I leaped with a roar, slamming into the soldier just as he pulled the trigger. He recovered, swinging the muzzle around at me, and I blasted him in the face with fire. Screaming, he reached up, tearing away the flaming helmet and mask…as Garret surged to his feet and punched him in the jaw as hard as he could.

The human reeled back, fell into a pillar and slid to the ground, his head dropping to his chest as he went limp. Silence fell, the echoes of screams and gunfire fading into the black. Still shaking with fury and adrenaline, I looked at Garret, wondering if we had really won. If it was really over.

He stood cradling his hand, gazing at the soldier slumped against the beam, his expression torn between relief and guilt. A trickle of blood ran down his face from his temple, crawling down his cheek, and my stomach knotted. “You’re bleeding!” I exclaimed, jumping over the body of one of the soldiers. My claws clicked anxiously over the floor as I trotted up. “Are you all right?”

He nodded painfully. “Just a cut,” he said, lowering his arm as I reached him. “It’s not serious.” Wincing, he looked down at his hand, clenching and unclenching a fist. “Think I burned myself when I punched the last soldier, though.”

“Let me see,” I said, reaching for his arm. He stiffened, and I froze when I saw my scaly foreleg, curved black talons hovering close to his skin. Claws that could easily rend and tear and rip right through him. His eyes rose to mine, and I saw my reflection in his steely pupils: a huge horned lizard with claws and wings outstretched, looming over him. For half a heartbeat, we stared at each other, dragon and soldier, surrounded by the bodies of his former brethren.

Garret moved first. In the moment before I would’ve pulled back, he raised his arm and held it out to me, placing the back of his hand gently in mine. Heart lurching, I very cautiously curled my talons around his wrist. He didn’t move, didn’t flinch or tense up, though a patch of his skin was red with the telltale shininess of a burn. I swallowed hard.

“Sorry about that.”

“I’ve had worse.” He held my gaze, gray eyes intense. “Besides, it’s hard to be angry at something that saved your life.”

“Garret? Ember?”

Faith edged into view. She held a length of rebar in both hands, and it shook as she gazed around at the fallen soldiers. “The shooting…stopped,” she whispered, her body poised for flight, as if the bodies might leap up and attack again. “I didn’t know if you were still alive, or if they had…had…” Her voice trembled, and she trailed off. I huffed a cloud of smoke at her.

“So you decided to come look for us? You’re supposed to be hiding—”