Rex
RITA STRADLING
This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, incidents and places are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locations, or real persons, living or dead, is coincidental.
Copyright © 2016 by Rita Stradling.
Edited by Monique Fischer
Cover by Y. Nikolova
All rights reserved, including the right to reproduce, distribute, or transmit this book in any form or by any means. For subsidiary rights please contact the author.
Email: [email protected]
Rex
From: Wyvern Manderson
To: Dakota Kekoa
Message Folder: Inbox
Dakota,
You were on my mind today. That delegation I told you about in my other emails from the Europan Monarchy came yesterday. I’ve actually been in meetings all day yesterday and today. That’s why I didn’t email you yesterday, I’m sure you were so worried and checked a hundred times (though you’d never admit it, even to yourself).
Except for about three hours of sleep, this is the first moment that I’ve had to myself since they arrived. I wish I could tell you all about my day, but emails can be hacked. I would tell you if you were here (where you should be). I will tell you that one of the Europan ambassadors kept making references to his vacation to Waibibi, and all I could think about was how I wanted to leave them and fly to you. It was all too distracting when juggling various conversations in seven different languages. Too tired to think now, I will write more when I have an extra second tomorrow.
I miss you.
From: Dakota Kekoa
To: Wyvern Manderson
Message Folder: Drafts
Hi,
Just so you know, I only checked if you emailed me once…or maybe seven times, but who’s counting? You say I should be there, but it sounds awful. Meetings all day and night? Nope. No, thank you. Sounds more like you really want to be here with me. Not a meeting in sight here. I guess I thought about you today too, if I’m honest. Maybe a million times. I don’t know how you’ve left such an imprint here. You were only here for a week, but so many places I go now, I think of you. I’m going to get over you… it’s just taking much longer than it should.
(Message sent to Trash)
From: Wyvern Manderson
To: Dakota Kekoa
Message Folder: Inbox
Dakota,
After three days and barely any sleep, the Europan delegation and I have concluded our negotiations. Though I can’t give you any details right now, I will be increasing your security as soon as my steward can hire suitable people. There is one thing that I believe is safe to tell you over email as the announcement about it will be tonight; my older brother is going to marry the granddaughter of the Rex of Europa. They are forgoing a contract. I’m devising a way to force you to be my date to the ridiculous amount of parties that I am going to be forced to throw. Be ready. I also saw your sister today, she fits in very well here and seems happy. I thought you’d want to know that. Also, I miss you.
From: Dakota Kekoa
To: Wyvern Manderson
Message Folder: Drafts
Mr. Wyvern Manderson,
Just you try to force me to one of those parties, and remember that I am armed. I’d give you a piece of my mind about you assigning me more security, but you’re never going to read this, so I’ll save it for when I can yell at you in person. I am officially enrolled and next Monday is my first day of going to high school with all the infected and dracons. Here’s to hoping I don’t ‘know’ any of the ones not related to me, or their parents. At least I’ll have Mele and Lorelei there. I’m not even sure why I’m telling you about it (or not telling you about it because I have no plans to send this email). Also, as I’ve said (in the other emails I haven’t sent), the reconnaissance I’ve been doing for Deagan is so easy I almost want to return to using my old pass codes because I have almost nothing to do. I actually am about to leave for an assignment right now. So thanks, kind of. And yeah, I miss you too. It’s just plain disgusting how much I miss you.
(Message sent to trash)
Chapter One
The sound feed through the speaker on my laptop made a little ‘ding’ that I recognized as the shop’s door announcement. I’m in, my half-brother Deagan texted me, as if it wasn’t completely obvious. On my laptop, in my lap, I watched the pixilated feed from the store’s video surveillance system. The store was one of those chain tourist shops that had rows of trinkets, overpriced coffee and chocolates, as well as a little deli and refrigerated drinks.
While doing another quick visual check over the store, my gaze stopped on the man standing at the counter. Mr. Kama, the large store owner, had some sort of tattoo on his neck that I had not noticed in my reconnaissance work. Either I had not noticed it, or it had been inked recently—very recently because I was pretty sure I hadn’t seen it yesterday. I wasn’t even sure why it caught my attention. For all I knew, it could just be a trendy design, or a Mabi pride thing. However, I would bet the twenty dollar bill I had in my pocket the tattoo had not been there during my last sweep.
On the video feed, my half-brother approached the big man—whose name I knew was Peni Kama—behind the store counter.
“Hello, Mr. Kama,” Deagan said, his voice not quite believably friendly. When I switched to the camera behind the counter, I saw the cringe-worthy attempt at a smile on my half-brother’s face. My half-brother’s inherited aspect, the power he was given through his part-dragon genetics, was his other-worldly good looks. That was it. But he usually wielded his looks like a weapon, and I thought that was what he was probably trying to do here.
Deagan’s looks obviously had no effect on Mr. Kama.
“That guy has horrendous customer service skills,” Sophie said, as she leaned in to watch the feed.
“I’m pretty sure he doesn’t have any skills,” I said. Grabbing a drink from the center divider, I lifted it to my lips.
“You’re about to drink my drink,” Sarah, the other half of my twin bodyguard team, laughed.
Yanking the drink away from my mouth, I saw indeed I was about to drink some nasty health drink.
“Oh, gross.”
“You know what’s gross?” Sarah asked as she took her drink from my hand, the laughter evident in her voice, “Sugar water and food coloring.”
Grabbing my soda from the other cup holder in the twin’s luxury sedan, I said, “I read somewhere soda makes you happier and live longer, you should try it.”
“Probably on a soda ad,” Sarah said. Honestly, Sarah couldn’t be much of a happier person, but maybe I could wheedle Sophie into drinking some. They had the sort of strong, sharp features and high cheekbones associated with Native New Anglo mainlanders, though according to Sophie they only had half-Native ancestry.
Whereas I looked entirely Mabiian, and I was only one-fourth Native Mabiian, so maybe some genes were just stronger.
Even though the twins were identical, Sophie was a were-eagle and Sarah a human, so I never had any trouble telling them apart.
All four of the store’s security cameras were on my wide screen, but I made the main-store camera smaller and enlarged the camera behind the counter. Mr. Kama was a big man and he blocked out the view of almost everything behind him, but I had a clear view of his front. His hand behind the counter kept clenching and unclenching. He stared at Deagan, silent.
On another camera, I had a clear view of my half-brother’s huge smile. Deagan had been asking Mr. Kama a stream of small talk questions, but given the lack of response from Mr. Kama, he’d ceased the small talk.
“Mr. Kama. I’m h
ere for the four-thousand and eighty-four dollars you owe. Eighty-four of that is your late fee for last month’s payment.”
Peni Kama’s hand clenched and unclenched again, but he didn’t make a move or say anything.
“That’s possibly aggressive,” Sarah said as she leaned over me from the backseat to point at Peni’s other hand, which was clenched in a white-knuckled fist. “You think he doesn’t have the money?”
“No, this store’s income hasn’t decreased in the last three months. Actually, they’ve been doing really well,” I said.
My half-brother pulled out a receipt machine from his briefcase and gave the man a wide smile. “I am fully equipped to print you a receipt.”
All three of us watching the feed cringed. Sophie shook her head.
“Why do I pay you?” Mr. Kama finally asked. His voice was low, but I could hear it through the microphone Deagan was wearing.
“We have been protecting your business for over a hundred years,” Deagan said. “Just last month we responded to three incidents. The extension I afforded you last month was more than generous, but I can’t offer the same extension twice.” Deagan waited a second, then gave that same too-wide smile.
“I pay you to protect my business… from you?” Mr. Kama said.
Deagan pointed a finger at Mr. Kama and gave a loud laugh. “No, Mr. Kama, I would never attack you or your business.
“Your kind,” he hissed.
Deagan closed his eyes and shook his head. “No, you obviously don’t know what you’re talking about. I am a dracon, dracons don’t attack convenience stores.”
When the man just stood there, silent, Deagan picked up his briefcase and set it on the counter. “Look, Mr. Kama, I could understand if your shop was going through a financially hard time,” he pulled out the paperwork I gave him yesterday, “but according to your records here…”
“He’s going to read the man his tax information?” Sarah said, smiling over at me, while Deagan started doing just that. She shook her head looking up to the roof of the car. “Oh gods, what an idiot. He’s completely lost control of his target.”
“He never had it,” Sophie replied.
As Deagan continued to read off numbers, Mr. Kama placed his hand on the shelf beneath the counter. He didn’t reach in to where I knew he kept a compact semi-automatic, but his hand was close enough for me.
I texted Deagan, Abort. Usually while on assignment, I’d try to code my text with something like having car trouble, in case the target read the text, but I wasn’t sure that Deagan would understand anything abstract.
The ding of the text message went off, and on screen I saw Deagan reach for his pocket.
Mr. Kama’s hand disappeared beneath the counter.
“Just one second,” Deagan said to Mr. Kama, pulling out his phone and looking at the message. After reading my message, Deagan shook his head. He held up a hand to Mr. Kama and then typed into his phone for what seemed like five minutes. After he was done, he sighed and pocketed his phone.
Dakota, how many times do I need to tell you? I am the lead on these assignments. Rule number eighty-two states that the lead on any assignment is the ultimate authority on if, or when, their team should abort. Stay in the car.
Before my demotion to being backup and reconnaissance for Deagan, I had worked as a soldier under the leadership of my uncle Glacier. Glacier was ranked about third in my grandfather’s…well, let’s call it an organization. Deagan’s ranking in the organization was probably in the hundreds. If I had told Glacier to abort on an assignment, he would have walked out, no questions asked.
Now the question I had to ask myself was whether I should follow a stupid order from Deagan that could very well get him killed, or risk another suspension. My half-brother wasn’t my favorite family member, he probably also ranked somewhere in the hundreds for that, but he was my family. Also, if I allowed Deagan to get himself killed, my mother’s heart would break and she probably would disown me. For my mother, Deagan ranked at an unquestionable number one.
I sighed and closed my laptop. “Looks like I’m going to get suspended again,” I said to my security team.
“How do you want us to go in?” Sophie asked me, as she started up the car and backed out of her parking spot.
“We’ll do the chatty high-school students thing,” I said, stowing my laptop under my seat. The twins were nineteen, and they looked nineteen, but they’d enrolled as seniors at my new high school. Sarah was fantastic at blending in, Sophie was…well, Sophie.
Sophie drove down the street to where the tourist gift store sat nestled between a coffee shop and restaurant. She parked in the restaurant’s loading zone. When we stepped out of the car, the host at his booth called, “You can’t park there. I can have you towed in five minutes.”
Finding another parking space would take too much time. This street was always packed with cars and the paid lots were four blocks down and often full. Also, I knew the twins would refuse to split up if there was a possible gun situation. I looked at the host. He was maybe twenty, twenty-one, not bad-looking, though he was scowling at us.
“Hi,” I said, smiling at him and walking over. When I was right next to him, I blinked up at him and said in a low voice, “I’m sorry, we have an uncontrollable chocolate craving, we’ll just be two minutes. Can we have two minutes? I promise to bring you a,” I paused, bit my lip, then said, “chocolate bar.”
He looked down at me, as I was significantly shorter than him. We were having an unseasonable mid-winter heat spell, and it was probably about ninety degrees and humid—about fifteen degrees hotter than it should be this time of year. The twins and I had brought out the tank tops and shorts.
The host obviously approved as he fought a smile on his cute surfer-boy face, “Fine,” he said, “But you guys have to be really fast, we’re expecting a delivery.”
“We will be, I promise.” I walked with the girls to the shop, making sure to shoot the boy a smile before we went into the shop.
“Why did you flirt with that guy?” Sophie asked as the bell dinged while we entered the shop. “It wasn’t necessary; I have the authority to park wherever I want.”
I took in our surroundings with a quick glance. Deagan might not have noticed our entrance; he hadn’t even looked up from reading his paperwork. Mr. Kama still had a hand under his desk, but he startled as we entered his shop. Thankfully, no one else had entered the store in the few minutes we hadn’t watched the surveillance of the store.
“Do you really have to flirt with everyone?” Sophie said.
I turned toward the snack aisle. “You sound like you’re jealous, Sophie,” I said, forcing a giggle. She wasn’t doing chatty high-school student, more combative bodyguard.
“Let’s say I represent someone who would be very jealous.”
We passed aisles filled with plastic flowers and souvenir mugs.
“For all you know, he might want us to report stuff like that, like who you flirt with and talk to,” Sarah said, her tone was almost teasing.
“Does he?” I asked, unable to hide my annoyance at the idea.
“No. He doesn’t ask us to report anything that’s not a safety concern. But if I were you, I’d tone down the flirting,” Sophie said.
“Thanks for the suggestion, but I will always use every tool I have,” I said in a low voice. When we made it to the candy aisle, I stole another quick glance at the situation between Deagan and Mr. Kama. Nothing had significantly changed. Turning back to the candy, I said, “You know, I broke it off with him. When you break up with someone, you’re not supposed to have to still deal with their drama.”
Sarah laughed and elbowed me gently. “You’ve obviously never had an ex before. The drama never just stops when you break up with them.”
True. I’d never had a relationship before. To be honest, I didn’t really have a relationship with Wyvern, just a week and a half of super intense time together, and then three months of aftermath. Being with Wyve
rn and being without him, were two things I didn’t want to talk—or even think—about.
“Didn’t you want a soda or something?” I asked Sarah, after grabbing two chocolate bars.
“Nasty trash calories,” she said.
We started walking toward the front. “Oh sorry, I meant, didn’t you want some hippie-drink with living organisms in it?”
She just shook her head at me, smiling.
Walking to the front, we stood behind Deagan as if we thought he was in line. Deagan just kept reading out Mr. Kama’s information, as if he had no idea we were behind him.
I had inherited two aspects from my dragon ancestor—and unlike Deagan, neither of them were my looks. I saw souls, well, more than saw them, but that was a big part of my ability. I’d been in the store a couple of times during my reconnaissance, so I already knew what Mr. Kama’s soul looked like. Last year, I’d learned that the people native to this island chain had inherited magical abilities from the islands themselves, and now I paid more attention to their souls, trying to find some pattern or commonality. Mr. Kama’s soul was different than the liquid souls I’d seen in the Hales, who had abilities with water. His soul was also different than that of the Hell’s Hogs, who all had the ability to change themselves into giant boars. Not all Mabiians had abilities—my best friend Mele was one hundred percent Mabiian and she’d not been able to do anything magical until she was infected with dragon blood.
I knew almost nothing about it and even my allies, the Hells’ Hogs, would never give me any details. What I did know was that Mabiian ancestry had power, which was also why I was so powerful.
Mr. Kama’s soul had changed since the last time I’d seen it. Not its essentials—it still had that smoky-misty aspect I had observed before, but unlike every time I’d seen him before, his soul was sparking with rage.
Rex (Dakota Kekoa Book 2) Page 1
