Page 17 of Red Dragon’s Flame

Mikah didn’t say that he could imagine a life of no sex perfectly well, thank you, since he actually had one. But he didn’t want to have a conversation about sex with Michelangela.

He might be a sort-of uncle, but he was leaving that shit to her actual relatives. Especially if it turned out she was having sex and he wasn’t.

It was a short trip through the portal back to the castle. Michelangela stepped over to the portal terminus for the corporate headquarters, which was activate-on-demand to save power, instead of always on, like the one to Thorne’s lair.

Mikah said, “Oh, no. Your dad, your mom, Tristan, Mayah, and your grandparents would all take turns killing me if I took you on a potentially dangerous mission to earth. No.”

Michelangela’s face fell. “You’re not seriously going to build up my curiosity and then leave me hanging, are you? Shadow’s my friend too.”

“Yeah, and she might be in trouble.”

“Exactly. You might need backup.”

He looked at this half-grown wolf cub and shook his head. “You have more courage than sense.”

“Well, duh. I’d rather have that than the other way around.”

Mikah flinched inwardly at that, even though the remark hadn’t been directed at him—the guy with more sense than courage. Usually.

“I’m not taking you stalking humans in Seattle. Your dad would take back his bourbon. Go on back to your room, and I’ll call you as soon as I know something.”

She stood where she was, staring mutinously at him.

He didn’t have time for this. Pulling out his cell phone, he video called Brock over wi-fi. “Hey, can you watch Michelangela for me? I have something important I have to do.” Brock raised his eyebrows, but agreed. Mikah said, “Are you in your room? I’m sending her right down.”

He cut the call. “Go on,” he said. “Time’s wasting—do you want something to happen to Shadow and I wasn’t there, because you were being stubborn?”

She gave him a nasty look, but she turned and stomped out. She called back, “Call me the minute you have something. Promise!”

“I promise.”

Once she’d gone off down the hall, he activated the Dimensional Spaces portal and stepped through. The security team on duty knew him and passed him without difficulty.

He bypassed the security office and its maps of the city; he had Thorne’s satellite pictures clearly in his mind, and dragons were masters of aerial navigation. He knew where to go.

An empty, abandoned office building in a rundown industrial area. He rolled it over in his mind as he headed for the helipad on the roof, which doubled as a dragon takeoff and landing zone.

Who the hell was Shadowfire, really? Why was she set up in an abandoned office building? Or had she fooled Thorne after all, and this was still another stop on her false trail?

If she’d fooled Thorne, though, she was the first. And why would a hacker of that caliber be playing Realms of Fire and Stone and flirting with an accountant? None of this made any sense.

To top it off, that bad feeling was still sitting in the pit of his stomach. Whatever was going on with Shadowfire, he had to know what it was.

Because she was not okay. The more time passed, the more sure he was of that.

Mikah wheeled through the starlit night, cloaked and hidden, the lights of Seattle spread out below his wings. He found the office building without trouble, even though the neighborhood was dark. Only a few security lights and street lights illuminated the gloom.

He soared quietly in and landed on top of the building, Changing back to human, making sure he conjured all-black SWAT-type clothing.

Practically as soon as his feet hit the rooftop, the feeling of danger and dread quadrupled. Something was going down here—or worse yet, had already gone down.

his dragon agreed uneasily.

Mikah could smell it too—a faint whiff of something sweet and alluring that nonetheless caught in the back of his throat and almost made him gag, like a pretty plate of food that was rotting under the surface.

His stomach rolled. What is it? he asked his dragon.