Page 2 of Cash

“Fine. We’ll ask her.” A total waste of time. So what if we saved her life when she was younger? Yes, she owed us, but she wasn’t all-knowing. She wasn’t part of our family, either. It was almost like having to ask for permission to do what I felt was right.

“You know what? We’re gonna go… do anything else but this,” Jasmine announced as she linked arms with her sister. “Catch you all later.”

One good thing about Jasmine: she knew her place. And that place wasn’t with us when we were talking about dragon issue.

Aline took one more look at Smoke before she left.

Smoke sat at the terminal and pulled up his Skype account. Mary answered after the second ring. “Congratulations. You caught me out of bed this time.”

“Taken out of context, that’s a very different statement,” Smoke grinned, but it was a short-lived grin. “We have an idea. Well, Cash has an idea, and we’re exploring it. I take it you still haven’t heard anything from your contacts in Scotland?”

Her forehead creased when she frowned. “I’m sure they’re doing all they can.”

“That wasn’t an accusation,” I was quick to add. Sometimes Smoke had all the finesse of a dragon in a china shop. I nudged him out of the way. “Hi, Mary.”

“Cash. I like the beard. Very distinguished.”

“Thank you.” I had to grin as I ran a hand over my jaw. “Do you think the ladies out in Scotland will like it?”

“Ah.” She nodded. “I see. Scotland. That’s the idea.”

“Who would do a better job of finding out what’s wrong with the clan than us? You know how secretive our kind are. That could be why your contacts haven’t been able to find anything—because the clan is so well-hidden.”

She nodded again. “I had considered that, but I didn’t want to sound like a naysayer.”

“Say nay all you like.” I flashed her a smile.

“If you want to go to Scotland to see for yourselves, that’s your right.” She looked down at her desk with a sigh. “There’s only one issue that gives me pause, and I wonder if any of you have considered it yet.”

“I’m sure we can keep the cave safe with fewer of us available to guard,” I replied.

“It’s not that.” She looked up, eyes falling on all of us. “What about your iron issue?”

Issue. More like a weakness.

It was like a punch to the gut. All the air left me at once. Of course. I hadn’t thought about it in so long because there was little reason to. We had taken great pains to keep iron out of the cave, down to the bars on the prisoner cells. There was no way we’d risk having the material used against us.

Smoke made a thoughtful noise. “I have to admit, I forgot about that.”

She smiled softly. “You can bet that if any outside forces did harm to your clan, they know your weakness. They’ll clap a pair of iron shackles on you the moment they see you, to be sure you can’t shift.”

“Damn it.” I slammed my closed fist on the tabletop. “I refuse to sit here and do nothing. They could need our help out there. They’re our kin. There has to be something we can do.”

She nodded, mouth pursed. “Maybe there is something, after all. Give me a day or two to work out the specifics. But don’t get your hopes up, either. There’s no guarantee I can do anything to help you.”

“We appreciate the time you’re spending on this,” Smoke assured her.

“Hey. You’ve waited all this time to call in the favor I owed you. The least I can do is see it through.”

Smoke turned to me after closing the Skype program. “All right? We’re moving forward. Or trying to.”

My dragon snarled at the tone in his voice. “Don’t gaslight me right now, man. This is important. I’m not overreacting.”

“Nobody said you were,” Gate interjected.

I didn’t like his response much better. If there was anything worse than condescension, it was being patronized.

“Let me know when you hear something from her.” I left the room before I said anything I couldn’t take back.

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