Page 27 of Devoted to the Dragon

We dart into the hallway, circling the underbelly of the giant hotel before taking the stairway that leads to the casino floor. The floor is busy for this early in the night.We cut a path through the crowded tables, popping into the kitchen and out of the dry dock where the produce truck is waiting.

I leap onto the back, opening the first crate and double-checking that the box has twenty-five dart vials. This shipment is double the last, and I quickly check the other crates, but it’s Stefano’s lab crew, so the shit is nice and orderly.

I jump down from the back, looking at Donovan. “Where is it?”

He lifts his chin, pointing toward the front.

Inside the cab is a white box labeled “These” with two large vials inside. The box and the note weren’t necessary because the vials glow—one a bright purple and the other pink. I don’t know why the hell the wolves need a super dose when the regular knocks out anything that moves for days, but whatever they’re after must be fucking big.

I pocket the vials and toss the box, signaling to the crew of three. “Load up and keep your shadows ready. We’re going past the border tonight.”

Donovan rollsthrough the lifted guard gate and around back of this rickety-ass fort at the edges of shifter territory. We could have shadow-walked this whole thing. Five minutes in the Alpha King’s estate. Done. Instead, we’ve been driving all night to the middle of fucking nowhere to the edge of wolf country.

The Alpha King has yet to grace us with his presence or allow us into his city. He’ll take our weapons and has even tried to sell us his own people, but he won’t risk being seen dealing with the serpents.

At least my people admit what we are. We’re Loki's descendants, the spawn of havoc and chaos. Our legends say he made us hungry for greed, lust, and power. That’s it. We have no great purpose like the wolves claim about their making. Though if this is how the great wolves protect their people, I don’t know how we ended up the bad guys.

The story goes that the serpents never got a seat at the table of shifter power, and when the first shifter world went to shit, the serpents were the ones lighting the match. Who knows if that shit is true? There are whispers of others. Big-ass dragons. Huge water monsters.

No one has ever seen one in my lifetime. It’s only ever been the wolves looking down their noses at us while they do the same fucked-up shit and the constant wars from within the six serpent families to control human territory to feed from.

The councilman my mother arranges the handoffs with steps out the back door, signaling for Donovan to pull up. I climb down and let him get to it, jogging toward our contact.

“Jesup, would you like to see them?” I ask.

“No. Lady Sasha said it was ready.”The older wolf looks more haggard than usual, his sleeves rolled up and his greying hair tousled by nervous fingers. Doesn’t stop his upturned nose or the scowl of loathing on his face.

“Unload them,” I call.

Donovan joins Push and Killian in the back, lifting the crates and handing them off to a wolf waiting at the door.

“I’ll transfer the money now.” The councilman looks around us nervously, but there’s no one out here but my crew and the wolves my shadows can feel watching from the tree line.

I’m not worried. It’s less than ten wolves. Any of my crew could take out all of them before the councilman realized what happened.

“Then it was nice doing business with you. Good luck hunting, wolf.” I toss the dog his bone and watch as he leaps for the glowing vials, barely catching them before they crash onto the forest floor.

Does it make me a dick that I enjoyed that? Probably, but what the fuck do I care?It’s clear the tug I feel isn’t coming from here.

We haven’t even returnedto the city before my brother Bash calls.

“I see you managed not to fuck up,” he says by way of greeting. He’s the second oldest, the enforcer of our territory, and a royal dick. His singular mission in life seems to be to remind me that I’ve spent most of the last few decades dodging the family business in favor of fucking my way along the West Coast.

I mean, if you’re gonna do it, commit.

Donovan steals a glance at me, but I wave him off. “If the deal went smoothly, why the fuck are you calling?”

Bash’s boisterous laugh sounds. “Because Mommy wants her precious snakelet home. She’s got a job for you. Better remember to get yourself a flea collar before leaving.”

I hang up on his obnoxious laughter and seriously consider chucking my cell and taking off for my usual feeding grounds. I haven’t fed in days, and I have a bad feeling that I’m about to be sent into exile.

“The Lady has summoned,” I warn Donovan before I slip into the shadows, walking the blur to my mother’s tether.

Lady Sasha is my mother. Together with my three fathers, she rules the serpent’s Western Territory. It is the home of the coveted borderlands, housing two large human cities within close proximity to a nature preserve that cloaks the entrance into wolf lands. She is vicious and ruthless, and I love her dearly.

She lifts her head as I slip in from behind the curtain, emerging into her office.

“Dearest,” she coos, “well done.”

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