There were murmurs of agreement. Zeke looked over at Noah, who had a troubled look on his face. Zeke had a feeling he knew why. When Noah started speaking a few moments later, he said exactly what Zeke had expected him to say.
“Dragons are nearly impossible to corrupt,” Noah said. “Unicorns are the only creatures more difficult to draw over to the side of evil. The fact that Saul is a dragon, who is now following evil, is cause for great worry.”
“If a wizard did indeed raise him, and managed to corrupt him, it must have been a very dark wizard,” Zeke agreed.
Mac frowned, and turned back to Seth. “Do you have any other information at all on where he came from?”
Seth shook his head no. “I don’t know anything else, I swear. He keeps his background a secret for the most part. But I do know what he’s after.”
“Let me guess. The dragon stones?” Mac asked.
Seth looked somewhat disappointed that Mac already knew this, but he nodded his head vigorously nonetheless. “Yes. He knows that two—the emerald and the sapphire—have been found already. He keeps attacking Falcon Cross because he wants to steal them back. And he has plans to attack the shifters in Texas and in the Redwood forest as well. But he’s also got an army of shifters, wizards, and humans working on finding out where the other two stones are.”
“The amethyst and the ruby.” Mac said with a sigh. “Peter, we have to find those before he does.”
“I agree,” Peter said. We cannot allow them to fall into the wrong hands. The trouble, though, is that no one has any idea where to even begin looking for them. The trail is completely cold. We’ve had Advocate Wizards working on research for quite some time, and they’ve come up with nothing.”
“We’ve had the shifters back in the Redwood forest researching as well,” Noah said. “But they’ve also come up empty handed.”
“That’s not surprising,” Seth said. “Saul’s army of researchers hasn’t found anything, either, and they’ve been searching for a long time.”
“Well,” Myles said, speaking up for the first time since the interrogation started. “I guess we’re in a race against time here. We have to find the dragon stones first.”
“And we have to protect the stones we have,” Owen said, piping up as well. The wizard generals of Falcon Cross murmured their agreement with Owen.
Zeke saw that Mac was frowning again as she turned back toward Seth. “Do you know if Saul has more plans to attack Falcon Cross?”
“I’m not sure what his plans are now,” Seth said slowly. “He thought that by teaching us to fly we could overcome your army by sheer numbers. But he didn’t realize how much better at flying you all were. I didn’t expect it either.”
Sam’s voice had taken on a rueful tone. Zeke saw a shadow cross over Mac’s face. No doubt she was remembering how Seth had almost killed her during the battle yesterday evening. But she quickly schooled her features, returning her face to a professional-looking, neutral expression.
“Where is he getting his army from?” Mac asked “I don’t understand how he has so many soldiers still, when we’ve killed off so many.”
Seth shrugged. “I don’t really know. Most people are pretty hush-hush about where they came from. I only know that he has some recruiters, who go looking for shifters or wizards who are feeling outcast from their clans. His recruiters are really good at convincing you that joining his Lordship’s army will change your life for the better.”
“You can stop calling him your Lordship now,” Owen said sharply.
Seth grimaced. “Sorry,” he said. “Force of habit.”
“But you have no idea when he might attack again?” Mac asked, persisting with her question and ignoring Owen’s interruption.
“No, sorry,” Seth said. “He’s pretty unpredictable, and doesn’t make plans too far into the future. He might focus his attacks elsewhere for a while after suffering two major defeats here in Falcon Cross, but it’s hard to say for sure.”
Mac and Peter started conferring together then, speaking in low tones that no one else could hear. Finally, Mac stepped back and looked at Seth. “Thank you, Seth. That will be all for now. As promised, you will be under our protection as long as this war is going on. We will treat you well, and I hope that you’ll be willing to answer any further questions we may have for you in the future.”
Seth looked relieved that the questioning was coming to an end.
“Sure,” he said. “Thank you.”
The guard took him then, leading him back to his cell and leaving the wizards and shifters alone in the room.
“Well,” Mac said, turning to face the group. “That went as well as could be expected, I think.”
“Does this change our plans at all?” Raven asked.
“I don’t think so,” Peter said, speaking up. “We will continue to focus on flying lessons for the wizard soldiers, and we will ramp up our efforts to find a trace of the other dragon stones. Perhaps some of you dragon shifters can help with that. From what Seth said, I think we have a little time before another attack on Falcon Cross. Saul will want to rebuild an army of flyers, not just of ordinary soldiers. And he’ll want to make sure those flyers are better trained this time. That will all take quite a bit of time. We are safe, for the moment at least. But we cannot rest on our laurels. We need to work harder than ever now. I’m also going to assign a group of Advocates to see if they can learn anything possible about Saul. At least now we have a name to go on, and we know he’s a dragon shifter. It’s a start.”
Murmurs of agreement rose from the group, and for the next hour some detailed plans of action were discussed. Zeke listened with interest, taking some notes of his own to review with Mac later. He had a good feeling about things now. After all, they already had two dragon stones. If they had to, they could use them against this mysterious Saul. And they had just as good a chance of finding the other two stones as Saul did. On the whole, things were looking up. The good shifters and wizards had a long way to go, but they would get there eventually. They just had to be patient and keep moving forward with the information they had.
Mac seemed to agree. A few hours later, Zeke went to meet her in her office, and she was all smiles, with her new pink scarf wrapped around her neck as she worked. She greeted him happily, and motioned for him to sit down.
“You’re in a good mood,” Zeke observed. Mac’s smile widened, her whole face lighting up with happiness.
“Well, today’s been a good day,” Mac said. “We found out who our enemy is—even if it is very basic information. And we have a plan. We know we need to work on our soldiers’ flying skills, and we know we need to find the missing dragon stones. There’s a shit-ton of work to do, but at least we know we’re heading in the right direction.”
Zeke grinned at her. “Are those the only reasons it’s been a good day? Because my day started out pretty good before I even got to the office, if you know what I mean.”
Mac’s face blushed bright red as his words reminded her of their lovemaking session that morning. “Zeke Pars, behave yourself! I can’t take you seriously when you tease me about our extracurricular activities.”
“And I can’t take you seriously, MacKenzie Somers, when you’re wearing that ridiculous pink scarf,” Zeke said.
Mac’s blush deepened, but she rolled her eyes. Zeke knew she loved it when he used her full name. No one else ever did, which made it all the more special when he said it.
“You bought it for me,” she protested.
“True enough,” Zeke said, winking at her. “On second thought, you should wear it to your next interrogation session. No prisoner will be able to withstand the torture of looking at something so pink.”
“Oh, stop!” Mac said, crumpling up a paper into a ball and throwing it at him. He laughed, and then rose slightly from his chair so that he could lean over her desk and plant a big kiss on her lips. She sighed, and returned the kiss. When Zeke pulled away and sat down again, he couldn’t help bu
t notice that her face was actually glowing now. He loved that his kisses did that to her. And he loved how much fun they could have together, even in the most trying of times.
“I’ll never stop teasing you,” Zeke said, a broad grin covering his face. “But I’ll also never stop loving you. No one else could ever make my heart soar the way you do. And despite the hard road ahead for shifters and wizards, I know my life will always be full of love and laughter from now on. Life with you is good, Mac—pink, sparkles, and all. I wouldn’t change a damn thing about you. You’re perfect.”
Mac sighed again. “You’re perfect, too. I couldn’t have asked for a better partner to take on this challenge with. Things won’t be easy, but nothing worthwhile ever is. And I have a feeling we’re going to have a lot of fun along the way.”
“Agreed,” Zeke said, his heart feeling fuller and happier than it ever had. “And how about we start off that fun with a proper dinner out tonight? With any luck, we can make it through one meal without being interrupted by a battle.”
Mac laughed. “Sounds good,” she said. “I know I’m not going to get away with working too hard and forgetting to eat while you’re around, anyway.”
Zeke laughed, too. He grabbed Mac’s hand as they left the office, and held it tightly as they walked out of Military Headquarters to go find a restaurant. Even in the hardest of times, destiny and love had a way of finding you.
As Zeke looked over at Mac, he knew he’d never been so happy to be found.
Thank You For Reading!
Book Four in the Redwood Dragons series will be coming in late April 2017!
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There are shifters walking among us. Sloane Meyers is devoted to telling their stories.
Sloane thinks we could all use a little escape in our lives. And what better way to shake up the ordinary than to transport yourself to the mysterious world of those who have an animal within them, roaring to be let out. Sloane brings you hot shifter males, and spunky, spirited heroines—with NO cliffhangers! Each book can be read as a standalone.
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