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At that moment his phone rang, and after a few unsuccessful attempts at swiping the bloody screen, he managed to pick up.

“Boss?” Trent said, sounding relieved. “You guys okay?”

“We’ll live,” Robb said, his own sense of relief washing over him.

“Did you see that bigarse dragon?” Trent asked.

“The dragon that came within a meter of us? No, Trent, I didn’t see it.”

Trent barked out a laugh. “Finding your mate has made you sassy. I like it.”

Robb felt his jaw clenching in the way that was highly specific to dealing with Trent, even as the return to normalcy helped him feel a bit more grounded.

“Your report, Agent Bowman,” he said crisply, as he walked back toward the castle as quickly as his injuries allowed, Tahnee lending a supportive arm.

“Well, everyone stopped to watch the dragon – we’re going to have to wipe a lot of phones, by the way – but now Hargreaves have started back up again. They seem a bit less enthused now, though.”

“Injuries?” asked Robb.

“Nothing too major, except to my dignity,” said Trent. “My dress is all torn. I went from princess to slattern in an instant.”

“You never had any dignity to begin with!” Tahnee yelled over Robb’s shoulder.

“Oh, is that Tahnee?” said Trent. “Tell her I said hi.”

Robb sighed. Not for the first time, he was reminded of why he’d delegated leadership to Euan in his absence.

“Look, I’m almost there,” he said, before adding, “James is no longer a threat.”

Not that you even bothered to ask, being more concerned with updating me on your sartorial situation.

There was a long silence on the other end as Trent took in the implications of this statement.

“Understood,” he said eventually. “We’ll see you soon.”

Robb hung up.

There would be time to have mixed emotions about James’s death later. For now, Hargreaves still posed a threat.

He and Tahnee rounded the corner, passing a few tourists that were still making their way toward the exit, and Robb took in the scene before him.

It was much as they had left it – Hargreaves, Agency, and civilians who were enthralled by what they’d clearly assumed was an especially spectacular mock-fight, followed by the flight of a mock-dragon.

Which, Robb thought, reflecting, is a hell of a lot better than them thinking it was a real fight or a real dragon.

If they could convince enough of them that the dragon had just been all part of the medieval show – a very realistic part of the show – then it would make their jobs a lot easier in terms of cleanup. There was hardly any cleanup to be done if everyone just thought all of this was part of what they’d come here to see.

Robb could see that several of the Hargreaves agents were unconscious and/or restrained, and his team definitely had the edge.

His team, and everyone else who had apparently come along for the ride. He already knew Liam was here, of course, and he could see Rhys’s friend Shaz wreaking havoc in her tall, sturdy human form, having apparently decided to shift out of the cassowary form he’d seen streaking past earlier.

As he watched, she barreled straight through an unwary Hargreaves agent like a bowling ball and sent them flying. Part of Robb regretted the fact that she’d never been recruited to the Agency, but she was even more of a loose cannon than any of the members of his team.

And there was Shaz’s friend Michael – never far from her side – directing civilians out through the front gates with his usual blunt, not overly tactful manner. He had no fighting abilities, and his social skills weren’t much better… but, Robb had to admit, he was a handy ally to have when it came to computer hacking.

Not that Michael knew that Robb considered him an ally – or even that he knew who he was at all. But knowing who all the players were, and making the best use of them, was all part of his job.

He watched his team as they worked together like a well-oiled machine, each sliding in exactly where they needed to be, not even needing to talk to each other as they systematically took down the Hargreaves agents.