Page 44 of Dragon Tempted

What was it with him ignoring her questions by asking ones of his own? “No. He’s posted messages to her in the chat group they used previously with no luck.”

“Maybe the problem is that the wrong person is reaching out to her? If she doesn’t trust Adam any longer, maybe she would trust Megan. She was her student and she knew her from before. What if she posted some messages in the chat?”

“That’s a good idea.” She held up her hands. “If you can be patient and stay awhile longer, I’m sure we can figure this out.”

He scowled. “I don’t need a lecture about patience. It’s been a little over two years since you all realized the curse was real. I have been dealing with it for centuries.”

She took a deep breath. “Fair enough. But I would think you want this to be over with. Come to dinner at the main house tomorrow night. We’ll talk through everything we have after dinner, and you can see the boards. And before you say no, it will only be me and the girls. The designer Tessa works for has an up-and-coming artist who is singing tomorrow night at one of the big bars in downtown Nashville. Tessa is going to make sure her outfit is good to go. And Tessa being Tessa, decided to make a night of it and invited Adam, Megan, and Eric along for dinner and the show.” The longer she babbled on, the more his frown deepened. “The girls would love to see you. Call me or the office number and I’ll have someone come get you around five. We’ll eat at five thirty. The girls will go to bed early, and then we can talk. Does that sound like a plan?”

“Don’t you need to get back to work?”

Another question instead of an answer. Her inner voice had a few choice answers for him, but she bit her tongue. She had pushed enough for one day.

Chapter 16

Sienna sat back from her desk and tilted her head to one side and then the other to try and get the kinks out. Today had been a busy day for the clan. Multiple meetings followed up with paperwork—which was technically completed electronically now, so should it be called screenwork? Either way, it was still a pain.

She spun her chair to face the whiteboards. A timeline with attached notes from John’s journals. It made his life seem clinical, and it was far from that.

“You see something?” Ryan asked.

“Not really. I understand why Megan is mapping all of this out, but it feels like we’re missing something.”

Ryan stood and walked over to the boards and stared at them for a moment. “We’re missing context.”

“What’s going through that head of yours, Ry?”

He turned to her, his eyes shining. “I have an idea.”

“Tell me.”

Ryan laid his idea out, his hands moving as he explained his thoughts. He finally wound down. “What do you think?”

“That you’re right.”

Ryan smiled. “Wait.” He picked up his phone and typed on the screen before holding it out in front of him. “Could you please repeat what you just said?”

She leaned forward. “I said that you’re a smart-ass.”

He clicked on the screen and set the phone down. “I was so close.”

She chuckled. “Why don’t you make the call and we’ll get going on this.”

A short time later the door opened and Jonas walked in. “You wanted to see me?”

Sienna nodded. “Yes. Come in. Before I show you something, I wanted to know if you found anything else about the drone that can help us?”

Jonas shook his head. “Not really. It was a simple drone that allowed the person running it to see what was happening. It didn’t have long-range capabilities.”

“Okay. I wanted to show you what Megan’s been working on.” She pointed to the boards on the one side of the office. “These are timelines of different events in regard to the curse. Megan has been consolidating John’s notes into something linear.”

Jonas frowned. “This is antiquated.”

Sienna wasn’t surprised Jonas cut right to the chase. She exchanged a glance with Ryan before speaking. “You think in zeros and ones. Megan is a sensory thinker. She needs the marker in her hand and the information spread out in front of her. But Ryan had an idea of combining both of your talents into one.”

Jonas turned toward Ryan. “I’m listening.”

“Megan is compiling a historical timeline of John’s life and study of the curse. When he found breakthroughs and when he was attacked by various factions,” Ryan said. “But I don’t think it’s as simple as that. We’re missing what else was happening in the world that might have triggered someone going after John.”