I trailed off at the look he gave me. Sorrow, regret and longing glimmered in his eyes for just a moment, before they blinked and became remote once more. “Let me do this one last thing,” Garret said quietly, and offered a faint smile when I frowned in confusion. “You carried me to safety once. Now it’s my turn.”

He sounded sad for some reason. Like this was the last thing he would do for me. Wanting to ease the tension, I looped an arm around his neck and smiled. “You know, if you really wanted to impress, I could Shift right now and you could carry me out like that.”

The corner of his mouth twitched. “Somehow, I don’t think I’d get very far. Riley would walk in and see a dragon lying on top of a crushed soldier. He’d probably take a picture to remember it, always.”

I chuckled, feeling some of the awkwardness subside. A soldier of St. George carrying a dragon to safety—what was next? Sighing, I leaned my head on his chest, as Garret walked easily through the maze with me in his arms. His heart beat steady and sure against my ear, and I relaxed. We were okay, all of us. St. George had come for us, and we’d survived. Talon had sent two deadly double agents to force me back to the organization, and I was still here. Riley was alive. Garret was alive. We’d taken the worst Talon and the Order could throw at us and had come out on top.

But the casualties were high, even if they weren’t on our side. I didn’t have to look up to see the dozen or so Talon agents, sprawled throughout the warehouse. More dead humans than I’d seen in a lifetime. Dead humans that would probably show up in my dreams for weeks to come. And of course, somewhere in that mess of blood and darkness was the lifeless body of a purple dragon. A girl who, at one time, had been just like me.

Anger burned, and shockingly, I felt my eyes stinging. It was a waste. Such an awful, stupid waste, and for what? Faith didn’t have to die. Talon didn’t have to send her. Why couldn’t they just leave us alone? Why was it so important that I return to the organization? Now a hatchling and a dozen humans were dead, because someone in Talon had ordered my assassination…

“Garret,” I whispered, clenching a fist in his shirt, “wait!”