Page 70 of Dragon's Code

“What do you mean?” Jerrick asks.

“If she didn’t tell you where it is, she didn’t send it. She said it was important to mark everything on a digital map. Location was important to her.”

“Then who sent it?” Jonathan questions.

I look at the video. I can see her sitting at a desk next to him. They’re talking while she types and does something. I can’t see the screens she’s working on.

I point at the screen, at Raphael. “He did.”

“Why would he do that?” Jerrick asks, staring back at the screen.

“I don’t know. But I’m guessing that whatever he’s doing, it’s important.”

We all stare silently for a moment and then I turn away from it. “She’s doing what she needs to do. In the meantime, we’ve got to figure out what to do with the fucking militia looking to take us apart.”

“I’ve got some thoughts on that,” Jerrick says.

* * *

The roof givesus a great view of the strip. It’s not the Stratosphere, but it’s enough. Jerrick, Jonathan, Darius, Khalid, Gavin, and I are all discussing weak points in their positioning. There aren’t a lot of them and they’re not as weak as we’d like them to be, but if we can take out some strategic pawns, maybe we can turn this siege around.

“What would you like us to do?” My sister’s voice catches me off guard.

The six of us spin around to see all of the females standing in a formation behind Krystana and Anya. They flank each other, all standing with lifted chins, defiance lighting up their eyes, and strong stance of determination.

Jerrick immediately shakes his head. “No. You’re not getting involved in this.”

Anya stomps her foot. “Stop it, Jerrick. We’re not helpless. We’re not fragile. We’re fucking dragons and we’re going to help.”

Krystana’s mouth curves into a smile. “These women are more than capable. You need to stop hiding behind the fear that you’re going to lose them.”

“Females are precious,” Jerrick snarls.

Krystana shakes her head. “No, mates are precious. Which includes you all as well. We’ll be stronger working together. You know how to fight dragons. These women understand humans better than we do. We need each other to get this done.”

My twin sister has always been amazing, but seeing her standing in the moonlight with an army of women behind her, ready to follow her, I know that she can be so much more than Rapunzel in the tower, like my brothers seem so keen to keep her. She’s done listening to him, I can tell. She’s going to be doing things her own way from here on out.

Darius’s eyes are on his mate. “Do you have something to bring to the table?”

Michelle grins. “We do, actually.”

“All right, mate,” Khalid says. “Tell us what you have.”

We form a circle together. It’s then I feel a pang of loss of not having Athena by my side. But just like these women, she’s doing her part. And they’re right. We need to, we have to work together.

I just wish I could be by her side. But we’re where we need to be fighting together even if we’re apart.

My dragon sullenly reminds me that if I’d claimed her, we could talk to her right now. She would know that I’m with her.

Krystana steps toward the edge of the roof. She stares straight down. “There’s this tactic my father told me about once. He said that you send your strongest members to the front of the line to deal with the intruders. Then you send a bunch of people around to take out key points to take over the posts until they’re surrounded.”

“Not a bad idea, but rather simple,” Jerrick says.

“There’s more,” she says.

“The government and Grey have to be behind this. We have to assume that. The US government wouldn’t stand idly by while a non-government group moved into a territory. Grey’s been ten steps ahead of us. This seems to be right up his alley. If that’s the case, this is going to get loud and messy quickly. Grey wants to take out the dragons and the rest of the shifters too, I imagine. Even if they don’t kill us, I’ll bet money someone is recording every second. We’re going to show our scary faces. Grey has made the humans afraid of us. Right now, we need to capitalize on that.”

“Capitalize?” Darius asks. “Why?”

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