Tension was high in the small meeting room. It was the kind of tension that caused a nauseous feeling to plummet into one’s gut, able to be cut with a knife.<br/><br/>A woman with platinum blond hair, which fell to about her shoulders, and blue eyes characteristic of being an ice dragon, sat at the head of the table. Her brow was furrowed into a scowl and her arms were crossed over her chest. She had thin lips that matched her thin face, and that made the ice gaze she was giving her comrades even more sinister. There was certainly an intimidating presence about her and was obviously the one in charge of this meeting. Most who knew her was well aware she was the type who liked to be in charge of things, and never missed an opportunity to show that it was not a good idea to get on her bad side. On the other hand, her presence almost gave off the kind of intimidation that made people want to speak out, to challenge her.<br/><br/>But all who did try to speak up were silenced. Moments ago, the room had been alive with the combined voices of the others in the room. It was like this whenever a meeting was called, and seemed to slowly get worse as more problems came to her attention. Humans were starting to become a little braver now that they have succeeded in taking out a powerful officer. Now, they must be thrown back in line, which was always a heated discussion due to differing views. She felt like she was going to smash some things, and they knew it. Not that any of them cared, of course; most of them were waiting for her to lose her temper. They would enjoy watching her be punished for stepping out of line. It was a dog-eat-dog world; everyone wanted a piece of the pie. Everyone wanted to have their opinion heard.<br/><br/>“Taika… I know…” One man by the name of Clyde spoke up, daring to break the silence. “I mean, last week was just a small slip up. I’m sure the humans will have whatever resolve they’ve found squashed out of them soon enough.”<br/><br/>“Oh really? Taika snarled at him, “I don’t suppose you’ll like to volunteer?”<br/><br/>“If I have to, I won’t object.”<br/><br/>“If you have to…” The ice dragoness repeated slowly, in a mocking tone. Her attention was now on the man in the black suit.<br/><br/>“Well…”<br/><br/>“Since it was your brother’s mistake, I think you should clean this up.”<br/><br/>“This can’t be resolved overnight.” Another man spoke up. Taika knew him as Alan, unsure if that was his real name because of how secretive he was. He was a very powerful man. He might not have looked like he was capable of anything impressive, and on more than one occasion proved he was not always the sharpest tool in the shed, but he was a descendant from a long line of powerful dragons. Some say his dullness was feigned most of the time as a way to mislead his enemies. “Humans, as we are all aware, are like cockroaches. They only seem to get stronger, the more you try to squash them.” There were a few mutters of agreement around the room. Alan looked triumphant.<br/><br/>“But we are greater than they are.” Taika said in reply, sounding just as triumphant as Alan looked. “They are slowly realizing that their world is now ours, no matter how much they fight back. We’ll just cut them down one by one.”<br/><br/>“Are you deaf? The more we cut, the stronger they become. We need to change our strategy…” Alan paused, giving a smirk as he leaned forward. “Or has the death of your mate taught you nothing?”<br/><br/>An unnerving silence fell over the room for the second time. Everyone looked at one another in shock, unable to believe what they had just heard. Alan didn’t like Taika, and that was well-known, but to think he’d bring up her mate’s death… How dare he! Nobody spoke to Taika about her mate’s death<br/><br/>“This meeting is over. We will continue tomorrow.” Taika growled, rising from her chair, fury flickering in her eyes. When the room did not stir, she added, in a roar, “All of you! Get out!” Her lips curled to reveal her teeth, which she wanted to sink into Alan’s neck. It was becoming more and more difficult for her to suppress her dragon nature. The topic of her mate’s death was the one thing she was unable to keep her composure about. She knew it, and knew the others were aware as well; Alan would not have brought it up if it didn’t bother her. Yet no matter how much she tries to let it roll off her shoulders, it still managed to get to her. She was unable to let it all go and just move on. In the back of her mind, she made a mental note to really work on that.<br/><br/>The ice dragoness watched as everyone seemed to rush out of the room at once. Alan had stopped briefly to flash a smile over his shoulder at her, and then left the room, shutting thr door quietly behind him, before she could do anything about it. She was glad, because she would have leapt over the table and followed through with sinking her teeth into that bastard’s neck. When she was alone, she let out a sigh and ran a hand through her platinum hair and sank back against her chair again. She let out a heavy breath and closed her eyes. Her fingers dug into the chair’s arms, and then she took in another breath, and exhaled, to help her relax.  Everything said during the meeting was starting to reel through her mind, her thoughts attempting to focus on that, to steer away from her dead mate.<br/><br/>Never in her life had she thought that she would find herself in this predicament. The stress of losing the one person she has ever loved, and the humans trying to regain control, was really beginning to take its toll on her. Normally a very stone cold and seemingly emotionless woman, she felt uncharacteristically restless and even more ill-tempered than she usually was. Tonight had been a perfect example of that. No matter how much she tried to calm herself it was simply impossible. Her short temper really contradicted her species; ice dragons were supposed to be calm, caring, kind. Taika was the exact opposite of calm and kind. She was a firey ice queen who did not give a flying fuck about anyone but herself, she had to tell herself over and over. This had to get straightened out and she couldn’t do that if she was unable to control her temper.<br/><br/>The door to the meeting room opened suddenly.<br/><br/>“Miss Taika?” A voice called out to her.<br/><br/>Taika’s icy eyes met the gaze of a terrified human. “What?” Her tone was sharp, causing the human to cower a little more. For a moment the thought occurred to her that the man might have overheard the conversation. Her eyes narrowed, and she looked him over, half tempted to ask him if he had heard anything. But she decided to let it go for a number of reasons. One of them being that she was simply too tired to deal with an eavesdropper, and didn’t want to jump to conclusions. She was paranoid; what if it turned out this man was part of a resistance group?<br/><br/>After a few seconds passed, she pushed a little, “Well?”<br/><br/>“Well, it’s almost time to close for the night. I want to go home for the night.”<br/><br/>Taika arched a brow, “You want to go home?” She inquired. The man remained silent, seemingly afraid to answer her. Her lips formed a thin smile, “You have done a lot today… I suppose I could allow you to go home early.” The man perked up a little and was about to say something, but Taika continued. “I had wanted a few people to work throughout the night…” She looked over her shoulder. The man was looking restless, as if he was trying as hard as he could to keep composed. Humans did not like that they were treated like tools.<br/><br/>The man shifted and opened his mouth to speak. For a moment, there was nothing. It looked as though he was struggling, and then he finally said, “I really should go home for a bit of sleep…” There was exasperation laced in his tone. He had tried to hide it, but Taika had noticed it easily.<br/><br/>“Perhaps,” she replied.<br/><br/>“Please?”<br/><br/>“I want you here early tomorrow morning. Five thirty. Undertsood?”<br/><br/>“Thank you. Have a nice night.” The man left the room.<br/><br/>Taika couldn’t help but chuckle. She had wanted to take her anger out on that man, but he was very valuable to her.<br/><br/>Ten minutes later, she left the office to head to one of the bars downtown. She was to meet a friend there and discuss a few things about the recent events. The humans must not gather strength. This was a problem that was slowly becoming more and more difficult to keep under control. Before long, humans would take out the dragons and regain their society.<br/><br/>The humans might have their resistance groups, but the dragons were one step ahead.