Dragon's Challenge

by Jasmine Wylder

  “I’m saying that they want to shut us down and nothing we could have done differently would have changed that. I’m sorry."

  Sly folded his hands on the table and leaned forward. “So, what does that mean for us? My men and I have sacrificed years of our lives and underwent some pretty damn traumatic shit. Was it all for nothing?”

  “I’m sorry,” Maura repeated. “I’ve done all I can do. They don’t want us anymore, and I can’t change their minds.”

  Patrick cracked his knuckles, looking furious. Fiona put a hand on his shoulder, though she didn’t look much happier. Cooper looked on the verge of hitting someone.

  “What does it mean for us?” one of the women on the Shadow Ops asked quietly. Her hands twisted together as she stared at the table. “I don’t have anywhere else to go. This is the only home I know. What am I supposed to do?”

  Maura blinked back tears in her eyes. “I will be more than happy to write all of your letters of recommendation for whatever new jobs you want to pursue.”

  “Is there a job here that we can apply to?” Evan asked anxiously.

  “No. I’m afraid not at this time. I’ve tried to find something but… I was told not to.”

  She ground her teeth as she looked away. She would have loved to find even a few places for these people to work here. But, she mused, perhaps it was better that they’d told her a flat no on that one. After all, who would she pick?

  Liam stood. “Thank you, Dr. Rizzoli. We all know that if there was anything more you could have done, you would have done it. Now, I need to get back to my mate. We’re going to have to discuss what comes after this. Or do they want Utopia to stay here and work on curing cancer?”

  “All our medical research funding is being cut,” Maura told him reluctantly. “I told Utopia that before this meeting.”

  Liam’s jaw clenched, but he gave a curt nod and strode out. Seconds later, Cooper slammed both his fists into the table and tore away. The Howling Ops stood and silently filed out. The Shadow Ops were quick to follow. Fiona hugged Maura before she left, leading the Blaze Ops out.

  Maura sank into her chair again, hiding her face in her hands. Why was this all going to hell now? Wasn’t her life complicated enough?

  “Dr. Rizzoli?”

  She jumped and glanced up. Stephen stood in the doorway, half-turned back to her. The dress uniform he wore gave his impressive figure an even more impressive cut. The tattooed anchor with a bloody snake wrapped around it on his neck stood out in sharp contrast to his neatly pressed appearance. There was anger in his eyes but also a softness she had come to expect from Stephen.

  “Are you alright?” he asked.

  Maura attempted a smile. “Of course. I’m going to remain head of the Magnus Academy. That’s one thing that isn’t changing.”

  Stephen stepped in. “One thing?”

  Maura pressed her lips together. She really shouldn’t talk about this with him, but who else was she supposed to talk to? Her gaze grew stormy as she clenched her hands. “They’re changing the Academy. All students from non-shifter backgrounds, even if they are mated to shifters, are being transferred away.”

  “What?” Stephen’s eyes widened. “But that was of one the main things about this place. That even though it was for shifters, it was a place where they could stay with their non-shifter families. Why?”

  “Because they want it to be more military based.”

  Stephen frowned. “You’re a civilian.”

  “Yes. I am. I don’t know what it is that they’re planning; they wouldn’t tell me. But I do know they’re going to crank up tuition rates for all students who don’t have a military scholarship. It’s all a ploy to get more shifters to join the army, I’m sure of it.”

  “Wow.” Stephen frowned heavily as he ran his hands through his hair. “So. The military operations here are being shut down so that they can pull more kids into joining the military. That’s… well, I can’t use that language here.”

  “I’ve been calling it troubling when I’ve tried to argue against it,” Maura offered.

  Stephen nodded. “We’ll keep with that, then. A real fart-fest.”

  Maura had to laugh. Even though this situation was so beyond shitty she didn’t know what to call it, at least Stephen was able to make her laugh. It was one of the reasons she liked spending time with him. Not that they were able to spend much time together. Not when she had her position in this place and he had his.

  “I don’t like those tactics,” Stephen murmured. “Pressing underprivileged kids from poor families into service by promising them the education they can’t get any other way. It’s manipulative.”

  “You don’t have to tell me that.”

  Stephen shrugged. “It’s how they got me, you know. I didn’t have anything. My parents didn’t have anything. The way it looked to me, I didn’t have any other choice. They caught me young, pulled me in, and there wasn’t much else I could do. So I worked hard. I got rank, and I put everything into getting that because it’s reached the point in my life that I don’t know what I am if I’m not a soldier. And I hate it. It’s why I was so eager to join the Blaze Ops. I wanted a life that was… I don’t know. More free, I guess.” He smiled wryly at her as he shook his head. “Not sure why I’m telling you, though. You don’t need more guilt piled on you.”

  Maura felt her throat tighten. Here he was, his whole life thrown upside down, and he was only thinking about what sort of effect it was having on her. She cleared her throat, trying to keep from letting her tears sound in her voice.

  “You should retire. You’re smart and talented. You can do anything you set your mind to.”

  Stephen smiled at her, dimples flashing in his cheeks. “Do you really believe that?”

  “I do.”

  “Well. I guess it’s something to think about, at least.”

  Stephen stood. He hesitated a moment, his mouth opening. Then, a pink tinge rising in his cheeks, he shut it again and hurried out the door. Maura watched him go. She was struck by the selfish desire to ask him to stay with her for the next few teams she had to deliver the awful news to. But she put that aside and focused on centering herself again.

  This was her job. Nobody was going to do it for her.

  Chapter Three

  Stephen rose his glass to his teammates. One last hurrah for all the shit they’d been through together. It wasn’t easy for a dragon to get drunk, but Stephen was determined to do his best to get there. “To years of work and sacrifice ending in a kick in the pants and to be told we aren’t wanted anymore,” he crowed.

  His teammates laughed and rose their glasses, all except Evan. None of the team’s mates were around for this sad excuse of a party. They were all home, with the understanding that the guys were staying out all night and would probably not get back until the pale morning light.

  “To getting kicked in the pants with an iron boot,” Liam threw back his glass.

  “Here, here!” Eugene downed his drink. “But seriously. I’m gonna miss your ugly mugs. You’re gonna have to come to visit occasionally.”

  Stephen stepped down from the chair he was standing on and slumped in it instead. “Where ya going?”

  “Clementine’s got a job back in the town we grew up in. It’s a downgrade from what she’s got here. More hours, less pay, and she’ll be working for a real dinosaur of a misogynist. But hopefully, he’ll retire in a year or two and she can become chief physician there. As for me, I’ll be working the land. I always wanted to take over my family’s farm. Guess now’s the time.”

  Stephen refilled his glass and drained it again. “Got room for an old teammate that knows nothing about farming?”

  “Sure.” Eugene slapped his back. “You’re welcome to come work.”

  Stephen laughed. Him, a farmer? It was ludicrous. Nope, he’d have to figure something else out.

  “Utopia and I are getting some educational upgrades,” Liam said, twirling his glass on the table. “Then we
’re going to find somewhere where we can be teachers together. She’s overqualified for everything and all I can teach is sports or physical education, but we decided that we wanna work together. And Aiden’s been asking to move to Canada of all places. He’s getting into dinosaurs and wants to go on digs at a place called Dinosaur Park.”

  “Hey, maybe that’s what I’ll do,” Stephen chortled. “Dig up dino bones. Then I can be in a real-world Jurassic Park, only I eat the dinosaurs instead of them eating me.”

  Patrick was going back into the military full-time, while Fiona was going to open a dance studio. Adam was going to work construction while Karey continued medical school to become a full-fledged doctor. Evan already had several job offers from high-tech firms wanting his skills.

  Stephen wanted to get as far from the military as he could. They’d screwed him over too many times. Construction work sounded like it’d put food on the table, but building was never a passion for Stephen like it was for Adam. Technology? Stephen would have preferred to go back to using ink and paper and horse and buggies rather than learn more about computers, who hated him as much as he hated them.

  “What are you going to do?” Adam asked, watching as Stephen put back yet another drink.

  Stephen’s laughter was loud and harsh against his own ears as he spread his arms to embrace the world. “Whatever I want, baby! The world is mine and I can do whatever strikes my fancy.”

  ***

  Was that a woodpecker drilling at his skull or a knock on the door? Stephen groaned as slivers of light stabbed through his eyes. Just how much had he drunk? He lifted his head, glancing around his apartment. It was strewn with streamers, chips crushed into the carpet and various other messes. But he was alone, which meant the people who’d come to celebrate with him for getting fired from this lousy-ass job had all left.

  Stephen rolled over, waiting for his dragon’s metabolism and natural healing abilities to whisk the hangover away now that he was awake. The damn woodpecker kept drilling.

  A year.

  A year had passed since he lost his dream job and he hadn’t been able to hold steady employment for more than a couple months since then. His savings were wiped out and it wasn’t going to be long until he was homeless. Even though the rest of the team still reached out to him and he was certain he’d be able to crash with them if it came to it, there was something humiliating about having to ask for help.

  Besides, he had a feeling that he’d quickly wear out his welcome or make things even worse for them.

  Stephen rubbed his hands over his eyes. Maybe if he called up Maura, she’d be able to help him find something he could actually stick with. Or maybe he should just go back to the military. He knew he could do it, after all. And he was good at following orders and waving guns around and inflicting violence on others.

  Maybe the only thing he was good at.

  A loud rapping came on his door and Stephen groaned. He pulled himself to his feet, his head spinning in all directions as he did so. Getting to the door wasn’t so easy but he managed it all the same. Was it the police coming to tell him that he’d received too many complaints from his neighbors? Or maybe his landlord telling him that the party last night meant he wasn’t getting his damage deposit back.

  He fumbled with the door before yanking it open. There, in the hallway, stood five people. One wore a black suit, two were in dress uniforms, the other three in fatigues.

  Stephen blinked rapidly at them. “If you’re here to join the party, you’re a little late.”

  The man in the suit frowned at him, looking him up and down. “First Lieutenant Stephen Isles?”

  “Just Stephen Isles.” Stephen straightened, the hangover starting to fade and his head feeling a little less like a woodpecker was going to town on it. “I’m not in the military anymore. Who are you and what do you want?”

  “My name is Brian Forsyth. I’d like you to come down to headquarters with me to have a little chat.”

  Stephen frowned as his gaze drifted over the military uniforms. This wasn’t just about ‘chatting’ at all. He drummed his fingers against the doorframe. “Mind if I ask what this is about?”

  “We can take care of that at headquarters.”

  “You got a warrant?”

  Forsyth smiled, the smile of a shark scenting blood in the water. “Do I need one?”

  “Maybe,” Stephen growled. The last thing he wanted when waking up after a night of heavy drinking was to be dragged off somewhere and to have some guy in a suit asking him questions. “What are these guys here for?” He pointed at the uniforms. “To subdue me if I try to run for it?”

  “Is there something you want to run from?”

  Stephen opened his mouth to snap back but swallowed his words. Whatever this was about, it was clearly not something he should run his mouth with. He glared at Forsyth. No more answering questions. He knew enough about the legal system to know that these jerks would love to railroad him, even if he had nothing to do with whatever they thought he did.

  What did they think he did?

  Soon enough, he was in the headquarters. Despite being retired from the military, it was still a military base where he was put in a dark room, the one-way-mirror reflecting his image back at him. He looked haggard, shirt stained with pizza sauce, beard scraggly and in desperate need of shaving. Stephen leaned his head against one hand. No wonder they’d fired him. Who would want to have someone who looked like that working for them?

  Shit. I’m in a depressive episode, aren’t I? He scowled at his own reflection. He’d been wanting to deny it. For weeks now, he had been telling himself that he was only tired because he wasn’t sleeping well and wasn’t sleeping well because of the naps he had during the day or the coffee he drank just before bedtime. It wasn’t like he was at all suicidal or terribly sad.

  It was just that he wasn’t finding that anything was enjoyable. That being around people was more draining than it should be. That he didn’t want to do anything besides binge watch comedies on Netflix.

  So, not exactly crisis mode, but he needed to get on top of this before it became a crisis.

  He wasn’t so certain if he was going to get the chance when the door opened, though. Forsyth walked in, holding a file folder and with that stupid, smug smirk on his face.

  “Well, Mr. Isles. I take it you’re feeling a bit better?”

  Stephen rolled his eyes and didn’t answer. This suit would get to his point soon enough and he wasn’t going to play along with whatever mind games the man had planned. In reply to his stony silence, Forsyth only smiled wider.

  “I’ll take that as a no. Let’s get down to it, shall we? I’m sure we can get this all sorted out before it ends up being too big of a deal. Now. For the past few years you’ve been working out of the Magnus Academy, is that correct?”

  He wasn’t supposed to talk about what happened at the Academy. People outside weren’t supposed to know what was happening inside of it either. There was a reason they were off the books. Reports, once made, were immediately shredded and burned. No written evidence was meant to be left. Maura had the people she reported to, but there wasn’t supposed to be any evidence of that, either.

  So he remained silent. His fires burned a little hotter, though. If Forsyth had anything that happened while he was part of the Blaze Ops, it could end up very messy.

  “No need to answer.” Forsyth pulled several pictures from the folder and placed them in front of Stephen. He tensed, recognizing the face in the pictures. The Alpha. The man who’d caused so much pain and destruction. “Do you know this man?”

  Stephen kept his mouth shut. They couldn’t use his words against him if he didn’t say anything. His mind rushed about from one thought to the next. Why did they have pictures of the Alpha? What was this about? What did Forsyth want? Was this some attempt to bring the Blaze Ops to the light of day or were the government and military making sure they would never share what they had experienced and done with anybody else
?

  “Perhaps this man,” Forsyth continued, laying down the picture of a corpse. One of the Alpha’s Betas. “Or this one?”

  Were they going after Karey? These were men that she had killed. Men that had been thoughtlessly cruel to her, men that she killed because it was the only way she could be free of them, the only way the Pack could be brought down. But if it was an attempt to go after her for killing the bad guys, why bring him to a military base?

  Stephen leaned back in his chair. He didn’t know what they were up to here, but he was sure of one thing... He needed to figure it out and he couldn’t do that on his own. Not without giving away too much.

  “You do know these men, don’t you?” Forsyth stared hard at him.

  Stephen folded his arms and glared back. “I want a lawyer.”

  A look of disappointment crossed Forsyth’s face. “Mr. Isles, we don’t have to—”

  “I am invoking my right to silence and an attorney,” Stephen said, keeping his voice even. He’d been witness to enough to know what he had to say. “I am not answering any questions without advice from my lawyer.”

  He leaned back, staring stonily at Forsyth. Now it was just a matter of keeping to it. Forsyth was a civilian. Otherwise, he’d have introduced himself by rank. Stephen was now a civilian. They had no business holding him on a military base—although at the time of the Alpha’s death, he was part of the military.

  Stephen pushed that thought from his head. No. he’d wait for his lawyer. And he knew exactly who he wanted to come advise him.

  Chapter Four

  Maura wasn’t a lawyer. She had studied some basic law when she was in university but that was years ago, and she had very little idea how military law differed from civilian law. Unfortunately, because the accusations against Stephen occurred when he was still part of the military, he was being tried under military law.

  As she sat with him in a bleak room, the two of them the only ones there, she couldn’t help but wish that he’d called an actual lawyer instead of her.