Page 102 of Dragon Unhinged

If she’s gone, then what’s the point of even living?

I never got to claim her.

I never got to fully make her mine, to see her fly, to see her in all her obsidian glory.

Did this beast have a mate? Did I just orphan some dragon younglings?

I raise my talons again, ripping into his soft underbelly, intent on making sure this one will only haunt me in my dreams.

Chapter

Forty-Three

SYRENA

Thank the gods the human mates of these tourmaline dragons have more sense than my rock-headed Wystans.

Finley just about kicked Ash’s ass right down the tarmac to get him on the plane, and she kept him distracted the entire flight up to Montreal to get us all up here.

I don’t blame the dragons for wanting to fly everywhere on their own wings, but with Declan and Malcolm already on their way up the coast, and a baby due any minute, we don’t have time for them to catch up, and I could use the fire breathing back-up.

“What’s the plan when we get there?” Finley tilts her head at me, her fingers entangled with Ash’s as the dragon stares out the window.

“I’ve got a tracking spell that I should be able to use to locate Brianna. It took me some time to work out, but luckily she had left her purse behind, so I had some personal items to use to connect with her. She is our first priority.” I sigh, glad for the privacy of the chartered plane. “Malcolm’s still on Declan’s tail, and he’ll let us know if they change trajectory or if something happens.”

“Do we really think Brianna might be about to give birth? I can’t imagine how scared she must be right now. And the pain.” Finley shakes her head at me, and I’m sure she’s thinking about her first time giving birth and her baby, left in Pru and Gavin’s care while we’re on this mission.

I stare grimly down at my own hands. “I hope not, but I believe Tabitha and I believe that monster is capable of anything. There are plenty of spells and potions that could do what Tabitha described, if given the right magic and combination. I don’t know what Grey would want with a dragon baby. If we could figure that out, maybe we’d be able to figure some other stuff out.”

Finley reaches across the aisle and puts her hand over mine. “We’re doing the best we can. We’ll find her.”

I nod trying to hold back the tears. Between the exhaustion and stress, I’m over this life and death shit. We need a fucking break. “We need to get them both out of his clutches, and we need to get them to Declan. If she hasn’t had the baby yet, she will soon. And if she has, I’m going to need all the talons and teeth you both possess to make sure we get them both out. If we can take down Grey in the process, all the better. Put an end to this bullshit once and for all.”

I pull another card from my tarot deck, trying to decipher what the fates have in store. All of the information I’ve pulled so far has been contradictory, like there are too many factors at play, too many possibilities for where this trip could lead, but so far I don’t like one of them and so I try again until I get an answer of hope.

“We’re starting our descent into Montreal. I hope you’ve had a pleasant trip.” The pilot’s voice crackles a little over the intercom, and I quickly stack my deck again and slip it back into my bag.

Ash and Finley look stoic, ready for whatever this fight might bring, but there’s something else radiating off our king. He’s worried about the consequences of all of this. We’re trying to negotiate with the Elder’s Counsel and figure out a way to live in peace with the existing dragon clans and the new one forming ever so quickly.

Obsidian dragons were a thriving clan at one point, but they all of them died…or were they wiped out?

And now with Declan losing it to the craze, to the grief of his mate being ripped from him, it’s possible the counsel will insist Ash do his duty and execute Declan for being lost to the craze, even if he manages to find his way back.

It will kill Ash if he has to do that. It will kill us all.

Goddesses, I hope it doesn’t come to that.

The plane lands, and before we even leave the comfort of our seats, I pull out a mirror and prepare the tracking spell so I can activate it.

A slip of paper with the address of Grey’s house in Montreal.

A drop of blood left over from tests Pru ran on Brianna.

A quartz crystal for clarity.

And with a tiny burst of dragon’s fire, courtesy of the king, an image of Brianna appears in the surface of the looking glass.

She’s alive. The spell wouldn’t have worked if she wasn’t.

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