Page 58 of Surge of Heat

“Morning,” I say.

“Morning,” Granger greets, giving me a nervous smile.

I sit, and Evander takes an extra second, but he sits down beside me. Tension sings between all of us, and we dig into our food in complete and utter silence. Granger opens his mouth several times, but nothing comes out.

Finally, Granger asks, “Anyone else’s tattoo still hurt?”

I glance at his wrist, and see that it still looks a little tender. “Ours healed pretty quickly.”

He sighs. “Damn dragon magic.”

I smile. “Damn dragon magic is right!”

The elevator door opens, and Dr. Duncan comes out. His long beard has been braided in the front, and he’s in an outfit I can only describe as meant for a work out. He has a cotton t-shirt with “One Tectonic Plate Crashed Into Another One and Said, ‘Sorry, My Fault.’” He has that paired with jeans and runners.

“Morning! Morning, Dragon Crew!” he calls cheerfully. “You guys ready to be run ragged today?”

I smile. “I guess so.”

He starts piling up his plate with a reasonably sized portion of food, unlike the rest of us. “Everyone’s in their workout gear. Good, good! It’s going to be an exciting day!”

To my surprise, he grabs a chair and squeezes into our table. Speering a piece of grapefruit, he says, “I’ve been watching the map all morning. I think we’re counting five male dragons around the world, and at least a dozen other ‘earthquake sites’that will likely end in more dragons awakening. These are exciting times.”

“Five male dragons?” I repeat, imagining five dragons instead of one coming after me.

He gives me a sympathetic look. “It sounds like a lot, but it’ll be okay. They’re halfway across the world from here. We’re going to figure out how to better hide your scent from them, and then we can just focus on how incredible it is that dragons are real.” He starts eating, talking between bites. “Now that the president, and other important officials, are secure, there are world-wide discussions on how to keep us safe from the dragons. There’s already been an agreement that no nukes are to be used.”

“Nukes?” I ask in shock.

Dr. Duncan nods. “Some of these countries with nukes shouldnothave nukes. They were talking about blowing up the dragons over other peoples’ countries to ensure theirs stayed safe. It was a whole thing.”

Granger looks upset. “The goal should be how to communicate with the dragons and come to peaceful solutions, not going straight to killing them.”

The doctor gestures to Evander. “That’s where he’s come in handy. He hasn’t yet told the government that he turns into a dragon, but he’s made it clear to them that he’s been talking to dragons, and that they’re more human-like than animal-like. His testimony and reassurance was a huge part of the U.S. government changing their approach, and encouraging the other governments to do the same.”

“So your main focus is figuring out how to keep things peaceful with the dragons?” I ask.

Dr. Duncan swallows the food in his mouth. “Well, our main focus is to watch for another female dragon, so we’re able to offer her protection before all the males go after her. But, so far, we haven’t seen an indication of another female.” He wipes hismouth. “Evander’s main focus is to keep everyone from going nuts and killing all the dragons before we’ve even tried to work with them.

I look at Evander.

He shrugs, but there’s something sharp in his gaze. “I have a lot of money, and a lot of power. I’ve used that power many times in the past. I sure as hell intend on using that power now.”

Aydan snorts, but says nothing else.

Dr. Duncan finishes polishing off his food. “But, for today, we’ll be putting you three through the ringer to figure out your strengths, weaknesses, and limitations. This will help us not only to use that information to help you, but it’ll also be useful information that we can use against any bad dragons, should we need it.”

“Sounds good,” I say, then grin at Aydan and Evander. “You guys think you can handle a little healthy competition?”

I’d meantwith me, but they look at each other instead.

“Hell yeah.” Evander stands.

“You bet,” Aydan mutters, hands curling into fists.

Oh boy.

TWENTY-TWO

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