Dr. Ranos entered the lab, and Rei felt even colder than he had before, a chill running down his back. It had been over a week and the man still terrified him. The cruel things he did to Rei belied his polite speech, and his appearance in the room always promised pain.
Tears began to spill from Rei’s eyes at the doctor’s approach.
“My beautiful phoenix,” Dr. Ranos said. “Has your skin regenerated yet?”
Rei shook his head, even though the doctor knew his healing ability wasn’t working because of the collar.
“I do hope the pain didn’t prevent you from getting enough sleep, my dear. Let’s see how you heal, shall we?”
Rei nodded shakily. He wanted the cuts and the pain gone. But he knew the doctor would immediately hurt him again. In the name of science, as he liked to say, and for the good of the human species.
Doctor Ranos smiled at him, then released the collar’s lock. Rei felt his body heal. The moment the healing process finished, the collar was clasped around his neck again.
“It always excites me so to see your beautiful skin regenerate,” the doctor said, touching Rei’s chest. Rei shuddered at the touch, but instead of removing his hand, the doctor let it roam lower, fortunately stopping before his belly button. The doctor’s gaze hadn’t stopped where his hand had, though. “Soon we will have to do some more… intimate experiments. I wish to know as much as I can about you and your species, Rei. And write about it all. And if you’re good, I might even let you shift and regenerate your gorgeous wings.”
Rei tried to tear his mind away from this lab, away from the doctor, but it refused to go to a happier place. He was fully aware when the doctor strapped him to the gurney, picked up a match, lit it, then held it close enough to Rei’s arm to burn his skin.
Soon, Rei was screaming in agony as the doctor left burn marks on his body just so he could enjoy watching them disappear later.
And as he burned Rei’s skin, the doctor cooed. “Shh, you’re doing so good, little bird, so good…”
The doctor’s voice became distant, the room began to spin, and Rei’s eyelids grew heavy. He let his eyes close.
When he came to, his body hurt so much that he thought death would be a mercy. And the fact that it had been fire—such an integral part of his being—that had hurt him this badly made him want to cry. Only he had neither tears nor strength left to cry.
So he just lay there, waiting for his torturer to return.
Instead, the nurse came. Tall and athletically built, she was likely as much a guard as she was a nurse. She helped him up and led him to what they called his room. She didn’t speak to him, and Rei wondered if she was even able to, as she never spoke to the doctor in Rei’s presence, either.
She inclined her head toward Rei, then left, locking the door behind her.
There was a plate of food and a glass of water on the small table. Rei refused to touch any of it. Maybe if he became really weak or ill, the doctor would stop playing with him for some time at least.
He didn’t know how to get out of this predicament. With the collar on, he was too weak to overpower Dr. Ranos or any of the guards, and the doctor never allowed him to be without it long enough for him to shift and regenerate his phoenix form. And there was so much damage, especially to the wings—both had been pierced with multiple arrows and one had broken in a few places.
But he needed to escape. Or at least try. Maybe if he managed to steal one of those sharp tools the doctor used…
And then what? He didn’t even know how to remove this collar.
He heard loud footsteps, louder than the doctor’s or the nurse’s. Maybe a guard was coming to get him this time.
Whoever it was, they tried the doorknob, cursed, and a moment later kicked the door open and burst into the room.
Rei backed away from the stranger. The man was incredibly tall and muscular, and his long black hair was arranged in a complex style—some loose, some braided, some in a high ponytail.
Dragon.
Only dragons did such fancy things with their hair. And even if the hair hadn’t given it away, the man’s golden eyes would have as they had vertical pupils.
Rei took a few more steps back. The dragon watched him with a frown on his face. His gaze darted from one burn mark to another, before lingering on the one on Rei’s stomach, which was in the shape of a phoenix. Dressed only in underwear, Rei grabbed a blanket and held it protectively in front of himself.
“Put some clothes on and come with me,” the dragon said, or rather, ordered.
“No,” Rei said, his voice trembling. “Who are you? What do you want?”
“Look, bird, you have eyes, so I’m sure you’re capable of estimating your chances against me. You’re coming with me whether you want to or not. But whether you’re coming with or without clothes on is up to you.”
What did a dragon want with him? Dragons hated phoenixes, so it couldn’t be anything good.
The dragon started toward Rei, scowling. “We’ll do it the hard way, then.”
“No, please,” Rei said. “I-I’ll get dressed.”
“Be quick.”
Rei didn’t have many clothes to choose from. When he put on the rough cotton pants and tunic, he barely held back tears as the fabric scratched the burns on his body. But he couldn’t keep in the hiss of pain when the pants’ waistband pressed against the large phoenix burn mark.
The dragon looked at him then, his expression unreadable. After a moment of just staring at Rei, he said, “Follow me, bird.”
Not having much choice, Rei obeyed. He wanted to tell the dragon that he needed the collar removed to be able to heal, but he was too afraid. He wasn’t sure if there was any point in healing, anyway, as the dragon’s intentions were still unknown to him.
Two guards attacked them in the corridor, but the dragon dealt with them with terrifying efficiency, knocking one of them out and killing the other by wringing his neck.
Stunned by what was happening in front of him, Rei hadn’t noticed Dr. Ranos’ approach from behind until he put a knife at his throat. “Where are you going, my beautiful phoenix? Was I giving you too little attention?”
“Let him go,” the dragon said.
“How could I let go of such an amazing specimen? I still haven’t finished researching him.”
“Researching?” The dragon raised an eyebrow. “Is that what you would call it?” He walked toward them slowly, a knife in hand.
“Don’t come any closer, Sir Dragon, or I’ll kill this little bird.”
“Wouldn’t that interfere with your plan to fuck him?” the dragon said, making Rei’s stomach clench. “Or have you done that already?”
“There’s a certain order to research. And I do so enjoy the anticipation.”
“Remove that thing from his neck,” the dragon said, still approaching them.
Dr. Ranos chuckled. “Oh, but that certainly would make both of us lose him, wouldn’t it? A phoenix is an elusive creature and one significantly smaller than a dragon. Are you certain you could catch him if he shifted?”
The doctor knew that Rei’s injured wings would prevent him from flying away quickly enough to escape the dragon, but the dragon was oblivious. He examined Rei intently, seemingly unsure of what action to take.
“Perhaps I could pay you, hmm?” Dr. Ranos said. “That’s why you’re here, isn’t it, Sir Dragon? For the bounty? Money won’t be a problem.”
“I don’t care about your money, you creep. I’m taking the bird with me. His parents just want him back, and I’ll get the reward even if I only bring his corpse.”
When the dragon got closer, the doctor removed the knife from Rei’s throat. “It would be a pity for such a magnificent creature to die,” he said. “I’m patient. I’ll get him back.”
When Rei looked behind him, the doctor was gone.
The dragon gripped his arm hard. Rei yelped in pain and dropped to his knees as the dragon stepped back from him.
“Fuck, I forgot. Just—Just follow me.”
He turned to go. Rei took a few deep breaths and got to his feet.
Had parents really hired this dragon to rescue him? But why a dragon? Why someone who would rather kill him than save him?
Outside, the dragon looked down at him with a hard expression on his face. “How the fuck did you get into this mess in the first place, bird?”
“My name is Rei.”
“I don’t give a fuck. Answer my question.”
Rei pursed his lips. The man clenched a fist and moved toward him, so he quickly said, “I was shot down.”
“How?”
“I… I wanted to see more of the world, so I flew outside our territory. Dr. Ranos had hired hunters so they would wait for one of us to do just that. They shot me with their bows. I dodged some of the arrows but couldn’t avoid them all. And when I fell, I broke one of my wings and couldn’t heal fast enough to escape.”
“You’re a stupid little bird, to have gotten caught by a bunch of humans.”
“At least I’m not an asshole,” Rei said, surprising himself.
The dragon’s eyes widened briefly before he scoffed. “Perhaps not, but it seems your asshole is the most valuable part of you. The only reason that guy wanted to pay me was because he hadn’t—Hey, what are you doing?”
Rei was backing away slowly, preparing to bolt for the door to the lab, his heart beating rapidly.
“If I have to choose between two rapists, I would rather choose the normal-sized one. And politer.” Not that he was planning to run back to Dr. Ranos. He just needed to get some kind of weapon from the lab, then use the back door to escape both the doctor and this dragon. Hopefully, he could lose them in the forest.
He spun and ran for the door. But before he could reach it, he was yanked back by his hair. The dragon grabbed a handful of it and forced Rei to look up at him.
“I may be an asshole, but I’m not a rapist. Now, do you want your parents to see you alive, or should I just deliver your dead body to them?”
Rei felt tears form in his eyes. “I’ll come with you. Just please don’t hurt me.”
The dragon released him, then began to… unbutton his coat? He must have noticed Rei’s panicked expression, because he rolled his eyes and said, “I’m not—” He shook his head. “I’m going to need to shift. Don’t want to ruin my clothes while I do it. You better be a good little bird and pick them up for me.”
“Shift?” Rei said softly.
“What the fuck did you think? That we were going to walk?”
“You might as well kill me because I’ll pass out and fall to my death, anyway.”
“What? You got shot down once and now you’re scared of heights? You’re a bloody phoenix.”
Rei broke down in tears, the memory of the fall and the subsequent mistreatment at the hands of the hunters and Dr. Ranos coming back in full force. The way the hunters had removed the arrows without care, saying he was just a stupid animal. The way the doctor had unfurled his broken wing and talked excitedly, ignoring Rei’s cries. And the way the collar had forced him to shift into his vulnerable, naked human form while his phoenix body had remained unhealed.
“Hey!”
Rei looked up, sniffling. The dragon was frowning at him.
“I said fine, we’ll walk. For now, at least.” He handed Rei a handkerchief. “You better keep up.”
“Thank you,” Rei said, his voice shaky, then blew his nose. “What’s your name?”
The dragon appeared to contemplate whether to answer Rei’s question, but in the end, he did. “Zayden,” he said, “of House Ebonclaw.”
Rei couldn’t exactly say ‘Nice to meet you,’ so he merely nodded in response.
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