Page 55 of Thrown into the Mob

“Not alone,” Flint said, and Madd backed him up.

“He won't talk if there's a crowd. That's not how he operates.” I held Flint's gaze. “Vasik is a professional. He's here to deliver a message. If Evander wanted to attack, that dragon wouldn't have been circling.”

“Madd goes with you, and Ranger covers from inside the gate. Anything feels wrong, you pull back.”

I didn’t tell Flint but if something wasn’t right, I’d be taking my scales. But I objected to my mate being there. I needed him tucked up tight inside the building.

“I’m coming too.” Madd wasn’t looking at me, but his tone told me he wasn’t accepting any argument.

“Fine, but let me do the talking.”

We walked to the gate in the predawn light. The compound was alive around us with people at every post and their eyes on the sky. This was what they were trained for.

Vasik was standing ten feet from the gate. Someone had thrown him a blanket which he’d wrapped around his hips. He didn’t have a gun because he’s shifted, unless he’d been here before and secreted a weapon somewhere. He didn’t look any different than usual, though his eyes were darting around, checking out everything so he could report back.

“Conrad.” He sounded as he always had and gave a slight nod out of habit. I may have been the son my father ignored except when he wanted something from me. But the flight members had addressed me as their superior. It didn't mean he was still on my side.

"Vasik."

“You've upgraded their security.” He glanced at the sensor mounted on the gatepost. “That's your design.”

“You're here to talk, not admire the hardware.”

We'd worked together for years. He understood my directness, and I was aware of how patient he and his dragon could be when they were drawing out an enemy.

“Evander has sent a message.” Vasik's voice caught as he mentioned my twin. They hadn’t worked together much in the past, and I wondered if Evander’s performance was not what Vasik expected from an Alpha, especially one who happened to be an omega.

“He acknowledges the mating but doesn't accept it.”

“That doesn’t make sense,” Madd blurted out.

Damn. Madd, not now. He had every right to speak his mind but not here and now. I grabbed his hand, hoping he’d understand I needed him to stay silent. As I expected, Vasik didn’t acknowledge my mate. If he had, he would have given it the attention of a man who was about to squash a mosquito.

“He recognizes the bond exists, but he considers it illegitimate because the original arrangement was not honored.” Vasik paused. “He's offering a resolution.”

Madd swung toward me, hostility in his eyes, not directed at me, I sensed, but at what Vasik had said.

Vasik went on to say Evander wanted a meeting with me, but there could be no security and no wolves. He sent Madd a withering glance, and my mate stuck out his chin.

“He says it's a family matter.”

I held my beast down tightly as he begged me to set him free.

“My twin killed our father and called it a family matter too.”

“He’ll pursue other options if you don’t agree.”

The message was clear. He'd rain down fire on us with twenty dragons overhead. No one would be safe.

Madd was rigid beside me. He was simmering, and he was barely containing his wolf who wanted to rip through the gate and deal with this messenger.

“Tell him I'll consider it.”

He walked away, and the dragon overhead broke its circle and followed him east. Within minutes the sky was empty and the sensors showed nothing.

“You're not meeting him alone.” Madd had his hands on his hips. He looked like the fiery alpha I knew him to be.

“That’s right.”