Page 62 of Bad Blood Alpha

Chapter 25

Chills blasted up the backs of Flynn’s arms. “You do? How?”

She bit her lip. “I don’t know if I can explain it. All dragons can navigate between worlds, but like Israel said, the Al-Maddeiri are better at it. It’s like…an extra sense. And when we were standing there in that room…even though we weren’t there physically, I knew where we were.”

“And?” Flynn was pretty sure he wasn’t going to like the next part.

He was right. “They’re in the Dragonlands,” she said. “Kind of. It’s a place on the edge of the old Al-Maddeiri territory, right on the…the cusp between the Dragonlands and the spirit world—and this world, I think. The place where they…overlap, I guess you’d call it. It’s inside all of them, and not in any of them. The castle they’re in was one of the old Al-Maddeiri outposts. Apparently, it wasn’t destroyed in the war. Maybe it was too remote?”

More likely, Ragnor had made sure it survived. There had been treachery within the House—the only way that their defenses could have been breached so spectacularly.

He was pretty sure they’d just found out who was responsible for that.

She turned to face him. “We have to get to them, Flynn. You heard what he said. He’s almost done with them. They can’t have much longer—maybe only hours.”

“I know.” Flynn’s mind was working overtime, and he didn’t like the way things were adding up.

Kira was watching his face. “We can’t get a team together in time, can we?”

He shook his head. “I don’t think so. Ashley’s in the middle of a concert—they left this afternoon. I don’t think Israel will leave without her. Rachelle’s Agency contacts might help if we had more time, but they’re not going to gear up on a few minutes’ notice and head to another world, just on our say-so.”

He pinched his lip, trying to work out tactics. Small team or large? How to infiltrate unknown territory without adequate intel?

“Can you make a portal straight into the castle?” he asked.

Kira shook her head. “Markus told me all draken castles are warded against that. Too easy for thieves and assassins. There are usually permanent gates that are keyed and warded, but nobody can just make a new one. We probably can’t gate within half a mile of the place.”

He’d figured that, but he had to ask. “What about casing it from the spirit world? We could at least get the layout.”

She shook her head again. “More wards. Otherwise, dragons would be spying on each other all the time.”

Flynn huffed. “You think they’re not?”

Kira tilted her head in acknowledgement. “I guess. But not that way.” She paused, drumming her fingers on the mattress. “We’ll just have to sneak in the old-fashioned way, and hope it was built like all the other castles. Markus made me learn the basic layout.”

Flynn restrained himself from asking why the old man had made her learn tactical knowledge about places that had been destroyed. Markus must have had his reasons. And anyway, it turned out she needed the intel after all. So who was Flynn to argue?

He said slowly, “I’m thinking maybe a large team isn’t the way to go.” He turned on his side, facing her. “Think about it. If we have to approach from a distance, the more people we have, the harder it will be to hide them. A small, skilled team could slip in, take out the sorcerer, and break the two of them out. We can carry them out, if we have to—at least, we can if the dragon can shift.”

He hesitated. “If he can’t…”

He didn’t finish the sentence—he didn’t need to. If the dragon couldn’t shift and it couldn’t fly, no size team they could muster would be able to get him out.

Kira was watching him as if she were reading his mind. “You don’t want to get the crew involved in this, do you?” she asked.

Flynn shook his head. “They’re good fighters,” he said, “and I trust them with my life. But Sloan is the only one who has the kind of tactical experience we need. If he wants to come, I’ll bring him. But otherwise, no.”

He met Kira’s eyes. “They have too much to lose. I can’t ask them to face down a sorcerer.”

“They’re not going to like it,” she said.

He blew out a huge sigh. “You think I don’t fucking know that?”

She was right. They didn’t like it.

Flynn called a crew meeting and explained the situation to them—including the fact that he and Kira were planning on going in alone. When he was done, there was dead silence.

Flynn looked at each of the crew, one by one. “You know I’m not much for speeches and all this mushy shit. But I want to say this. You’re a good crew—and you mean a lot to me. Despite the fact that you’re morons.”