Page 56 of Thrown into the Mob

“No, Conrad, this is not a situation where you say one thing and do another. Whatever he's proposing, you're not walking into a room with him without me.”

I looked at the sky where the dragon had been. “He's using Father's tactics. First a distraction using a messenger. It’s the personal approach people appreciate. But Father was patient and Evander isn't. This meeting request suggests he's running out of options.”

“Or he's setting a trap.”

“That’s also possible.”

TWENTY-SEVEN

CONRAD

Something was different. I checked the sensors and then looked out the window but saw nothing.

It started three days after Vasik's visit. I’d been anxious ever since that night when the alert came in, and I was constantly checking for any dragon presence.

It’s not out there but in here.

Huh? Maybe my beast needed to see a counselor.

He'd been agitated since the gate encounter, which was expected, but this was something else. The anxiety faded, but instead of him monitoring sounds and scents, he was more laidback than I’d ever seen him. Dragons by nature were not calm and nonchalant. My beast and I shared everything, not because we necessarily wanted to but because we had no choice.

But this change in mood suggested he was in touch with some emotion deep inside him and he was keeping it from me, damn him.

I stared at myself in the bathroom mirror. The same face as always stared back, made worse by the dark circles I’d gained from sleeping lightly in a compound full of wolves. There was nothing visibly different other than those under-eye shadows. But my dragon was curled into a ball and wouldn't tell me what was going on.

What are you doing?

He didn't answer and burned that same low heat he always did. But the warmth was directed inward which had never happened before.

I shrugged because there was work to do, including attending security briefings. Added to the stress was the request for a meeting from my murderous twin. I hadn’t responded. That was a more pressing concern than my dragon's sudden interest in naval gazing, except my body wasn't cooperating.

The smell of coffee made my stomach turn. Caffeine was something I looked forward to when I woke up other than a kiss and cuddle from my mate. And it wasn’t a mild nausea I could ignore because I lurched to the bathroom, worried I wouldn’t make it before I threw up.

“Conrad.” Madd appeared in the doorway. “You’re not well. You should stay in bed today.”

If it was something I ate in the compound cafeteria, Arnie would be fuming and interrogating every kitchen employee. I’d have to pretend it was stress because no one needed Arnie running riot.

“It’s nothing.” I rinsed my mouth and stared at my reflection, and my dragon curled around something. It was just us two in here, right? Did I have a growth that needed to be removed?

Two days later, it happened again. And again the next morning. By the seventh day, I’d stopped making coffee, which Madd noticed because he enjoyed a cup in the morning too. That first sip was heaven.

“You’re not brewing coffee anymore and we’ve switched to tea. How come?”

I should have told him why, but I was worried my dragon was going through something.

“I felt like a change.” We’d been doing so well with sharing our concerns and making decisions together. And even though tea or coffee wasn’t an earth-shattering event, I’d made a decision without consulting him or even informing him.

He narrowed his eyes. Oh, for sure he knew I was lying, but he decided not to pursue it. But he followed me around all morning, even when he had other things to do.

My dragon was different in ways I couldn't fathom. He was more protective than usual, which was saying something given that his benchmark was borderline obsessive. Before he’d been focused on Madd, the compound, and threats. But now he wrapped around my midsection with a possessiveness that made no sense.

Oh no, not that. No! I clutched my face and raced into the bathroom and shut the door. That couldn’t be the reason. Not now when our lives were in the middle of a dangerous upheaval.

You’re wrong. It can, it could, and it did.

My dragon never never spoke like that. But he’d apparently been certain for days and was waiting for me to put two and two together.

I crawled into bed beside an already sleeping Madd and thanked the universe he wasn’t awake and asking if I was feeling better.