Flight Risk

1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Kier

The lobby of the building where I worked was alive with activity. Heels clicked on the marble surface, echoing through the vast open space that was usually silent. A crowd of people—all dragons—loitered near the elevator, chatting and laughing. Meanwhile, there I sat behind my desk, hoping that no one could see me because I didn’t want to draw attention to myself.

Working as the receptionist for the Dragon Lord Headquarters of the Emberstone clan was a good job, but not necessarily a demanding one. Sure, I had tasks to complete each day, questions to answer, and all of that, but there weren’t a ton of people going in and out. If they were, I knew who they were and where they needed to go, and most of the time, they ignored me or gave a polite hello before going about their day. No one was hanging about making conversation—except for this group.

“Kier, did you hear?” Roy, one of the clan accountants, leaned against the counter of my desk. “Ha, that rhymed.” It did rhyme... if you said my name wrong, as many of the group often did. Keer vs. Ke-Ahre, the former being how most of the people I encountered pronounced it.

I cleared my throat. “Did I hear what?” I asked, keeping my voice low, not wanting it to echo and draw more attention to me. Roy was one of the few people I considered a friend. And that had been because the hyper dragon was a social creature who’d made small talk with me so much that before I knew it, we were going out to lunch and hanging out a bit on weekends. Not that I didn’t want to be friends with the other dragons. I slipped into the background as much as I could. It was easier that way.

There were at least ten dragons standing, talking in various groups. One of them was my boss, Lord Malric—the head of the clan. Technically, he was everyone’s boss. The others were some of his colleagues, and the one that I paid the most attention to was his son, Tavian.

“We’re all going to the Dragon Flight Games in Europe next month. Isn’t that great?”

I had not heard this. This was brand-new information—and also terrifying, because, in my mind, I was already putting together a billion different tasks that needed to be completed if such a trip was going to happen. If this many people were going, we would need flights, an itinerary, a budget, and hotels. I’d need to account for rescheduling meetings, planning diplomatic dinners between Lord Malric and the European Lords. I’d need to account for Scott’s allergy and Thorne’s tendency to get motion sickness while on airplanes.

“Lord Malric is going to message you all the details. Or someone will. Whoever was in the meeting, I don’t know. Isn’t that exciting?”

I smiled at my friend. He might’ve been a dragon, but he didn’t treat me any differently than anyone else. Being a wolf, working for a Dragon Lord was odd enough, but it was better than the alternative, which was not having a job at all. I’d take feeling like an outsider over homelessness any day.

I didn’t have a pack. This job and its paycheck kept me from starving, and working for the Dragon Lord offered me protection that I would not get as a lone wolf.

“That sounds really great. Do you know who all will be there?” I asked.

“Oh, you’ll get the details soon. Don’t worry about that.”

I didn’t have a choice but to worry. It sounded like I had a lot of planning to do on top of my other tasks. It was a great opportunity for the clan to do a trip like this, though. Dragons loved their Dragon Flight Games, and organizing them was quite the orchestration. I didn’t envy the group that did that work. I’d toured a few of the Emberstone clan’s dragon flight schools, which was where all young dragons learned to fly. If they showed enough talent, they became a part of the Dragon Flight league.

“It’s going to be so much fun. I’ve only ever seen the Dragon Flight Games here. Over there, it’s going to be so different,” Roy said.

Likely, it would be exactly the same. I had watched when they televised it a few years ago—obviously, over a secure network so only shifters could see it. Seeing it in person would be magnificent.

“The really great thing, Kier, is that you get to go!”

My head snapped up. “Well, that’s unnecessary.” Me? Traveling overseas? I couldn’t. I had responsibilities here.

“It is. It’ll be fun,” Roy insisted. “You get to go. It’s only fair.”

I glanced around the lobby, wondering if anyone was listening and how they all felt about me tagging along. Tavian’s gaze caught mine, and he smiled. My cheeks heated, and I looked down at the paper in my hand, curling the corner with my fingernail. “I’ll talk with Lord Malric. It’s unnecessary for me to go.”

“Oh no,” Roy said. “Lord Malric agreed with Tavian—you will go. It’ll be fun. Have you been to Europe?”

Tavian? Had he insisted I go? The Lord’s son was one of the nicest dragons ever. And the nicest-looking. Of all the people that came in and out of here each day, Tavian was the most polite, always engaging me in conversation. He was also the star of all my forbidden fantasies I refused to let myself think about. Except I couldn’t control my dreams, and he starred in them. Frequently.

I hadn’t even been out of this state, but I had booked plenty of flights there, as well as to a ton of other places. Even though I was a receptionist for the Lord, my job was more like that of a personal assistant. I didn’t follow him around from meeting to meeting, but when he had schedules to manage, I was the one who handled it. Him and his entire entourage of staff.

“You want to go shopping with me to pick out a new wardrobe? We’ll need fancy clothes. I mean, we really won’t, since it’s a low-key, fun event. But still!” Roy bounced on his toes.

“No, I won’t need any new clothes.”

I couldn’t afford any new clothes. My salary was good, but it didn’t allow for excessive spending. Besides, I was saving it for... well, I wasn’t really sure what I was saving it for, but it felt better to have money in the bank than possessions in my apartment.

I looked at my computer screen to make sure I wasn’t missing any emails or notifications about things I needed to do. Luckily, nothing was happening—except for an email at the top of my screen:

Urgent: Plan Itinerary for Travel.

“Roy, I’ve got to get back to work. If I’m planning this trip, then I need to get started.” I’d learned to be direct with Roy over the years when I needed to focus, otherwise he’d talk my ear off all day. I loved talking to him, but I had a job to do.

“Sure thing, man. I’ll hit you up about shopping, though. We’re going.”

I smiled. “Of course.”

Whether or not I actually had a conversation with him about it later was irrelevant. I appreciated the sentiment.

I opened the email:

Book travel for five days in one month’s time for 15 individuals, including yourself, who will attend the Dragon Flight Games. Here is your contact information for the European Lords.

That was it—the total amount of detail I got. Obviously, I would need to book a hotel, figure out who the individuals were, how many rooms I needed, how many meals I needed to prepare for, and whether anyone needed their suits tailored or dry-cleaned before then. But those were all problems I could tackle in the coming weeks.

For now, I started with a list and got to work.