“I would be, but Ember needs the break. She’s tired, and this constant running around isn’t helping. I thought I’d give her at least a few hours’ sleep before we start again.”
“She’s not sleeping, mate,” Wes said quietly, still staring at me. I frowned at him.
“What are you talking about?”
Wes’s gaze darkened. “You haven’t noticed? Bloody hell, Riley. Have you really looked at the girl lately? She’s more than tired—she’s bloody exhausted. She sleepwalks through half our conversations. I go into the hall at three in the morning, and her light is still on and the television is blaring away.” Wes shook his head at me. “I doubt she’s getting more than a couple hours of sleep a night, and a tired dragon is a ticking time bomb. She’s going to explode, unless you can get to the bottom of what’s eating her.”
Slightly dazed, I leaned against the bed frame, thinking back over the past couple weeks. I’d noticed Ember had gotten quieter, but hadn’t confronted her about it until tonight. She’d been withdrawn for several days, and that worried me, but I’d assumed it was the frantic pace we were setting—the strain of the hunt—that was getting to her. Recently, she’d grown snappish and irritable, snarling at Wes whenever he made one of his “Wes comments.” I knew she was tired. I hadn’t known she wasn’t getting any sleep at all.
This was bad. Exhausted dragons were more than irritable and cranky, we could be downright dangerous as our control slipped and our baser instincts rose to the surface. Poking a tired dragon was an excellent way to get yourself burned.
“What do you think is bothering her?” I asked Wes. “I talked to her tonight, but I didn’t get a clear answer. Just that she doesn’t want to slow us down, but I know that can’t be the whole story.”
Wes rolled his eyes. “Oh, I don’t know, mate. We haven’t been doing anything stressful lately, have we?” Shaking his head, he leaned back and began ticking things off on his fingers. “Let’s see. In the past few weeks, she was shot, we were ambushed by St. George, you got kidnapped by Talon, your bloody hatchling had to fight Lilith’s murderous Viper student...” Wes grimaced. “Take your pick, mate. She’s not a soldier. She didn’t have years of training like you. Bloody hell, Riley, a couple weeks ago she killed a human for the first time and watched another dragon get murdered in front of her. What do you think that’s doing to her head right now?”
“Shit.” I stabbed a hand through my hair. What was wrong with me? We had been running and fighting nonstop ever since we left Crescent Beach. Ember had seen nothing but constant battles, blood and death. I was desensitized to it, but she had killed for the very first time in her life. Of course it would be getting to her.
I was about to turn around and stalk back to her room when the laptop chimed. Wes looked down, tapped a few keys and scowled.
“It’s Griffin. He’s got a meeting place for us.”
Rage flickered again, and I swallowed the growl crawling up my throat. For the sake of my underground, I would play nice with the backstabbing traitor and not rip his throat out through his teeth, but I wasn’t going to be happy about it. “Where?”
“Tomorrow evening. Louisiana?” Wes squinted at the screen and groaned. “Oh, bloody hell. He’s in New Orleans.”
I finished cleaning out my desk and closed the box, then left it on the corner for a worker to take down to the car. Not even a month in, and I’m already packing up my office, I thought, walking to the window for a final view of the Los Angeles cityscape below. At least I’m moving in the right direction: up. Or, I hope I am, anyway. Per normal, Mr. Roth hadn’t given me any real details. Only that I was being moved to another “project” that would make better use of my talents. I could only imagine what Talon wanted me to do now. Especially after the fiasco with Mist and Faith, and the unsuccessful attempt to return Ember to the organization.
Ember, I thought, staring through the glass. The open sky beckoned enticingly beyond the pane, but it never called to me the way that it did her. Where are you? Why couldn’t you just do what Talon asked? Now you’ve forced their hand. You’ve chosen to stay with that rogue, which the organization can’t ignore, and I might not be there to protect you this time.
“Ah, Mr. Hill. Are you ready?”
I turned. Mr. Roth had entered the room, trailed by a skinny, younger human who immediately walked to my desk, picked up the box and left without making eye contact with either of us. The senior dragon didn’t spare the human a single glance but smiled brightly at me, though as always, the smile never quite reached his eyes.
“Exciting, isn’t it?” Mr. Roth said, clasping his hands in front of him. “New location, new assignment, another opportunity to advance. You must be pleased that the organization is taking such an interest in you, Mr. Hill. Not many are afforded such a privilege.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, because I was pleased. I was happy that Talon had noticed me, that despite the mission to retrieve Ember not having the desired results, the part I had played had proved my worth to the organization. But something still nagged at me, despite my best attempts to quell it. “I did have a question, sir,” I ventured, and Mr. Roth arched one slender eyebrow. “What of my sister? She’s still out there, with Cobalt. What does Talon intend to do about her?”
Mr. Roth’s eyes glittered coldly, though his smile remained in place. “You needn’t worry about your sister, Mr. Hill,” he said. “Plans are in place to find and return her to Talon, though you must understand, she is a rogue and criminal in the eyes of the organization. We will take every opportunity to detain her without harm, but you saw the lengths to which she was willing to go to evade us. The last time we attempted contact with Ember Hill, an agent died. We cannot afford to have that happen again.”
His tone hadn’t changed; it was still calm and informative, but an edge had crept into his voice, and I felt a chill slide up my back at the reminder. One of Talon’s agents, a young Viper named Faith, had been dispatched to bring Ember back to the organization. Faith’s job was to get close to Ember, earn her trust and, when the time was right, persuade her to return to Talon. It had been a good plan; Faith and a second agent named Mist had been able to infiltrate Cobalt’s hideout, and neither Ember nor the rogue had suspected anything. But something had gone terribly wrong, for when it was over, Faith was dead, the mission was in shambles and Ember had disappeared again.
Mist, I’d later discovered, was alive, though she had also failed in her mission to extract certain information from Cobalt. She’d returned to Talon quietly and was immediately reassigned, though I had no idea where. I hadn’t seen her since the day she’d left for the mission.
“Your sister is no longer your responsibility, Mr. Hill,” Mr. Roth continued. “Rest assured, we will find her. Trust that Talon has her best interests at heart, and will take every precaution to return Ms. Hill alive and unharmed. But you have another role now. Another project that requires your skill and talents. We hope you will make it your top priority.”
“Yes, sir,” I said, hearing the subtle threat beneath the words. “Of course. I was simply confirming that I can put my sister from my mind and focus on what I need to do.”
I kept the confident smile on my face in front of Mr. Roth, but guilt gnawed at me. Ember had always been my responsibility. I’d looked after us both for so long, cleaning up Ember’s messes, covering for her, getting her out of trouble time and time again. I would never admit it to Talon, but it was partially my fault that she had gone rogue back in Crescent Beach. Maybe if I’d kept a better eye on her, paid more attention, I could have stopped my sister from falling in with Cobalt and throwing away her future.
I’d tried to help her. I’d done all I could to return her to the