After a series of desperate attempts at breaking out of the cage, Zayden admitted to himself that he was wasting time and energy. The bars were made of some extremely durable material that he didn’t recognize, and his superior dragon strength had turned out to be inferior against it. In his human form, he could never get out.
But if he didn’t get out, that creep would force himself on Rei. Was shifting the only option? And risking killing the phoenix? What would the phoenix himself want him to do?
He wasn’t going to take any action before learning where Rei was and what was happening to him, so he sat cross-legged on the floor, closed his eyes, and concentrated.
The building was buzzing with electricity, and it took him some time to tune it out. When he did, he heard two guards conversing close to the room his cage was in. He was sitting with his face to the door, and the guards were in a room to his left. He focused on their voices.
“Either way,” the woman said, “I have a family to support and I won’t find better pay anywhere. And I swear he’s the first boss that has ever said ‘please’ and ‘thank you’ to me.”
“But he’s still, you know…” the man said. “I feel bad for that phoenix.”
“You think I don’t? But what can we do? If we try to stop him, he’ll kill us. He may be polite, but he is dangerous.”
Zayden stopped listening to the guards, as their conversation wasn’t going to help him. He scanned the building for other sounds and heard steady footsteps in the corridor ahead of him. Probably the nurse. Farther ahead of him, another conversation was taking place, this time between some kind of scientist and a guard. A conversation even more useless since it was only the scientist explaining an experiment to the guard.
Zayden inhaled slowly to keep the frustration at bay. And as he exhaled, he heard them. Rei and the mad doctor, their voices coming from the right, and from a room that seemed a decent distance away from the one he was in. Sadly, not far enough for him to shift without risking Rei’s life.
If he stood with his back to that room, only his tail would probably hit it. But it wouldn’t matter, because the building wouldn’t survive his transformation. Even if he didn’t accidentally smash Rei into the floor with his tail, he might still kill him by causing the ceiling to drop on top of him.
Having a hard time deciding what to do, he just listened for now. Maybe it would turn out there was still time. Although the way the doctor had looked at Rei made it doubtful.
“—a bit risky,” he heard Dr. Ranos say, “but I would hate to restrict your movement too much. And it shouldn’t be necessary since I have a hostage who seems to mean something to you. Your dragon friend may be valuable, but I will not hesitate to kill him should you choose to fight me, my sweet bird. His corpse would still be very useful to me.”
“Why are you doing this?” Rei asked. “You could easily find someone who would sleep with you willingly, so why go to such lengths to take someone against their will?”
“But I want you specifically, my dear. It would certainly be ideal if the feeling were mutual, but since it isn’t, I’ll have to make do. And who knows, perhaps you will come to enjoy my attention. I’m not a selfish lover.”
It was barely audible, but Zayden still heard Rei’s scoff. “You will ruin my life just for a few minutes of pleasure,” he said. “Do you completely lack morals, Doctor?”
“They get in the way of science, so I try not to pay them much attention. And it will be more than a few minutes, I assure you. Are we done with the interview, sweet bird? You look so enticing that I think I’ll be able to focus more post—”
“What’s your first name?” Rei asked, his voice sounding desperate now. “I’ve never heard it.”
After a long silence, the creep replied, “I rarely hear it myself. It’s Maximilien, my dear. And please do not call me Max.”
“If you force yourself on me, I will shout ‘Max’ every few seconds to make it less fun for you.”
Zayden snorted. It appeared the bird hadn’t lost his spirit.
“My, my,” the doctor said. “How inconvenient. I won’t threaten your dragon companion for this tiny rebellion, but I will gag you, even though I wanted to hear your lovely whimpers. I despise being called Max.”
“Why? Did bullies call you that when you were a kid?”
The doctor laughed. “Sweet bird, you’re trying so hard to put off the inevitable. It’s adorable, but what do you think you will gain by stalling?”
“I thought maybe if we talked properly, you would see me as a person and not an object to be used.”
“Oh, I assure you I do not see you as an object, my dear. In fact, as a scientist, I must concede that phoenixes are far superior to humans.”
“All this fascination with phoenixes, yet with this collar on, I am as human as you are, Max.”
“But I know you’re a phoenix, and your human form is beautiful, so it’s perfectly all right. I wonder what offspring would result from a human female mating with you. A human? A phoenix? Some kind of hybrid? With the collar on, perhaps just a human. Well, that is something to ponder in the future. Now, I shall go get something that will keep you from speaking, my dear, because it appears you wish to be difficult.”
Zayden got to his feet.
That fucking psycho.
Sooner or later, he would have to escape. What if he never got an opportunity to do it without risking Rei’s life? If he was going to take this risk either way, it seemed better to do it before Rei had to endure what the mad doctor wanted to do to him.
Seconds passed, and he was still in his human form, his fists clenched.
I can’t do it. Why can’t I do it?
If some hours or days from now, he shifted and Rei survived it, how could he face him? And this was all his bloody fault because he was the one who had convinced Rei they needed to kill Dr. Ranos.
He closed his eyes, clenched his jaw… and still couldn’t do it. Despite knowing what it would mean for Rei, he selfishly refused to shift.
The door to the room opened.
“Don’t shift.”
Zayden recognized the voice immediately. It was his most hated voice next to that fucking doctor’s.
“Why?” he asked, refusing to admit that he’d already failed to shift twice. “You came here to kill me while I’m vulnerable? I suppose you must have assumed I would warn Rei’s parents even if he died. Which I most certainly will do.”
“There is no time, dragon, so just listen. I’ve knocked out all the guards and tied them up, so they won’t get in the way. I have security clearance for this building, but not its northern wing, and there is a trap leading to it that is motion-activated. The good thing is, the hallway is narrow, and the trap is only prepared to deal with a single intruder. I’m going to free you, then you’ll follow me to the north wing. I’ll set off the trap and you’ll go get Rei. You’ll still have to deal with the nurse before you get to him. But to free myself, I will have to shift. I may not be as huge as a dragon, but in that narrow hallway, my transformation might still cause at least that part of the building to collapse. So get Rei and get the fuck out of here. If you take too long, then too bad. I’ll at least know I tried.”
“You could have warned us about this building, you bloody bastard. What if it’s too late by the time I reach him?”
“It will be if we stay here talking.”
Zayden growled. “Fine. Let me out.” He tried not to let the relief show on his face.
Idris fiddled with something Zayden couldn’t see from where he was standing, and the cell opened.
Following Idris out of the room, Zayden asked, “What’s with the change of heart? Not that it will make me hate you any less.” He was simply too curious not to ask.
“Why would I waste my breath explaining my actions to you? I don’t give a damn about your opinion of me, dragon. If I see Rei again and he chooses to listen, I might tell him.”
“He would be a fool to listen to you after everything you said to him.”
“I know.”
As they walked, Zayden tried to determine Dr. Ranos’ location. It took him longer than if he’d sat down and focused properly, but eventually, he heard the doctor’s infuriatingly cooing voice as he gagged a protesting Rei. Since Rei was now unable to stall the doctor anymore, they needed to hurry. But hopefully, the doctor would leave Rei alone once he heard Zayden and Idris storming through his building.
The asshole phoenix hadn’t lied about the single trap activated by movement. Those creepy metallic arms came at him suddenly, grabbing him and dropping him to his knees the same way similar ones had caught Zayden before.
“Go,” Idris said. “Get him and run. No fucking around or this will all have been for nothing.”
Zayden wasn’t going to thank him but didn’t feel like making a snide comment, either, so he walked around him and kept going.
And soon he found that muscular nurse blocking his way. Her face was impassive, and she assessed him silently.
“You can’t win this,” he said, “so just let me pass. That guy’s not worth dying for.”
The nurse just kept staring at him. She looked calm, but she couldn’t fool him. He could hear how fast her heart was beating.
“Does he have something on you?” he asked. “Something to blackmail you with?”
She nodded.
Damn, this woman couldn’t speak.
“Is it a person?”
She responded with another nod.
“Are they in this building?”
She nodded again.
“Then take them and run. The guards won’t stop you, and neither will the doctor.”
She shook her head, then imitated turning a key and opening the door while shaking her head again.
Fuck, this is taking too long.
“Do you have something I can use to write?”
She pulled a small notebook and a pencil from her pockets, put them on the ground, and pushed them in his direction.
Zayden wrote a note to Idris. He couldn’t bring himself to ask for his help politely, but maybe the jerk did have something resembling a conscience and would aid this woman despite the curt note. The hostage was locked somewhere she obviously couldn’t get into.
He put the note on the floor and said, “Give this to the man caught in the hallway and free him. He will get that person out for you. Now please, let me save someone I care about.”
She nodded and moved out of his way.
He found it strange that the doctor hadn’t come out to check what was happening. When Idris had gotten caught, there had been some noise.
After thanking the nurse, he ran, hoping that he would reach Rei in time.
When he got to the right door, it was locked, but he pulled it off its hinges, grateful that it wasn’t made of the same material as that cage.
His eyes immediately honed in on Rei. His shirt was open, but, fortunately, he was otherwise dressed. Dr. Ranos was on top of him, kissing his collarbones and ignoring Zayden, while Rei just lay there with his eyes closed and tears on his cheeks, and a tape-like thing covering his mouth.
The doctor licked Rei’s neck, causing Rei to open and narrow his eyes and eliciting a grimace from Zayden, then sat up.
“And there I thought the guards and defense systems would allow me to enjoy my little bird in peace. Sir Dragon, did you bribe my guards with some of those famed dragon treasures?”
“I’m sure you humans know that we don’t part with our treasures willingly. Now, get off him.”
Rei opened his eyes and looked in Zayden’s direction. Zayden’s breath caught in his throat when their eyes met, and he felt rage building inside him at what the mad doctor had put the phoenix through. Rei stared at him in disbelief, but when it finally hit him that he wasn’t just seeing things, he backed away from the psycho doctor and kicked him hard between the legs.
The doctor let out a pained grunt and clutched his groin. When he recovered enough to open his mouth to speak, Rei kicked him in the stomach, which made him double over in pain.
Apparently, Rei hadn’t struggled earlier only because the psycho doctor had threatened to kill Zayden. The doctor must have known it would be effective, as he hadn’t strapped Rei to the heavy gurney they were on—he’d only chained his collar to the metal ring in the wall behind him. Zayden could guess why the doctor preferred not to use other restraints, and he didn’t want to dwell on it. Nothing was going to happen anymore.
As Rei was doing up the buttons on his shirt, Zayden walked toward him and the doctor, wondering if he should get the doctor outside and eat him as promised or just finish him off quickly. Idris was most likely in another part of the building, but he could still cause damage if he had to shift inside a small room to help the nurse. Assuming he’d actually chosen to help her.
So doing it quickly was the better idea. He just wanted to get the mad doctor to remove that collar from Rei’s neck first.
The doctor got off the gurney and started backing away.
“Now, now,” he said, “I am sure we can come to an understanding, Sir Dragon. You have clearly taken a fancy to the pretty little bird, too, so why don’t we find a—”
“Remove the collar,” Zayden said, walking around the gurney.
“Ah. Of course. If you are confident that the pretty bird won’t run from us both.”
“Remove it. Now.”
Dr. Ranos smiled. “Yes. Apologies. I’ll just…” He pulled up the sleeve on his left arm to reveal a small device strapped to his wrist.
Zayden cursed his complete disregard for this fucked up shit called technology when a high-pitched noise forced him to cover his ears with his hands. When he glanced at Rei, he saw that he was also affected. The noise didn’t last long, though, and didn’t knock out or kill either of them. But that glance in Rei’s direction had been a mistake. The doctor had used Zayden’s distraction to reach for him and stab his thigh with something. That something turned out to be a syringe.
As the mad doctor pressed on it to empty its contents into Zayden’s muscle, Zayden… didn’t feel anything happen. He raised an eyebrow at the man.
The doctor let out a nervous chuckle. “I suppose dragons’ incredible constitution is not merely a myth? There’s always something new and exciting to learn!”
Zayden scoffed. He grabbed Dr. Ranos by the neck and forced him to meet his gaze. “The collar.”
“I—I will need to touch it. It’s enchanted and requires—”
“Just do it. Attempt another trick, and I’ll haul your ass outside and eat you.”
“Easy now, Sir Dragon. I’ll remove it.”
Rei flinched when the doctor approached him, but he allowed him to touch the collar. Zayden found the clasp at the back of his head and took off the thing covering his mouth. Rei exhaled slowly.
“H-how?” he asked. “How did you escape?”
Zayden was about to respond when the collar glowed blue and green, then split in half and fell off Rei’s neck.
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