Page 98 of Feathers and Scales

“You have twenty-four hours. Don’t keep me waiting.”

The air shimmered, particles of light floating in the atmosphere around Izzy. Simon took a step back while Silas gazed from her to Daxton. Power exuded from her pores, heating the space and pressurizing it. The phone cracked in her grasp. It was almost like when he’d found her in the parking garage, wings adorning her human form, as if she were shifting into a Fallen form. Beautiful but dangerous.

“Why?” She shoved the phone into Simon’s chest.

Simon swallowed and bumped back into Silas.

“Why would you let him manipulate you?” she yelled.

“I—I didn’t,” Simon squeaked.

Along the link, Daxton could feel the fury and fear curling her tongue, making her want to snap. It was almost as dangerous as a dragon without control. Daxton wrenched his dragon into gear and listened to instinct. He traced his fingers down the center of Izzy’s back. She twitched.

“Izzy. Center yourself.”He sent the thought to her along their link, not sure if she heard him. Resting his hand on her lower back, he rubbed circles with his thumb.

“Thank you.”Her voice came back into his mind. The pressure in the air released, and her shoulders slumped. “Then why did you have it?”

“In the garage, before you came, he made me take the phone. He warned me not to tell you because he said he’d Summon you and kill you.”

She closed her eyes and rubbed her temples. “You know I didn’t trust him with my Angelic name.” Her eyes popped open. “You are the only one who knows that name.”

“Yes.” He smiled. “Which was something I didn’t think he’d expect I knew. Anyway, I knew you could use it to contact him or at the very least we could use it to track him, but I had to keep the signal blocked so he couldn’t track it. Something Silas didn’t listen to me about.”

Silas raised his hands in defense. “For all I knew, he was another puppet.”

Daxton’s jaw tightened. Some puppets didn’t give off a dark feeling in their spirit energies, especially if they were new. So it made sense. Still, it showed just how strong Simon was that Fotios couldn’t Influence him.

“Were you able to track him?” Daxton asked.

Izzy raised a hand. “It doesn’t matter. I know where he is, and I need to borrow your plane.”

“What?”Like hell if she thinks…

She turned to him, gaze penetrating his heart. Her mind whirled along the link, like the pages of a book caught in a storm. She was devising a plan.

“I need to go to England,” she said.

“Are you fucking kidding me?”

Izzy’s stomach burned as if it were nothing but acid. Daxton’s piercing gaze was glued to her ever since they had left for England. Even as he sat on the plane across from her, caught in a conversation with Keiran over the phone, his eyes didn’t waver.

“The Rogues have instructed me on the best places to remain undetected,” Daxton said to Keiran.

She hadn’t expected the trip to be dangerous for him, but because of territorial disagreements between the USA and European dragons, if the Europeans found him, they could imprison him.

“I understand. Thanks.” Daxton hung up and ran his hand over his hair.

Guilt ate at her as she felt his rising panic.

“Please stop blaming yourself,” Daxton said as if reading her thoughts.

She nodded, doing her best to push the thoughts aside.

“I need to check in with the pilot about the drop.” He stood.

“Are we not landing?”

“You’ll see.” He walked away but paused and turned with a look of consideration. “Are you sure I can’t persuade you to let me go with you? My clanmates are out of Pentros.”