His Burning Heart: Real Men of Wildridge

by Kyle, Celia

  “He could just be trying to make himself stronger.” Grizz growled, and that thought seemed to make everyone at the table nervous, especially Charlie. “Get rid of all the duds until he perfects the process, leave a trail of other criminal fuck-ups like Danque and the rest until he can use it on himself the right way.”

  “What could a dragon do with those kinds of powers?” Tessa asked.

  “What couldn’t a dragon do with those kinds of powers?” Charlie said quietly, which made everyone shift uncomfortably. “We have a strong sense of justice. We can breathe fire. We can fly. We’re long-lived…”

  “A single snake shifter who underwent that treatment could stun a dragon and make them helpless,” Ragan added, “as Allon already knows far too well. I don’t want to think about what a dragon could do with that firepower.”

  “But we must if we’re going to tackle this investigation like professionals,” Charlie said in the voice that told Dyrk he meant business. “If Xavier survived that explosion in the desert, my suspicion is that the meteor affected him even more than us. If I were a gambler, I’d wager that it gave him the inspiration for this pet project of his. And as I said,” he added with a grave look to Tessa, whose hand had by now migrated to Dyrk’s knee, where it rested sandwiched between it and his hand, “it may have affected his mind.”

  “You don’t think your friend has been twisted?” Tessa suggested.

  “I’m afraid I do, my dear,” he flashed a kind but sad smile.

  “I’m so sorry,” she said sympathetically, which took Charlie a little by surprise. “It’s never easy to see a friend go down the wrong path. I know that must hurt.”

  Dyrk’s old instincts would have been to scoff at that kind of sentiment. They were a security business, not a therapy center, and this kind of thing had to be taken in stride with a stiff upper lip. But he felt the wisdom in Tessa’s words, and more surprising than anything else…he sympathized with them and with Charlie.

  “I know we’re in the thick of it, but if you need a minute, Charlie, we can all step out,” Dyrk said, rubbing his thumb across the back of Tessa’s hand. “I’d be pretty upset if I were in your shoes.”

  “Thank you both,” Charlie said with a warm smile, “but this old lizard has done enough grieving for the past. And so has Xavier, clearly. By not returning to the ones who loved him, he made himself very clear.”

  “Holy shit!” Ragan was staring at the screen of his laptop and frantically tapping the trackpad. “Sorry for the bad timing, but I just got a ping on our guy.”

  “What?” nearly everyone said at once, rounding on him.

  “I’ve been trying to trace him through a web of VPNs he has been bouncing his signal through all over the world. I just traced one from yesterday that seemed to originate out of the Ukraine, but I finally traced it to its original source. You’ll never guess where.”

  With a few taps on his keyboard, Ragan’s screen lit up the giant monitor at the back of the room. He typed in some GPS coordinates and they watched as the camera zoomed in on the planet, rocketing down all the way to the middle of the desert, between Los Angeles and Vegas. Dyrk couldn’t help breaking into a grin.

  “Makes sense,” Charlie said with a frown. “That’s the area where he found the meteorite.”

  “Perfect,” Elektra interjected. “We know who we’re after, what he’s doing, and where he probably is.”

  Thrett pushed away from the table. “And that means we need to move, like, yesterday.”

  “Hold on, we need a plan,” Dyrk said, stopping the eager beavers from running off half-cocked. “Elektra, how fast do you think we can get to those coordinates with a solid plan of attack to bring this guy in?”

  “Well, since this is an enemy we’ve never faced before, and we have no idea what his powers, tactics, or strategies are,” she drummed her fingers on the table thoughtfully before typing something out on her tablet. “I’d say 3 p.m.”

  “Good,” Charlie clapped his hands together. “Then let’s put our heads together and strategize. It’s time to settle this mystery once and for all.”

  Chapter Seven

  The sky outside was a resplendent bright blue, not a stray cloud in sight. It looked for all the world like a normal day in Los Angeles. Business as usual.

  Except it wasn’t.

  Even though the sky was perfectly clear, a dark cloud hovered over Tessa’s head as she sat at her desk. It was around midday, and preparations for that evening’s mission were deep underway. The office buzzed with activity as everyone moved back and forth, in and out, gathering supplies, and discussing plans, not to mention the occasional pep talk or mini-lecture from Charlie.

  He was very used to—and comfortable in—his position as leader of the team. In no time, his natural organizational skills were apparent. It was easy for Tessa to guess why. Going into battle like this meant putting his team in the direct line of danger. Charlie looked at his recruits more like his children than his employees. At least, that was how it appeared to Tessa, and she was usually pretty dang good at judging people.

  Despite her confidence in her boss, Tessa couldn’t shake a sense of foreboding. It was a strange feeling. She was perennially easy breezy, but this mission had her spooked. Especially the thought of Dyrk going into battle. It made her heart skip a beat, and a shiver rolled crookedly down her spine. Tessa’s vivid imagination normally allowed her to enjoy a lush, detailed fantasy world, but it also gave her worries of nightmarishly cinematic quality. She pictured terrible fates befalling her friends.

  Blood. Bruises. Agony.

  Tessa shuddered, as though she could shake off these strangely intense fears. She closed her eyes tightly and drew a deep, slow breath. She searched for her center, reaching out through the darkness. There it was. She released her breath and opened her eyes.

  The worry was still there, but she managed to push it a little farther away. Something was wrong. She didn’t know what, and she couldn’t quite give it a name. Yet it was there, bearing in at the seams of the carefully stitched safety blanket of meditation, positivity, and good old-fashioned denial that kept her cushioned from living in fear. Tessa was a master of mind over matter, but this was different. Every time she looked at a different member of the team, she envisioned a different worry. It was jarring.

  As Ragan walked by, she flagged him down with a little wave. He seemed hesitant to drop what he was doing, but he took pity on her.

  “What’s up?” Ragan leaned an elbow on the counter in front of her desk.

  “Can you feel it?” she whispered.

  Ragan stared at her blankly. “Feel…it?”

  “Something bad is coming.”

  “Hell yeah. We’re about to come face to face with a dragon whose powers we can’t even begin to understand,” he answered with a shrug. As if it were any other day.

  “I know that,” she snapped, and Tessa never snapped.

  His smile was more than just a little patronizing. “You’re nervous. That’s okay. This is a lot for a human to process. But I have to get back to work. Just hang in there. All right?”

  Before she could say anything else, he moved on. The prickly warning grew tight in her chest as she looked around for someone else. She didn’t have anything concrete to predict, but she knew her anxiety meant something.

  Tessa stopped each of the other team members individually, hoping one of them might spark the revelation of why she was so uneasy. But all her attempts were fruitless. Besides, nobody seemed to have time for her. They dismissed her fears and moved along, leaving Tessa feeling even worse about everything. Finally, she went straight to the source.

  “What’s wrong, Tessa?” Charlie asked when she poked her head into his office. “You look a little pale.”

  “Charlie, do you ever get a bad feeling?” She rubbed at her chest. “Like, deep in your belly?”

  He smiled warmly. “Tensions are running high, kid. You’re just picking up on that. Everything is going to be fine. T
rust me. We’re not going into this half-baked. I promise.”

  “But what if something happens that you’re unprepared for?”

  “I have no doubt that very thing will happen, but we will cross that bridge when we come to it, as we always do. Now if you’ll excuse me, Tessa, I have to make a call.”

  He picked up his phone, all but dismissing Tessa and leaving her to wring her hands and stew in her anxieties. The dread in her heart only grew with each passing moment as not a single person in the joint would take her seriously. Finally, she managed to catch Dyrk’s eye, and the worry written all over her face was apparently powerful enough to bring him over.

  Cupping a warm hand to her cheek, he studied her face. “Hey, you look a little ashen. Are you okay?”

  She shook her head. “Not at all. You guys are walking right into danger and nobody will listen to me. Something is wrong here, Dyrk. You shouldn’t go.”

  “What are you talking about?”

  “I have serious concerns about this mission. I can’t explain it, but you need to call it off. I think…I think it’s a trap.”

  Dyrk seemed unmoved. “We’ll be fine, you’re just worried now because of…us. We’re taking all the necessary precautions. Going into battle is always a little fraught, but we’re good at this by now. I swear.”

  A little flare of annoyance lit inside Tessa. He was brushing her off just like everyone else. Why would nobody listen to her?

  “I’m not being dramatic, Dyrk. I’m scared. Of course, I don’t want anything bad to happen to you. Any of you. But come on. You better than anyone should understand what I’m talking about. If you hadn’t followed your gut about Xavier Manchester, you would never have connected these cases. Yet after everything that’s happened, you still won’t believe me?”

  “Don’t take it personally, Tessa. Charlie’s been in the biz for a long time. If he’s ready to move ahead with a plan, I have to follow his lead. That’s how it works here.”

  “At least take me with you then. Maybe I can help somehow.” She looked up at him with pleading eyes, hoping to see his resolve waver, but he simply shook his head.

  “No way,” he said gruffly, a spark of protectiveness flashing in his bright blue eyes. “It’s not safe. Not only have you not trained to go out in the field, but you’re a receptionist. A human receptionist. Sorry, too dangerous.”

  “How can it be too dangerous for me but not for you? Just because you’re a dragon?”

  He quirked an amused eyebrow at her. “Uh, pretty much.”

  That did it. He paid lip service to the yoga techniques she’d taught him to crack this case wide open, but he refused to believe that her instincts could be anywhere close to as accurate as his. And it wasn’t just him, but the entire team. Did they really think so little of her that they could dismiss her so easily about something so important?

  Fed up and hurt, Tessa pushed past Dyrk and stormed out of the office without a backward glance. Her entire body quivered with frustration and worry, but she knew where to go for a distraction from her troubles.

  She power walked into Grandma Alice’s pet shop next door, Mutts ‘N’ Stuff, and was immediately greeted by the sounds of parakeets cheeping. Her grandmother stood behind the checkout counter with a cockatiel on one shoulder and what looked to be a fluffy white chinchilla on the other. She patiently counted out money in the cash register, murmuring numbers under her breath. Tessa strode over, desperate to unload on somebody.

  “What a lovely surprise,” Alice said when she looked up from the money in her hands. “My favorite granddaughter.”

  “Hey, Grandma Alice.”

  “Oh no, that doesn’t sound like a happy hello. What’s the matter, dear?” The chinchilla scurried down her arm and leaped onto Tessa’s shoulder, startling her.

  Tessa took a deep breath and unleashed the full scope of her complaints, leaning on the counter and trying to maintain her composure as she shared everything. Alice nodded and clucked her tongue sympathetically throughout. Even the chinchilla seemed vaguely attentive to Tessa’s tale of woe. But when it was finished, Alice said something that only made Tessa feel worse.

  “My dear, I hate to be the one to tell you this but…I think you may be overreacting a little. I know you’re worried, but you have to put your faith in Charlie. He would never intentionally put his team in jeopardy without being sufficiently prepared.”

  Tessa’s heart sank. “But what if he just doesn’t know what’s to come?”

  “Remember, he knows much more about dragons than we non-dragons do,” she replied. “Don’t let your worry cloud your judgment.”

  “It’s not my judgment that’s clouded!”

  Far from making her feel better, Alice had only made her feel worse. Even her own grandmother didn’t believe her. For the first time in years, tears burned Tessa’s eyes. She felt like she was going a bit crazy, and the way everyone had been looking at her didn’t help.

  She couldn’t take it anymore. Turning on her heel, she rushed out of the pet store, barely allowing the chinchilla to jump off her shoulder before she darted through the door, tears nearly blinding her.

  * * *

  Wind whipped under Dyrk’s wings as he soared miles above the city of Los Angeles—his dragon magic hiding him from view. They had launched from the pad at Wildridge Security headquarters just a few minutes earlier and flew in a tight formation. Each specialist was just a few feet from the other as they cut through the air, gaining altitude with measured wing beats and breathing exercises.

  Dyrk might have been a numbers guy, but he was a dragon first, and he’d always been one who prided himself on his self-control. He had a kind of ownership of his own body and the way it moved when he was shifted that made him feel more alive than most things in life—besides Tessa, now—and he was proud of that. It allowed him to be a fine team player.

  He flew on the left flank, as always. Charlie brought up the rear, as the most experienced member of the team who needed to be able to see everyone on the playing field. Elektra took center, as the most tactically minded of the bunch who could redirect their strategy on a dime. Grizz took point, as the dragon who could take the hardest hits. Thrett took up the right wing, and Elektra flew below the rest, watching their exposed undersides. Ragan’s current role of flying ahead of the group like a short-distance scout was one Wyntir normally held, and he was doing well.

  Moments like these, when they were all flying together in harmony, all working toward the same goal, reminded him why he took this job. Not only that, but they reminded him why the idea of field work tempted him every blue moon or so. More than anything, he wished Tessa was riding his back right at that moment.

  Well, that was only half-true. The thought of Tessa riding him in more ways than one was infinitely attractive, but he had no desire to bring her into such a dangerous mission. Apprehending an extremely dangerous criminal with a body count under his belt was no place for a non-magical, not to mention one who made him feel like he was seen for the first time in his life.

  God, he hated leaving her on such a sour note, but she’d never returned after their stupid argument so he could apologize. He still wouldn’t have allowed her to join the mission—neither would Charlie—but she wasn’t wrong. She’d proven that she wasn’t just a ditzy hippie spouting lots of woo-hoo hype. Tessa had good instincts, a talent jealously sought after in his line of work. Maybe they’d all been too quick to dismiss her concerns.

  Dyrk’s jaw tightened as he accepted that he hadn’t treated Tessa with the respect she deserved. He’d have to set it right as soon as they got back, but in the meantime, maybe he could do more.

  Rolling his massive head to look over his shoulder, he tried to catch Charlie’s attention. He wouldn’t break formation and risk the mission, but Charlie should have noticed. Yet the dragon’s fiery golden gaze never wavered. It would have to wait. Or not, if Tessa’s intuition was correct.

  But almost as soon as the thought chilled his bloo
d, Charlie’s voice echoed in his head. “Stay the course,” he hissed.

  Dyrk jerked his head back toward Charlie, but he still refused to meet his eye. The others didn’t react, so apparently Charlie had only spoken in Dyrk’s head. He tossed that tidbit on the “Charlie is definitely telepathic” pile. That pile was growing taller every day.

  Which meant Charlie probably knew Dyrk had eaten the last piece of cake at the office party last winter. Allon had borne the blame as an innocent dragon for far too long, but that too would have to wait.

  The squadron of dragons moved from one cluster of clouds to the next, ears sharp for signs of other air traffic as Elektra dipped in and out from the lower levels of the clouds to keep an eye out below. Swimming through clouds always felt dreamy to Dyrk, even though he’d done it thousands of times in his life.

  But as they emerged from one such cloud bank, movement off to the right caused Dyrk to snap his head in that direction. The others followed suit. Another dragon had joined them, one he didn’t recognize at first. He glanced back at Charlie again, who not only seemed unfazed by the new addition to their little squad, but he’d moved from the anchor position to a flank position, directly opposite the new dragon.

  That’s when it hit him. The new guy had to be Klent Ellwood—aka, The Gunslinger—and Charlie had known all along he’d be joining them. Dyrk couldn’t help wondering what other surprises the boss had up his sleeve.

  He’d barely had time to process all of this when the squad moved as one, dipping below the clouds enough to get a better look. At first glance, all Dyrk saw was a whole lot of nothing. But then a vague something caught his attention. When he concentrated hard enough, he could make out a compound directly below.

  It was painted the perfect sandy color to blend in with the desert, so only the keenest of eyes would spot it. No cars patrolled the property, and no guards walked the perimeter. There was not a single sign of life at all. Had Ragan not tracked the ping from Xavier’s phone, Dyrk would have thought the place was abandoned, not the headquarters for one of the most dangerous villains the shifter world had ever seen.