Page 50 of Dragon's Code

“Athena, any idea what he might be after?” Jerrick asks me.

I wasn’t expecting to be included in the conversation like this, but I appreciate it. “I don’t know exactly, but he was talking about me switching sides as if I were already pledged to a side.”

Quiet murmurs roll through the small crowd.

“Are you saying you’re not on our side?” Jerrick asks.

I sigh. “That’s not what I meant.” I glance around at everyone. “I came here to find safety from my ex-boyfriend. Aside from what’s been in the news and on the internet, which both sources aren’t always exactly trustworthy, I didn’t know anything about you. Kash has told me a lot, but I didn’t know until Raphael started talking about picking sides that there was even a side to choose. Kash doesn’t want me involved at all, but if I were going to pick a side, I would pick yours, of course.”

Jerrick nods and glances over at Kash. I can’t see Kash’s face, but I can see the tension coiled in his shoulders.

“I have no intention of going with him or doing anything he wants. But he’s after me for a reason. There’s something he can’t do by himself. What I don’t know is if he followed me here or there’s something here and I happened to just fall right into what he wanted. It seems like it’s too good of a coincidence, but I don’t know what else to think.”

“Fae are dangerous any way you slice it.” Another man speaks, I think it’s Darius. The blonde woman, Michelle, is sandwiched between him and another man who must be the other mate. “Steer clear of being alone, and if for some reason you end up alone with him again, I wouldn’t let him touch you.”

“Noted.”

“With Jasmine learning our secret, it’s time to come up with a coming out party,” Another man says. “Pru and I have been navigating these waters for a long time. I was banished, and the clans and Elders don’t really pay attention to the banished dragons unless we become a problem. I would bet that they have no idea what’s going on.” This must be Gavin.

Kash has tried to walk me through introductions or just telling me about certain people. I know there isn’t a lot of time for us to get to know each other under these circumstances.

“What can the Elders do to you?” I ask before I can stop myself.

Everyone glances around at each other.

“If they decide to take action against us,” Darius says, stepping forward, “they could execute us, imprison us. Breaking dragon law is not something you get away with easily.”

“There are so many of you,” I say knowing there are more outside of this hotel.

“If the Elders decide to quell the spread of our news and what’s happening, it would hardly be their biggest execution numbers. Especially if what we suspect is true about the Obsidian Clan.”

“Yeah, about that, I did some research.” As soon as I saw what Kash is, I set up a number of searches to scour the internet and the dark web, to find as much information as I could. I might not always know when information will become useful, but it doesn’t stop me from stockpiling it.

“Research?” someone in the room asks.

“I knew it was a long shot, but it doesn’t sound like humans and dragons have lived separately through the entirety of history,” I say. “I found a few mentions of dragon shifters and how humans used to leave sacrifices for dragons to protect their villages. There’s, of course, the dragon eats the damsel that’s been tied to the wooden pole. But there’s also a lot about how the dragon would take the woman as a mate instead. There are mentions of Obsidian dragons and how they were protectors. They were betrayed, captured, and they were burned with magic and fire until nothing but ash was left.”

“You found all of that on the internet?” Kash asks me.

I nod. “I found more, but again, I don’t know what’s accurate or not.”

Jerrick steps forward, frowning. “How would anyone know to put that on the internet? No dragon would do that.”

I point to myself. “Humans are a part of history. They might not live as long, but they keep records too. It was probably in someone’s basement or family history that’s passed on. Who knows? But they hold pieces of information too. We’ve all lived here.”

“She makes a fair point,” another man says.

“Why were the Obsidian dragons a threat? Would they really just wipe them out because they were former humans? Or was there something else?”

“Maybe we should tap into this thing.” Michelle holds up the obsidian necklace I saw when she attacked Jasmine.

A woman with strawberry blonde hair and a very new-agey vibe moves forward. “It would be better if there was an obsidian witch,” she says.

“Penelope, you’re what we have right now. I would imagine that with all the babies being born, a witch will be among them soon enough,” Jerrick says.

There’s a very pregnant woman standing very close to Jerrick. I assume that’s his mate.

Penelope takes the obsidian necklace. “I think it would help to be charged by obsidians themselves. Ladies, if you could please form a circle around me.”

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