Page 57 of Surge of Storms

My gaze catches movement close to another building. It’s the strange blond man I remember seeing a few days ago. I know he’s not one of the beta dragons.Could he be a staff member?

A beta male gets a little too close to me.

“Back off!” I shout

He leaps away, and I swear the whole pack of them scatters. I feel oddly powerful around them. My gaze goes back to the strange man, but he’s gone. I make a note to have Evander check the security footage later, just in case, even though I know I’m probably being paranoid.

It’s not paranoia when you literally have a bunch of assholes trying to hurt you.

When I reach the parking lot, the driver and the car are already waiting. I don’t know how Evander does it, but he’s pretty amazing. The driver must be ex-military, because he’s huge. He also has an ear piece in his ear and the stance of someone who is looking for danger in every shadow.

No doubt Evander picked him just for me.

After waiting for another few minutes, I see Zane racing toward me.

“Ready?” I ask him, smiling.

“Evander says I’m going to get to try coffee. I want to try coffee.”

It’s hard not to laugh at the thought of Zane trying coffee.The guy has more than enough energy already.“That’s right. Let’s go!”

We climb into the back of the dark car, and the driver starts driving. The gate opens at our approach, and we pass the grassy openness of all the property Evander owns around Specter Inc. It only takes a few minutes to hit the outside of the city, and then we’re driving down decently busy streets.

Everything looks… normal. I know it’s not. I sense the fear underneath all the normalcy, but I’m still glad things haven’t gotten worse because of the dragons.

“So,” I begin, making eye contact with the driver. “I haven’t been out in the city much, how is everyone doing with this dragon stuff?”

He seems to take a moment to consider what to say. “People are investing in bomb shelters, stocking up like crazy, and many are staying with relatives outside the city. Schools and jobs are offering a lot of people options to do it all online, which has changed how all the in-person stuff operates. I, however, think that this is just a temporary period of time. Eventually, we’ll figure out a new normal with the dragons.”

“Are you worried about them?”

I can’t see his eyes through his sunglasses, but I feel him glance back at me. “It seems clear that we only have to worry aboutsomeof the dragons.”

“Of course,” Zane says, “most dragons are perfectly nice.”

It’s hard not to wonder if the driver knows that we’re dragons. Evander has tried his best to keep all of our identities a secret, but his staff no doubt knows more than they’ve let on. He seems to trust his people though, so I should too.

We stop at a red light, and I search for the next thing to say. For some reason, I want to get a sense of what’s going on in the minds of all the people. I can ask Dahlia, but she might be too deeply involved in dragon stuff to know for sure.

“So–”

Suddenly, Zane’s door comes flying open and a hand grabs him. Before I can warn him, he’s thrown like a ragdoll out the door by someone with inhuman strength. He sails through the air and smashes into the brick wall of a building before crumbling to the ground, where he lays, unmoving.

“Zane!” I scream, ripping my belt off, heart hammering as I try to scramble through my door, so I can shift and destroy whatever fucking dragon attacked my man. But the strange man from the base is there in an instant. He grabs me by the shirt, pulls me out, and punches me in the face. My head snaps back. My vision goes dark, and then everything fades away.

TWENTY-TWO

Aydan

I landand swiftly shift back. Near me, Granger does the same. We start running for the base together, laughing like idiots. For some reason, play fighting with the beta dragons feels like engaging in tackle football. It’s a blast and really gets my blood pumping. But we’d had enough of that for today, now it’s time to shower and hang out with Sam.

Evander is hanging out by our building with Dr. Duncan, chatting about whatever the hell they talk about. For two such opposite personalities, they get along better than I would’ve ever imagined.

“Hey,” I greet, reaching them before Granger.

“Nice flying,” Evander comments. “Zane says that engaging with the betas is helping them to see us in a new way and that we’ll be creating lasting bonds this way.”

Granger comes up beside me panting. “You’re so damn fast.”

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