Page 8 of Dragon Tempted

She took several big gulps before she set the bottle down. “I had a Dragon Council meeting today.”

Tessa’s nose wrinkled like she smelled something rotten. “Adam mentioned that. Are they still not taking the threats seriously?”

She turned the bottle in her hands. “No, and I was so frustrated I decided to do something about it.”

“What did you do?” Megan asked.

Sienna picked at the label on the bottle. “I guess you could say I channeled my inner Tessa.”

“Oh yeah!” Tessa exclaimed.

“Oh no,” Megan mumbled at the same time.

“It didn’t go so well.”

“At least you’re not in jail,” Megan volunteered.

“Hey!” Tessa barked. “Not fair. I’ve only been arrested once, okay…twice. But it wasn’t my fault, and the charges were dropped.”

“I went to see John.”

Megan’s eyebrows shot up. “John Baker?”

“The one and only.”

Tessa crowed. “Oh boy. I bet he didn’t take that well.”

“You could say that. But I thought if he was willing to speak to the Dragon Council, maybe they would believe him about the curse.”

Megan set her glass down. “The guy who won’t leave his cabin or barely talk to anyone?”

“I know. I didn’t think it through. But he doesn’t care that the other clans—or asshats, as he calls them—believe or not. He said that’s not our problem.”

“I never thought I would say this, but I agree with John,” Tessa said.

“You agree with John about what?” a voice called out.

Sienna turned to see Adam and Eric walking toward them. In front of them Lily held Arabella’s hand as she toddled alongside her older cousin. Bella let go of her hand when they reached the large mat in the center of the room, and plopped down on her bottom. Lily twirled in a circle as Bella squealed.

Adam leaned over and kissed Tessa on top of the head. “You, Tessa Marie Stuart Simonson, admit to agreeing with John Baker on something? I need to hear more.”

“Me too,” Eric added.

Tessa looked at Sienna as if to ask permission before speaking. “John said that if the other clans don’t believe about the threat, that’s not our problem.”

Adam frowned. “When did you talk to him?”

Sienna might as well rip the Band-Aid off. “I talked to him. I, ah, went to see him.”

Now both Eric and Adam were frowning.

“It was time for me to meet him. The rest of you had already had the pleasure.”

Tessa snorted. “So true.”

“Tessa’s rubbing off on you,” Eric said.

“I’ll take that as a compliment,” Tessa said before she raised her glass and took a sip. “Why don’t you fill us in on the conversation with Sir Grumps-a-Lot?”