Page 6 of Fated for his Flame

I stared at her. Then at the others. All of them looked serious. Faces tight. Nervous.

So, I laughed. “All right. Very funny, you guys. You got me. Now, what the fuck is actually going on?”

None of their expressions changed. They didn’t even flicker.

“All right. Fine. I’ll play along with your ridiculous little plan. I go with the dragons to their homeland. How the hell do I mate one of them?” The word even sounded weird coming off my lips. “They’re, uh, big and, uh, dragony. In case you haven’t noticed.”

Wordlessly, Robert extended his phone toward me. A video was playing on the screen. I watched as a crimson-scaled dragon landed in the street between two skyscrapers. It folded its wings in against its sides, and then—

“Holy shit,” I exclaimed, grabbing the phone and rewinding it, watching again as the hulking beast was replaced by a tall, muscular male human. “Holy. Shit.”

“Exactly,” Rutledge said dryly. “Now, you understand.”

“So, you want me to go fuck one of their brains out, so I can learn the location of their homeland. Is that about right?”

Looks were exchanged at my crude language, but none objected.

“What you do with him is your business,” Kennedy said at last, using typical political speak to ease her burden. But we both knew that was the intent. “We just need the location of that island, along with any other information you can get us. As I said, for now, it appears to be a one-way trip. If we can find a way to get you out, we will, of course.”

“Hard to guarantee that when you can’t even locate it,” I said. “I understand.”

And I did. I was to be a dragon’s whore. It wasn’t the first time I’d used my sex to my advantage, nor would it be the last. It was all part of the mission. My training had included many aspects of that side of the trade. Including how to do it when you really, really didn’t want to. The detachment of mind from body and things like that.

Of course, if he looked anything like the hunk of muscle in the video, it wouldn’t be that hard. A nice visual went a long way.

“A dragon’s mate,” I said with a laugh, shaking my head. “Have any of your other operatives ever done anything like this?”

Kennedy didn’t bother to answer. We all knew the answer. It was the mission. The one nobody would be able to top.

“Find us their home,” Rutledge said with a hiss. “So that when, not if, the ceasefire fails, we know where to strike the bastards.”

I noted how he, including myself, assumed it would only be a temporary truce. It would fall apart somehow for some reason.

“Strike?” I glared at him, then at Kennedy. “No. I’m not doing this for you to fire a few missiles. If I get you this information and the war resumes, you nuke the bastards. That’s my condition. Take it or leave it.”

Rutledge smiled. “Coincidentally, I told the president the same thing. And he agrees.”

“Good.”

I sat back in the chair, listening to the rumble of the engines, a little smile playing over my face.

It was the ultimate mission for someone like me. There was no topping it. It would be the stuff of legends.

Of course, I had to succeed first.

Chapter Four

Silas

The airspace around the palace was far busier than I recalled ever seeing before. By the time I’d landed and shifted, a full half-dozen dragons were in line behind me, along with the dozen or so already present.

I’d arrived under the impression I was having a private meeting with the sovereign, despite her claim to the opposite, but that no longer appeared to be the case. Most of the dragons were part of the Council, the body that governed at the sovereign’s whim. If they were there, then something was going down.

“Ajax,” I called, waving at a familiar dragon.

The bright blue-eyed shifter wandered over my way.

“Silas. What are you doing here?” he rumbled. “Don’t tell me the sovereign conned you into this bullshit as well.”

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