Page 156 of The Dragon's Mate

Bren rushed over, grabbed Tyler’s headbetween his hands and planted a loud smacking kiss on his forehead. “Jesus, Ilove you, kid.”

Tyler grinned at him. “Everybody does.”

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“You’re sure this is the place?” Kaida staredout the windshield.

“Yes,” Cadmus said. “It’s the address thatwas texted to me.”

“He wants to meet at an abandoned airfield?”Kaida shook her head as she studied the black Lincoln parked beside the largesthangar. “I don’t like this.”

“What’s there to like?” Bones replied.

“We should leave,” Kaida said. “The Senatoris up to something.”

“We’re not leaving,” Cadmus said. “Come,we have nothing to fear.”

He opened the door and climbed out of thecar, leaving Kaida and Bones no choice but to follow them.

They slammed the doors and started after thehigh elder as he walked briskly toward the hangar. Bones was sniffing the airand Kaida said, “It’s a trap.”

“No shit, Admiral Ackbar,” Bones said.

“We need to force Cadmus back to the car andgo,” Kaida said.

Bones laughed dryly. “Like we can forceCadmus to do anything. If we piss him off enough, his dragon will kick both ourasses. The old man is tough as fucking nails.”

“Shit,” Kaida muttered as they drew closer.The only car visible was the Lincoln, but she could smell the scents of manydifferent humans drifting out from the open door of the battered andweather-aged hangar. “There’s more than just the senator inside there.

Bones shrugged. “Look, the senatorobviously has some sort of plan that’s not going to end well… for him. Doesn’tmatter how many guys he brought with him, they’re no match for us. We don’tlike what they say or do, we shift to our dragon forms and burn them to a crispor we just fly out of there. Right?”

“Right.” Kaida followed Cadmus and Bonesinto the concrete and steel hangar.

To her complete lack of surprise Bren’sfather was there with, she counted quickly, fifteen other humans. The hangarwas cold. Most of the windows that made up the far wall of the hangar had beenbroken by vandals or bored teenagers and the enormous rusted doors at the frontof the hangar were pulled back and half hanging off the hinges, exposing theinside to the elements. Their footsteps echoed on the concrete floor as theyjoined the senator in the middle of the building.

“What are you doing here?” SenatorMatthews said coldly.

“What are they doing here?” Kaida pointed tothe men standing around him in a loose cluster. “I thought you wanted to meetwith our high elder alone.”

“These are my associates,” Senator Matthewssaid. He glanced to his right. “This is Martin Grimes.”

Kaida studied the man standing to the rightof Bren’s father. He was over six feet and heavily muscled. He had pale skinand light blue eyes and his blond hair gleamed in the beams of dying sun thatpeeked through the holes in the roof of the hangar. He stroked his thick beardas he returned Kaida’s look. He looked vaguely familiar to her, but she couldn’tplace how she knew him.

“I know who your associates are,” Bones said.“You bringing the leader and members of the HAPI group to this meeting isn’texactly setting a tone for peace.”

Kaida’s dragon growled out a warning as Martinlaughed. “You’re wrong, dragon. We want peace with the paranormals. It’s whyI created the HAPI organization.”

“You literally have the words ‘againstparanormals’ in your name,” Bones growled. “We are not stupid, human.”

“You sure about that?” One of the other mensaid under his breath.

Bones growled again, smoke drifting out of hismouth, and the men glanced uneasily at each other.

Cadmus held up his hand. “Enough. We arehere on good faith to speak about peace with you, Senator Matthews.”

“That’s right,” Senator Matthews replied. “Andhow we achieve peace is by your…clan, leaving my city.”

“Are you serious?” Bones said.

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