“Matthew arranged a tour of the blackstone mines for us,” Catherine explained. She checked in with the security booth at the mouth of the cave, then handed Christina a vest and hard hat.
“The mines?” She knew that one of Lennox Corporation’s main products was blackstone, the hardest substance on earth. It made sense that Matthew would want to show off their greatest asset, though it was an unusual way to spend the morning.
“Yeah, they’re extracting today, so he wanted us to see it.”
Christina shrugged. At least the cave was dark and helped her headache. Ugh, damn Kate and her tequila.
Halfway into the cave, they were met by a tall, broad-shouldered man carrying a clipboard and wearing the same safety gear as them.
“Ben!” Catherine greeted as she waved to him.
“Hey, Catherine.” The handsome, bearded man returned her smile. “How’s the wedding planning?”
“Good, good. This is my sister, Christina. Christina, this is Ben Walker, Matthew’s cousin.”
“Hey, Christina,” Ben greeted. “Nice to meet ya.”
“Likewise,” she said. As she returned Ben’s firm handshake, she knew he was also a shifter. Well, he was related to the Lennoxes. But he didn’t seem like a dragon.
“C’mon,” he nodded toward one of the caves. “Let’s hurry or you’ll miss the show.”
“Show?” Neither Ben nor Catherine answered her, so she followed them. LED string lights led the way, but it was still too dark. The shifters in here probably didn’t even need them, but her human eyes were weak, so she held onto Catherine’s hand as they trudged along the dark and damp cavern. She could see the light at the end, and by the time they reached the next cavern, she was squinting, trying to adjust her vision.
“Okay, we’re here,” Ben said.
As her eyes adjusted to the light, she saw that the space inside was huge . The ceilings were probably over fifty feet high, and the width twice that.
Despite the open space, there was something that filled the air. Anticipation. The lights flickered off, plunging them into darkness. And when the ground rumbled, Christina grabbed her sister’s shoulders. “What’s going on?”
“Wait.”
Suddenly, the cavern was filled with a hot, bright light. The temperature must have soared to over a hundred degrees and she turned away from the brightness. Someone—Ben, maybe—handed her a pair of safety glasses and she put them on.
A gasp escaped her lips. A gigantic dragon was standing in the middle of the cave, breathing fire at the walls. Gold scales covered its body like armor, its massive wings stretched out. It spewed fire for a good minute before stopping, plunging the cave into darkness. It paused then started the cycle over again.
The dragon did this a few more times and when it finally stopped, overhead lights flickered on. A few seconds later, workers began to scramble forward to dig through the piles of rubble left behind.
“Amazing,” Catherine said.
“You’ve never seen it before?” Christina asked.
She shook her head. “No, I never had the time. Matthew’s only told me about how they mine the blackstone. This mountain has the only deposit in the world, and they’ve been mining it for generations.”
“Huh.” Interesting. She had no idea. No wonder the Lennoxes were so powerful and rich.
The dragon had stepped back from the commotion, folding in its wings to make way for the workers. It began to shrink, slowly, getting smaller and smaller.
“So, aside from being CEO, Matthew has to come here and do this?”
“Sometimes. It’s good for dragons too, apparently, to let some of their fire out every now and then,” Ben explained. “But that’s not Matthew.”
Oh no. That meant…
The naked, fully human figure was down on one knee. Christina could see the rise and fall of Jason’s broad shoulders as he breathed deeply. Her eyes trailed down his muscled, sweaty back, down to the curve of his taut backside. Catherine politely turned away, and she followed suit, despite the fact that she wanted to keep staring at his naked body. She was glad for the darkness of the cave as it hid the redness in her cheeks as she remembered what happened during the bachelorette party.
One of the workers handed Jason a set of clothes and he got dressed, apparently oblivious to their presence. He walk over to the other workers, chatting with them casually.
“Let’s go say hi,” Catherine said.
Christina hesitated, not really wanting to talk to Jason right now, not after last night. But it wasn’t like she had a choice. Her sister would know something had happened if she refused. She straightened her spine. They were adults here. Surely they could all act like it.
“Jason,” Ben called. “We have visitors.”
Jason turned around quickly. “Visitors? Who?”
Christina’s body went rigid when their eyes met and a coldness swept over her.
His mouth set into a hard line and his jaw tensed. “Oh, hello, Catherine. Christina.” He gave them a curt nod. “Did you come here for a tour?”
“Yes,” Catherine answered. “Didn’t Matthew tell you?”
“No.”
“He must have forgotten to mention it,” Catherine said. “Anyway, that was pretty impressive. Matthew’s only told me about the extraction process, but I’ve never seen it. Didn’t you think it was cool, Chrissy?”
“Uh, yeah.” Was she the only one feeling awkward? She avoided Jason’s eyes, but she could feel him looking at her, as if in challenge. Or maybe it was anger.
“Well, maybe Ben can show you the rest of the mines. The smelting area’s just in the next cavern, you should go see it. If you’ll excuse me, I have to check on a couple of things.” He turned and walked away from them.
Christina let out a breath. Maybe it was better this way. Better for them to ignore each other. But the knot in her stomach remained.
Her words last night had been harsh and judgmental. They had just come spewing out of her mouth as she battled her emotions. Lust. Anger. Jealousy. Seeing him with that other woman had brought up something in her she had never felt before and she wanted to get back at him. Of course, she didn’t expect him to kiss her and touch her like that.
“Chrissy?” Catherine shot her a concerned look. “Ready to go?”
“Yeah, sure.”
They followed Ben down a set of small caverns and walkways until they came to another large cavern. This one was just as big as the last one, but instead of the quiet atmosphere, it was earsplittingly loud. The sound of metal against metal was unmistakable. Large, heavy industrial equipment was set up all around and the temperature in here was much hotter. Perspiration broke out on her brow and upper lip as she felt the sweltering heat all around her.
“This is the smelting floor,” Ben explained, raising his voice so they could hear him. “We take the blackstone in here and melt it down to a more usable form.”
“Don’t you have a separate facility?” Catherine asked. “Like a plant in town?”
Ben shook his head. “If the blackstone cools after dragon fire extracts it, it becomes weaker. If we want the hardest and purest form, the smelting has to happen while it’s still hot. So we gotta move quick. That’s why we set up this system each time we move sites. This is the previous site where we’ve already extracted the vein. Good thing is that there’s so much blackstone in the mountains that we only have to move every one or two years.”
They followed him, staying at the edge of the cavern, watching as the workers pulled massive carts filled with black rocks before dumping them onto a moving conveyor belt. The rocks traveled through a series of machines, before moving into several giant metal pots. The inside of the pots glowed a bright yellow orange.
“Once we’ve extracted the blackstone—” Ben stopped short when a loud, screeching sound rang out through the cave, drowning out the rest of the din. He turned and his eyes widened. “What the—”
One of the chains that had been holding up
a huge smelting pot had broken and dangled overhead. As they watched, the pot began to tip over, threatening to pour out the burning liquid inside.
“GET OUT!” Ben’s inhuman roar reverberated throughout the cavern. “Move!”
There were shouts and yells, and the sickening sound of metal screeching against metal made Christina’s teeth hurt. The air grew hotter around her, but she couldn’t move. She froze, watching the smelting pot as it began to overturn.
She closed her eyes and braced herself. But, instead of burning hot metal, she only felt the whip of air. When she opened her eyes, she saw a massive gold figure in front of her, its wings beating madly. Jason!
The dragon’s claws held the smelting pot, roaring as it kept the hot liquid from spilling over. It wrenched the pot down from the remaining chains then set it on the floor, holding it in place.
“We need support!” Ben shouted to the crew. “Get whatever you can to hold that thing in place!”
Christina gasped as suddenly, a massive grizzly bear ripped out of Ben’s human body. Massive was an understatement. She’d never seen bears in real life, but she was pretty sure they didn’t grow to fifteen feet tall. The bear let out an angry roar.
Two more bears, smaller than Ben but still intimidating, ran toward them dragging massive chains. The two of them wrapped them around the pot, and the grizzly grabbed the ends, pulling on it then secured it to the nearest post. Several people came forward, dragging more equipment, probably to weld the chains into place. The dragon staggered back.
“Jason!” Christina screamed, watching as the dragon began to shrink back to human form. He fell back, his body hitting the ground with a thud. No!
She ran to him, kneeling down next to his body. His eyes were closed and he was covered in sweat. And his hands—Oh God, his hands—they were red and raw, and the sight made bile rise up her throat.
“Medic!” Ben shouted. She didn’t even realize he had transformed back. He knelt down next to her and patted her shoulder. “I know it looks bad, but he’ll survive. It’s just a scratch.”
Shock ran through her system. She knew Ben was right; she’d seen worse on other shifters and they’d survived. But looking at Jason injured made her heart wrench.
Ben let out a throaty growl. “Goddamit.” He ran a hand through this thick, dark hair.
“What’s the matter?” Christina asked.
He sighed. “This doesn’t happen often. In fact, this is only the second major accident we’ve had in a long time.”
“And the first?”
“It was two days ago.”
A cold chill ran down Christina’s spine. She had arrived two days ago. A thought crossed her mind, but before she could fully flesh out the scenario, shouts and screams from the other side of the cave distracted her.
“Boss! Boss!” Two burly men came toward them, dragging a smaller figure between them. “We found this guy trying to run out of the cave. He’s not one of ours.”
“Yeah,” the other one said. “Human.”
They tossed the man to the ground, and Ben reached down, wrapped his massive hands around the guy’s shirt and lifted him up. “Who the hell are you?”
The man should have been afraid. Even in human form, Ben could probably snap his neck in half and who knows what he could do as a grizzly. But the man’s face widened into a sick smile. “You’re dirty, filthy animals,” he spat. “Abominations. You need to be erased from this earth.”
“You motherfucker!” Ben shook him hard. “Who are you with?”
“You won’t live long enough to find out,” the man said with a grin. “We will take every single one of you out.”
Ben tossed him back to the ground. “Lock up this son of a bitch and call Blackstone P.D.,” he roared at the two workers. They nodded and dragged the man away as he continued to spew out vile insults.
Despite the heat in the cave, icy fingers seeped into Christina’s veins. The man’s words … she had heard it all before. It was what those anti-shifter groups would shout and spew at rallies and protests. She’d heard worse, actually.
Could someone from one of those groups have followed her here? The Agency had always worked clandestinely, keeping their existence secret. But maybe after all these years, those anti-shifter groups had gotten wise.
“Chrissy?” Catherine asked as she knelt down beside her. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I’m fine.” The answer was almost automatic. She looked down at Jason. His eyes were still shut, but his breathing was even. A closer look at his hands told her he was already healing and she sighed with relief. What if his injuries had been worse? Or if he had been too late?
“We should give him some room,” Catherine said, gently tugging at her hand.
“Huh?” She looked up and saw two men carrying medical bags coming their way. “Right.” She followed her sister outside.
There was nothing she could do now and Jason would be fine. The thought made that tightness in her chest loosen somewhat. But, it wasn’t over. She had to call her father and brothers right away.
Chapter 9
“How you feelin’ cuz?”
Jason opened his eyes and let out a groan. The pain in his hands made him jolt. He raised them to his face and winced. “Like ass,” he said with a sigh.
“It looks much better,” Ben said, peering down at his palms.
“You mean, better than raw beef?”
His cousin chuckled. “Well, you’re back to making jokes, so you must be doing all right. The doctor said you should be fully healed by tonight.” Ben’s face darkened. “If you didn’t swoop in on time, who knows what would have happened.”
Jason shot up. “Christina—and Catherine,” he quickly added.
“They’re back at the castle. I had Luke take them home.”
He let go of the breath he was holding, his body relaxing. He had been in shock, seeing Christina so soon after last night. Her rejection had stung worse than any pain, even the one he was feeling now. Having her standing in front of him was too much, and he’d had to walk away.
But when he heard the commotion coming from the smelting room, instinct took over. Sensing that Christina was in danger, he raced toward her. He got there on time, just as that pot was about to pour hot, liquid metal all over the floor. His dragon ripped out of him and though the pain had been nearly unbearable, it had been worth it knowing Christina and everyone else was safe.
“What happened?”
Ben’s face got even darker. “You were right. Someone’s out to get us. We caught some guy sneaking away. Haven’t gotten a confession yet, but we have him locked up. P.D.’s on the way to pick him up.”
His inner dragon roared, urging him to go find the man and rip his head off for nearly killing Christina. Not until we find out who’s trying to sabotage us, he told the animal. But, he promised his dragon, they would get their revenge.
“Hey, hey!” Ben stepped forward as Jason tried to get up. “You gotta get some rest.”
“I’m fine,” he said as he reached for the spare set of clothes at the foot of the bed. Gingerly, he got dressed. “I want to see this guy before Chief Meacham takes him away.”
Ben shrugged and led him out of the medical RV then to one of the trailers across the lot which housed their supplies. Two of their guys were standing in front, guarding the door. When Ben and Jason approached, they stepped aside to let them in.
“We should still be careful,” Ben warned as he turned the knob and walked inside. “He’s unstable and … motherfucker!”
The metallic smell was unmistakable. A body was slumped on the ground in a pool of blood. Next to it was a pair of scissors, also covered in blood.
“Fucker!” Ben cursed and slammed his fist on the wall.
Jason had never seen him so agitated, though he understood. That man had tried to hurt their crew. Even if Christina and Catherine hadn’t been there, if any of their workers had died, there would have been hell to pay.
“He was wo
rking alone?” Jason asked.
“As far as we could tell. But no way he could have done all that by himself.”
“He had help,” Jason concluded. “I’ll tell Matthew. We’re gonna have to double up on security around here.” The sound of sirens outside signaled the arrival of the Blackstone P.D. “Go talk to Chief Meacham,” he told Ben as they walked out to the trailer. He turned to the two men outside. “Don’t let anyone except P.D. come in here, okay?”
Jason walked away from the trailer, his mind reeling. This was big. Someone was really out to hurt them. But who? And why did this man kill himself? He guessed it was so they wouldn’t be able to get more answers from him.
He made this way back to the middle trailer, where he and Matthew had their on-site offices. It was a good thing he always left his cell phone inside before going into the mines. As he reached for his phone which was sitting on the desk, it began to ring. Probably Matthew.
Not bothering to look at the caller ID, he picked up right away. “Jason Lennox.”
“Jason,” the breathy voice on the other end said. “I’ve been trying to get a hold of you all day.”
“Jessica?” Why the hell was she calling? Sure, he walked out on their date, but she didn’t bother waiting for him to come back. He had been gone a few minutes.
“I should be mad at you, but how can I be angry when you’re taking me to the hottest social event of the year.”
What the fuck is she talking about? “I am?”
“Yes, silly! As if you didn’t know. Everyone wants an invite to your brother’s wedding.”
“When did I invite you?”
Jessica laughed. “Last night. Oh, stop joking around. Remember, I asked if you had a date to the wedding and you shook your head. Then, I asked if you would take me and you said yes.”
Jason felt a headache begin to build in his temple. He tried to recall what happened last night and he vaguely remembered saying yes to some question. Shit. “Uhm…Jessica…see—”
“You’re not backing out, are you? Did you find another date?”
The Blackstone Bad Dragon Page 7
