“Climb on.”
“What?”
“Climb on, Dad. We don’t have time.”
“Boy, are you out of your ever-loving mind?”
“Just do it!”
Tony jumped on Dex’s back, one arm wrapped around Dex’s shoulders and grabbing on to his vest, his legs around Dex’s waist, and his free hand gripping the shield tight. This was going to hurt like a motherfucker. There was no way he was letting his father fall onto all that shit down there. Exposing himself to the sea of oxidized steel, shards of glass, bloody needles, and fuck knew what else could be just as much of a death sentence.
Fuck. Fuck. If he didn’t go now, they were both dead. There was only so much his armor could take.
“What are you doing?”
There was no time to rappel down. Dex rounded his shoulders and reached down deep to that swirling mass of something he kept feeling in there. Come on. Whatever the fuck is in you, now’s the time for it to make itself useful.
Dex moved back into the cell, and took a calming breath to center himself. He grabbed the doorframe and propelled himself forward. He screamed for his dad to hold on, and jumped on the glass walkway. His instinct would be to roll when he hit the ground floor, but he couldn’t do that. As he expected, his weight combined with Tony’s brought the glass pane down, and Tony protected his head as they fell through the glass. Dex landed in a crouched position, the force of the impact making its way up his body. He didn’t stop to think about what the hell he’d just done. When his dad jumped down, they took off like a bat out of hell.
A storm of bullets rained down on them, and Tony held the large shield close. One, two, three bullets struck Dex’s armor in the back, the pain reverberating through his body with the shock of each hit, but he kept going. A tiger Therian in feral form leaped out from behind a mound of debris, and Dex intercepted, putting himself between the Therian and his dad. He slammed his head forward, cracking his helmet against the tiger’s skull. His visor splintered, and the Therian dropped to the ground, out cold. They turned to go and found themselves surrounded by roaring and snarling Felids.
Dex stepped in front of his dad, his rifle ready. There was no way he could take down this many before he and Tony were swarmed. A lion Therian took a step forward and roared, and something inside Dex shattered. His throat closed up, he heard a painful snap, and he let loose the scream that traveled up f
rom somewhere deep in his gut. Except it wasn’t a scream. It was a roar. A jaguar Therian roar.
The Felids around them freaked, ears flat as their gazes darted to one another. Before Dex could take a step forward, whatever the fuck he’d just done, did the job, and every THIRDS agent in feral form appeared, fangs bared and claws unsheathed, and started tearing the shit out of the Makhai.
Dex grabbed Tony, who was staring at him, stunned.
“We gotta move.”
“Did you just roar?”
“Not the time, Dad.” Dex had no idea what he’d done. It sounded like a roar, but—holy fuck, did he just roar? He shook himself out of it, and they ran for the exit. Dex kicked at the fence, it opened, and he hurried Tony out onto the sidewalk.
“Sloane, I got the Sarge!”
“They’re retreating,” Sloane replied, breathless. “See you at the rendezvous.”
“Copy that.” Dex ran down New Street and took a left on Lock. They jumped over the campus community fence and ducked into the shadows against one of the buildings. They collapsed onto the grass to catch their breath. Dex pulled off his helmet and let it drop on the grass. He tapped his earpiece. “Sloane, what’s your status?”
“The Makhai have called off the attack. They’re bailing. Anyone left who’s got a pulse is being hauled off to hospitals, and from there to a much prettier prison than this place. Sent word to Sparks the moment you got the Sarge out. She’s on her way back to HQ. The Chairman got dick.”
“He’s not gonna be happy about that,” Dex said, letting his head fall back against the wall. He reached out to put his hand on Tony’s shoulder, needing to reassure himself his dad was safe.
“Like I give a fuck,” Sloane growled, then shouted at someone. “Grab that fucker, will you? I don’t know where the hell he thinks he’s going. You okay?” Sloane asked Dex, his tone softening.
“Yeah. Ready to head home.” Dex swallowed hard. “Everyone else?”
“A little worse for wear. Some bullet wounds, minor injuries, but everyone’s present and accounted for. We’re heading to the BearCat now. See you in a minute.”
“See you.”
Dex turned to face Tony, who was smiling warmly at him.
“What?”
“I knew my boys would find me.”