Unbidden, a tiny laugh forced its way past my lips, though I wasn’t sure if he was half-joking or being completely serious. “I don’t know,” I said, while inside, the dragon raged at me, furious and appalled. What are you doing? she snarled. You belong with Cobalt! He’s your Sallith’tahn! He just doesn’t know it yet because you haven’t told him.
I pushed her down. Stop it, I told her. This is my choice. I don’t want to be with someone just because it’s instinct. Maybe it was the wrong choice, but my human side couldn’t ignore this any longer. Dragons being incapable of love was probably another lie Talon had propagated. And even if it wasn’t, whatever I was feeling now, emotion, instinct or otherwise, it sure felt awfully close.
Garret’s phone buzzed on the countertop.
Reluctantly, he pulled back. Walking to the desk, the soldier plucked the phone from the counter and looked at the screen. I watched tension creep into his shoulders once more, and held my breath.
“It’s Tristan.” He turned back, and his gaze was solemn once more. “He’s agreed to meet with me, alone.”
RILEY
I didn’t like this.
Generally speaking, I didn’t like anything that had to do with the Order of St. George, but this had taken it a step further. Parked outside a coffee shop on a busy downtown street, I scanned the cars and sidewalks around me, looking for anything, anyone, that seemed out of place. As a whole, St. George did not have the same blending-in skills that Talon agents possessed, and I could usually pick the soldiers out of a crowd even when they were bothering to be inconspicuous, rather than charging in guns blazing like they usually did. That I didn’t see anything suspicious did not lower my apprehension. I didn’t like the fact that we were meeting with St. George. I didn’t like that I was out here, scanning for hidden threats or ambushes, in case said representative decided to double-cross us. Garret Sebastian was a special case and had proved himself multiple times over, but I trusted the Order about as far as I could throw them. St. George didn’t bargain with dragons; there was no compromise. I gave it a fifty-fifty shot that this soldier would come alone, or show up with a group of friends to snipe us all in the head. And he probably felt the same way about us.
“All clear on this side so far,” I growled into the mic. “Ember, Wes? What about you?”
“Nothing here, mate,” Wes answered from inside the coffee shop, probably huddled over his computer. Of the three of us, he was the only one this St. Anthony person wouldn’t recognize on sight. So despite Ember’s stubborn insistence that she wanted to be there when the other soldier showed up, in case it turned into an ambush, Garret told her that meeting him alone was the only way St. Anthony would agree. If he saw them together, he might think he was being set up and back out, and we couldn’t afford that. So instead, the three of us did the normal paranoid thing and set up watch all around the meeting spot, so that if the Order did decide to crash the party, we would at least see them coming.
“Clear on this side, too,” came Ember’s voice over the receivers. “Although, this might be...yeah. Garret, Tristan just pulled into the parking lot. He’s on his way in now.”
“Understood,” replied St. George. “Keep an eye out for anyone else.”
“Yep,” I said. “Good luck in there. Yell if you need us.”
“I will.”
The four of us fell silent, and I settled back into the seat, still watching the sidewalk while waiting impatiently for the meeting to start. I wanted this whole thing with Talon and St. George over and done with. The sooner we broke this alliance, the sooner things could go back to normal. Where my daily concerns were keeping my underground safe from the Order. Where St. George could go back to fighting Talon, and the rogues could go back to hiding from them both.