Page 42 of Primal Dragon

Everyone turned to the woman who had volunteered to be locked up.

“Stefano kept talking about getting all the pieces into the right places by a certain time,” Letty finished. “Whatever he’s doing, it’s time sensitive.” Letty met Henrik’s eyes. “And it’s happening soon.”

Syrena stepped forward. “There’s also two celestial events happening in seven days.”

“What?” Warren growled.

Arthur said, “Blue moon.”

Enzo finished the thought, “And a lunar eclipse.”

Syrena cocked an eyebrow. “You’re up on your astronomy.”

Enzo just smirked.

“A blue moon is good news for the shifters. We always get a boost in power,” Warren said.

Syrena scoffed, “So do the vampires. Tabitha is here. I think we need to redirect our focus into finding their witch. If we take the witch away, it’s less likely they’ll be able to complete whatever it is that they’re doing.”

“We find the witch,” Henrik said quietly. “And just how to do you propose we do that?”

Syrena cleared her throat. “I’m still working on that piece. And now I have extra help to do some stake outs, if she doesn’t just pop up on her own.”

Quinn cleared her throat. “There’s something else. The last thing I got from James was a cryptic message.”

Everyone’s attention was on her now.

“It said: Fire Stone. Dragon Breath.”

Henrik looked over at Syrena with dread. They shared a long, silent conversation between the two of them.

“What is it?” Quinn pressed when neither of them volunteered any information.

“It’s why I came here in the first place,” Henrik said. “We’d heard rumors of Dragon Breath, but then there was nothing. Cillian put me in touch with James about four months ago and he couldn’t find anything.”

“Then maybe he did. What is it?”

“We’re not sure,” Syrena replied. “All I can find is some ancient dragon text that references the Fire Stone as something that could be fatal to dragons, but it doesn’t say how. There’s one line regarding Dragon Breath: ‘it will be the undoing of those who can walk through fire’. Not very encouraging.”

“What if the two are connected?” Quinn asked.

“I think we can assume it won’t lead to anything good. Where the hell does one find an ancient rock?” Syrena asked.

Enzo stepped forward. “You ever try the fae market?”

“The fae market? Where the fuck is that?”

“There’s a doorway at Wrigley Field,” Arthur said.

“Of course, there is,” Syrena muttered. “That’s just great. We should probably make a trip.”

“Soon. We don’t want to go when everything is hot,” Henrik said.

One of the women came out from the back room. The men parted, making room for her. She stepped into the room and looked around. Henrik plucked her name from his memory. Beth.

“The lot of us have been talking,” Beth said in a quiet, steady voice, “and we want to help.”

Quinn shifted her body, so her feet were on the ground. “Beth, you all have been through enough.”

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