Page 20 of Vex (Dragon Brides #12)

Vex slammed into the suite like a meteor.

The ornate double doors slammed against the walls with enough force to crack the marble, sound echoed through the empty space. His chest heaved as he swept his gaze across the room, every sense straining for any trace of Luisa's presence.

It was empty. No Luisa. No attendant.

The silence pressed against his eardrums, unnatural and wrong. Her scent lingered faintly, but it was old, growing fainter by the moment. The suite's perfect climate control couldn't mask the absence of her warmth.

The place was pristine. There hadn't been a struggle. If someone had snatched Luisa, they'd done it before she could fight.

Which meant they'd taken her by surprise. Or worse, they'd convinced her to come willingly, luring her into whatever trap they'd set. The thought made his vision blur red around the edges.

Rage roared through him.

Vex tore through the suite like a man possessed, overturning furniture with inhuman strength. The elegant sofa crashed into the wall, its expensive fabric tearing as he searched behind it.

He ripped cushions from chairs, swept ornaments from tables with enough force to shatter them against the floor. The dining table went next, flipping end over end as he checked beneath it.

But the pristine bedroom mocked him with its perfect order.

The bed they'd shared, still rumpled from their bodies, sat empty.

Her equipment was gone from the table. Even her scent was fading, replaced by the sterile smell of recycled air and expensive furnishings.

The dress she'd worn the night before was missing from where she'd draped it over the chair.

Movement in the doorway made him spin around, every muscle coiled for violence.

Zymon stood there with three other security guards, their uniforms crisp and their weapons drawn.

They moved with the coordinated precision of professionals, spreading out to block his escape routes.

Vex catalogued their positions automatically, two by the door, one covering the windows, Zymon in the center with his hand resting on what looked like a military-grade blaster.

"Your woman had to check out early," Zymon said. "And Maera wants to talk to you. Now."

The casual way he said it, like Luisa was just another piece of luggage to be moved around, made heat build beneath his skin, smoke beginning to curl around him as his dragon clawed for release.

The guards rushed him all at once, a coordinated assault designed to overwhelm through sheer numbers. Vex let his fire loose in a burst, the flames washing over two of them before they could react. Their screams filled the air as they stumbled backward, their expensive uniforms catching fire.

But Zymon and the remaining guard had activated personal shields, energy fields that shimmered around them like heat mirages. Vex's fire hit the barriers and dissipated harmlessly, the flames flowing around them like water around stones.

Military-grade protection, the kind that cost more than most people made in a lifetime.

Zymon and his underling backed him toward the massive windows that looked out over the mountains, their movements coordinated and patient. The glass behind him was reinforced, designed to withstand the mountain's fierce weather, but Vex could feel the cold radiating through it.

"You need to come with us now," said Zymon.

"I don't think so." Vex let his transformation begin, his human form expanding and shifting as scales erupted across his skin.

The suite suddenly felt impossibly small as his dragon form took shape, wings scraping against the ceiling.

Without hesitation, he launched himself backward, his massive bulk shattering the reinforced window in an explosion of glass and twisted metal.

The mountain wind hit him hard, but his wings caught the air current and lifted him away from the casino's facade.

Blaster fire followed him, the energy bolts sparking harmlessly off his scales.

Vex! Luisa's voice screamed in his head.

The telepathic cry screamed through his mind, so clear and desperate that he nearly lost altitude. His dragon brain reeled, trying to process it. Humans couldn't communicate telepathically.

Impossible.

He let instinct guide his flight pattern. His senses swept the mountainside below, searching for any sign of movement against the pristine white landscape. The snow fell in thick sheets, reducing visibility to mere meters in some places.

He flew south of the casino to where the last of the trees died off as it got too cold for them to grow any higher.

The landscape below was a study in desolation, nothing but jagged rocks and endless white stretching toward the horizon.

Wind howled between the peaks with enough force to ground most aircraft.

But there, a splash of midnight blue against the snow, moving with the desperate, unsteady gait of someone fighting the cold. Even from this distance, he could see her stumbling through the drifts, her evening dress a ridiculous splash of color in the wilderness.

Vex, please, the voice in his head was fainter now, and the figure on the ground stumbled.

Luisa wasn't going to make it much longer. Especially not if the guards on snow mobiles made it to her first.

Three vehicles crested the ridge behind her, their engines whining as they navigated the treacherous terrain. They moved with purpose, clearly tracking her footprints through the snow. The lead rider raised something that looked like a rifle, taking aim at Luisa's struggling form.

Rage flared through him. They were too close to her for him to safely use his fire without hitting her.

She's talking in your head. You know what that means.

The realization crashed over him with the force of absolute truth. The telepathic bond was real, had always been real, and Luisa was speaking to him across the void with the desperate clarity of someone facing death.

There was only one way a human would be able to communicate with him like that.

Unless he was imagining it.

No.

The guards on the snow mobiles were almost on her now.

Vex let his fire loose, watching it wash over the guards and Luisa, whose scream rent the air as it hit her.

And flowed safely around her, not doing her a bit of harm.

The flames engulfed everything in their path, turning the snow to steam and the guards to ash in seconds.

But around Luisa, the fire parted like a curtain, creating a perfect circle of safety in the inferno.

She stood untouched in the center of the destruction, staring up at him with wide, disbelieving eyes.

His fire could not harm his mate.

Vex circled once, scanning for additional threats, before spiraling down to land near her. His massive dragon form settled into the snow, wings folded against his sides as he lowered his head to meet her gaze.

Up close, he could see the damage the cold had done—her lips were blue, her skin mottled white and red from frostbite, and she was shivering so violently she could barely stand.

Climb on, he thought at her.

The mental connection felt as natural as breathing now that he'd acknowledged it.

He could sense her confusion, her disbelief, the way her logical mind was trying to process what had just happened.

But beneath it all was relief so profound it would have brought him to his knees if he were in his other form.

She approached him on unsteady legs, her bare feet leaving bloody prints in the snow.

The sight of her pain sent fresh rage coursing through his system, but he held perfectly still as she reached for the ridge of scales along his leg.

Her fingers had to be numb with cold, making her grip clumsy, but she managed to haul herself up onto his back.

He could feel her fear through their bond, the way she fought to stay conscious as her body finally began to warm against his hide. Her grip on his scales was the desperate hold of someone who'd been seconds from death, and he sent waves of reassurance through their mental link.

Vex launched himself skyward with powerful wingbeats, carrying his precious cargo toward the casino's lights.

The storm fought him every meter of the way, wind shear threatening to knock them from the sky, but his dragon form was built for this.

He climbed above the worst of the weather, giving Luisa a view of the Mountain from an angle no human was meant to see.

Movement on the roof caught his attention. A sleek speeder sat on the landing pad, its engines already spinning up for departure.

Two figures ran toward it with the desperate haste of people whose plans had just gone catastrophically wrong. Even from this distance, he could make out Maera's distinctive silhouette and Zymon's bulk beside her.

Vex folded his wings and dove, the speeder growing larger in his vision with each passing second. He could incinerate them both where they stood, end this threat to his mate with a single burst of dragonfire.

But he still had a mission to complete. The stolen IDA data was somewhere in this building and destroying it along with Maera would leave too many questions unanswered.

He targeted the speeder instead, letting his fire loose in a concentrated stream that turned the vehicle into slag. The explosion sent both figures diving for cover, their escape route eliminated in a burst of superheated metal and burning fuel.

He landed and let Luisa carefully climb off before transforming back to his human form.

The change was swift, his dragon form condensing back into human shape. But he kept his fire ready, flames dancing around his fingers as he stalked toward the two figures cowering behind the wreckage of their transport. Maera's perfect composure had finally cracked, her face white with terror.

Vex held his fire in his palm, staring Maera down.

The flames cast dancing shadows across the rooftop, their heat turning the falling snow to steam around his hand. He could end this now. One gesture, one moment of released fury, and the woman who'd tried to kill his mate would be nothing but ash on the wind.

But even through the haze of protective rage, his tactical mind asserted itself. Maera knew things about the data theft, about her buyers, about the larger network that had made this operation possible. Dead criminals told no tales, and there were still questions that needed answers.

He closed his fist and let the fire disappear. He still had a job to do.

"Let's talk."