Chapter 10
Aeson
I SIT UP WITH A gasp.
My heart pounds a panicked cadence, and my limbs shake from an unexplainable dump of adrenaline. Disoriented, I look around, trying to figure out what woke me. Inside, my tent is quiet. Outside, I don’t pick up on anything that would’ve set off my inner alarms.
It must have been a bad dream.
I scratch at the stubble lining my jaw and stretch my neck from side to side to combat the stiffness. All too quickly, my body calms, which is when I notice a strange ache in my chest.
That’s odd, it’s right where . . .
Euphoria detonates through me and I reach for the dormant bond that’s now faintly humming with a rapidly fading vitality.
Leaping out of bed, I sprint out of my tent and aim for the command center.
I bite back a triumphant howl when Ever tickles across my senses.
The connection is weak. All I can see is darkness, but I feel her essence calling to me.
Scale armor crawls over my naked frame as I tear into the other tent and hurry to pull up the map that haunts my fucking dreams.
“Where are you?” I murmur to myself as I scour the barren wasteland, desperate for an impression that might narrow down where the fuck she’s been hiding.
I rub small circles between my pecs as though it will stimulate the connection that’s on the verge of blinking out.
“Come on,” I growl, begging for one hint?.?.?. just one.
“What’s wrong?” Ogdan demands as he storms in behind me, his hair sticking every which way.
“Ever,” I answer with excited determination.
“What about her?”
“She’s blocking the bond.” The thin filament of magic I feel in my chest disappears altogether. And I growl out my frustration.
“Didn’t we know that already?” Ogdan hedges, confused but trusting that whatever it is I’m doing, I have my reasons.
I shake my head, my eyes frantically scanning the map. “We suspected it, but now I know. Ever just did something to it—I’m assuming by accident, because she shut it back down almost instantly. Fuck!” I snarl, frustrated, but I don’t give up.
And then my gaze catches on something. A patch of rolling dunes in the northwest part of the deadlands, but more specifically on three peaks that form a perfect triangle. I tap on the space and turn to Ogdan.
“What do we know about this area?”
Ogdan taps on the unit connected to his forearm and starts scrolling through the information that floats above his arm.
“We’ve had regular patrols of dragons and drones in that sector, but they haven’t clocked anything that would indicate a camp or any kind of dwelling.
Nothing other than animal tracks and shifting dunes due to wind. ”
I pull up the red markers indicating dead leads and focus on the three dunes.
There’s a red dot dead center, and I click on the indicator to pull up the tracking report.
I scan through the notes and then pause on the sentences that state, Source of lead has disappeared.
Drone observed nothing of note in the designated area.
So a drone didn’t find anything, but would a dragon say the same? I study the three dunes for another moment and then pull their coordinates.
“This is where we search next,” I order, unsure if I’m onto something or just chasing my tail.
“Consider it done,” Ogdan replies easily. “We’re set to finish with this part of the grid in a day or so, but I can start relocating equipment and a few of the loam hounds. I’ll have Herm and Blay fly them over first thing.”
I nod and blow out a tense breath. This could mean nothing, or maybe it’s the exact break we need.