Fury of Fire (Dragonfury Series #1)

tail to toss railcars left and right. If he didn’t get on his feet, he was dead. Wick, too. The fire was burning out of control, consuming everything in its path. He needed to reach his warrior before the flames did. But…the smoke. He couldn’t see a fucking thing.
    Sirens sounded in the distance.
    Humans. The cavalry was coming.
    Using his talons, he dug deep, dragging himself out from beneath the train pile. As he rolled to his paws, his left leg buckled. Fantastic. Just what he needed. A broken bone. With a hop, Bastian sucked wind and stumbled sideways. His body wasn’t working right. His vision was tunneling, the pressure behind his eyes becoming worse by the second. It clawed at him, dragging him down until his head felt sloppy and loose on his shoulders.
    No. Hell, no. He refused to pass out. His invisibility cloak was down. The fire department and police were coming. If they found him here…
    Jesus. He needed to stay with it.
    But as he fought, clawing his way toward his fallen comrade, Bastian couldn’t stop the inevitable. His injuries pulled at him, sapping his strength. He was out of time and energy.
    His luck had just run out.

Chapter Twenty
    The Crime Scene Investigation facility was a fascinating place. Lots of people. Lots of activity. Kind of like a human beehive full of lab rats.
    If that made any sense. Which it didn’t but, what the hell? The analogy worked for him, so Rikar went with it.
    With his arms crossed, one leg bent, his boot planted against the wall, he leaned back to watch all the buzzing. He shouldn’t be here. It was an “authorized access only” area. At least, that’s what the sign said before he walked past the front desk. The humans would’ve freaked out if they’d seen him, but with his magic up and running, they hadn’t. So here he stood—invisible—in the wide, central corridor, getting the lay of the land.
    What he needed was a map. With titles of the labs and descriptions of the tests performed in each. But with Sloan in a snort over his performance in the kitchen earlier—sensitive bugger—Rikar wouldn’t be getting any directions through mind-speak from his buddy. Ah, well. Teasing their resident computer genius was worth the trouble. Maybe in the future, though, he’d plan it a little better. Like for a time when he didn’t need his friend’s help on a mission.
    His eye on a pretty lab technician, Rikar uncrossed his arms and pushed away from the wall. Time to take a stroll. Maybe introduce himself to an evidence bag or two labeled “ashes.” And the female was his first stop. With her above-average energy, she’d take the edge off his headache; heal him up nice and quick.
    The added bonus? Information. She’d tell him exactly where to go to find what he wanted.
    With a thought, Rikar ditched his leathers, conjuring a pair of Dockers and a blue button-down to take their place. A holstered Glock on his hip, he clipped an authentic looking SPD badge to his belt front. And booyah, he was ready for his meet and greet with the pretty lab rat.
    And yeah, he was a big, fat liar.
    Females hated that. He knew it, and had she meant something to him, Rikar might have felt badly for what he was about to do. But such was Dragonkind’s MO: hit and run, love ’em and leave ’em…fast. Preferably with no memory of the loving.
    He’d remember, though. Which was more than enough for both of them.
    Rikar slid in behind a group of males as they walked past him. With a mental flick, he lifted his invisibility cloak and blended in, using them for cover. No one noticed his sudden appearance. Then again, humans never did. They were too busy rushing from place to place, heads down, yapping on cell phones that would eventually give them brain tumors.
    Christ, it was a helluva way to live.
    But that wasn’t any of his business, was it? The female technician, however? Hmm, yeah. In about thirty seconds she’d be all business, closing up shop to take a meeting with him.
    He got a birds-eye view of her through the glass and…thank God for floor-to-ceiling glass walls. She looked even better up close.
    With a quick glance, Rikar surveyed the CSI offices again, looking for a private space to take her. Laid out with precision, all of the labs lining the corridor looked the same: sliding glass doors, stainless steel countertops, high-tech equipment, and low-backed swivel chairs. Man, Sloan would love this place…which was another difference between him and his buddy.