Free Immortally Ever After by Angie Fox

jaw. “Still, getting out of there was rough. Leta was weaker than our reports suggested. And she fought me. They’d clipped the membranes on her wings back to the bone so she couldn’t fly. She couldn’t even shift back into a human. By the time I’d gotten her to the edge of the containment area, we’d been spotted.”
    “I’m glad she went with you.” It must have taken a lot of trust. Galen was good at that, at getting people to believe in him.
    “She didn’t have much of a choice,” he said tightly. “You saw what the old army does to their dragons.”
    I’d witnessed them harnessing the dragons back in one of their camps. And I’d seen them use the dragons as weapons on PNN. I could hardly get that image out of my head.
    “They keep them like animals.” I’d seen it. And I’d been horrified at the complete and utter lack of humanity. I just hadn’t realized how widespread it was.
    The lantern light played over his sculpted cheekbones, the firm line of his jaw. He was harder than I remembered, more raw. “If a dragon isn’t useful in human form, the old army fits them with a collar that forces a shift. They’re used exclusively as animals—for communications, scouting”—his lip curled—“and weapons.”
    My stomach turned at the thought.
    Galen traced a hand over his arm, his blunt fingers trailing over deeply tanned skin. “Leta is one of the rare shifters who has the gift of telepathy.”
    I sat back, stunned for a second. “I’m surprised they didn’t kill her outright.”
    Telepathy would be a priceless commodity around here, where all communications were controlled by the gods.
    His eyes caught mine and held. “That’s what I wondered.”
    “Telepathic humans are hunted down.” Like me. Not that I’d ever met one, but I heard the stories.
    His mouth tightened. “When I informed my commander I was going in to get her, he ordered restraints.”
    Okay. “Well, she could have been dangerous.”
    “A collar,” he added.
    Oh, hell.
    Yes, the old army was brutal in general, but I’d seen for myself what our side was capable of—murder, torture, eternal damnation.
    I scooted closer. “Well, you can’t just keep her here.”
    “I don’t trust our side to do the right thing.”
    I didn’t either. I touched his leg. It was stupid on about ten different levels, but I needed that contact, that connection. His muscle tightened under my fingers, but he didn’t move away. “What are you going to do?” I asked.
    His expression was steely. “I don’t know.”
    Hades, this was such a mess.
    He coiled under my touch like a cobra ready to strike. “She’s been hiding her power,” he said, “to the point where she’s not even sure it’s there anymore. But if she can find it again, nurture it, she’ll be able to communicate with any and all dragons, and likely most anyone she wants. She could be a powerful asset to the new army. If we don’t use her for experiments or dissection.”
    I didn’t save her life to have somebody cut her apart. “Does she suspect?”
    “If she’s smart, she does.”
    I slid my fingers up his thigh, held it. “But she could use her power for good.”
    This time, he moved away. “With the right people behind her, yes. I’m trying to figure out what we’re facing so we know where to go when we get out of here.
    “She doesn’t trust me, not all the way at least. She seems to have a special bond with Marc.”
    It had pained him to say it. He shook it off, refocused. “I think we’re part of a bigger plan.”
    “Naturally.” I didn’t like where this was going.
    He gazed at me like he could see into my soul. “The new prophecy proves it.”
    “Wait.” I broke away from him, at once missing the intimacy we’d always shared. “That’s going a little far.” I mean, really. “You can’t expect me to be turning up a dagger, while hiding a dragon, and you.”
    The corner of his mouth turned up. “I’m used to lying low.”
    “No.” I