Persuading the Dragon (Stonefire Dragons 9)

She bit her lip to keep from rehashing her reasoning.

Ivy had survived the first twenty-four hours after receiving her special treatment and had been doing better each day.

Dr. Sid said it was only a matter of days before she could go home to her cottage with Zain.

In other words, she was on the mend and didn't need constant supervision.

Her mate hadn't agreed, of course, despite his experimental treatment also succeeding and thus protecting him against any of the drugs the Knights may have. Instead, Zain had only encouraged others to volunteer for the shots, too.

Not that any of her arguments for him going mattered anymore. It was past the point of no return—the operati

on would start in a matter of minutes—so she snuggled against him and played with the small peek of chest hair at the neckline of his top.

Both of them stared at the speakers on the side table, ones that would broadcast the most important information to certain individuals inside Stonefire.

Zain had fought with Kai and Bram about it, saying Ivy needed to hear it all, too, for closure.

And while she'd tried to give half-hearted protests, she secretly agreed she needed to hear everything play out in real time.

Maybe if she was on her own, hated by everyone around her, it might've been too much to take in.

However, as she breathed in Zain's scent and soaked up his body heat, she wasn't alone.

She never would be again.

The thought erased some of her tension, and Ivy finally spoke again, gesturing toward the speakers. "Thank you again for arranging it all."

He smiled down at her and kissed her forehead—doctor's orders still didn't allow them to kiss on the lips yet. "We'll see how Dacian does as an announcer."

The young dragonman had passed all his final tests with the Protectors and was a full-fledged one now. However, he was still new, and the newest member had been stuck with the announcer task. "Well, he likes football a lot, so hopefully all those years of watching matches will give him an idea of how to make it interesting."

Zain snorted. "He'll be receiving information from multiple sites simultaneously, with only Nate, Lucien, and Hudson to help him. He’ll probably be overwhelmed to the point where making it entertaining will be the least of his worries."

She shook her head. "It's not entirely true that he'll be doing it with a team of three. The other dragon clans in the UK and Ireland each have people helping to sort all the information, too."

He grunted. "Maybe. Technology will help him, for sure. Something like this would've been a hell of a lot more difficult even thirty years ago."

Dacian's voice came over the speaker, preventing them from saying anything else. "The Knights have received their coded warning thanks to the IT specialists' plant and have begun their mass exodus. Everyone is in place to capture them as they flee."

Ivy stopped breathing a second, desperately wanting to hear what happened next. For all she knew, there could be new escape routes or procedures, ones that could ruin the whole thing.

Everyone would truly hate her then and think she misled them all on purpose.

After a few seconds, Dacian spoke again. "It's confirmed—every major Knight hideout and operation center has been discreetly surrounded, and the most important locations have additional personnel on hand to raid them after the fact."

Given that was over one hundred places, Ivy could only imagine how much man and dragon power this whole thing required.

It truly needed all the dragon clans and DDA employees from the two isles of Britain and Ireland working together to make it a reality. And according to her weekly lessons from the teachers and Zain, that wouldn't have been possible even five years ago. While enemies such as the Knights and dragon hunters had helped bring the clans together, Stonefire and Lochguard had been slowly moving relations between the clans to a more cooperative position.

Pushing aside her history lessons, she, as well as Zain, continued to stare at the speakers, neither of them wanting to miss a thing.

Dacian's voice finally returned. "The first captures are in progress. The Knights are trying to run into nearby homes in the cities, but the DDA cleared the nearby residents and stationed personnel. The runners are only going to walk into further traps." A pause, and then Dacian's voice said in a rush, "They are spreading out, running every which way. However, thanks to helicopters hovering above, we're following them closely. Oh, and now the first headquarters located in rural Wales has been raided! Snowridge is making quick work of securing prisoners and handing them over to the DDA."

Even though Ivy was in a hospital room, far from the action, her heart thumped, her breath quickened, and she leaned forward even more. The destruction of the Dragon Knights was great for all dragon-shifters, of course, but it also meant she would no longer have a target on her back.

Excitement filled Dacian's voice as he continued, "One of the main chemical suppliers south of London has been secured. They attempted to shoot down the dragons flying overhead, but Stonefire's serum held, meaning no ill effects. And…and now part of the building exploded due to a Knight setting something off! But it seems no one on our side was injured, although Skyhunter is being more cautious as they enter the building and search out the remaining Knights inside."

While the dragons and the DDA were doing well so far, Ivy kept her ears peeled for the two biggest targets, at least in her opinion—the main research facility not far from Liverpool, England, and the other one north of Edinburgh in Scotland. The Knights could've relocated the facilities since she'd left, but if not, those two locations would have the toughest security and do-or-die protocols. Meaning the most advanced weaponry would be in those places, too.