“All right, you two,” I said, sinking into the armchair facing them.

“Start talking. From the beginning.” They stared at me, clearly not sure where to begin, and I sighed. “What happened to the safe house?” I said to get them started. “And why are you here? Only your guardian was supposed to know of this location. Where is he, anyway? Did you trek all the way up here by yourselves?”

The hatchlings exchanged a glance, then Remy took a deep breath.

“Chris told us to come,” he began in a surprisingly steady voice.

“He gave us the location, where to find you. He’s the one who sent us here.”

I frowned. Chris was the guardian in charge of the Boulder safe house. All the nests had one: a human who knew about us and who’d agreed to look after one or two vulnerable hatchlings until they were old enough to be on their own. Most of them were ex-TALON servants, already living in hiding; if you were a human employed by the organization, you were in for life. As much as Talon despised having their dragons break away, they were even more fervent about not letting their humans go and risk exposing our existence. For the few humans who did escape, they lived with the fear that St. George or Talon could show up on their doorstep any day, so after years of tracking them down and convincing them I wasn’t part of Talon anymore, we’d come to an agreement. I would keep the organization off their backs as best I could, and they, in turn, had agreed to watch over the hatchlings I broke out of TALON.

“Chris sent you here?” I repeated, and they bobbed their heads in unison. “Why?”

“We don’t know!” Nettle burst out, making Remy flinch. her dreadlocks bobbed as she gestured wildly. “He just woke us up in the middle of the night and told us to pack our things. Didn’t say what was going on, just shoved us into a taxi and ordered us not to come back!”

A chill settled in my gut. I looked at Wes, who nodded and left the room, probably to check the status of the Boulder safe house. I turned back to the hatchlings. “He didn’t say anything to you at all?”

“No.” Remy shook his head. “But he did seem really freaked out.

Kept glancing out the window and pacing while we packed.”

I narrowed my eyes. That house had been located halfway up a mountain peak, isolated and virtually unknown. No one was aware of it except me, Wes, and a couple other former Talon servants. in fact, all of my safe houses had been, well, safe. I’d had no issues with keeping them hidden before. Why were all my safe houses being exposed now?

The answer was sobering. I might have a mole in my ranks. with the exception of Wes, who hated Talon almost as much as I did, I really didn’t trust humans all that much. They were too gullible, too easy to sway with promises of wealth, power, status, or whatever they coveted. I worked with them out of necessity; our numbers were small and I couldn’t do everything myself, but if Talon offered them something better, I wouldn’t put it past them to betray us.

Which meant we could be in trouble here.

“Riley.” Wes appeared at the edge of the hall, his face and eyes shadowed. I rose and followed him into the spare bedroom he used as his office.

“It’s gone, mate,” he whispered as I crossed the threshold. His laptop sat open and blinking on the desk, and he looked at it as if hoping it would tell him something else. “The Boulder nest has gone dark, and Chris isn’t answering the emergency number.”

I swore. “We had cameras and communications set up so that even if Talon found the nest, we could still contact them, unless the house was completely burned down.” I stared at Wes, hard, and he looked away. “Tell me that’s not the case.”

He rubbed his arm, his voice going soft. “I don’t think this is Talon, Riley.”

The cold spread to all parts of my body, and I shivered in rage and growing horror. “No,” I muttered, staring at the flickering laptop screen. “It’s St. George.”

Wes nodded. “Which means they’re probably tracking those two right now,” he said, sounding grim. “Persistent bastards won’t stop if they know a pair of dragons got away from them. So that leaves us with just one option.” He walked to his laptop, closing it with a snap. “We have to get out of town, tonight if possible. We’re way too exposed here.”

Dammit. I growled, clenching my fists. “No. Not yet. We can’t leave yet.”

Wes spun back, eyes widening. “Riley, did you hear what I just said?

Bloody St. George is on the way. If they find us here, they’ll kill us all.”

“I know.”

“If we stay here, we’re putting those kids in danger, too. We have a responsibility to keep them safe. That’s what we promised.”

“I know!” I snapped, and raked a hand through my hair. “I just…I’m close, Wes. She’s almost ready to leave. I just need a little more time.”

“You want to stay because of her?” Wes looked at me like I had six heads. “Are you bloody insane? She’s just another hatchling, mate.

We can’t save them all.”

Just another hatchling? My eyes narrowed. “Ember will come. She’s one of us, she just doesn’t know it yet.” He started to protest again, and I overrode him. “I’m not leaving without her. So either stay and help, or shut up and leave.”

“Fine.” He made a frustrated, hopeless gesture. “You want to stay and get us all killed? Great. I bloody hope she’s worth it.”