Page 11 of Taken

“Timeline?” I ask.

“You start in three days.” Viktor leans forward, his voice dropping. “We need to know what they’re planning, Talon. The attacks are escalating. The Craven situation grows more volatile by the day. Something’s coming—something big—and I believe this woman knows what it is. The Aurora Collective can’t afford to be blindsided if we’re going to offer a real alternative to the old ways.”

The old ways…

Fire. Brimstone. Dragons raining death. An unthinkable dream shared by some of our older brethren.

A dream that can’t be allowed to become a reality.

It’s been twelve years since Viktor gathered those of us who believed dragons and humans could find better paths than domination or war. Twelve years of building networks, of proving there was another way besides the Syndicate’s power grabs or the Circle of Fire’s dreams of returning to the days when our kind ruled through fear and flame.

Twelve years is barely a dot on the roadmap of a history that spans millennia. Some think we’re fools for thinking we canmake a difference. The way I see it, nobody will ever make any kind of difference if they never try. And the world is not ready to be ruled by fire. Certainly not the fragile humans roaming the planet.

I close the folder with a decisive snap. “I’ll need specs on the facility. Personnel files. Security protocols.”

“Already compiled.” Zoe taps her tablet. “I’ll transfer everything to your secure server.”

I stand, tucking the folder under my arm. “Anything else I should know?”

Viktor’s expression turns grim. “Our intelligence suggests they’re pushing her abilities to the breaking point. Whatever they’re looking for, they’re getting desperate to find it.”

“Desperate dragons make mistakes,” I observe.

“They also get careless with collateral damage,” Viktor counters.

The unspoken truth hangs between us. If this woman is as valuable as Viktor believes, the Syndicate will burn the world down before letting anyone else get their hands on her.

Good thing fire doesn’t scare me anymore. Not when I can call it to my own veins when needed, my dragon shifting abilities the one part of my heritage I couldn’t—wouldn’t—abandon.

“I’ll make contact when I’m in,” I tell them, already moving toward the door. Meetings make my skin twitch, and I need space to process what I’ve learned.

“Talon.” Viktor’s voice stops me at the threshold. “We need her alive and functional. Whatever’s coming, we need her insight.”

I give him a look that makes others in the room shift uncomfortably. “I know how to do my job, Viktor.”

Unspoken between us is the last retrieval I performed—the daughter of a Circle of Fire elder, held by the Syndicate as leverage. I got her out, but not before they’d broken somethingessential inside her. The failure still burns in my gut, fuels my determination that it won’t happen again.

The Syndicate may not care about collateral damage, but I do.

The door clicks shut behind me, cutting off whatever response he might have made.

In the dimly lit corridor, I allow myself a moment of stillness, sorting through implications. A Rossewyn witch, alive. Strange energy disturbances. The Syndicate growing desperate. The equations shift with each new variable, recalculating risks and rewards.

My phone vibrates—a message from Zoe:

Files uploaded. Also included everything we have on Rossewyn bloodline history. Thought you might want context.

Always efficient, that one. I pocket the phone and head for the exit, plans already forming. Three days to prepare for deep cover in the dragon’s den.

The irony doesn’t escape me. After a century of fighting against the Syndicate’s version of what dragons should be, I’m walking straight back into their midst. But this time, I’m not their weapon.

This time, I’m the knife at their throat.

And if this woman truly is what Viktor believes—a Rossewyn seer with knowledge of what’s coming—then the balance of power is about to shift dramatically. A new piece on the board that could change everything. Maybe even vindicate what the Aurora Collective stands for: a world where dragons find their place without domination.

The elevator hums as it carries me to street level. My reflection in the polished doors shows a man with hard edges and harder eyes. A dragon who’s learned to hide his fire until it’s needed. A man built for exactly this kind of mission.

Three days to become Allard Reeve. To become one of them again, at least on the surface.

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