Page 53 of Phoenix Burn

The big Dragon’s gaze sharpened. “Not many, relatively,” he said.

“Darius told me the twin-napping organizer was a she,” she added.

There was no mistaking Tyrez’s increase in interest. “The underworld mastermind who has a contract out on Talakai is also female.” He looked away from her to Ryan. “This information needs to be taken to Jacques. Could they be one and the same?”

Ryan nodded and explained to Anna and me, “Jacques is our main intel guy. He can track anyone, anywhere, anytime.” He waved to Tyrez. “He’s in full grovel mode after leading us astray with the Galeran thing. Has anyone debriefed him as to this underworld Dragona being the one who fed him the bad intel?”

“I told him this morning,” Ash said. “He’s extra motivated now to find her, and this might narrow things down for him.” He gestured to Ryan. “I can take him the message about the possible link to Talakai.”

Ryan lifted the sword. “I want to talk to him about this, too. He might be able to trace the sword if we do a rubbing of the past owners off the blade. Can you take me?”

“Certainly,” Ash said.

Tyrez growled, and when I looked at him, he shrugged. “Jacques lives in my home realm. And I am exiled. Can’t go there. Ash can, though.” He focused on the golden Dragon. “Straight there, straight back. You’ve had enough excitement lately.”

“I’ll go with,” Dani said, sounding determined.

By the set of Tyrez’s jaw, he wasn’t at all happy about them going.

“Is it the only way to gab to this Jacques bloke?” I asked.

“Communication between the realms is tricky,” Ryan explained. “It’s often faster just to drop in on him.” He sounded tired.

“Ash could take me,” I offered. “You have enough bloody crap going on.”

“Yes,” Anna piped up. “We could go.”

“No.” Ryan shook his head. “You two have done enough. Let us take it from here. Jacques will sniff the truth out about Talakai.”

I didn’t entirely trust that he’d have the Dragon’s best interests at heart, but I couldn’t exactly force them to let me take the sword to this bloke.

Ryan sheathed the sword. “If for no other reason, the value the set would have on the black market would mean he’d be unlikely to leave it behind. Even if he’d been well paid to grab my daughters.” The look in his eyes brought home just how hard it was for him to remove Talakai from the villain list.

Anna watched him, her gaze filled with worry and doubt.

The Sabre turned to her. “I promise I will get to the bottom of this, Anna. One way or another.” He gave me a small smile. “It will take some solid proof before Cody and I will believe that Dragon wasn’t involved in the girl’s kidnapping.”

“It is hard to think straight when it was your children that suffered.” Tyrez defended his friends as he strode for the stairwell. He waved to Ryan. “If he starts having a vision while in flight, just poke him. He has a tendency to go splat.”

“Thanks, loads,” groaned Ryan.

Ash and Dani transformed back to Dragon, and Ryan clutched the ancient scabbard as he climbed up on the golden-scaled neck.

“Get some rest,” he told Anna and me. “Cody is fully intending to get classes up and running tomorrow, so you’ll need it.”

Classes? Our team was down to three, with Anna being a huge question mark. She hugged herself as we watched the Dragons take off. Her face was tight, every muscle tense.

Talakai really mattered to her. I hated to admit he mattered to me, too. But for some mysterious reason, he did.

But what did it mean? If we found Talakai, were we fated to become a triad? Anna had yet to accept me as her mate. My teeth had sunk into her neck in the dream. A claiming bite, and it had seemed so real. And afterward, she’d rubbed her shoulder...

I gave myself a mental shake. I had no proof that we’d shared a living dream. It was something only mates could do.

But I’d dreamed of her before I’d met her. My beast had little doubt that she was meant for me. If that was true, could I share Anna with a Dragon?

I moved up close to her and placed my arm around her waist. I took care to keep my hands off skin, but I enjoyed the feel of her heat against me.

“If the scaly bludger isn’t involved in the kidnapping, they’ll figure it out,” I promised.

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