Page 17 of The Dragon’s Surprise (Tahoe Dragon Mates #7)

Chapter Twelve

L exi woke up with a groan. Her head pounded, her wrists hurt, and it was extremely hot.

She struggled to remember what had happened. Because after knocking on the door of where Patrick was staying, there was a black hole of nothingness.

Ethan. She had been looking for Ethan.

Blinking her eyes open, she scanned the room. But her stomach dropped when she noticed she was alone.

Get a grip, Lexi. You can’t escape and look for the boy if you freak out. Ethan needs you. So calm the hell down.

After a few deep breaths to tamp down her encroaching panic, Lexi was able to focus on her surroundings.

Light filtered through boards nailed over the window. The walls were bare and dirty, and the floor was covered in warped wooden planks that had definitely seen better days.

A low, unintelligible rumble filtered through either the walls or the window, which piqued her interest. However, Lexi struggled to stand with her head pounding and her limbs not wanting to work properly.

Once she was finally upright, she leaned against the wall to keep from falling and took deep breaths until her dizziness faded. Even though the room was extremely warm, the fuzziness in her head was no doubt from some kind of drug.

Just imagining that Ethan might’ve also been drugged gave her the strength to wobble across the room, to the window, using the wall for support.

She finally reached it, and Lexi peered through the boards, but the windowpane was extremely dirty.

She did her best to wipe away the dirt with her fingers and managed to clean just enough to see cars parking and people exiting them before heading toward some point in the distance.

One thing stood out to her immediately—every car was the same white make and model. Almost as if it’d been a requirement to come to wherever the hell she was.

Something about that detail was familiar and tugged at the edges of her memory.

Then she remembered how illegal dragon-shifter auctions often required every bidder to follow a strict set of rules, one of which was about the car used to access the event.

If everyone drove the same type, it’d be harder to pinpoint anyone who attended the buying and selling of dragon-shifters.

Rather than feeling triumphant at figuring out what was probably happening here, her stomach only churned harder. Because no undercover agent had ever successfully infiltrated one of these events. At least, to her knowledge.

Which meant she would have to find Ethan and try to escape on her own.

And that was going to be near impossible.

Especially since a quick check revealed she had nothing in her pockets. And with no phone or money, escaping and surviving in a desert for long was nearly impossible, especially for someone like her, who’d never even been camping.

Then she noticed a stream of people carrying small, limp forms—a mixture of children and women—and she clenched her fingers into fists. She couldn’t simply abandon them. Ethan might even be among them.

So no matter what, she needed to find a way to contact either her sister or MirrorPeak and let them know where she was. Contacting ADDA or DOCS in general was too risky, given the rumors of spies and double agents everywhere.

Prying her eyes from the window, she searched the room. And while there was a landline jack, there was no physical phone.

Which meant she needed to explore other parts of this building.

After getting to the door, she turned the knob and was surprised it moved. However, she released it without tugging and peeked through the old-fashioned keyhole. No one was on the other side, and she made out a narrow hallway, just as dirty and neglected as her room.

The next step was to escape.

The pounding was mostly gone, and she could walk normally, which was a good sign.

Plus, the arrivals should keep most people’s attention in the vicinity.

At least, if she were in charge of something like this, she’d make sure all the staff were on the lookout for cops, ADDA, or the FBI, and not on one random human drugged unconscious.

Luckily for her, someone must’ve given her too low of a dose.

Okay, Lexi. Time to be brave and see if we can get help.

Slowly, she turned the knob again, opened the door a crack, and listened.

However, it was the same hum as before, so she opened the door—grateful it didn’t squeak—and tiptoed down the short hallway.

The building was old, and the wooden floors and walls made her think it was from early last century.

Tucking that bit of knowledge away for later, she reached a sort of living room space, but it was devoid of furniture. Well, everything but an old, dirty lawn chair.

Which was empty.

Since there was no phone, she moved to a small room with a sink that looked to be a kitchen. Despite the age of the building, there was a power outlet over the counter in the room.

And attached to it was a phone.

After checking the hallway again, she went to the phone and tried to unlock it. However, it required a pattern. She tried one of the most obvious—an L-shape down the middle—and it worked. Her elation was short-lived since there were zero bars.

Which explained why someone would leave it lying around with her nearby.

Still, she tucked the phone into her pocket. Because at least now, she had a chance to call someone if she could find some service.

Not wasting time, Lexi found the back door and peered out.

The coast was clear, so she exited and went to the edge of the building, leaned against it, and peered around the corner.

Fewer people were handing cars over to what looked like some sort of valets.

However, she took a minute to watch where one man drove to park the car.

The spot was about a quarter of a mile away from the center of activity.

Lexi was torn. She wanted to confirm Ethan was here and see if she could help him.

And yet, her chances against all the criminals here, plus their wealthy bidders who wouldn’t want a witness, weren’t good.

Her best bet would be to steal a car and drive to find a spot that had cell service so she could get help.

Because it would take more than her to rescue anyone and escape.

Silently pleading for Ethan to be okay, she quietly walked toward the back of the yard, hiding as best she could from the obvious security cameras—someone wanted everyone to know they were watching—and from the people filing into the large building in the center of what looked like an abandoned town. A ghost town, maybe?

Lexi kept checking, but the phone had zero bars as she walked. She focused on using the buildings to hide her, getting her ever closer to the parked cars. Every step made her realize just how hot it was outside and how dry her mouth was.

Lexi would never take water for granted again.

Once she was as close to the parked vehicles as she could get without being seen, she suddenly had three bars.

Ha! Of course they’d safeguard the cars.

Lexi quickly dialed the number for MirrorPeak’s Protector building, one she’d also made Ethan memorize. A male voice picked up and answered after the second ring. “Who is this?”

“Lexi Sakamoto. Listen—I’m in some sort of abandoned town in the desert where I think they’re holding an illegal dragon auction. Please send someone here to help. Can you trace this phone?”

After a split second, the voice replied, “I’m already doing that. Tell me everything you’ve seen, to help us with the rescue.”

Even though she wanted to ask questions, Lexi focused on giving as many details as possible. Because, as soon as someone discovered she was gone, her odds weren’t good.

She’d just finished filling in the dragonman with details when something crashed against the back of her head, and pain exploded before the world went black.

Kyle and his two nurses flew a few miles behind the rest of the dragons heading toward Duncan Parrish’s property. A scout had gone ahead and confirmed there were a lot of people there, all following rules and patterns they thought were typical of the black-market dragon auctions.

He was wondering if the others in front had arrived yet when he heard screams.

His dragon spoke up. That must be them.

Kyle’s instinct was to fly faster. However, he’d promised to give the Protectors time to get control of the property and tie up any humans they knocked unconscious.

And yet, every second seemed like an hour. Eventually, there were a series of whistles that signaled it was safe for the medical team to land.

He wasted no time pumping his wings, and soon the small town in the middle of nowhere came into view. The buildings were mostly old and tiny, except for a large one in the center. However, he barely gave them a second glance, searching for the flares marking where he could land.

There. Not far from a lot of parked cars—some of which were motionless on the dirt road out of the place, as if people had been trying to escape—was a cleared section, with a dragon on the ground, standing guard. There were also a few Protectors in human form walking among females and children.

No doubt the ones who’d been about to be sold.

Pushing down his anger, Kyle landed and imagined his wings shrinking into his back, his limbs growing smaller, and his snout returning to his nose and face.

Once he was in human form, he quickly tugged on some clothes—for hygiene reasons, as being naked didn’t bother him—and walked toward Daniel, who crouched next to a female.

Kyle was about to ask for a status update when he noticed Lexi’s still form on the ground.

With a roar, he rushed to her side, knelt down, and checked her pulse. It was there, but faint.

And a quick exam revealed blood on the back of her head, as well as welts around her wrists.

Daniel spoke. “She won’t wake up. I think she was hit on the head from behind.”

Which meant she might be bleeding into her brain.