by J. K Harper
But her grandmother, still strong and sassy despite her age as everyone in the family knew, shook her head. She didn't bother wiping away the tear as she looked directly at Gabi. "Maleko, my dragon man, the one who had my heart, and whose heart was mine, had treasure. Gold. They all do, you know. Dragon shifters. That's what they call themselves."
Her piercing eyes looked at Gabi with such clarity that she suddenly felt as if her grandmother could see into her very soul. Nearly holding her breath, she waited.
"My dragon man, he had treasure indeed. He showed me once. The biggest amount of riches I have ever seen in my life." Her voice still held the soft amazement of an experience that she must have had, Gabi realized, well over sixty years ago. "Listen to me carefully, Gabriela. I don't know exactly what's going on, but I can see in your eyes that your dragon shifter man, your Kai, means a lot to you. Without his treasure, Gabriela, eventually, he will die. This is what happens. Whatever has been taken from him, must be returned. Do you understand?”
Voice suddenly ringing with the authority Gabi remembered from her childhood, abuela firmly said, "He needs you. He needs you, the same as he needs his treasure. I know this. You need to go back there, Gabi. Now. I will be fine," she said, shaking away Gabi's protest before it could leave her lips. "Bah. This,” she waved her hand in the air, indicating herself in the hospital bed, “is just a little thing. All of the family is hovering around me like gnats on a hot summer day. I need to send one of them away, so it might as well be you."
Despite herself, Gabi managed to whisper out a small laugh.
"Gabriela.” Her grandmother's voice held a soft warning. "Do not lose this kind of love. Hold onto it for the treasure that it is by itself. Believe me."
A slap of pain harder than anything Gabi had ever heard before sounded in her grandmother's voice. Gabi's heart constricted.
"What happened?" she asked, searching her grandmother's wistful eyes. "What happened to your dragon man?"
Her grandmother sighed. “They often fight, these dragons. Just like people, there are good dragons, and there are bad dragons.” She shrugged, a soft, sad smile around her lips. “Someone tried to steal my dragon man's gold. Another dragon. They fought. And he was killed."
Her voice was simply accepting of what was a very old wound. Even so, Gabi couldn't help her gasp. Her grandmother made a shooing motion with her hands. "Things happen for a reason, my love. I was meant to meet my Maleko for the short time that I did, and to know what it's like to love a man like that. A dragon shifter man like that.” A shadow of joy edged her words even now. “After he died, many years later, I met your grandfather. If I hadn't, you would not be here at this moment." She shrugged again. "But my story is not your story." Her tone brooking no disagreement, she pointed at the door with a surprisingly steady hand. "Go to him, Gabriela. He needs you."
As Gabi gathered her things to leave, giving her grandmother's soft if slightly papery cheek a kiss, when she left she thought she heard her grandmother quietly add, "Just as you need him."
Chapter Fifteen
Kai ended the phone call as it once again went straight to Gabi's cheerful voicemail. Swearing beneath his breath, he tossed the phone onto his kitchen table. Striding through his house, he burst out onto the deck that led outside. His insides were a boiling, roiling mess. Something was wrong. Very wrong. He didn't know what, but the knowledge that something terrible had happened wouldn't release him from the constricting sense of dread he'd been feeling since the very early hours of the morning. Leaping into his sailboat, he steered her directly toward the shipwreck, pulse pounding the entire way in a sick, jagged rhythm of nameless fear.
Barely pausing to anchor the boat when he reached the site, he dove off the side toward the water below, shifting into his dragon just barely as he entered the waves. Propelled by the dire unease that was so intense he vaguely wondered if this was what people prone to panic attacks felt, he shot through the water, heading directly for the Santa Maria.
A water dragon swimming at full speed was the fastest creature in the entire ocean.
An uneasy dragon was both fast and utterly terrifying as he swam with single-minded purpose. Ocean life of all types scattered as he raced by them, heedless in his need for one thing.
His gold. He had to get to his gold.
The closer he got to the shipwreck, the more the ugly sense of foreboding alarm increased. Something was not right. Something was so wrong, on so many levels, that it spurred him to streak though the water ever faster.
Yet as soon as he got close to the wreck that housed his gold hoard, the heart of all dragon shifters that kept their powers intact, he immediately knew what was wrong.
As the dark bulk of the Santa Maria rose before him, agony ripped through Kai's massive frame. He flung open his wings, dragging himself to a churning stop above the ocean floor. Opening his mouth, he howled a raging bellow of draconic pain. Of shattering, unspeakable loss.
He could not feel it. None of it. His gold, the mingled treasure hoard that had belonged to him and his dead mate, was gone. Everything was missing.
Taken.
Stolen.
Gone.
As the stunning truth settled over him, one thought surged forth, over his dragon's repeated agonized calls beneath the water.
Gabi. Somehow, some way, she was responsible for this. Yesterday, rushing her back to shore to go to her grandmother's side, Kai had completely forgotten about the small piece of his treasure that she still had. He'd been so stupidly concerned for her own well-being that he'd ignored the fact that not only did she have it, she hadn't offered up the real reason why she had taken it in the first place.
The real reason how the gray dragon had found them out there. The real reason behind all the trickery, all the hidden secrets he kept seeing concealed in her eyes. Somehow, she was mixed up with the dark, thieving dragon from yesterday.
Jaw clenching, teeth gnashing together in rage, Kai turned and shot toward the shore of the island
Somehow, Gabriela Santos had stolen Kai's gold.
~~~
Gabi's phone warbled at her yet again. Shane gave her the side-eye as she glanced down at it, but he didn't say anything. He hadn't asked why she wanted him to dive down to the site with her today, on what was supposed to be a dry research day at the lab, going over the photos and notes they'd taken so far at the wreck. He hadn't asked why they were going alone. Why she hadn't asked Everson for permission. Technically, since she was an associate director, she didn't have to ask. Yet this was still seriously against protocol.
But even though Shane had paused for a long time when she'd called him last night to ask for his help, he'd finally said yes without asking more questions. She'd assured him it was really important. Since she'd never yet lied to him, he saw no reason to question her, she guessed. Biting the inside of her own lip to keep her mouth from trembling, she looked down at her phone. Kai's name pulsed on the screen. It was the third time he'd called her that morning. The day after the wildness of sex with him, her discovery that he was a dragon, his fight with the other dragon. The other dragon who must be one of the bad ones her abuela had mentioned.
Clutching Kai's gold tightly in her left hand while she stared down at the screen, Gabi firmly turned the volume off and then flipped over the phone so she couldn't see his name flashing on it in seeming accusation. She had to return his gold first. Then, and only then, could she face him.
The only sound was that of the boat traveling through the water, waves lapping off its sides as they skimmed over the surface of the ocean toward the wreck of the Santa Maria. Gabi firmed her jaw as she looked over the sparkling blue-green waters that dazzled and beckoned the further out to sea they headed. She'd slept poorly at her small apartment in L.A. the night before after leaving the hospital, haunted by dreams that seemed to mock her. Images of gold buried in its watery grave, the no-nonsense face of her boss, Everson, her grandmother's urgent plea and firm command as she directed Ga
bi to save both Kai and her own future, the increasingly annoyed voice of her UTEI contact as he, too, had called her multiple times yesterday and even this morning as she took the earliest ferry she could over to Catalina, leaving more and more chilling messages each time.
And Kai. The obsidian eyes, the flash of sunlight across his rippling muscles as he'd hovered above her on the deck of the sailboat, nothing in his expression but pure longing and enjoyment as they melded their bodies together. The stunning beauty of his dragon form as he'd flown in the sky and then dove into the depths of the ocean, battling the other strange dragon.
The surety that if she didn't return his gold piece to him that she would somehow injure him beyond repair.
The devastating knowledge that she was betraying her team in order to save her grandmother's life.
Everything whirled around inside her like a merry-go-round she couldn't disembark, one making her dizzier and more distraught by every second.
Shane finally spoke, very carefully. "We're almost there."
Gabi waited for more, but when she looked at him, he simply shrugged one shoulder toward their destination, his hands still firmly clutching the wheel. Gratitude flooded her as she reached over to gently squeeze his upper arm in thanks. She, Shane, and Lacey had all been good friends in grad school. They both had her back, and she had theirs.
Yet when Shane found out the truth, she had a feeling he might never talk to her again. Swallowing at the sick feeling inside her, Gabi nodded. Within moments, Shane slowed the boat to an idle, then killed the engine as they drifted over the spot where the wreck lay. As they readied themselves to go overboard, checking and double checking one another's equipment as they went through the usual safety routine, Gabi made certain to tuck the gold nugget securely into the glove of her suit. It pressed painfully against her palm when she flexed her hand, causing her to grimace and shake it open. This time, though, no matter what, she would return it to its rightful place. To its place in Kai's treasure hoard.
She felt strangely disquieted, even nervous. Glancing around at the bright, beautiful day, she took a deep breath and attempted to center herself. Come on. She was Gabi Santos, thrill seeker and bad ass extraordinaire. Wasn't she? She was doing the one right thing she could right now. It had to be enough.
Doing her best to pull on her innate sense of adventure and love of the adrenaline rush to get her through this, she took a deep breath, gave two thumbs up to Shane, and rolled over the railing of the boat to splash into the water alongside him
As they descended through the waters to the wreck site, Gabi felt increasingly uneasy. She struggled to find her usual sense of elation and comfort of being in the ocean, the one place that felt like her most real home. Yet the pit of her stomach felt heavy and her nerves frazzled. She carefully looked around as they began swimming toward the wreck, wondering if something dangerous cruised in the area. But everything looked as it always did. The bright green fronds of kelp swayed and danced in their underwater forests, punctuated by the occasional colorful flashes of schools of fish that darted in and out. The seafloor was undisturbed. As they approached the wreck, Gabi loosened the tight ball of fear that had seemed trapped in her throat. The Santa Maria was fine. Everything looked the same.
Everything looked the same—except it didn't. Dread suddenly gut-punched her again. Gabi's stomach seemed to drop out as unimaginable horror filled her.
Shane, who had been swimming a few yards away from her, backpedaled suddenly. Gabi paddled in place, staring at the ship as Shane swam to her and grabbed her arm. She turned to look at him, knowing her own expression would be the same as the one on his.
Shock, and genuine anguish.
Gabi looked back at the Santa Maria. The old ship listed far more to the left than she had before. The original hole in her side, the one the team had speculated had been caused by 18th-century pirates, was now an enormous ugly gash that clearly had been created by modern implements.
Even as she made herself start moving forward again, Gabi knew in her heart of hearts what they would find when they got there.
Carefully, glancing around again to see if anyone else was there with them, Gabi swam through the gentle, unending motion of the water to the edge of the hole in the ship, very gently grasping the jagged side of the broken boards. Shane swam past her through the giant hole. The two of them paused, still gently paddling in place, as they looked down at where the amazing treasures of the ship had lain just yesterday.
She was empty. Looted.
Kai's treasure was gone. His dragon hoard, as well as her team's stupendous find, and the only way Gabi had of paying for the treatments her grandmother so desperately needed, was gone.
Somebody had stolen all of it.
Shocked despair kept her limbs heavy when they finally headed back up to the surface.
This time, it was Gabi who didn't say a single word the entire ride back to shore. Shane glanced at her several times, once or twice reaching out to gently touch her arm. He finally stopped asking her what was going on when she simply didn't answer his repeated questions. Instead, he vaguely talked about his planned date for the evening. His voice sounded so strange the entire time that Gabi knew he was just barely managing to stop himself from freaking out. He was rambling in order to fill the dreadful shared knowledge.
The shipwreck had been ransacked. Professionally ransacked. The insides of it, the things that had nothing to do with gold and jewels and treasure, had been left intact. Logically, in some corner of her mind that was coolly ticking along, assessing the scientific ramifications of the situation, Gabi knew there was still a wealth of startling information to be found in the Santa Maria. It was still a fantastic discovery. The California University Ancients Quest team would still go down in history as being the ones who found her.
But when the truth finally got out, Gabi Santos' name would also go down in history as belonging to someone who had been nothing more than a lying, selfishly driven scientist who turned her back on everything she held dear so she could sell out to the other side. Correction. She would be known as a former scientist, one discredited and disgraced beyond repair, who had opened the floodgates to the ugly underworld of antiquities looting and trafficking. It didn't matter that she'd done it to save her grandmother. That part, nobody would care about or remember.
Once she and Shane had gotten back on the boat, she immediately went for her phone and called the UTEI number of her contact. Straight to voicemail. Then she called their office in the Bay Area, but that too went unanswered. Not leaving messages because Shane stood there, able to hear every word she said, she ended both calls with a hideous feeling of horror and dread pitting her stomach.
A cacophony of thoughts hammered her brain at completely random moments, one thought not seeming to follow another in any logical order. She would never get paid by UTEI for her part in what had turned out to be a disaster. She would never be able to afford to get her grandmother the necessary treatments. She would be fired. Abandoned by her friends. Her family probably would never talk to her again, more deeply ashamed of her behavior than by her failed marriage.
And then there was Kai.
He would never talk to her again. Kai would… What? What would happen to a dragon permanently separated from his gold hoard? Would he just fade away into nothingness? She had no real idea of what the loss of his gold meant. She simply knew from what her abuela had said that it was a horrible, terrible thing. That eventually, its loss would kill him.
And it was all her own damn stupid, idiotic, careless fault.
As they approached the island, Shane abruptly stopped his vague babble about his date. "Hey. Someone's at the dock.” He shot her a quick look. “I though you said you didn't tell anyone we were going out this morning."
Still feeling numb, Gabi shook her head as she shaded her eyes and looked at the figure standing on the dock. Frowning slightly, she said, "You're the only one. I have no idea who that is."
"Gabs." Fro
m the seriousness of Shane's tone, she knew he was about to try again. "What's going on? You can tell me. I'm your friend."
Gabi kept her eyes trained on the figure as it became larger the closer they got to the deck. "Oh, Shane.” Her throat felt tight. “I will tell you. But let's find out who that is first."
Total silence enveloped them as they reached the dock. Gabi felt shaky when she finally recognized who stood there waiting for them. She'd only once met in person the guy who was in charge of UTEI, or at least the guy who'd been her contact there. She met with him six months ago so, as he'd said, he could assess what kind of person she really was. Apparently she passed muster, though she'd never seen him again. He continued the rest of their business arrangement over the phone. She'd commissioned his face to memory after that first nerve-racking, sickeningly hopeful meeting. Something about him had felt slightly off from the beginning, very slightly ominous. But she'd ignored the sixth sense she usually knew served her well. She'd ignored it because she had no choice.
That might have been a huge mistake.
Disembarking as Shane tied the boat in, Gabi stepped onto the dock. She forced herself to walk over to the man, Shane protectively shadowing her heels. Slowing as she got close to the UTEI contact, she stared. There was a very satisfied smile on the man's arrogant face. Smug, almost.
"We meet again, Gabriela." He smirked at them. “Such a pleasant surprise. Just came back in from a run out to see the Santa Maria, did you now?”
"What the hell—” Shane began, beginning to push past Gabi. She grabbed onto his arm, hauling him back while also shushing him.
"Shane, I've got this." Glaring at the man, she drew on her shaky courage and mustered her best bravado. “Like my friend said. What the hell is going on?"
The man, clad in an expensive-looking linen suit, wore mirrored aviator glasses through which it was impossible to see his eyes. Steel gray hair arranged in artful waves on his head and an aquiline nose betrayed a certain class level. He merely broadened his smile for a long moment before replying. "I had come down here to check on your end of the bargain, Gabriela. But events the other day changed everything for us."
