Rex (Dakota Kekoa Book 2)

by Rita Stradling

  Deagan’s familiar soul, on the other hand, had the telltale thickness of a not very powerful dracon.

  “Excuse me,” I said to Deagan, “Are you in line? We’re kind of in a rush.”

  Deagan finally startled at my voice. His eyes narrowed on me, but thank all that is good in this world, my half-brother had enough sense not to blow my cover.

  “Go ahead,” he said, tensely, shifting only a little bit so I could squeeze into the space next to him.

  Letting my arm brush against Deagan’s as I made my way to the counter, I delved just a little way into his soul with my power. Pushing my senses into the first layer of my half-brother’s soul, I sorted through his surface emotions, he was sick with fear. To his credit, if I hadn’t delved into his surface emotions, I would have had no idea that my half-brother was containing this much fear in him. As if the link between us was a straw, I began drawing his fear into me and immediately felt the effect.

  My heartbeat started accelerating, and looking to where Mr. Kama had his hand under the shelf, I realized filling myself with anxiety could very well be a death sentence in this situation. With so much of Deagan’s fear in me, I might very well screw this up.

  I don’t know if Deagan suspected that I was pulling out his fear or not, but he broke the connection and stepped away from me. My power made it easy to take another’s emotions into myself, but I couldn’t digest any emotions that were not my own, they just festered.

  I reached over Deagan’s briefcase to put my two chocolate bars on the counter.

  Mr. Kama, who had not broken his glare from Deagan, finally noticed me. He blinked a couple times as if I had just appeared from nowhere, then looked down to my chocolate bars. After scanning them into his computer, he said, “Three-fifty.”

  I pulled a twenty out of my back pocket and reached it out to him. The moment after he took the money from me and my hand was free, I grabbed his hand.

  His eyes narrowed on my hand, confused, then he looked up to my face.

  Immediately, I pushed all of Deagan’s fear out of me and into Mr. Kama. His eyes widened and his other hand started reaching under the counter.

  “I wouldn’t do that, Mr. Kama,” Sophie said from directly beside Mr. Kama. I hadn’t even noticed her going around the counter while we were doing our transaction, and I should have noticed.

  In long red streaks, Deagan’s fear fed into Mr. Kama’s soul. Like me, he wouldn’t be able to digest it.

  “You don’t need to continue your business relationship with my grandfather,” I told Mr. Kama, “but you need to pay for the last two months you owe, as well as your late fee. Now let me ask you a question: do you know who I am?”

  He nodded.

  “Good. Are you going to get me the money you owe my grandfather?”

  He nodded, again.

  “If I release your hand, are you going to be stupid and reach for your semi-automatic?”

  He shook his head.

  “Say it,” I said.

  “I won’t reach for my gun,” he said.

  I pulled my hand away, but left it on the counter, close enough that I could grab him again. “Where’s the money? I know you withdrew it from your business account this morning.”

  We all tensed as Mr. Kama moved, but he only pulled out an envelope from beside the cash register. He held it out to me, but I nodded toward Deagan.

  Deagan took the envelope. “I will print you a receipt,” he said.

  “Mr. Kama, consider your account closed,” I said, ignoring the surprised huff of air that came from my half-brother. “We will no longer be protecting any of your family’s stores.”

  He nodded.

  “Dakota,” Deagan hissed at me.

  Ignoring my half-brother, I grabbed out my phone, opened the camera app then said, “Say cheese.”

  “Cheese,” Mr. Kama whispered as I took his picture.

  After I stowed my phone, Mr. Kama continued to stare at me. “Um, I’ll need my change for the chocolate bars.” I was on a limited budget.

  Mr. Kama paused for a long moment, then he pressed a button on the cash register and it opened. Putting my twenty in, he pulled out the change and handed them to me. “Do you need a receipt?”

  “Sure, thanks.” It was a business expense after all. I grabbed my candy bars and my change, then the twins and I walked out of the store.

  Chapter Two

  “When did I give you the authority to close accounts?” my uncle Reeves asked. His voice was so loud, I had to pull the phone away from my ear. We were still driving away from the tourist shop when I got his phone call. It wasn’t like I didn’t know it was coming.

  “You didn’t,” I replied. “Do you want to know why I—”

  “Honestly Dakota, I don’t want to hear another excuse. How Glacier dealt with your disobedient behavior for five years, I have no idea. The only reason I gave you this job was because Grandfather ordered me to, but even he agrees you should be focusing on other duties now. Your position is terminated indefinitely.”

  “Uncle—”

  He hung up on me.

  “Congratulations on your engagement, love you too,” I growled at my phone. Before I was interrupted with that lovely phone call, I had been looking at the picture I had taken of Mr. Kama’s tattoo on the way out of the tourist shop. As I had suspected, the black lines were raised and a little red surrounded them, meaning that indeed, it was a brand new tattoo. Unfortunately, there were no words or letters on the tattoo that explained what the design meant. It looked mostly like a swirling design, but there was a central line that ended halfway through.

  “Your uncle is an idiot,” Sophie said. “When we walked in the store we startled Mr. Kama from working himself up to violence. I’ve seen it a hundred times. If your brother kept collecting from that store, sooner or later Mr. Kama would have pulled out that gun. You probably saved your brother’s life.”

  “Maybe.” I sighed. “I wasn’t really expecting a thank you from Reeves or Deagan, I’d be more disappointed if the job didn’t suck so much. They’ve just been waiting for an opportunity to fire me. I was seriously considering strangling one of them the next time they dropped another hint about me needing etiquette classes anyway.”

  “Do you recognize it?” I asked Sarah, as she was leaning in to look at my phone.

  “Nope,” she said, “not in the slightest. You know what that looks like? A tree.”

  I narrowed my eyelids to see if I could see the tree in the design. Maybe. “I’m texting the picture to Mele.”

  Mele was my best friend and the closest thing I had to an expert on all things Mabiian. Before she had been infected and disowned by her mother, she’d grown up in one of the most prominent Mabi Heritage Society families.

  What’s that? I got back from Mele, almost instantly.

  Idk I was hoping you could tell me. Maybe a Mabi pride tattoo?

  Never seen it before. Want me to ask Alika? she sent, asking if I wanted her to ask her boyfriend, who was also from an old Mabiian family, and a member of the Hell’s Hogs motorcycle club.

  Please!

  “So are you going to?” Sophie asked, pulling my attention away from my phone.

  “Going to what?” I asked.

  “Go to etiquette classes?” Sophie asked.

  “Ha ha,” I said, dryly.

  “I don’t think there’s anything funny about it. The Rex is not going to let you just stick around here forever you know,” she said. “Eventually, he’s going to need you to be by his side.”

  “You know how creepy that sounds, right?” I said. “You’re talking about a guy who I broke up with. I made it perfectly clear that I was done. When you say things like ‘he’s going to need you by his side’… it’s just not healthy.”

  “You know what’s not healthy? You ignoring the fact that your family and the Mandersons are in a political alliance.” Sophie suddenly sounded seriously angry. “You need to accept that there were political ramifications to yo
u accepting his contract, political ramifications that I am sure Wyvern considered carefully before he offered the contract to you.”

  “I hate to ruin your theory,” I said, “But Wyvern offered me the contract on a whim.”

  “The Rex does nothing on a whim,” Sophie snapped. “The only way that he would have considered forming an alliance with any family was if it was politically advantageous to him.”

  “She’s right,” Sarah agreed.

  “You’re trying to make me feel better about my non-relationship with Wyvern by convincing me that he’s not really after me for me? Just what every girl wants to hear.” Clenching my jaw, I focused my gaze out the window and the darkening sky. The houses were bigger and wider as we drove up toward the volcano and across the invisible divide to where the non-human tourists spent their time.

  “If you’re so indifferent to him, then why do you want him to be after you for you?” Sophie said.

  Sarah smacked her sister on the arm and cleared her throat. “He obviously cares about you, Dakota. You would have to be blind and stupid to not see it. Sophie is just trying to say that he also needs the political alliance with your grandfather.”

  “How can you be so sure?” I said.

  “Basic deduction.” Sophie shot a glare at me. “Your grandfather is the third richest dracon in New Anglo. The Mabiian Islands are New Anglo’s primary defense against the Eastern Kingdoms. Also, your grandfather’s political alliances are so strong and long-founded that if he wanted to succeed from the Union, almost every powerful dracon in New Anglo would support that decision. And, though he might openly support the monarchy, it was common knowledge that your grandfather avoided any discussion of contracts between your family and the Mandersons before now.”

  Founded or not, it seriously bothered me that Sophie knew more about my grandfather than I did.

  “That’s funny, because I got the distinct impression that my family was considered pretty low-class and undesirable from the dracons Wyvern traveled with.” I gave Sophie an insincere smile.

  Sophie pulled into the parking lot of my grandfather’s favorite sandwich shop.

  Sarah laughed and patted my head. “You can be the richest and most powerful dracons in the country, and those high-society dracon assholes will kiss your toes and then call you trash the moment you’re out of earshot. We know, our family has guarded the Mandersons for five generations, we grew up in the dracon high court.”

  “Lovely. I’m so excited to be forced to go there.”

  Sophie turned off the car, then turned to glare at me. “What I’m saying is, you might think that this contract is all about you and your emotions, but it’s not. This contract could mean the difference between war and peace in the country you live in. So yeah, I say you take the etiquette classes. And when Mr. Manderson asks for you to be by his side, go be by his side.”

  “I never asked to be a pawn in all of this,” I said to her. “Neither I nor my grandfather, agreed to the contract. Wyvern tricked me and pretty much forced my grandfather. That’s a pretty shitty way to go about getting a political alliance or a girlfriend.”

  “Would you rather the Rex considered your grandfather a threat?” Sophie fixed her eagle stare on me.

  “All right,” Sarah said, a little louder than necessary, clapping both Sophie and me on the shoulder. “We’re late for lunch.”

  The sandwich shop had that distinctive smell of baking bread and melting cheese, and my stomach grumbled the moment we stepped inside. The many ceiling fans over the shop rustled my hair as I walked to the counter. Even though I had not seen my grandfather’s car or driver in the parking lot, he was waiting for me inside. He must have teleported, something he rarely did. I also saw my uncles Glacier and Bobby, and my sister Lorelei sharing a booth in the empty shop. They must have noticed us as we entered, I saw my grandfather nod across to Glacier, who was facing our way. He stood, walking to intercept us and holding three wrapped sandwiches in his hand.

  “Hello Dakota, Sophie, Sarah,” Glacier said formally when he reached us. He was his usual impeccable self. Way overdressed for the sandwich shop in his suit and tie. He looked in his early twenties, but was more than twice times that. Slow aging was a dracon thing; dragons were immortal, so I guess we were all varying amounts of immortal. Glacier fixed his gaze on my least favorite bodyguard.

  “Sophie, I believe you wanted to discuss the security plans for tomorrow night.” He offered a sandwich to her.

  “Yes, is this a good time?” she asked, eyes bright as she took the sandwich. “I actually had some ideas I wanted to run by you.”

  “As long as you don’t mind guarding the back entrance with me,” he said, “And if Sarah could take front door?” he asked Sophie, but looked at Sarah and offered her a sandwich.

  “No problem,” Sarah said.

  I turned my gaze away from them, not wanting to see the emotions that swarmed over Sophie’s soul as she looked at my uncle.

  As for Glacier, his soul only flowed with mild impatience, but it was impossible to tell from his expression. Like always, he looked stone-faced and impassive as he guided Sophie through the shop. I knew my uncle; he’d never go for a nineteen-year-old, no matter if they looked the same age. Actually, I’d never seen my uncle interested in any woman, and I’d know. Glacier was an emotional broadcaster and up until recently, we’d spent almost every day together.

  I avoided looking over at Sophie as they exited, and I turned to walk to where my family was enjoying lunch. Sometimes I wish I couldn’t see people’s strongest, deepest emotions.

  Bobby’s laughter rang out when I was feet away from the booth and for the first time today, I felt like smiling.

  Their familiar souls wreathed each of them. Pausing, I took a second to adjust to the intensity of my grandfather’s soul. Being a powerful half dragon, my grandfather’s soul was immense and used to strike my senses with so much intensity that it would take minutes to adjust. After spending so much time with Wyvern—whose soul was even more immense—I had been able to adjust more and more easily.

  I smiled at my grandfather as I sat down. To a human, we’d probably look like a family with one guy in his forties and three teenagers. My grandfather smiled at me warmly. “Dakota, I’m so glad you’re here.”

  “I am too. You guys waited for me to eat?” I said as I fell into Glacier’s vacated chair. As I was now facing the front of the restaurant, I couldn’t help but see Sarah again, she was sitting vigilant in the table next to the front door.

  “Grandfather made us,” said Lorelei as she practically tore at the paper around her sandwich. She didn’t completely unwrap it before she took her first bite.

  “I’m pretty sure you’re not supposed to eat the paper,” I told her as I unwrapped my sandwich.

  “Shut up, I’m so hungry,” she said, mouth full.

  Instead of being disgusted or annoyed, my grandfather and uncle Bobby looked extremely amused. Well, Bobby was always amused.

  “Her training with Glacier has been going well,” my grandfather said.

  My first bite of the sandwich stuck in my throat. I nodded, then quickly took another bite and chewed so I wouldn’t have to say anything. It wasn’t like I didn’t know that my little sister was being trained to be a soldier, it just never got easier to hear. It was what Lorelei wanted, and nothing I said would sway her or my grandfather.

  “So, did Reeves tell you I was suspended?” I asked.

  My grandfather’s eyes twinkled as he responded. “Yes, something about you closing accounts without his permission.”

  “Yeah, but with good reason,” I said.

  “I am sure it was.” He nodded. “However, you will remain suspended—officially,” he said in a low voice. Even though my grandfather could easily pass for my father, age-wise my grandfather could really have several ‘greats’ before grandfather. Half-dragons were pretty close to immortal and my grandfather was one of the first dracons born after the dragons managed to cross ou
t of The Dragon Kingdoms. For one moment, I would swear I could see his hundreds of years in his eyes as his sharp gaze fixed on me. “For the rest of our lunch, you will need to listen and speak as little as possible.”

  Glancing quickly at Sarah, I realized she had been positioned too far away for her human hearing to overhear, but there was always a chance she knew how to read lips. Glacier must have led Sophie far enough away that she couldn’t overhear either.

  “Got it,” I said,

  Lorelei nodded, her cheeks bulging with food. “Uh-huh.”

  “What do you know about Regina Imogen?” My grandfather asked.

  I raised my sandwich to my mouth. “Almost nothing, just that she’s the queen of the vampires.”

  Lorelei copied me, raising her sandwich in front of her mouth. “She’s actually the queen of Oceania. I know about her family history, her father and I’ve even done a research paper on the war of the four countries.” To me, Lorelei added, “Loser.”

  “Regina Imogen is the only matriarch Regina with no Rex co-ruler in the world. She has been the sole uncontested ruler of Oceania for three centuries. It’s pretty remarkable as she has over a dozen half-dragon brothers who have never even tried to overthrow her, many of them with large families of their own. I suppose her stronghold on the region could be due to the fact that descendants of the Vrykolakas Rex don’t need to be fertile to create their vampiric progeny.”

  “I thought that was impossible, that only full dragons could do that,” I said.

  “That is so, however, the Vrykolakas dragon, one of the four High Dragon Rexes, is infamous for only producing offspring that are either stillborn or at the point of death. He infects his live birth offspring as soon as they are born. The ones who survive are both dracons and infected. And like any vampire, they are able to spread their infections to humans or weak-blooded dracons.”

  “Nasty vampires,” Bobby said with a wink.