Page 62 of Dragon Tempted

Megan sat on one side of her and Tessa on the other while all the males in her life—brothers, best friend, security chief surrogate uncle, and grumpy marshmallow who drove her to distraction—stood across from her all wearing various looks of concern on their faces. Sienna typed her first message and read it out loud to the group before clicking send.

Found it

“Well, that was short and to the point,” Adam said.

Sienna nodded. “I’m not messing around. We’ll see if she responds back.”

Tessa sat up straight. “I see dots—she’s responding already.”

Sienna’s breath sped up as she watched the screen.

Meet Tm12 160

Sienna repeated the message to everyone.

“What does that mean?” Eric asked.

Megan smiled. “That’s a shorthand Mia would use to schedule meetings with her TAs. She wants to meet tomorrow at noon in classroom 160 on campus. If I remember correctly, it’s one of the classrooms Mia used for lectures.”

Okay, Sienna answered.

Tessa patted Sienna’s arm. “Here comes something else.”

Come Alone

Sienna read it out loud, and before her family could protest, Sienna responded back. She wasn’t playing with her or them. No. Don’t insult me

“Do you think she’ll back out now?” Marcus asked.

She hoped not. Sienna watched the screen. “She’s typing something now.”

Don’t draw attention

Understood, Sienna typed.

Mia didn’t respond after that.

They took a collective breath and Sienna smiled. Time to plan for the meet tomorrow. She held up her hands. “Before anyone tries to talk me out of it, I’m meeting with her. She’s given us the details ahead of time, so we can plan. We can’t storm the building with a bunch of guards and draw attention to ourselves. Ryan will come in with me, and if it would make you feel better, Marcus, one other guard can come in. I would suggest someone younger so that we can pass as students.”

Marcus crossed his arms. “I want other guards close by. We’ll have them in street clothes and on the campus, and I will oversee everything. Megan, let’s download a map of the Vanderbilt campus from their website and you can show me what building this classroom is in. I’m sure we can get a detailed plan situated before tomorrow.”

Sienna felt John’s gaze before she turned to him. His perpetual frown had deepened, but instead of protesting, he nodded at her. And her chest tightened at the gesture. He understood better than anyone that risks would need to be taken to stop the curse once and for all.

Chapter 23

Sienna felt like a spy in a suspense movie. Earpiece in and a tracker in her shoe of all places. Marcus had guards stationed around the campus well before the meeting, and also had someone scope out the building and meeting room ahead of time. If her brothers had their way, she would be wrapped in Bubble Wrap made out of Kevlar.

Ryan walked next to her, and she wanted to laugh at his “college outfit” of retro band T-shirt and jeans, except her stomach was doing somersaults and she was too busy deep breathing.

“We’re heading inside now,” Ryan said.

“Roger that,” Marcus said.

Veronica started humming the Mission Impossible theme song, and Sienna told her to shut up or she threatened to play nothing but soft rock on the way home in the car. V hated soft rock. They walked down the hall and quickly found the classroom. Jamie, one of the dragon guards, sat on a bench down the hall with a large cup of coffee, pretending to study.

Ryan opened the door to the room and looked around before Sienna entered. The classroom sloped down to a podium at the front. A few moments later the door at the front of the room opened, and Mia stepped inside and walked over to the podium.

“Come down about halfway, Sienna, and take a seat.”