My stomach growled as if to answer him. The food at the gallery really hadn’t been enough.

  “Yep. We’ll get him booked in. Good news. The last group is having dinner, so you’ll get to meet some new pals.” The old man hustled me through a door and into more concrete-lined halls. “You should fit right in. But be careful of Loaf. He likes to pick on the new ones, especially during meals,” the old guard cackled.

  I’d read at one point that having power over another person changed how you viewed them. It was called the Stanford Experiment. Based on the way the guards looked at me, I could believe it. It was certainly a stark contrast to where I’d just been, with Jadelyn on my arm.

  “When do I get my phone call?” I asked the old guard.

  “Talk to a guard tomorrow. We don’t have time to bring you to the front for a phone call now.” He waved away my request, and I had a feeling that I wasn’t going to get my phone call.

  Every door buzzed open as I was led deeper into the prison. After a number of checkpoints, we eventually reached an area the guards didn’t seem to enter.

  “That way to the right is the mess hall. Enjoy your stay.” The old guard cracked up at his own joke.

  I walked down the hall and spotted the mess hall. The room had plastic observation windows cut into its side. Stepping in, the guards noticed me, but they didn’t react beyond scowling at me threateningly. The food line had several guys in hair nets doling out of metal trays. They were wearing orange, clearly prisoners themselves.

  “Hello,” a friendlier than I expected prisoner greeted me. “You’re new here.”

  “Just rolled in. Awaiting trial. Hopefully, I roll out just as fast.” I smiled and brought my tray up for him to fill.

  He plopped down mashed potatoes before dropping a small piece of unidentifiable meat onto the tray. It didn’t look particularly appealing, but I was certainly hungry enough to eat it.

  “Yeah. See Riko over there?” He nodded at a tan man sitting at the table. “Been here two months awaiting trial. Steve, three months. Greg—”

  “It’s okay. I’d like a little hope,” I stopped him.

  “Suit yourself. Get comfy is all I’m saying.” He moved with me down the line and gave me some boiled carrots and then some jello.

  “Is everything mushy here?” I frowned at the carrots in particular. They were definitely overcooked.

  “Eh.” He made a funny face. “They are pretty invested in preventing us from making shivs.”

  “Wait, the carrots? People have made shivs from carrots?” I was shocked.

  He just shrugged, and I also realized there were no eating utensils. Fuck, I had to use my hands.

  When I turned away from the line with my plate of food, I was suddenly taken back to high school again. Everybody was hunched over with their group, taking up as much space as possible at the tables to make me choose somewhere else.

  But I wasn’t in much of a socializing mood, anyway. I picked the end of a table that was unoccupied to eat on my own. I sat down and took the piece of meat, devouring it immediately.

  I could feel a shift in the prisoners around me as a large meathead stood up from across the hall and walked over towards me. He left behind a tray that seemed to be overflowing with food.

  His intentions were pretty clear.

  I spun in my seat to face him. “Hello, you wouldn’t happen to be Loaf, would you?”

  “What’s it to you?” the big man grunted, and I got a whiff of him.

  I cursed. The dude was a fucking troll. Not a swamp troll, so maybe a mountain. Either way, he stank.

  “I think I’d like your food.” My stomach growled again.

  Prisoners around me laughed, and the guards joined in.

  “Funny.” Loaf threw a punch, and I caught it, pretending to struggle just enough to be believable. The surprise on his face was meme worthy.

  I twisted his fist and plowed him into the floor before picking up my tray and taking a big scoop of my mashed potatoes. I mixed it into the carrots and stuffed it all in my mouth before heading over to his tray.

  If they were going to house a dragon, they were going to feed one.

  “Who the fuck do you think you are?” Loaf was getting back to his feet, dumb enough to go at me again. His regeneration had made him brash. He wasn’t used to real consequences.

  “Loaf, you don’t want to do this,” I told him as I nearly reached his tray of food.

  Loaf roared as he charged me, dropping his shoulder.

  A year ago, I would have been scared, but Morgana’s training kicked in. I grabbed Loaf’s shoulder and rolled with his charge, using his own momentum to throw him onto a table, snapping it in half.

  Apparently, that much violence was the line. The guards moved, slapping their nightsticks to their full length. One held a live taser, threatening me with it.

  I scooped up handfuls of Loaf’s food, stuffing it in my mouth before getting down on my knees and putting my hands behind my head. “Sorry. I’m just really hungry.” I swallowed everything. I had no doubt I wouldn’t be getting enough food to feed a dragon unless I got a little creative.

  I waited for them to tase me, surprised when they didn’t. I was glad I didn’t have to act my way through that one; I wasn’t a talented actor.

  “Solitary for you. First day and you’re breaking tables? You need to be taught a lesson.” A guard sneered at me, and I saw the gray smoke in his eyes.

  Fucking hell.

  Just how far had Iaepetus’ reach spread?

  The guard grabbed my arm and pulled me away from the mess hall. Four guys were trying to get Loaf out of the table he’d crashed into, and it made me smirk. The fucking troll tried to pick a fight with a dragon.

  I kept my senses as I strolled past others, but the rest of the place wasn’t paranormal as far as I could tell. But at least solitary would be nice and private for me to use my phone.

  The guard was rough with me, but it didn’t bother me at all. Two more guards joined him, and we went through a door that caught my attention, because there were security cameras in every corner for a while down the hallway. But as soon as we went past that door, the cameras were suspiciously absent.

  “No cameras here?” I joked.

  “Nope. We don’t want to record the screams of those in solitary. It can drive people a little crazy,” a guard chuckled. “You’re new. Causing trouble on the first day?”

  “I’m awaiting trial. Still innocent. That Meatloaf picked a fight with me.” I sounded bored, even to myself.

  “Sure you are,” another guard laughed, and they pushed me past a heavy metal door with a slot in it.

  The door slammed closed behind me before several bolts fell into place.

  I sniffed and wrinkled my nose. The room stank of anxiety ridden occupants. But the bed and toilet were clean, which was more than I’d expected.

  I sat down on the bed, the heavily used springs giving to my weight. I adjusted slightly, shifting my back to the door I’d come through just in case one of them looked through the slot.

  Pulling my phone out, I grinned in victory.

  Only for my smile to falter as it kept searching for signal. Fuck. Tapping out a message, I tried to send something to Jadelyn telling her what had happened, but it returned an error message instead.

  Grumbling, I put it down. I could keep trying. I trusted Jadelyn was doing everything in her power, but I couldn’t know if she’d even locate where I was for a while.

  Something about this all stank. I needed to find my own way out.

  Muttering under my breath, I made a spark jump from my pointer finger to my thumb. I focused and muttered again, trying to get it to spark to life further away from me.

  If I could work on my spell casting to cast at a distance or even without words, I’d be able to cause enough problems to stir up an opportunity for escape.

  They’d temporarily caged me, but I was the king of dragons. I was at the top of the food chain, and I didn’t intend to let them forget it.

  Chapter 8

  “It’s okay.” Scarlett patted Jadelyn’s leg as they all rode in the limo.

  “I don’t like this.” Jadelyn crossed her arms. “Scar, they are coming for him, and we need to protect him. What is even happening? Simon? I want to know how the hell they wound up with that body.”

  Jadelyn had stolen Scarlett’s phone so that she could multitask as she reached out to her contacts. Scarlett let her; Jadelyn hated feeling useless.

  Scarlett had caught the third agent and confirmed which station Zach was being brought into, and they were following that agent. The lawyer was supposed to be on his way to the police station, too.

  “I’ll call my father.” Scarlett stole her phone back from Jadelyn, dialing his number. She knew he could help.

  The dragonettes were both on their phones as well, rapidly exchanging messages with the others, most likely. There was an entire storm of shit that all of Zach’s wives were about to bring down on those agents.

  It wasn’t a chat group that Jadelyn was on, but the wives had their own. She started tapping away to talk to them, just to vent and make sure they were all informed.

  “Hi, Dad. Something happened. Norton and a few suits showed up and arrested Zach,” Scarlett started, putting her father on speaker phone.

  “What?” he said. “I haven’t seen anything. What did they arrest him for?”

  “That’s the kicker. Simon Greenleaf’s death. They had pictures of his dug-up body.” Scarlett frowned at Jadelyn.

  It only took a moment before her phone started blowing up with messages from the rest of the wife chat. Morgana was pissed. Jadelyn quickly started typing what she knew so far before the drow vampire went on a rampage.

  Scarlett wasn’t sure if the information would really make Morgana any less pissed or just enrage her more.

  “No way,” her father said over the phone. “The elves would never dig someone up after they bury them under their family tree. And that is without a doubt where Simon wound up. They would kill anyone who tried something like that.”

  “I don’t know what to tell you, dad. We saw the photos.” Scarlett was frowning as she saw the same things as Jadelyn, messages from Morgana confirming that the elves would never dig up the body. The Highaen sisters jumped in, agreeing as well. But Yev’s responses were particularly violent.

  “Let me get on the phone with the elves,” Scarlett’s father grumbled.

  “Probably going to have to get in line. Jadelyn is telling the wives the update as we speak. Pretty sure the sisters are about to go off on the elves. Pregnant dragon females can be intense.” Scarlett winced as she caught up on Yev’s replies. If an elf didn’t die in the next twenty-four hours, it would be a miracle.

  “Daughter.”

  Scarlett stiffened. Her father never called her that.

  “This is serious. Jadelyn, I know you are there. Call your father and explain what is happening. We need a council meeting to sort this out. You should not be figuring it out on your own.”

  “Why?” Jadelyn asked.

  But Scarlett already knew the answer. “Because someone betrayed both the elves and Zach tonight. More importantly, this could put the Philly council at each other’s throats.” She ran her tongue over her canines. “Thank you, father. Anything on Zach?”

  “I don’t see anything, but I don’t have time to dig right now. I’m going to head over to the elves and sort things out before people start dropping bodies,” he hung up.

  Chloe looked up at them, the dings on her phone slowing down. “Poly is on her way to the station. Trina is going to do her best to keep Yev calm, but that’s a bit of a losing battle. Yev is going to be due any day now, and we don’t want her agitated.”

  “Good luck with that,” Scarlett snorted. She’d dealt with the sisters extensively on the wedding planning. Yev might be the more submissive of the two, but when she wanted something, she could be as stubborn as her mate. “Best thing we can do is stay the course and hopefully give everyone good news soon. I’m more worried about the council. The elves and dragons are going to be pissed and pointing fingers.”

  Jadelyn fretted in the seat next to her. “We’ll just have to get him back. Send a few whole law practices at them.”

  There was a firm set of her brow. Jadelyn was strategizing who she needed to line up to free their man. Scarlett had no doubt that Jade would hire a mercenary crew to raid the police station if it came to that.

  Scarlett put her phone down, eying their surroundings as the agent pulled up to the local police station. She took a deep breath, working to keep her emotions in check so that she could work through whatever situation presented itself.

  First rule was always to stay calm. Scarlett took another deep breath, readying herself to strike first.

  But before the car even came to a stop, Jade was jumping out of it and looking around. Scarlett cursed, getting out and putting herself ahead of Jadelyn. They both were distracted by the same fact. The other FBI car was not in the parking lot.

  “Where is it?” Jadelyn asked, looking at Scarlett for answers that she didn’t have.

  “Come on. Let’s go in,” Scarlett urged Jadelyn forward as the dragonettes and Pixie trailed after them.

  “Mrs. Scalewright.” A man in a pinstripe suit turned to greet her. “Scarlett.” He nodded politely. “They say they don’t have Mr. Pendragon in custody and are looking for the arrest warrant.”

  Mr. Schneider was prompt, as always, when Jadelyn or her family called him. He even beat them here.

  Scarlett’s frown only deepened. “They should have just arrived. The agents left about five minutes before us.”

  “Maybe they got lost?” the officer at the desk suggested.

  Scarlett did her best not to display her thoughts on her face. She was pretty sure a donut was smarter than that police officer. Good police officers like her father were so hard to find. If this was his precinct, there was no way that type of answer would be allowed.

  “There they are.” Chloe pointed back out the doors.

  The other car had pulled up. Norton was there in the passenger seat, but that wasn’t who she wanted to see.

  Scanning the back seat, Scarlett nearly blew a gasket as she saw that it was empty. She only had a moment to react and get a hand on each of the dragonettes before they noticed the same thing and blew the place out with their dragon forms.

  They needed to keep their wits about them. It was still worth getting Zach out of the mess by the book. He had played by the rules and so would they.

  Norton got out and so did the other agent, waving over to the third officer as they walked over without a care in the world. They talked like they’d gone out for coffee, and walked in together.

  Jadelyn couldn’t hold it in, even though Scarlett already knew it would be worthless. “Where is my husband?”

  “Huh?” Norton frowned at her and the others arrayed here. “I’m sorry. Do I know you?”

  “You just arrested my husband.” Jadelyn looked like she was about to rip the man’s head off his body, so Scarlett stepped in front of her.

  Norton looked to Lopez. “Do you know them or something about her husband?”

  “Not a clue, sir. Maybe she’s nuts? We just came back from a late dinner. We would bring someone to the field office if we arrested them.” Lopez parroted.

  Scarlett grabbed Jade before she caused more trouble. “Drop it. They did something with him.” She touched her mark, feeling the magic in it. They’d never talked about what happened with it when something happened to Zach, but she was sure he was still alive. She could still feel his magic.

  “This won’t be the end of this,” Jadelyn hissed.

  Mr. Schneider frowned as he took in the situation. Scarlett pulled him and Jadelyn away, keeping an eye on the dragonettes who were typing furiously on their phones.

  “What just happened?” Schneider asked.

  Scarlett waited until they got out of the station. “They arrested Zach and then dropped him off somewhere. Now they’re claiming to know nothing about the arrest.”

  The lawyer stared at both of the girls with a look of disbelief. “You realize that, if you can prove that, you can basically tell the FBI to fuck off of Zach for the rest of his life. Besides, given what he is, could they really do much to him?”

  The answer should be no. But then Scarlett didn’t understand why Zach hadn’t escaped whatever they’d had planned for him.

  “I want your entire firm working on this. Go to the FBI field office and cause a fuss that stops everything until we get answers for where my husband is,” Jadelyn scowled at her lawyer, but the anger wasn’t directed at him.

  “Maybe he’s back at the mansion,” Chloe said hopefully as they all crawled back into the limo.

  Pixie had a little gold coin that was new around her throat, and she was putting it in her palm as she sat in the limo.

  “That something?” Scarlett asked her.

  “He made it so he could summon me. It has his aura, and a spell to tug it towards him.” She frowned at it.

  Scarlett nodded. Zach knew what he was doing. She had to trust him. “Then he doesn’t need you. That’s good. I doubt they did anything too bad to him. Let’s get to the mansion and get to the council. If we can’t find him right away, and it seems like he doesn’t immediately need us, then we need to try to keep the world from imploding while he’s dealing with whatever is going on.”

  That was their job. Zach was the son of two dragon gods, blessed by multiple beings that stepped out of myth, even to a paranormal. He would make the world quake, and it was their job to support him. As his first mate, Scarlett would keep the girls all okay for his return.

  “Someone betrayed the paranormal of Philly,” Jadelyn growled. “We are going to figure out who the fuck did this and then we are going to sick pregnant Yev on them. Or Morgana and Polydora. All of them are terrifying.”

  “My vote is on Ikta,” Sarisha added. “Give whoever did this to Ikta and they’ll really regret their decision.”

  The limo was quiet for a second before Jadelyn spoke. “Okay, Ikta too, after the others have had their turn. Whoever it is, they are going to pay dearly.”

 

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