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Blake wanted to bang his head against the wall. He was bored and restless. Not a good combination for a dragon. In the past five days, they had learned nothing more than what they already knew. Nikki refused to summon the empousai until she had confirmation that the Tribe was behind everything. That made it even harder to track the magic. Lincoln had lost all contact with Jada, and a bear shifter had turned up dead on the side of a back road. Fortunately, Lincoln’s team had a relationship with the local authorities and could hide that from the public.
And he was not very happy about their plan. Dragons do not allow themselves to be captured.
To make matters worse, he only talked briefly with Angela. He was furious with Tristan when he found out Doyle was now protecting Angela. His brother may have trusted him, but Blake knew nothing about him except that he worked for whoever paid him the most. Tristan had been unavailable every time he called.
He was very uncomfortable with Benji being with his grandparents. Ultimately, Benji was Angela’s son, but having them separated didn’t feel right. Then she told him about going to Camp David. He hadn’t been there yet, so he knew nothing about the layout or current security measures. She assured him they had taken every precaution, but he wouldn’t feel relaxed until he was in charge of her safety again.
He slammed back the rest of his stale coffee and crushed the Styrofoam cup. “There has to be another plan, a better plan. I thought wolves were great at this sort of thing.”
“We have worked through every other idea,” Lincoln said. “We don’t know what happened to Jada, so we can’t count on her. Our best bet is to have an inside person.” He pointed to a cluster of photos pinned to a corkboard. “Six shifters from around town have gone missing in the last three months.”
“Then why couldn’t it be one of your people?”
Washington said, “It could be, but with your public notoriety, it would be a big deal to have you as part of the hunt.”
Blake let the front legs of his chair hit the floor. “Or they could not want anything to do with me. I’ve been all over town for several days, and no one has tried to do anything.”
“Well, there were those two blonde hotties who wanted your autograph,” Ford said.
Blake ignored him.
“Look, there’s some big country fair thing in town. The plan is to go and make ourselves very well known,” Lincoln said.
Blake gave him a dirty look. “Dragons don’t like fairs of any kind, and a country fair sounds like hell on earth.”
“Ah, come on, Big Guy,” Maddison said. “I bet you’d look very hot in a cowboy hat. The local women will be all over you.”
“Oh, that’s been my plan all along,” Blake said. “Find a local woman and run away to make baby dragons.”
“Can a human and a dragon make baby dragons?” Ford said.
Washington bounced an empty can off Ford’s head. “Are you ever serious?”
Ford rubbed his head. “What the hell, Man? That hurt.”
Blake did not understand how this motley crew functioned. Lincoln claimed to be the alpha, but Blake had never seen an alpha with no control over his pack. When Blake asked him about it, he explained that the team may look dysfunctional, but they excelled in a crisis.
“Once we know the Tribe is behind this, I will do what I need to,” Nikki said.
Blake couldn’t help but notice her slight eye tick. She wasn’t telling them the whole truth.
“Are you sure you can do it?” Lincoln asked.
Nikki shrugged. “I’ve never done it before, but from what my grandmother told me, it’s an innate ability that will kick in when needed.”
“We hope it’ll kick in.” Reagan gave Nikki a skeptical look.
There was a story between them. They acted like long-lost friends when they arrived, but that didn’t last long.
“I can be counted on in a crisis.” Nikki leaned on the table in front of Reagan. “Can you?”
Reagan bounced from the chair and leaned closer to Nikki. “I’m not the one who changes her mind without telling anyone, assuming she’s capable of taking care of everything herself.”
The room grew tensely quiet, and no one moved. Both women let their animals come to the surface.
Washington clapped his hands. “Hey, knock it off, you two. Whatever beef you have between each other, get over it now. There isn’t time for this type of foolishness.”
Blake hated to admit that he was disappointed Washington had stopped them. He kinda wanted to watch them fight. He’d never seen an alicorn in animal form but knew they were large. A wolf was smaller and probably more agile, though.
