's not your fault, Val. The apartment was probably registered under the Greatdrakes' name for decades. It wouldn't have taken long for them to find that information. They probably knew it would be where we would go if we stayed in France."

"We can't assume they don't know the hotel is friendly for hunters, but hopefully, they won't risk attacking it because it would create too many other enemies," Lachlan said, adjusting his duffle and sword.

"Let's get moving. We need to be far from here when they search the rubble and find the hole. "

Lachlan took the lead, and Apollo refused to let go of his hand as they headed further into the darkness.