“I’ll help,” I broke in, and he turned to glare daggers at me. Without waiting for an answer, I stepped around the unconscious dragon and knelt beside her, sliding my arm beneath a scaly foreleg. Ember stirred weakly, her claws raking the sand once, but she didn’t wake up. Riley hesitated, then crouched on the opposite side, taking her leg.

“Wes!” he spat as we braced ourselves to lift the dragon off the ground. “Get over here. You’re going to have to help, too.”

“On three,” I said as the other human dropped beside me, muttering curses the whole time. Over Ember’s back and wings, Riley gave me a last baleful glare, but then his attention shifted to the dragon between us. “One…two…three!”

We lifted. Ember sagged, wings and tail dragging along the ground, her neck dangling awkwardly. She wasn’t as heavy as I’d expected, considering this was a very large, armored reptile who was complete dead weight at the moment. Somehow, the three of us manhandled the dragon over the ground and into the back of the vehicle, grunting as we pushed and pulled her inside. She barely fit; her wings were crumpled against the sides, her neck bent at an awkward angle, and we had to loop her tail over her back. I ended up pressed against the front seat with her neck draped over my lap, curved talons pricking my leg through my jeans. Riley glared at me over Ember’s motionless body, obviously hating how close I was, but there was no room to move. Nor was there room for the both of us to be back here, with an unconscious red dragon sprawled across the floor.

“Riley!” Wes snapped as the other hesitated, reluctant to leave me alone with Ember, I guessed. “St. George is coming! Bloody hell, put some pants on, would you? Let’s go!”

Riley cursed and backed away, reaching out to close the back doors. His eyes glowed yellow in the shadows of the van as he stared at me. “If she dies,” he said softly, “I’m going to kill you.” It was not an idle threat.

The roar of a distant engine, not our own, echoed over the hill behind us, getting steadily closer, and my stomach lurched. St. George was not about to let us go. Wes shrieked at Riley again, and the doors slammed, cutting off my view of the outside world. Ember groaned and stirred, wings fluttering, but she didn’t awaken. I swallowed hard and scooted aside so that the narrow, horned skull was pillowed against my legs. Her breath was shallow and hot against my skin, and I put one tentative hand on her scaly neck, trying to ignore the rows of fangs hovering over my leg, the claws that scraped close to my body.

The blood seeping across the floor, making my insides cold.