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Do not discuss this matter with anyone aside from hybrids. Other recruiters are proving quite ruthless in their efforts to thwart any potential rivals.
Feel free to invite others to attend (Braxian hybrids only). You will not regret it.”
“I think we got him,” I said pensively before passing the com to Tagar and Nowik, who had followed me out of the building. “This behavior is much too shady. No competitor would resort to this type of secrecy.”
“I agree,” Dawn said, excitement bubbling in her voice. “I’m going.”
“WHAT?!” I exclaimed, my shock reflected on my men’s faces. “It is out of the question!”
Dawn’s face immediately closed off. “I’m not your property. You do not get to dictate what I can or cannot do.”
“This has nothing to do with that,” I snapped back with annoyance. “If this is the culprit, he’s a heartless serial killer. There’s only one missing hybrid left. He’s out of victims for his experiment. My gut says he’s gathering them all in that meeting to get a fresh supply, if not abduct all of them. And you want to walk into that trap headfirst?”
“I have considered it,” Dawn said, giving me a ‘Don’t treat me like I’m stupid’ look. “And that’s precisely why I should go. Believe me, I would have preferred for one of you to go, but he specifically saidhybrids only. If purebloods show up, I’m sure the organizer will not proceed with whatever crazy plans he has in mind. But you can put a wire and a tracker on me so that you can hear all that is happening in there. And if he tries to pull a fast one, wherever he takes us will lead you straight to his lair.”
“Okay, but it’s still too dangerous,” I argued, hardly reassured by this. “We could put the tracker and wire on Jaek since he plans on attending. We don’t need to put you in danger.”
“A good leader would never ask their people to do what they themselves aren’t willing to do,” Dawn said sternly.
I flinched at that comment as I indeed applied that rule to myself. But she was my woman. What kind of protector would I be if I casually let her walk into danger?
“Anyway, let’s go inside to discuss this rationally,” Dawn continued in the same stern tone.
Without waiting for me to answer, she stomped back inside. My men didn’t say a word. The sideways glance they cast my way echoed every single emotion coursing through me. For the very first time in my life, I caught myself wishing females were still property—even though I had no right over Dawn specifically. In my need to keep her safe, I couldn’t even feel ashamed for that thought.
I followed her in, forcing myself to keep my cool while mentally lining up the arguments I hoped would sway her. As soon as we settled around the worktable in her office, I opened my mouth to make my case, but Dawn immediately stopped me by raising her palm in an arresting gesture.
“Before you start tearing into me, understand that I have been thinking about this from the first time Jaek mentioned this to us ten days ago,” she said in a reasonable but firm voice. “I understand your concerns, and I truly appreciate your desire to protect me. But I also need you to trust that I’m not some airhead trying to play heroes. As much as I want to catch the son of a bitch who is killing us, I don’t have a death wish of my own and wouldn’t deliberately set myself up for trouble.”
“How is you going there not setting yourself up to be in danger?” I challenged.
“Because I have you, and you’ll know exactly where I am at all times,” Dawn said matter-of-factly. “Because I will be surrounded by dozens—if not hundreds—of other hybrids, who happen to have undergone pretty fantastic combat training with Jardan for the past seven weeks. Unless the killer has a full-on army with him, there’s no way he would move against so many of us.”
“Fair,” I conceded with much reluctance. “But what if he does come with a full army? What if only a handful of hybrids show up?”
“Then we abort and call in reinforcements,” Dawn replied as if it was self-evident. “You have a full crew on your frigate. You can have a couple of chasers standby in stealth mode following me to detect if there’s anything wonky. But if everything looks fine and many of the others are present, then this will be our best opportunity to know who and what we’re dealing with.”
“I hear what you’re saying, but I still don’t see why we can’t simply ask Jaek to wear the wire and tracker,” I argued stubbornly.
“Because Jaek isn’t attending the meeting to solve an investigation,” Dawn said dismissively. “Like the others, he’s going there to see if this is something he might be interested in. He already expressed interest in returning to Braxia to work at your Dagna’s research facility. His focus will be on whatever sales pitch that recruiter will spew, not poking around for clues, like I will be.”
“I get where you’re coming from, but I’m still really uncomfortable with sending you into danger,” I confessed.
To my surprise, instead of rolling her eyes in aggravation, Dawn took on a soft, almost tender expression.
“You’re notsendingme anywhere,” she said gently. “I’mchoosingto go there. But I appreciate that you didn’t say that you were uncomfortable withallowingme to go.”
I snorted, my reaction echoed by my men. Dawn didn’t need us to tell her all three of us were pondering ways to forbid her from going.
“Look, we have two full days to plan for every possible case where things could go wrong and come up with countermeasures,” she said in a reasonable tone. “Right now, my plan is to attend. But if we end up with too many scenarios where things could go belly up with no proper ways to mitigate the risks, then I’ll sit this one out. I’m not unreasonable.”
“Then let’s find all of the unmitigable scenarios,” I grumbled.
“Indeed, let’s,” Tagar said in the same grumpy tone.
Nowik grunted his assent. Dawn laughed at our displeasure, her beautiful green eyes sparkling with mischief.
For the next few hours, we plotted and schemed, Dawn occasionally leaving for a few minutes to deal with whatever the hybrids working the fields outside required. As much as I hated the thought of my woman going to that meeting, we were indeed accounting for every possible situation and failing to find one that we couldn’t handle, unless we went into unlikely extremes.
