Page 2 of Flight Risk

“Sure thing, man. I’ll hit you up about shopping, though. We’re going.”

I smiled. “Of course.”

Whether or not I actually had a conversation with him about it later was irrelevant. I appreciated the sentiment.

I opened the email:

Book travel for five days in one month’s time for 15 individuals, including yourself, who will attend the Dragon Flight Games. Here is your contact information for the European Lords.

That was it—the total amount of detail I got. Obviously, I would need to book a hotel, figure out who the individuals were, how many rooms I needed, how many meals I needed to prepare for, and whether anyone needed their suits tailored or dry-cleaned before then. But those were all problems I could tackle in the coming weeks.

For now, I started with a list and got to work.

Chapter 2

Tavian

Finally, the meeting ended. I wasn’t sure what sort of decisions we’d come to or what action items there were, because I hadn’t been paying attention for the past forty-five minutes. Still, I stood up, buttoned my jacket, and shook hands with the many individuals in the boardroom, acting as though I knew exactly what they were talking about.

Luckily, I had the meeting recorded and transcribed, thanks to a very nifty device on my phone that would allow me to go backlater and figure out what I needed to follow up on. The biggest item I was concerned about was the trip to the Dragon Flight Games.

“Father,” I said once the group started trickling out of the room. They were laughing and talking about where they’d be heading for lunch. Everyone was excited about the trip. It wasn’t often that we could go as a group.

“Yes, Son? What do you need?”

I didn’t really need anything—at least, nothing related to business. I was the lawyer for my family’s estate, but being nearly one hundred and fifty years old and having had our affairs in order for quite some time, it wasn’t exactly a strenuous job. Sure, additional issues arose now and then, and we had to scramble to keep our legacy intact while being discreet about the fact that we were all long-lived shifters who could take dragon form. But mostly, my days were quite boring, which was why I’d recently begun taking on pro-bono work in the inner city. I had to do something to keep me occupied during the day.

“For the games...”

“Don’t tell me you don’t want to go, son. It’s less about the trip and more about networking while we’re there. We’ve talked about this.”

“Yes, we have—ad nauseam. But that’s not what I’m concerned about. I understand, and Iamlooking forward to going. The Dragon Flight Games are quite a lot of fun, and it’ll be great tosee how our European friends organize the festivities. It might give us good ideas for how we can improve next year.” Our clan was hosting the games in sixteen months. There was a lot to prepare for it.

“That’s the spirit,” he said, snapping his briefcase shut and walking toward the door.

“I think Kier should come.”

Father’s brow furrowed. “The receptionist?”

I bristled internally but kept my outward appearance neutral. “He is way more than just a receptionist. He’s the glue that holds this entire clan together.” That was a slight exaggeration. The clan members lived in several cities, and we had four schools. The headquarters were just that—a central location where all the paperwork was done.

Father’s brow furrowed deeper, creating a line between his eyebrows that told me he was deep in thought.

“No one will be here while the games are going on,” I continued. “And even if there are things for him to do, they can be handled remotely.”

I paused, watching him carefully. I knew better than to push at this moment. I needed to wait and see what his concerns would be before presenting any further arguments. I had plenty of counterarguments prepared, of course—I was a lawyer, after all. That was my job.

“You know I love Kier. He’s fantastic at his job, but he’s a wolf, son.”

This time I had a harder time keeping my response neutral. I had hoped that would not be the argument my father would use. He held up a hand before I could even open my mouth.

“I have no problem with that—you know that. And no one here does either, or at least they shouldn’t. If they do, that problem needs to be reported to me ASAP. The concern I have is that we are going to another clan’s territory, and they might not appreciate him being there.”

“I’m good friends with the clan that’s hosting. Sal and I have known each other for years. He assured me there will be no problem.” And if there was, I would personally take care of it. No dragon would give Kier a hard time on my watch.

I could tell the moment my father’s mind was made up. The line between his eyebrows disappeared.

“All right, then. I’ll arrange it.”

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