Page 50 of Saving Her Dragon

"Not physically, Grey. Functionally," Ginnie corrected, stepping closer. "Look at the pattern. Sydney. Carrick. Myself. You. Four different people. Four entirely different Magical signatures."

"Every single one of us has a relationship to the Dragon Guard," Sydney noted, her voice tight.

Inside Garrett's mind, the geometry of the memory shifted again. With the four lights actively burning, Han could see details he had been blind to before. The pulsing points of illumination weren't just scattered randomly around the perimeter of the stone circle; they were explicitly positioned. From each burning stone, a faint, thin line of pure, bleeding light was crawling across the cold earth, running like an electrical conduit straight toward the heavy base of the stone door.

Garrett’s tactical training took over the logistics. He analyzed the line-up like a perimeter grid. Who was missing from the pattern? What signature hadn't been accounted for?

Sydney's ribbon was saturated with Sydney's energy—and through her, Kara's Magic.

Carrick's tie tack carried the unmistakable resonance of Alastair's Dragon King signature.

Ginnie's fountain pen was steeped in the ancient Magic of Heatherton Necromancy.

And Grey's pocketknife carried decades of his brother's resonance, layered over something Garrett himself had given him as a child.

Four people. Four signatures. Four completely different kinds of Magical connections.

Garrett studied the pattern Han could see, turning the possibilities over and over in his mind.

But why those four?

And what the hell could possibly belong in the fifth position?

He didn't know.

"Garrett." Darcy’s sharp, clinical voice cut through his spiraling thoughts. She was staring at her tablet, her thumb flying across the interface as she recalibrated the screaming sensors.

Garrett forced his eyes to focus on her. "Yes, ma’am?"

"You're awake," Darcy said, her Timberwolf eyes snapping up to meet his.

"Yes, ma’am," Garrett growled.

"Your deep-sleep signature isn't," Darcy stated flatly, turning the tablet around so he could see the display.

The digital graphs were supposed to have dropped back to a restful, waking baseline the moment his eyes opened. They hadn't. A specific, highly anomalous pattern that had previously existed only during the 3:42 AM blackout windows was still actively running in the background of his brain waves. Garrett stared at the display.

Whatever happened to him during those thirty-second voids hadn't stopped when he opened his eyes.

Something was still running.

“Lad...” Han whispered, a wave of heat rolling through the Bond. “The fifth position. Look.”

Through the Dragon King's eyes, Garrett saw the final dark stone at the edge of the circle begin to pulse. It wasn't a violent flare like the others. It was a low, weak, lavender-white light that vibrated in perfect sync with the rhythmic beat of his own heart. His Magic.

“That's ours,” Garrett murmured aloud to the room, the words sounding hollow.

Han's mental head bowed. “Aye.”

"I'm the last anchor," Garrett said, looking up at his family.

The room went completely, agonizingly silent. Ginnie stepped forward, her hands trembling slightly as she reached out to touch the golden tie tack resting on the table. She closed her eyes, using the residual link of Carrick's Dragon scale to run a quick, desperate comparison Spell through the ambient Magic radiating off Garrett's skin.

Opening her eyes, she knew her gaze was heavy with profound sorrow. "He's right. The fifth position resonates perfectly with Garrett and Han's unique frequency."

Closing his eyes, Garrett’s tactical brain processed the ultimate conclusion. A soldier knew when a position was entirely compromised. If an asset was turned into a weapon against the perimeter, you eliminated the asset to save the line.

"Then this ends with me," Garrett said, his voice dropping into a flat, terrifyingly calm, commanding tone. He looked straight at Carrick. "Sever me from Han if you have to. Put me down. Put me in a containment vault beneath the mountain where the Magic can't reach. Whatever it takes to break the circuit before that fifth stone locks in. Do it."