“Very,” I grunted, wanting to wipe off the blood mark but not having an available hand to do so. I glanced at Gabriel.

“Shadow,” he ordered, sweat starting to dot his forehead.

“I don’t need to be protected from mortals,” I said, intending to object to being kept out of the way.

“I have no time to argue about this, little bird. I can’t protect you and Magoth together, so you must shadow.”

“Don’t think I’m going to let you get away with bossing me around the way Drake does Aisling,” I answered, taking a step away from the door, shadowing as I did so.

The door exploded inward, but Gabriel is not a dragon for nothing. He moved so fast I could barely follow him as he snatched up a broken piece of chair, whirling around with it held like a lance. The police spilled into the room, guns drawn, but they didn’t stand a chance against Gabriel. The wooden weapon he held spun and flashed in the overhead light, its movement almost immediately followed by the cries of those he’d wielded it upon.

I stood pressed up against the wall, watching with openmouthed amazement and appreciation as Gabriel single-handedly dealt with the group of seven policemen. He was grace and power personified, dodging, attacking, twisting around bodies as they crumpled to the floor, and yet I was willing to bet there wouldn’t be a single fatality.

“Where did you learn to do that?” I asked, following as he jerked Magoth into the hallway after him.

Gabriel’s dimples flashed for a fraction of a second. “I spent a few years in warrior training with a tribe in South Africa. Stay hidden, little bird, but remain close.”

I did both, more to be able to watch Gabriel in action than to stay safe. It didn’t take him much time to deal with the few remaining police officers in the hallways, and by the time we emerged at the front of the station, Tipene and Maata had cleared the rest of the way.

“Magoth!” shrieked Sally with joy, in her haste to get to him trampling a poor policewoman who lay prone on the floor. “I told you we’d get you out!”

“Really? I don’t remember that,” he said, stopping to give her a disbelieving look.

Gabriel shoved him toward the front door, handily knocking aside a policeman who had wandered in the entrance.

“Well . . . I would have said it if I’d thought of it at the time,” Sally admitted, dashing after them as Gabriel hustled Magoth out the door. He paused to look back for me.

There were enough lights on to make me visible, although I knew it would still be hard to see me. “I’m right here; don’t stop,” I told him.