Page 7 of Dragon's Revenge

Kean whistled between his teeth as he looked at the map on his phone. “That’s a lot of ground for him to cover.”

Sivney’s brows furrowed as he stared at his own phone. “His last location is right between where you guys were and Luleå, and there are three roads that he could’ve taken from Jokkmokk to the airport.” He looked up. “He may have hoped to catch a ride.”

“Catch a ride? In northern Sweden?” Kean clicked his tongue. “The odds would’ve been low. Big risk to wait for a car or truck that may never come.”

Sivney shook his head. “No, look at the map. There’s one road that goes north to south and one from Jokkmokk that leads east. Anyone going anywhere in that entire region has to travel through that town. And it would have to be supplied as well, right? I’m assuming if this is their only road, they’d make sure it’s accessible. So there’s traffic to be expected there. Not a lot, but enough to ensure a ride, especially if they realized he was a foreigner.”

“Good point,” Kean conceded.

“Or he may have simply headed for the nearest town that would have cell service,” Erwan said. “He wouldn’t have gotten on a plane without contacting me or the pack first. So he may have asked for directions to the nearest inhabited place…which was Jokkmokk.”

“Let’s assume you’re right, and you may be because that sounds like Rhene to me,” Palani said. “That means something happened in Jokkmokk. Something that got him into trouble to the point where he pulled on your magic…before disconnecting.”

“No, that timeline isn’t right,” Jermon spoke up. “Check the time of that last location. That’s a few hours after we felt his connection sever. So something would’ve happened before he reached Jokkmokk.”

Erwan pressed his lips together, fear bitter in his mouth all over again. “If he ran into trouble before that, it had to have been dragons. He was in the middle of absolutely fucking nowhere. Who else could’ve gotten to him there?”

Palani nodded. “I agree, and moreover, who would’ve even known he was there in the first place? Nothing else was going on except for the Dragon Council, so no one other than dragons would have known.”

“Do we think Cladhaire and Baoth could’ve made an attempt on his life?” Jermon asked. “It’s not like they haven’t tried to kill him before.”

“I doubt it,” Emma said. “Not that I question they’d want him dead, but from what Erwan told us about what happened, I can only surmise they must’ve been reeling. They lost their clan, the Murphys—their allies—lost their clan, and they were basically stripped of all their power. I don’t think they had the wherewithal to go after Rhene.”

“The Murphys, then?” Palani scratched his scruff. “But they would’ve been dealing with the same blow, right?”

“Yeah, but there’s more of them, and they’re younger and stronger,” Emma said. “I could see them pulling it off.”

“But they wouldn’t have had much time to set a real ambush,” Jermon said. “It would’ve had to have been more of a spontaneous attack, an impulse decision.”

“We’re assuming the reason he needed our magic and the reason he’s now disappeared are the same,” Erwan said slowly. “What if they’re two separate events?”

“You’re saying he had more than one group on his ass?” Kean sighed. “He needs to work on his charm.”

Despite everything, Erwan laughed. “You should’ve seen him at the Council. He was fearless. Absolutely fearless. I’ll never…” His voice broke.

Sivney patted his hand. “Don’t talk like that. Don’t even think it. He’s alive, and he will be okay. We have to believe that. This is Rhene Hightower we’re talking about. Badass pack alpha, mate to the King of the Doyle clan, and the biggest smart ass I know.” Sivney shot a look at Rhene’s brothers. “Well, other than you, Palani. No offense.”

“None taken.” Palani nodded. “And I couldn’t agree more. I’m not saying I’m not worried, but I have a lot of faith in Rhene’s abilities to get himself out of trouble.”

“If I may return to what you said, Erwan…” Jermon frowned deeply. “Other than Cladhaire and Baoth and the Murphys, who else could be after him? It wouldn’t be the O’Connors since they don’t take the initiative, and I doubt it was someone from the Fitzgerald clan. So who else is left?”

Silence filled the room.

“I don’t know,” Erwan finally said. “But we pissed a lot of people off, starting with…”

Wait. No, that couldn’t be, could it? It made no sense that they’d go after Rhene and not one of the dragons, unless…

“What about the dragon slayers?” he asked.

“The dragon slayers? We haven’t seen or heard from them since that first attack,” Jermon said.

“But did we kill them all? I don’t think we did.” In fact, Erwan was certain of it.

“You know, I’ve always wondered how the dragon slayers knew where to find you,” Emma said slowly. “They don’t have dragon magic, so they couldn’t have traced the boost in magic like other dragons could. How did they know where you were?”

Erwan nodded at Jermon. “Jermon suggested Cladhaire might’ve been the one to tip them off.”

“Interesting theory,” Emma said. “And one I find very plausible. It would fit everything else.”

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