Chapter 61 61
Annabeth's POV:
I didn't sleep at all.
Got home around four in the morning, crept up the stairs the same way I'd crept down them, and lay in my bed staring at the ceiling while the sky slowly turned from black to gray to the pale orange of sunrise.
By seven I heard Aunt Sarah moving around downstairs. The coffee maker gurgling, cabinets opening and closing, the familiar sounds of her morning routine. Normal sounds. Safe sounds. Sounds that made me want to cry because after today nothing might be normal or safe ever again.
I got up and went downstairs before I could talk myself out of it.
She was standing at the counter in her bathrobe, pouring coffee into her favorite mug, the blue one with the chipped handle that she refused to throw away. When she saw me her eyebrows went up.
"I thought you wouldn’t train with Marcus today. Isn’t Mara coming again?"
"No." I sat down at the kitchen table, my legs suddenly shaky. "Listen... I... I need to tell you something."
She set down the coffee pot and turned to face me fully. Something in my voice must have tipped her off because her expression shifted from casual to concerned in about half a second.
"What's wrong, honey?"
"The Order." The words came out harder than I expected. "They made contact yesterday. A man cornered me in a parking lot and gave me a deadline. I have until noon today to show up at their hotel or they're coming for me. For us."
Sarah's face went white. Actually white, like someone had drained all the blood out of it. She gripped the counter behind her like she needed it to stay standing.
"Oh God. Oh God, Annabeth—"
"I have a plan. Marcus and I, we have a plan. And Kaelen's helping." I said it fast, before she could spiral. "But I need you to leave. Just for a few days. Go stay with your friend Helen or someone, anywhere that's not here. If they come looking for me and you're here..."
I couldn't finish that sentence. Didn't need to.
"You want me to just leave? While you're in danger?" Her voice cracked. "Annabeth, I can't—"
"You have to. Please." I stood up and crossed to her, took her hands in mine. They were shaking. Or maybe mine were. "If something happens to you because of me I'll never forgive myself. Marcus is protecting me. He's been doing it for eighteen years, he knows what he's doing. But I can't focus on the plan if I'm worried about you being here alone."
She was crying now, silent tears running down her cheeks. "This isn't fair. None of this is fair. You're eighteen years old, you shouldn't have to—"
"I know. But this is my life now and I have to deal with it." I squeezed her hands. "I'll call you. Every day, I promise. And when this is over I'll come home and tell you everything. Every single detail."
She pulled me into a hug so tight I could barely breathe. I let her hold me for a long moment, memorizing the smell of her shampoo and the way her arms felt around me, just in case.
"I love you," she said into my hair. "More than anything in this world."
"I love you too."
When she finally let go her eyes were red but her jaw was set. That stubborn look I'd inherited from her and my mom, the one that meant she'd made a decision and wasn't backing down.
"I'll go to Helen's. But you call me the second this is over, do you hear me? The second."
"I will."
She went upstairs to pack a bag and I sat at the kitchen table with my head in my hands, trying to breathe through the fear in my chest.
Three hours until I walked into a hotel room full of people who wanted to drain my blood and use it for God knows what. Three hours until everything either worked or fell apart completely.
The bond pulsed with Kaelen's presence, steady and warm despite everything. He was at the hotel already, in position, waiting for me. And Marcus was out there somewhere watching the exits, ready to stop anyone who tried to run.
I wasn't alone. That was something.
I watched Sarah's car pull out of the driveway around nine, her face pale behind the windshield as she waved goodbye. Then I went upstairs to shower and get dressed, moving on autopilot because if I stopped to think too hard about what I was about to do I might not be able to do it at all.
By eleven-thirty I was in my car, driving downtown toward the Meridian Hotel.
The building looked different in daylight. Less ominous, just another tired brick building on Main Street trying to look fancier than it was. I parked in the lot across the street and sat there for a minute, watching people walk past on the sidewalk, normal people living normal lives with no idea what was about to happen a few floors above them.
My phone buzzed. Marcus: "In position. East exit covered."
Then another: Kaelen: "Second floor, near stairs. Ready when you are."
I typed back: "Going in now."
The lobby was almost empty. A bored receptionist scrolling through her phone, an old couple checking out at the desk, a businessman waiting for the elevator with a briefcase. Nobody looked at me twice as I walked past them and pressed the button for the fourth floor.
The elevator ride felt endless. I watched the numbers tick up, 2, 3, 4, and when the doors opened my heart was pounding so hard I could hear it in my ears.
Room 412 was at the end of the hall. I walked toward it on legs that didn't feel like mine, my hands shaking at my sides. The fire was right there under my skin, ready, waiting. Marcus had trained me for this. I could do this.
I knocked.
The door opened and there he was. The man from the bench, the man from the parking lot, with that same smile that made my skin crawl.
"Miss Clarke. Right on time." He stepped aside. "Please, come in."
The room was bigger than I expected. A suite, maybe, with a sitting area and a bedroom visible through an open door. And there were men everywhere. Not three like I'd seen in the parking lot. Not even six like Marcus had guessed.
Eight. I counted eight, including the one who'd opened the door.
Shit.
"I see you brought friends," I said, trying to keep my voice steady.
"Insurance." The man closed the door behind me and I heard the lock click. "You understand, I'm sure. A girl with your... abilities... requires certain precautions."
Two of the men moved to stand between me and the door. Two more positioned themselves by the windows. The other three stayed scattered around the room, their eyes never leaving me.
"Please, sit." The man gestured to a chair in the center of the room. "Let's talk about your future."
I didn't sit. Stayed standing with my weight balanced the way Marcus had taught me, ready to move.
"What do you want from me?"
"What we've always wanted. A partnership." He walked slowly around me, circling like a predator. "Your blood is... special, Miss Clarke. Unique. The first red dragon hybrid in over two hundred years. Do you have any idea how valuable that makes you?"
"I'm not interested in being valuable to you."
"You don't have a choice." His voice hardened slightly. "You can cooperate and this can be pleasant for everyone. Regular donations, comfortable living conditions, even some degree of freedom. Or you can resist and we take what we need anyway, just less... gently."
The fire roared in my chest, pushing against my control. Not yet. I had to wait for the signal, had to give Kaelen and Marcus time to—
"Your father is outside, isn't he?" The man smiled. "Marcus Thorne, watching the exits like he thinks we don't know he's there. And your boyfriend, the golden dragon, he's somewhere in this building. Second floor, if I had to guess. Did you really think we wouldn't notice?"
My blood went cold.
They knew. They'd known the whole time.
"It doesn't matter," the man continued. "Two dragons against eight trained operatives with anti-dragon countermeasures? Those aren't good odds, Miss Clarke. Not for them. Not for you."
He nodded to one of the men, who pulled something from his pocket. A small device, black and metallic, with a button on the side.
"Shall we begin?"
Fuck the signal. I let the fire explode.
It roared out of me in a wave of red and gold, spreading across the room in the pattern Marcus had drilled into me a thousand times. Defensive first, a ring around myself, then outward toward the men closest to me.
For one beautiful second it worked. Screams, chaos, men stumbling backward with their clothes smoking. I pushed harder, expanding the circle, reaching for the door—
Then the device activated.
The sound was like nothing I'd ever heard. High-pitched, drilling into my skull, making every nerve in my body scream in protest. My fire didn't just go out. It was ripped away, yanked back inside me so hard I staggered.
I tried to summon it again. Nothing. Tried again. Still nothing. It was like reaching for a limb that wasn't there anymore, grabbing at empty air where my power used to be.
"Did you think we weren't prepared?" The man's voice was calm, almost amused. "We've been hunting dragons for centuries, Miss Clarke. We know how to handle your kind."
Hands grabbed me from behind. Two men, then a third, pinning my arms while I struggled. Someone grabbed a fistful of my hair and yanked my head back, exposing my throat.
"Just a small sedative," the man said, and I saw the needle in his hand. "You'll wake up somewhere much more... secure."
The prick in my neck was cold. Ice spreading through my veins, my limbs going heavy, my vision starting to blur at the edges.
No. No no no no no... This wasn't how it was supposed to—
The door exploded inward.
Not opened. Exploded. Wood and metal flying everywhere, and through the chaos I saw him. Kaelen, his eyes blazing gold so bright it hurt to look at, his whole body radiating heat and fury, and the expression on his face...
I'd never seen him look like that. Like something terrible and ferocious and completely unleashed.
"GET YOUR HANDS OFF HER!"
His voice didn't even sound human anymore.
Then the world went black.