That seemed to satisfy the three other dragons, and they backed down, taking a few steps back and mingling into the crown.
Except Max. He moved closer to her. His magnetic presence entranced her and she wanted to move closer to him, to touch him. There was something so intriguing about him, and she had been spending too much time thinking about him. She took a deep breath and headed for the stairs where Carl and Betsy were chatting and crying and she let herself get swept up into their emotions. Anything to get away from Max for the moment.
“Amy!” Carl reached out and pulled her into their hug. “You did it, Aims. You found her. You brought her back.”
“Dad, please don’t get too excited,” Betsy said. “I screwed up. Bad.”
“We’ll work on that. Let’s get inside. It’s cold out here.”
Betsy nodded and smiled at the two of them. She walked to the top of the stairs, where Niko was still standing next to Max and his grandfather. “Can we go in?”
The handsome dragon smirked. “It’s your house now too, agipita ena.”
Amy groaned inwardly. He even had a pet name for her.
She held her hand out and Niko walked up to take it. But instead of grabbing her hand, he swept her up into his arms. She squealed as he walked to the door and pushed it open.
“What about all the people on your lawn?” Max asked, following them.
“Aaron will handle them. He’s good at that.”
Amy headed straight for the kitchen and sat in the chair that forced Max to not sit next to her. Betsy walked in giggling, with Niko hot on her tail. She was so in love with this guy and it was good to see it, even if she did gag a little bit on the sweetness.
It had also been good to see Wyatt and Wayne carted off. Wayne had been hit with Niko’s fiery dragon spit, and had months of surgery and healing to undergo. Wyatt had immediately started squealing on his brother. Betsy just waited until they were gone and told the officers she was completely cooperating. Niko had her sprung from Nevada State cops in less than a day, and they had talked about how she was going to have to face the North Carolina justice system.
It had hurt Amy deep in her soul to know that there was almost no way her best friend was going to avoid jail time at home. She and Carl would do everything under the law to get her a reduced sentence, but she was going to have to go behind the walls. She didn’t know how a mated dragon was going to handle being away from his mate.
If it was her, she wouldn’t handle it very well at all.
Niko held out a chair for Betsy to sit next to her father and took the seat on the other side. Keni, Sia, and their friend Poppy were leaning in one doorway, behind the seated figure of Rijn, and Henry, and the fire dragon were standing in the other door near Niko’s grandfather.
Max had managed to sit near her anyway.
Sia cleared her throat and looked at the others. “So, your grace, what are you doing out here?”
Carl cleared his throat. “I came for my daughter.”
“Your grace?” Betsy looked at him.
“Oh, she doesn’t know.” Keni’s words ran together. “Betsy, your father is the Gray Eminence, the leader of the Sectorum Esse.”
“You might as well just whisper Latin seductively in my ear,” Betsy said. “I have no idea what you just said.”
“We screwed up, Betsy,” Amy said, leaning forward on the table. “We’ve kept a secret from you for all of your life.”
Betsy stared at her. “Oh, God, please don’t tell me you’re some ancient magical hag?”
Everyone chuckled, and Amy smirked. “No, I’m your age. And I’m a dreamwalker. And not a hag, thankyouverymuch. But your father is the leader of a secret group known as the Sectorum Esse. We’re made up of magical and non-magical people who keep the records of the magical world. The Gray Eminence is the leader. It’s been a position handed down to a non-magical being for hundreds of centuries. My family has been one of the most loyal magicals to serve in the Sectorum. We’ve been lore keepers and dreamwalkers to all of the Gray Eminences, including your father.”
“Dad?” Her eyes tracked over to him.
“I was going to tell you, but you fell in with Wyatt. I didn’t even tell your brother. He just left and…” The note of sadness from him with the disinterest of his son hurt her heart. “Neil was supposed to be the next Eminence, but I only talk to him twice a year at best and there was no way I could tell him what his inheritance was. And now…”
“Now what?” Amy wrinkled her brow. She had always assumed that once they found Betsy and brought her back, she’d get the title when he was ready to pass it on.
“I can’t give it to Betsy. The next Gray Eminence must be non-magical. She’s mated to Niko, and a locus.”
“A locust?” Pappous asked.
Giggling, Amy shook her head. “No. Locus. A focal point. There are five loci who—”
“Relocate the Omphalos from the old world to the new,” Rijn said. “I didn’t realize that prophecy had reached the Sectorum. I made that one when I was nine.”
Amy and Carl slowly turned and looked at Rijn sitting there. She stuttered and finally was able to say something. “You’re Rijn Faulker.”
He nodded. “I am.”
“Holy shit,” Carl mumbled, and then slapped a hand over his mouth.
Rijn held his hand up to stop the two of them. “Please, no, don’t. I’m just Rijn. I just hide in the woods away from everyone.”
Carl blinked a few times. “You know who the loci are.”
“Of course, and there are three in this room.”
“Three?” Amy gasped.
“Then the omphalos is unstable,” Pappous said. “It’s going to move and it’s already starting to loosen its grip in Delphi.”
“That’s correct.” Rijn nodded. “But for now, it’s stable enough. Once three of the five dragons are mated, that’s when it will be most dangerous.”
“There are only four dragons,” Raissa said.
“There are five,” Amy, Carl, and Rijn said at the same time.
“Earth, air, water, and fire.” Max ticked them off with raised fingers.
Carl nodded, and then added, “And spirit.”
“There’s never been a spirit dragon.”
“It’s never been needed, but now it is, and it must be uncovered.” Rijn’s voice was getting shaky. “Poppy…”
Poppy walked away from the door and helped him to his feet. “Of course. I have to take him back to his house. There’s too many people and he’s being overwhelmed by what the ley lines are pushing at him to see.” She was leading him to the door quickly. “I’m sorry. I’ll talk to Keni and Sia tomorrow.”
Amy watched them go and shook her head. Max leaned over. “He’s a hermit, essentially. Not because he wants to be, but because he has to be.”
Turning, she was going to snap at him that she didn’t ask, but his bright blue eyes froze her in her tracks. She had to pull herself away from him and turned back to Betsy. “We’ll tell you everything, Bets. Why don’t we all let Niko and Betsy have the night, and we can start working on everything tomorrow? I think we all need sleep and rest and time to recuperate.”
“I agree with that,” Pappous said. “I need to talk to him alone.”
“No.” Carl stood. “No one in this house but Niko and Betsy. Everyone else is out. We’ll come back in the morning. Especially you, sir. They haven’t had a chance to be truly alone since they were mated. And as much as I don’t want to deal with my little girl and...well, you know, we need to be fair to them.”
He pointed to the door and most everyone else started to file out. Sia and Keni smiled at her as she stood on the porch. Amy wasn’t going to go until she saw Niko’s grandfather leave. Henry walked out, staring at Keni’s back—she was going to need to know more about that little feud—and Raissa walked out after him. Carl was right after Pappous—he had the same idea. None of them were going to leave him in the house.
Carl waited until the anc
ient dragon climbed into his car and drove off. He smiled at Amy. “Thank you. You brought her back.”
“She’s my best friend too, sir. I wanted her back. I missed her. But, Carl...I realize that the next Gray Eminence is supposed to be human, but isn’t it possible that with the way everything is changing, it’s time to consider someone magical?”
“You, you mean?” He raised an eyebrow.
“I’m able. I’m willing. I’ve learned so much about the Sectorum.”
Putting a hand on her shoulder, he smiled. “You have a different destiny. I’m going to go talk to Rijn Faulker tomorrow. I’ll get guidance from him. And Amy, it’s not that I don’t want you there, or don’t think that you’re perfectly able to handle the position. It’s that I believe you have a different destiny.” He leaned in. “And it has shocking blue eyes and keeps wanting to be near you.”
“Carl. You can’t throw me to the dogs like that.”
The shit eating grin spread on his face, and he walked down the stairs. “I’m not throwing you to the dogs. I’m throwing you to the dragons.”
“Carl!” she called after him.
“Amy.”
There was no need to even turn around. She knew Max was leaning against the house after pulling the front door closed. She swore at Carl again, and then slowly turned to face him.
“Hi, Max.”
“So you do know who I am.”
Letting out a sigh, she leaned against the railing. “Yes, I know who you are. How could I not? You and Niko and Dracen are all besties.”
“Ooh, that’s a terrible phrase.”
“What?”
“Guys don’t call guys besties.”
Amy rolled her eyes. “Can I help you with something, Max, or are you just making sure we’re all out of the house.”
“Mój cenny, I’ve been trying to get you to notice me. Both when you first got here and now.” He stepped toward her but didn’t push in close. “There’s been so much going on, with Niko and Betsy and trying to rescue them that I didn’t know if you had seen me.”
“I can’t miss you, Max. I had to ignore you. I had to.”
“Had to?”
“You’re a magnet, Maximillian. I can’t deny that. But I had to get Betsy back. Her father and I have been trying for years. Her mother is leaving, her brother has no inclination to be a part of the family. Betsy was his only chance to save anything of their family. I missed her too. When she called, I had to go after her, for me and for her father.”
“He’s really the Gray Eminence?”
Amy nodded. “He is.”
“And you are…?”
“One of his assistants. He had a few, but my family has always been close to him. I’m also a lawyer and work pro bono on a lot of cases. I have…an advantage you could say.”
Max’s mouth fell open. “You dreamwalk?”
“I do.” She shrugged. “It’s slightly unethical, but I tried defending someone who was less than ethical and honest, and it was a disaster. He had done everything his wife was accusing him of and more. I had to dreamwalk to figure out where the lies were and how to get myself out of it. It wasn’t my favorite thing to do. So now I do a quick dreamwalk to make sure that my clients are on the up and up. I take only legal aid fees, so I want to make sure I don’t have conflict like that again.”
Raising an eyebrow, Max smirked. “Well. You surprise me, Miss Hogan. That’s…”
“Unethical, I know.”
“I was going to say impressive, actually.”
Amy wrinkled her brow. “It bothers me a lot of the time, but I had to make the decision.”
“It’s a good one, I think.”
The silence wasn’t uncomfortable. But Amy was tired and it was time to go get some sleep. She was about to excuse herself from her place next to him on the porch.
“Niko!”
Max cringed. “Oh, shit, it’s time to go. I don’t want to hear this.”
Amy laughed as she and Max ran down the stairs out to their cars that were sitting next to each other in the driveway. Before she could open the door, Max grabbed her arm.
“Are you hungry?”
Shaking her head, Amy tried to open the door. “Not really.” But at that moment her stomach rumbled loudly. She rolled her eyes and sighed.
“Just dinner. There’s a cute diner down the road. Your stomach said yes.” Pulling the door to the car open, he looked so cute, handsome, and sexy all at once.
“All right, just dinner.”
Max fist pumped himself when he was pretty sure she couldn’t see him. There was no way he was going to let her go anywhere without at least a date.
The first time he saw her when she walked into Niko’s kitchen three weeks ago, he instantly went hard and wanted to mate her right then. He was pretty sure that Niko saw the reaction, but, gratefully, ignored it.
It took everything he had to stay behind while they went off to rescue Betsy. His dragon just wanted to be near her, to protect her. And being this close to her meant that he was going to have to fly the dragon out again, but he didn’t care.
She was in the car.
He dropped into the driver’s seat and started the car, backing out of the driveway.
“How are you doing? I know you were part of the magical world before this, but this is much bigger.”
“I’m okay. I knew you were all out here somewhere, but seeing Niko’s dragon like that…well, that was interesting.”
“The dragons can be frightening.”
“There aren’t many of you. It’s a small population, I mean compared to things like sorcerers and other kinds of shifters. I’m hoping Carl wants to stay here for a while. There are so many magicals here, I could collect all kinds of information on them. The Sectorum could use some new data and statistics. I mean, we do our best, but with all the magic right here…”
Max smirked. “Are we just numbers to you?”
“I don’t want numbers. I want stories! I want information on what you all can do and can’t do! How your magicks are limited and defined. I know that Betsy is a locus, and now that she’s mated, she’s going to gain some powers through Niko. But what are they? Are they limited? Will they grow? How do they work?”
“So, we’re subjects. Rats in your maze.”
Amy bit her bottom lip. “Shit. That’s what it sounds like, doesn’t it?” She glanced over at him. “I’m sorry. I don’t get to be magical very often, beyond the few dreamwalks I do. It’s only my family and the Sectorum, which doesn’t have a high human to magical population ratio. We’re mostly human. Just watchers. Not actors. I don’t mean to sound like a robot, but—”
“Take a breath, Amy.” He laughed. “You’re fine. I’m teasing.”
Slumping in the seat, he felt the relief roll off her. “I need more field time.”
“But you’re an amazing lawyer. Isn’t that enough? I love being an astronomer, and not so much of the dragon shit. He never listens. At least the stars are predictable.”
“The law is not, sadly. I just want a chance to talk to more than a few of the gifted people here so I can expand our knowledge. We’ll be going back soon enough to deal with Betsy’s legal mess.”
Max felt his good mood chip away a little. “You will?”
“Carl and I are the best people to handle it.”
He turned the corner and headed for the diner. “What do you think is going to happen? I mean, her being away from Niko sounds like a recipe for disaster.”
“Well, you have to remember that, no matter what, they have forever now. So even a long sentence of twenty or thirty years wouldn’t be a dent in their lives. But I doubt she’ll get that long. They did steal a LOT of money, but this last little spree, she kept tabs on everything and it was returned. The worst was that armored car robbery and fleeing the state.”
“What’s your guess?” Max was worried about his friends’ mental health.
“Five years, as long as she turns state’s evidence.”
/> “That’s a long time at the start of a relationship.”
“Judging by how long it took him to get her screaming his name just now, I don’t think we have to worry.”
Snorting, Max turned into the diner and parked the car. He walked around to help her out, but she already had the door open. He was still trying to use his Victorian manners, and sometimes, he couldn’t get used to modern sensibilities. But he offered his arm once she was out and closed the door behind her.
The diner, the one that everyone went to for any reason at any time, was run by a bear shifter named Xavier Zinter. It was the other diner in town and was open much later than Keni’s place. It was also, because of its location near Old Town, far more welcoming to the magicals that lived in Pine Valley. Zinter loved food, loved making food, loved kids, loved people, and didn’t mind staying up late to save a teenager from getting in deep crap for breaking curfew.
He and Max had conspired a few times in the ’50s and ’60s to save a few butts.
More than a few.
Zinter tossed a friendly chin at him as they sat down. Max felt lucky there were so many people in the town he could call not only friend, but good friend. At 125 years old, most people were dead. At 125, most magicals were just getting going. He’d lost a few of his human friends over the years, but his magical friends were there to stay.
Amy slid into the booth across from him and grabbed the menu with the drinks on it. He smirked—no shock there. He could use a little liquor himself.
“Anything you recommend?” She raised an eyebrow without looking at him.
“Tell her about the Dragon’s Breath!” Zinter yelled from the back.
“Shut up, Xav!” Max yelled back.
“Dragon’s Breath?” This time, Amy did look up at him. “What the heck?”
“It’s a drink he and I made up with Henry Zhang when he first moved here in the forties. It’s—”
“When?” Her eyes went wide.
“Forties. Nineteen forty…six? He had been living in upstate—”
She put her hand up to stop him. “How old are you, Max?”
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