I’d just connected with it when Logan hissed, “Guards, incooming, froom the back.”
There was nowhere to hide, only a concrete fence on one side, and a building on the other, with fifty feet in between. Cody took us to the building and had us stand as close to it as possible. Maddy’s brows drew down, no doubt projecting nothing but blank stone.
“Good time for the distraction team,” Cody told her, and she nodded, her eyes flashing as she bespoke Wyatt.
The guards came around the corner. They looked bored, but alert, their weapons held ready. Both were clearly Dragon shifters.
That was trouble. This close, they’d sense us for sure. Or maybe smell me? I reached for critter help and found a swarm of insects all tucked up inside their hideaway for the night—in a crack in the old building’s wall. I pushed at them, and they stirred, but sluggishly.
“Distraction, Maddy,” Cody whispered.
“It’s coming,” she answered through gritted teeth.
The Dragons strolled closer, their eyes on the top of the wall. One frowned, lifted his head to sniff, and turned to scan along the building...
He looked right at us.
I shoved hard at the insects, and they rose with angry buzzing, some emerging from their hideaway. They were over two inches long. I showed them an image of the Dragons poking at their nest and felt the moment when they acquired the target...
Mere seconds later, a Dragon yelped as he got stung on his face where there were no scales. Then both were slapping and running. They bolted straight past us, heading for the front courtyard.
A few insects hovered around us. I projected calming thoughts, but it was obvious they could sense us.
“Ouch,” Cody protested as he became a victim. “Hey, I’m the good guy.”
“Sorry,” I said, trying to calm them down, “They aren’t convinced of that.”
“I’m projecting we’re not here, but it’s not working on them,” Maddy noted.
The impulses I gleaned from them... “They aren’t visual, they’re finding us based on chemicals.”
Then the ground beneath us shook. Cracks appeared in the concrete fence, and from somewhere beyond it, there was an explosion. Shouts rang out from in front of the building.
“Better late than never,” Cody muttered. He batted away two more hovering bugs before taking us along the wall toward the back entrance. We peeked around the corner at another pair of guards.
One was a Dragon shifter, the other, a Ranti.
Lucas’s mouth pulled straight as he handed me his pack. “I’ll inject the Dragon,” he said, waving his needle finger.
“You’ll have a fraction of a second, he’ll sense your energy right away,” Cody reminded him. “He’s a big dude. Do you have enough juice in that finger?”
“We’ll find out. Can you handle the Ranti?”
Cody’s eyes flashed. “Oh, yeah.”
“Do you want bugs to distract the Dragon?” I asked.
“Not if you can’t keep them from stinging us,” he said.
I raised a brow at him. “They objected to something about you.”
“Great.” He sighed. “We’ll keep them as the backup plan, okay? I’m not keen on getting taken out by friendly fire.”
“If I’m fast enough, we’ll be fine,” Lucas pointed out. He glanced at Logan, who stood right behind us. The Dire shook his furry head.
“Doon’t look at me,” he said, sounding frustrated. His eyes moved to me. “My talent has goone quiet.”
“We have another option.” I was game to try my other ability if needed.
