The Protector (Fire's Edge #4) - Abigail Owen Page 0,9

as they all shifted on their feet at the news, though no one spoke. The entire purpose of the Alliance was to be the conduit the kings used to communicate with their people in the region. Kings didn’t just bypass that governing body to speak directly to smaller groups. Even enforcers.

Dammit. I should have been here. “You saw him?” Levi asked.

Finn nodded. They’d all met Brand Astarot, the new King of the Gold Clan, in person a while back. If his alpha had seen the man, he couldn’t be an imposter.

“Is the war over?” Lyndi asked.

“No.” The grim expression, even for Finn, only worsened as his eyes ignited again. “He’s calling all gold dragons loyal to the throne back to the clan.” His eyes shifted to Levi.

If Levi hadn’t been standing in front of his entire team, he might have stumbled at the impact of those words, like taking a dragon tail to the gut. As it was, a sensation of falling from a great height slammed through him.

Recalling all gold dragons? Holy shit.

Trying to contain his own reaction, Levi crossed his arms and happened to catch a glimpse of the king’s mark on his right hand, the magically tattooed emblem of the house of Astarot. A mark of loyalty to his king and his clan.

Fuck. The word went off like a series of grenades in his head.

Everyone else must’ve hit the same reaction after the initial shock, because the room erupted in sound, a cacophony of voices protesting loudly, astonished, and under the stunned anger, fearful. No one had ever been called back since being assigned here. Never. Not in centuries.

What the hell did this mean? If the king needed dragons on his side, the war was escalating. What if all the kings started recalling the dragons scattered throughout the world? Hell, the clans were already split down the middle, with the Gold Clan’s allies being the Blue and Black Clans. Was Finn going to be next?

How can I leave the team? That thought, more than any other, carried the bitter tinge of panic, a sensation he didn’t encounter often. Like swallowing his own bile.

The Alliance barely tolerated the Huracáns. The neighboring Alaz team of enforcers straight up hated them after what happened in Yosemite last winter. The dragon shifter colonies were in disarray, teetering at the edge of full-on rebellion. All of that, and the team was barely functioning, at the weakest they’d ever been. Vulnerable. Half their numbers were currently made up of newbies. Many of their trained, experienced enforcers had scattered or died. Deep, the former alpha of their team, was off doing gods knew what. Rune, the former beta who had gone rogue, was still in hiding. Aidan and Sera were on the run. Titus was dead.

Fury followed the fear and shock, as if he was passing through the stages of grief in rapid succession. Damn the gods. No. I won’t go.

But he couldn’t refuse an order from his king. It would mean going rogue, and that would force him to have to leave the team anyway. He served as an enforcer at the pleasure of the king.

Lyndi.

Her name whispered through his mind on a tidal wave of every other thought hitting him at once. He didn’t dare turn to look at her.

“When?” he demanded, the word a harsh bark.

Finn clenched his jaw. “You need to leave within the week. They have no safe way to get you there, so you’re on your own for travel.”

A week. All he had was a week. Nothing.

Levi wasn’t remotely in a place to start thinking through the logistics. The political situation, not to mention the fact that dragon shifters couldn’t fly across the oceans, the distance too far for them, made getting from California to Norway a nightmare. What the fuck was Brand Astarot thinking?

“What about me?” Attor, one of Lyndi’s boys, asked from where he stood beside her.

Finn shook his head. “Only dragons over three hundred years old.”

“Screw that,” the younger man blurted out, but Levi blew out a silent breath of relief.

Three hundred in dragon years was essentially early to mid-twenties in human years. At least the king was keeping kids out of the war. So far. None of the orphans would be impacted. Thank the gods for small mercies, because Lyndi would be beside herself if she lost even one of them. They might be part of the team, but so far Finn and Drake had made sure to use them only in situations that