Page 54 of Thrown into the Mob

I was awake because I didn't sleep well in new places, and especially not with the turmoil in our lives. Madd was beside me—where else would he be?—and he had his leg on my thighs, pinning me to the mattress.

I’d been lying in the dark marveling at how the universe had paired me with this man. But that led me to think of my twin, and I didn’t want to go there. As I pondered the direction of my life, the alert came in, and my phone vibrated on the nightstand.

Flint had given me a secure handset linked to the sensor network. I'd built the system in two days with parts from a hardware store and Ranger's grudging assistance. I’d told myself it was probably overkill for a threat that might be weeks away.

The screen showed a thermal signature at high altitude. Moving east to west, it was approximately eight hundred feet above the ground and consistent with a dragon circling in a glide pattern.

They’re here. My dragon hadn’t been asleep either.

At least one of them is. Maybe more.

I was out of bed before the second alert.

“What is it?” Madd shot up, his eyes wide with fright.

“There’s one dragon, circling the perimeter.”

He was on his feet and pulling on clothes, but I was already halfway to the door. The corridor was dim and quiet, but within seconds, it was teeming with people. Ranger came around the corner fully dressed with his phone in his hand. Words weren’t necessary because he’d received the same alert.

“Your sensors work.” He held up a hand to shush me before I’d gotten a word out. “Don't be smug and say you told me so. Now what are we dealing with?”

“It’s a single dragon doing reconnaissance. He's not attacking because he’s waiting to see how quickly we respond.”

Ranger swore. We moved down to the operations room that Flint had set up on the ground floor. The screens showed the sensor data. The thermal signature was still circling. That was the flight pattern of a dragon who wasn't worried about being detected. And that bothered me.

Flint arrived with Hunter thirty seconds later. He looked at the screen and told me to explain what was happening.

I recognized the flight pattern which was textbook Solari. That had to be one of Vasik’s team. For sure Vasik was on the ground somewhere because he never sent anyone up without being in position himself.

I pointed at the flight path on the screen. “A scout who doesn't want to be seen flies fast and high. This one is circling at eight hundred feet, so he wants us to see him."

“He’s a distraction.” That was Madd. He understood the technique based on the undercover work he’d been doing for Flint.

I wanted to hold his hand and tell him it was okay. I’d protect him with everything I had which was my life. But this was no time for mates to be saying what was in their hearts.

“That's what I'd do. Draw every eye to the sky and send someone on the ground while the perimeter is focused upward.”

“Ranger, get teams to every ground-level entry point now.” Flint wasn’t taking any chances.

Ranger was already moving, snapping instructions into his phone. Madd stood beside me. His presence was the only thing keeping my dragon from surging to the surface because everything in me wanted to shift and meet the circling dragon in the air and tear it apart for coming near us.

Not now. Think smart.

My dragon snarled but stayed where he was. If he shifted now, this would be the second compound we’d destroyed.

The minutes ticked away and reports came in, but no one had sighted another a dragon.

The radio squawked with Ranger's voice. “We've got someone at the main gate and he's asking to speak to Conrad. He must have shifted because he’s naked.

There was no need for Ranger to say the name. It had to be him.

“He says he's Vasik.”

Madd's hand found my arm. “You’re staying here until they contain him.”

It was hard to restrain a dragon shifter. His hands and feet had to be tied in a way that it quashed his ability to shift.

“I’ll go.” I explained about the restraints but said they wouldn’t be necessary if he stayed outside to deliver the message.