Page 78 of Claimed by the Savage Dragons

‘Yeah I can imagine it. But it’s not going to fucking happen if we can’t get the Commander and his allies to agree to the law changes.’

‘He has to. We’re dying out. Twenty years since Orin was born. It ain’t natural. Need to do something about it.’

‘Heard it was the radiation after the Fall. Fucked the females’ insides up so it’s harder for our seed to take.’

‘I heard it was our seed that was the problem,’ another mutters and there’s an obvious silence.

‘He won’t like you spouting lies like that, Yorik. He won’t like that at all.’

There’s an awkward guffaw. ‘I’m fucking with you, guys. We all know it’s the females’ faults.’

‘You had me!’ one chuckles.

‘Good one!’

‘Okay, let’s try the clinic. If she’s not there, I don’t know. Maybe his office?’

‘No one can get in his office though.’

The voices fade and I hear the door click.

I stay in my hiding spot for a long time. I need to pee. I’m hungry and scared. But I don’t move until I hear Drey’s slightly concerned voice asking me where I am.

I open the cabinet door and climb out, my muscles cramping and I try to stand with the help of the counter.

‘I’m here,’ I call.

He’s helping me to stay on my feet a second later. ‘What were you doing in there? What’s going on?’

‘There were people here. They came in through the main door. They had a keycard. I heard it click. There were more than three.’

‘Humans?’

I look at him like he has six heads. ‘No. Dragons. Males. They were saying horrible things. They were trying to find me.’

He looks around the room, nostril flaring. ‘I can’t smell anyone,’ he says dubiously.

‘I’m not making it up, Drey.’

I watch his eyes narrow a little as I say his name and I wonder if I’ve angered him by not calling him ‘Commander’ like the others do, but when he speaks, his voice sounds strained, not upset.

‘I don’t think you’re making it up, but you’ve been tired and not well. Maybe?—’

I shake my head and extricate myself from his grip. ‘No. I know what I heard. I was hiding in that cabinet for hours. Do you really think I’d have done that if it was all in my head?’

He regards me for a moment. ‘Okay,’ he whispers. ‘Okay. There’s a camera. It’s separate from the main system. WhenBrax suggested it, I thought he was being paranoid, but… Come on.’

I put my hand in his and he leads me to his office. He wakes up his computer screen and does a bunch of things that I could never replicate before a little box appears with a timestamp. He rewinds for one hour, two, three. He begins glancing at me with pity in his eyes and I clench my jaw, but there’s a niggling doubt in my mind. Maybe I’m cracking up in the dragon lair.

But then I see movement on the screen ‘There!’

He stops it and five dragon men appear on the screen. I let out a sigh of relief.

‘See?’

‘Yeah,’ he mutters. ‘I see. I’m sorry. I didn’t think they’d ever… How the fuck did they get into my rooms and not leave a scent? It’s impossible.’

I snort. ‘There’s a lot of that going around.’