None occupied the space that Tyrez commanded. The fact he liked to pace only compounded the issue until Cara finally ordered him to stand in the corner and glower rather than give in to his impulses.
Of course, no one rivaled Mari for consuming stationary real estate. The ogress had squeezed behind the table as she watched everyone with her vivid-orange eyes. But the way her brows shadowed them showed her inner turmoil.
I wasn’t the only one aware of it. Cody watched her every time he spoke with her, assessing her boundaries and how they might relate to the team effort.
He and Ryan were hunkered over blueprints. Kitani was seated at the table, offering commentary while keeping an ear focused on the bedroom down the hall, where the twins played with Trix. Jacques sat across from me, answering questions the Sabres and Dragons fired at him, while Cara bustled around, serving food and drink.
“I can help with that,” I offered.
“No, you need to focus,” she said as she placed a plate of sliced fruit on the counter for Sparkle. “This is my role. I stuff you full of food and send you on your way. And then, when you return, I put you all back together.” She smiled, but I saw the shadows in her eyes.
Sparkle chirped happily and dug into the fruit. Maddy and all three of her Dires had retreated to the couch with a map of Sentis, the target city. They sprawled together in a manner that would have had me blushing if I weren’t so damned distracted.
Now that we’d figured out where Xumi held him, Matt was proving himself to be a rather noisy mental conversationalist.
Matt, it’s better that you don’t know this stuff. In case, you know, you talk in your sleep or something.
Look, I’m just hanging around in a gloomy dungeon with only a scaly bludger for company. The guy doesn’t talk, just stares when I try to get him going. I’m bored, bored, bored.
Only Matt could get bored being captured by a sadistic and ruthless Dragona underlord.
Strewth. There’s nothing boring about Xumi,he admitted. She’s scary as hell.
Look, I have to focus here. Why don’t you count cockroaches or something?
The bugs here are scary too. Aussie worthy, if I’m honest. There’s a thing with ten legs—
Matt.
Fine. I’ll count bugs.
He fell silent, and I leaned forward in my seat. Cody saw me trying to interpret the blueprints upside down and spun them around for me. I couldn’t help but notice that Cara had put the table between me and every male except Jacques. As if she expected the sex-starved Satyr to be the one who could cope with my scent.
Cody’s strong fingers tapped the blueprints. “Dungeon’s on the lowest level. But the place is old as sin, and so are the security measures. Padlocks and bars. Nothing we can’t handle.”
“There is the small detail of at least fifty-three guards in the complex,” Jacques noted. “With two-thirds being Dragons.”
I swallowed, my eyes drifting over Tyrez and Aria. We had two Dragons and two pseudo-Dragons. The odds were not good.
Angel, I have an issue.
Matt—I need to know these blueprints like my own hand.
Then he showed me the view through his eyes—Xumi, standing directly in front of him. She reached up and poured the contents of a vial over his head.
My stomach twisted.What was that?
Dragon pheromones.
Why does she think Dragon pheromones will work on a Dire?
Long story. But if I can’t perform for her—
Perform? All thoughts of memorizing blueprints vanished in an instant. And I remembered what Talakai had said.
That she would kill Matt if he didn’t give her what she wanted.
I rose and headed for the bathroom.Don’t worry, Wolfie. I’ve got you.
