Page 46 of Dark Dragon’s Wolf

“How they’re powering the magical protections,” Thorne put in. “Whether it’s local spells that need to be dealt with separately, or if they’re using a power sink that can be destroyed and blow them all at once.”

“Guys. This isn’t my first rodeo,” Rebel said, looking amused.

“I’d also like to find out where the computer servers are,” Thorne added. “We can’t pass up the opportunity to get ahold of Gen-X’s files and database. The amount we could learn about their operation… not to mention other facilities where they may be holding other prisoners…”

Tristan was getting impatient. “We need to focus on the prisoners,” he said. “Any help or resources you could put together, we’d be grateful for. But we don’t want to lose sight of the main objective here.”

Sloan said, “Zane’s right, though. This evacuation is a logistical nightmare. Thirty people, including kids? Even after we break them out, we have to transport them, with all of Gen-X potentially on our tails. This place is what, two hours from your lair by road?”

Thorne nodded. “More or less.”

“Okay,” Sloan said. “Trucks or buses will be vulnerable that entire time, and can be tracked from the ground or from the air. Wherever we go, they can follow us. And take us out.”

“With dragons guarding them?” Zane asked.

“And leaving a potential trail of destruction the whole way? Do you know how much attention that will attract? Human cops, news helicopters…”

“And we still have the recon problem,” Caitlyn added.

Tyr said slowly, “I have an idea about that. If Tristan and Mayah are willing to revisit the facility in the spirit world, I may have a way to allow them to move beyond the area where the wolves are. But you’d have to come to my lab to do it.”

Mayah glanced at Tristan, and he nodded. “Okay,” she said. “We can at least give it a shot.”

“Good,” Flynn said. “Better intel will help. Now we just need transport.”

“Um, hello,” Kira said. “Dragons?”

Everyone went silent. “Duh,” she said. “We potentially have ten dragons. Me, Mayah, and the four of you, plus Emon and the other three Wild Dragons in Emon’s clan—if they agree to come. Each dragon could carry three or four people. That’s enough to get thirty or more people out of there, easily. And once we’re cloaked, they can’t follow us, even with helicopters.”

Xander said, “Plus, however big this place is, with ten dragons we could totally fucking annihilate it. So there’s that.”

Zane began to grin. “I really like this idea,” he said. “A lot. I’m in.”

“Yeah,” Thorne said. “Except, as a representative to the Shifter Council for the Wild Dragons, how am I supposed to explain to them why ten fucking dragons descended on a human-owned science lab and annihilated it? Even if they were holding shifters hostage there?”

Flynn said, “We’ll hit them at night, and we’ll bring explosives. Enough to explain the damage to any humans sniffing around the wreckage afterwards.”

He gave Thorne one of his crazy crooked grins. “We’ll just make it look like an accident.”

Everyone else left the conference call, but Tristan and Mayah stayed on the line to talk to Tyr.

“Tell us more about how we can get past the wards in the spirit world,” Tristan said.

“And if it has to be both of us,” Mayah put in, with a sidelong glance at him. “Tristan did some damage to his brain during that battle with Gen-X, and—”

“I keep telling you, I’m fine,” Tristan snapped.

“He has headaches and nosebleeds,” Mayah said.

Fuck. Why did she have to tell Tyr that?

Tyr frowned. “I might be able to help with that,” he said. “But unfortunately, I’m thinking it does have to be you two. Not only did the wolves reach out to you individually, they were able to make a clearer connection when you were together. It’s interesting that Mayah has such a strong rapport with the white wolves. It tends to bear out the theories about the Al-Maddeiri Draken.”

Tristan and Mayah exchanged confused looks.

“What do you mean?” Mayah asked.

Tyr said, “Of course, you probably wouldn’t know. In academic circles, it’s generally acknowledged that the Al-Maddeiri dragons were the ones who gave the white wolves their powers, centuries ago. Also the other white shifters, quite likely, but they were particularly interested in wolves. It’s believed that one of the Al-Maddeiri sorceress dragons actually experimented with magical gene splicing, focusing on a pack in Alaska. It’s quite fascinating, really. I studied the pack myself, as part of my healing studies…”