Sadly, Hank’s excitement was not contagious. I wasn’t crazy about airplanes. Flying on the back of a Dragon was about twenty times more unnerving.

“I’ve wanted to ride a Dragon since I was a kid,” Hank said as we watched Dima and Nicolai prepare to shift.

“Me too,” I lied, feeling queasy. Honestly, I would have preferred to drive but time was of the essence. And we didn’t have time.

“Goddamned amazing,” Hank whispered in awe.

He was correct. It was. However, I still wanted to drive. I was no one’s weenie, but we were talking Dragons here. Huge Dragons.

Magic filled the air and iridescent sparkles rained down from the sky. It was mesmerizing and beautiful. It was also slightly terrifying.

My gorgeous red-headed buddy was now a sparkling golden Dragon roughly the size of an enormous freakin’ tour bus. Her tail was as long as half a football field and she had the wingspan of a couple of SUV’s parked back to back. Tendrils of glittering pink and peach smoke wafted from her nose. If she wasn’t one of my closest friends, I would have shifted to my wolf and run like the Devil himself was on my heels.

“I really hope she’s smiling at us,” Hank said with a chuckle as Dima revealed a row of massive and very sharp teeth.

Her giggle of delight rocked the ground underneath us. I grabbed Hank so I didn’t hit the deck.

“My turn,” Nicolai said, stripping out of his clothes as shimmering black smoke engulfed his strong body.

“Are you checking out his ass?” Hank asked with a raised brow and a grin.

“Nope,” I shot back with a laugh, patting his very fine butt. “Your crazy ass is about all I can handle.”

“Good. Keep it that way,” Hank ordered.

“Back at ya,” I said with a wink.

For Weres—all kinds—nudity wasn’t sexual. Well, unless it was your mate. For us, nudity was part of life and I found all bodies beautiful and magical.

Nicolai’s Dragon was ginormous. He was sleek and jet-black with silver markings that twinkled like diamonds in the sunshine. His wingspan was twice Dima’s. I was seriously glad that we’d chosen to meet on the expansive Wilson property. Dragons needed a hell of a lot of room to shift.

Nicolai eyed us with amusement as we craned our necks to look up at him. Silver smoke drifted ominously from of his snout and his eyes glowed a brilliant green.

“Ready?” he asked in a voice that was clearly recognizable as his, yet a whole lot louder and deeper.

“Nope,” I said, shielding my eyes from the sun and all the shiny magic. “But that’s never stopped me yet.”

“That’s my girl,” Hank said as he planted a quick kiss on my lips and then climbed aboard Nicolai.

“Hop on, Wolf,” Dima said with another giggle that knocked me on my butt.

“You did that on purpose, Dragon,” I accused her with a grin and a raised middle finger.

“Yep.”

“You suck,” I muttered as I sprinted up her wing and settled myself on her massive back. “Do you have something I can hold onto? Falling out of the sky isn’t really in the plan. You feel me?”

With a quick and graceful flick of her massive tail, both Hank and I were secured to their backs with silky silver and gold ropes.

“Wait,” I said, running my hands over my smooth bindings. “Is this really going to hold us?”

“Absolutely,” Nicolai confirmed. “The ropes are alive, so to speak. They know to keep you safe… even if we fly upside down.”

“Don’t even think about it, Dragon Boy,” I snapped. “Payback is a bitch.”

“I’ll keep that in mind,” he replied with a snort of laughter as he shot off the ground like a bullet.

“Hang on,” Dima shouted as she too took to the air with glee.

Hank was whooping it up like he was on a fabulous roller coaster ride at a freakin’ amusement park.

I, on the other hand, was chatting up a storm with my live ropes making sure we were on really, really, really good terms.

The flight on the Dragon’s backs had been both quick and hellacious. I was sure my skin had a greenish tint to it and that my innards had shifted. Dima’s power was insane. She was able to cloak us in invisibility for the entire trip. Not one human was aware that we’d landed right in the middle of Michigan Avenue in broad daylight.

Hank’s appearance had fared much better than mine. He looked like he’d just walked off a GQ photo shoot where they’d used a few fans on him for a sexy windblown look. He was laughing and slapping Nicolai on the back. Me? I looked like I’d been through the dryer cycle on high… with a bunch of cats thrown in for fun. I was a freakin’ mess.

However, we were here and all in one piece. They’d only flown upside down twice. I’d kept my terrified mind occupied by developing my own evil plans to get even. Dima was seriously lucky I hadn’t puked on her back.

“Question,” Dima said as she watched me twist my long, wild, brown hair into a messy bun.

“Ask,” I said to Dima.

“Did you call ahead or is this a surprise visit?”

“Total surprise,” I said with a smile, checking myself out in a store window. Thankfully, I didn’t look as horrible as I felt. Airsickness had a whole new meaning when it came to riding Dragons. “Never give the enemy time to prepare.”

Dima grinned and checked her weapons. “I like your style, girlfriend.”

I felt for the dagger hidden in the back of my pants. Check. I had a revolver tucked into my combat boots and a stun gun in my jacket pocket. Hopefully, we wouldn’t need weapons. We were going into Hank’s and my place of work after all. But right now? Right now, I didn’t trust the Bobs as far as I could throw them.

“What’s the plan?” Hank asked as he copped a quick feel of my butt.

“We’re gonna wing it,” I replied, returning the favor.

“I’m good with that,” Nicolai said, grinning. “However, I think we should split up. Dima and I will find Seth and see if he knows anything valuable. You take the Bobs. However, if you are going to disembowel them, please text me first.”

Nicolai was a violent bastard and I was glad we were on the same side. Seth was his brother and a seer. After the Dragon King was put out of everyone’s misery, Seth was asked to join the Council. It was the first time in history that a Dragon Shifter was helping to govern. It was about time too.

“That’s a plan,” Hank said, holding open the thick glass front door of the building. “Let’s do this.”

Security, in the form of Werewolves armed to the n^th degree, greeted us as we entered. Since Hank and I were on the Council, we breezed right through with our Dragon guests. The guards had given the side eye to both Dima and Nicolai. However, the glare I shot them kept them from uttering a word.

“You da man,” Dima said, impressed as we went through a second set of doors.

“Nope.” Hank shook his head and grinned. “She’s the wo-man. The woman every single person in the building is terrified of. My baby has balls bigger than any idiot in here.”

“Are you terrified of my balls?” I asked a still grinning Hank.

“I think your balls are hot.”

“Mmkay,” Dima said with an eye roll. “Before this degenerates into something that’s going to send me to therapy, let’s split up and get this shit done.”

“Seth knows we’re here,” Nicolai told us. “My brother’s on the tenth floor in his office. We’re to wait by the bank of elevators until he comes for us.”

“Perfect,” I said. “Try not to kill anyone unless you absolutely have to.”

Dima nodded and chuckled. “Roger that. Dragons already have a bad rep. We won’t add to it. Just get what you need and we’re out.”

“If Seth has heard anything, take notes,” Hank instructed. “Even if it seems useless.”

“Will do.” Nicolai said as he nodded.

He and Dima walked to the left. Hank and I walked to the right. The hallways were unusually empty.

“What gives?” I asked as we moved at a quick clip down the corridor.

We’d skipped the elevator in favor of the stairs. The Bobs had a bank of TV screens in their shared and obnoxiously large office. The cameras in the elevators were outstanding. The stairs? Not so much. Plus, we stayed close to the walls, which would only give them a shadowy view.

And the electrified state of my hair should throw them off as well. I suppose looking a mess could pay off. Who knew?

“It’s lunchtime,” Hank speculated. “Hopefully the Bobs brown-bagged it today.”

“Shit,” I muttered, realizing he was correct. “Well, if they’re not in we’ll make ourselves comfortable until they get back.

“Maybe a quickie on their desk,” Hank suggested with a panty melting grin that made we want to slam him up against the wall and boink him until neither of us could walk.

“God, I hope they’re out to lunch.”

The shouting from within the Bobs’ office didn’t bode well for a quickie. It also didn’t bode well for whoever was inside.

“Essie. Hank. It’s nice to see you,” Reginald said dryly from behind his desk, not meaning a word of it.

Reginald was an imposing man. He’d served as the assistant to the Bobs for a century or two… or ten. I had no clue how old the Werewolf was, but I’d never seen him crack so much as a smile in the entire time I’d been in the WTF.

Reginald knew everything. I was pretty sure the entire Federation would fall to pieces if he ever quit. However, that didn’t stop me from giving the man shit. It was sort of a perverse mission of mine. Hank didn’t like it. Of course, my mate wasn’t as into playing with fire like I was. I’d been able to throw Reginald off his game a few times in the last several months which had provided some interesting info.

“Liar, liar, pants of fire,” I replied with a smile. “You have egg salad in your stash, dude.”

Reginald’s hand quickly went to his handlebar mustache and he swiped at it. His eyes then narrowed as he growled at me. “I didn’t have egg salad for lunch.”

“Whoops,” I said as I sat on the edge of his desk. “Maybe it was snot.”

“Essie,” Hank said with a warning in his voice.

“What? I’m just helping him out,” I shot back lightly. “What’s been happening, Reggie? Anything interesting?”

“It’s Reginald. And no.”

“My bad. Reginald. And you’re lying.”

He shrugged and went back to his paperwork. Dumb move. As much as he didn’t like it, I was now his superior. If the Bobs weren’t going to keep me up to speed, someone else was going to have to.

“Who’s in the Bobs’ office?”

Reginald was silent.

“Who am I?” I asked casually as I picked up a glass paperweight in the likeness of Cher and eyed it with curiosity.

“Put that down,” Reginald snapped.

“Answer my question,” I replied as I tossed the Cher head in the air and noticed there was also a Lady Gaga paperweight and a Barbra Streisand one too. Interesting. I had long suspected Reginald played on Dwayne’s team. That fact didn’t bother me a bit but his blatant disrespect did.

“Essie McGee Wilson.”

“Correct. And my position?”

Reginald’s eyes narrowed and he growled low in his throat. “You are on the WTF Council.”

“Correct again, Reginald.” I gently put his bizarre choice of paperweight back on his desk and got up in his face. “Who is in the office with the Bobs?”

“Clark and Jones.”

“Why?” I demanded. Nothing at this point was going to get by without Hank’s and my knowledge.

“They fucked up,” he said flatly.

Before I could find out why, a very pale Clark and Jones exited the Bobs’ ridiculously formal office. I used to be just a regular WTF agent. Clark and Jones had been part of my team. They weren’t incredibly fond of me then… and the feeling was mutual.

They’d always gotten the good cases because they were men. Gender bias wasn’t flying at WTF anymore. We had a new sheriff in town. I was the first woman ever to serve on the Council and I was now instrumental in spreading the love. Women at WTF now got equal pay and equal rights.

Times… they were a-changin’.

Of course, this didn’t make anyone at WTF any fonder of me.

“McGee,” Clark said with a curt nod.

“Clark,” I replied coolly. “Problem?”

“Not at all,” Jones mumbled shakily as he pushed Clark towards the door.

We were no longer on the same playing field but I wasn’t in the mood for half answers at the moment. I’d had enough of that from the Bobs.

Hank stepped in front of the door, blocking their exit. He didn’t say a word and didn’t have to. It was common knowledge that Hank had defeated a Dragon single-handedly. No one wanted to mess with him—not to mention he was also a member of the WTF Council.

“I do believe I asked you a question, boys,” I said calmly.

Clark and Jones stiffened. If I wasn’t mistaken—and I wasn’t—Reginald chuckled. My former co-workers clearly didn’t know what to make of my placid demeanor. I was usually a fight-first and talk-after kind of gal. That was then. This was now. I was a far different woman than when we had worked together several years ago.

“We’ve been demoted,” Clark admitted with great reluctance as his fists clenched at his sides.

If his fangs so much as dropped even a little bit, I was going to smack down on his arrogant ass. They’d caught me on a bad day.

“Why?” I demanded.

Their silence coming directly after Reginald’s was the last straw. My kind understood violence. It was archaic and stupid, but it was what it was. Proving myself repeatedly was getting tiresome, but a girl had to do what a girl had to do.

Hank grinned. His fangs peeked out from his full lips. It was incredibly hot. My man was all kinds of crazy. He got turned on when I went apeshit on idiots. Well, he was about to get really horny. I was going to get some respect… the Werewolf way.

Faster than a human eye could track, I disarmed both Clark and Jones. With a swift and brutal kick to Clark’s knees, I knocked him to the floor. His legs now bent in the wrong direction. He would heal in a few hours. Shifters recovered quickly. I wasn’t going for the kill at all. I was just sick and tired of the disregard shown by these idiots.

They were part of a problem. I liked solving problems.

As he rolled around in agony, Jones tried to best me. He lost. A well-placed right jab to his stomach had him coughing so hard it sounded like he had an enormous hairball caught in his throat. I finished him off with a knee to his junk that made him scream in an octave that made both Hank and Reginald gasp in phantom pain.

Tossing Jones on top of Clark, I pulled up a chair and sat down in front of them. “Have you had enough?” I inquired politely.

“Yesssss,” Clark hissed. “You broke my damn legs.”

“Better than your neck, don’t you think?” I asked.

“I think so,” Hank chimed in supportively.

My mate always had my back.

“Tell me why you were demoted,” I demanded. “Now.”

“What an unpleasant surprise,” Bob Harold said, stepping out from his chambers and taking in the now destroyed lobby of his office suite. “Was this entirely necessary?”

“Yep.” I stood up and approached the imperious man. Strangely with each encounter, I became less afraid of him. “I asked a question. Jones and Clark didn’t answer it. I nudged them a little.”

“A little?” Bob Harold asked with a raised brow.

“Trust me,” Hank said, stepping up next to me. “That was a little nudge. There would be no office left if it had been a big nudge.”

“This is true,” I confirmed, glaring straight at Bob Harold. “You see, I’m getting really tired of not getting answers when I ask questions. Makes me antsy. But do you want to know what makes me want to kill shit?”

“I’m quite sure I don’t,” Bob Harold stated, glaring right back at me.

“Oh, but I think it would be to your benefit if you knew,” I replied with sarcasm dripping from each word.

Again, I was fairly sure that Reginald chuckled.

“Half answers. Omitted information. You know… general bureaucratic bullshittery. Those are the things that make me want to do so much damage that no one would survive it. You feel me, dude?”

“Why don’t you step into the office,” Bob Hiram said, joining the party. “Unless this is a social visit and then we can go to the cafeteria.”

“Are you freakin’ serious?” I asked.

“Completely,” Bob Hiram replied.

Crossing my arms over my chest, I shot them a look that made most cringe and run for cover. “Does this look like a social visit?”

“I’d vote no to that,” Reginald chimed in, seeming to enjoy the shit show that was unfolding.

“Your office. Now,” I snapped at the strangely calm Bobs. “Reginald, please put Clark and Jones in my office. Cuff them, tie them up and gag them.”

Reginald looked to the Bobs for approval and I rolled my eyes.

“Fine. I’ll do it myself,” I said as I moved to the moaning pile of Clark and Jones.

“Not necessary,” Bob Herm said. “Reginald will take care of it. Please blindfold them as well.”

“Yes, sir,” Reginald said as he jerked Jones and Clark up and dragged them from the lobby.

“Please join us,” Bob Herm said. “We were about to partake in lunch.”

“Not hungry,” I said rudely as I marched ahead of them into their office. “I’m here for answers. Period.”

And I had no intention of leaving without them.