Rex (Dakota Kekoa Book 2)

by Rita Stradling

  “Did any servers pass this way?” I asked.

  The smile he now gave me was much closer to contemptuous. “Yes, one did. Now go to where you’re supposed to be, as in, somewhere else.”

  “Sure thing,” I said under my breath as I opened the door to the staff staircase. A fist came at me from the side the moment I stepped inside the stairwell.

  My instincts and training jumped in, and I ducked and blocked. Knowing I had almost no space, I jumped a step back toward the door so I could get a good view of my attacker.

  “Dakota,” Sophie’s voice hissed as she came into view. “Sorry, I didn’t realize it was you.”

  “You were just going to attack blindly then?” I asked, confused. “Where’s Sarah?”

  Sophie looked down the stairwell, then back at me. “She’s on the boat, waiting.”

  “All right,” I said. “Everything okay?”

  “Yes.” Sophie hesitated for a second, glancing back to the door I had just exited. She spun on her heel. “Come on. We need to go. Now.”

  No one stopped us on the way to the boat. We had discarded our VIP necklaces in the stairwell, and we walked slowly, yet purposefully, along the route we had originally taken.

  The man my grandfather had paid off was waiting for us by the wait staff boat. It was too easy. I could tell Sophie thought that as well as she was edgier than I had ever seen her, constantly glancing back and jumping at any sound.

  Standing on the ferryboat we had taken in, the driver offered his hand out to me. He was short, middle-aged and balding, but had no qualms about checking out Sophie and me in our revealing dresses.

  At the platform that connected the motorboat to the cruise ship, I paused. “Our friend already got here?” I asked the boat driver.

  “I don’t know, what does she look like?” he asked me, though his eyes were definitely not on my face.

  “Like her,” I said, pointing back to Sophie.

  “Get in,” said Sophie.

  “No, you’re the first to arrive,” the boat driver said.

  “If Sarah’s not here it’s because she’s erasing all the evidence that we’ve been here,” Sophie said. “She’ll take the boat with the rest of the servers.”

  “We should wait for—”

  Sophie pushed me onto the boat and into the driver’s hands. He caught me, then placed me beside him to offer his hand to Sophie. She ignored his hand and jumped into the boat.

  “I don’t care if I have to knock you out cold, I’m getting you off this ship,” Sophie snapped at me.

  “Just try it, Sophie,” I growled back.

  She stepped between me and the side of the boat.

  “We never leave people behind,” I whispered to her.

  The driver glanced between us, then said in a loud voice. “So I think you ladies would like to know that my boss told me he’s also approved the boat going out, so no worries about—”

  “You were paid to drive this boat, so drive the damn boat!” Sophie yelled at the man.

  “Yes, ma’am.” The driver quickly got to work untying the boat from the vessel.

  I looked past Sophie to the docking platform. It was a pretty safe bet that if I made a break for it, she’d be able to restrain me.

  Sophie, obviously seeing my thoughts on my face, stepped even closer to me. She grabbed my arm roughly. “If you get off this boat now you’ll be putting everyone else in danger. Put your pride aside this once and follow orders.”

  I glared at her.

  “Are you ready to tell me what the hell is on your neck?” Sophie hissed at me.

  “A bite,” I responded, staring into her gaze defiantly.

  “You let him bite you? Are you a complete idiot?”

  “No.” I said. “And you know what? I don’t feel that I owe you an explanation, either.”

  Turning on my heel, I made my way over and climbed down into the passenger hold. Pulling up the liner in the half-full trash can built into one side of the room, I fished my phone from the bottom of the can. Turning it on, I texted the phone Lorelei was supposed to pass to Bobby. It’s all good.

  I got no response.

  The boat moved backwards under us, jostling me back and forth as it did. I sat as I felt the boat shifting directions to forward and start to pick up speed. Lifting the phone screen to my face, I willed the message We’re out to appear. He should not have taken this long, Bobby planned to give some cheeky goodbye, tell them he planned to escort his server safely home, and then vanish with Lorelei. It should have taken five minutes max, but twenty minutes later, Bobby still had not checked in.

  I’m out. I texted Glacier, breaking protocol once again. Bobby should be out too.

  Good. At your house. Neither Lorelei nor Bobby are here.

  Please tell me when they get back, I sent.

  I will.

  After ten more minutes of just waiting, I knew we had moved out of the cruise ship’s cell phone tower’s range. We wouldn’t have reception again until we were well into Mabiian waters. I stood up and climbed out of the cargo area.

  Sophie stood, staring out at the sea, her hair blowing in all directions around her.

  “We need to talk,” I yelled, hoping she would hear me over the wind.

  She turned slowly and when I saw her face, I had to grab onto the railing. The lights of the ship gleamed off the tear tracks staining her face. In this one moment, Sophie looked broken, she looked more vulnerable than I’d ever seen her.

  “What aren’t you telling me?” I yelled at her.

  Sophie’s vulnerable expression morphed back into that impassive mask and she made no move toward me.

  “What happened?” I yelled.

  Sophie turned away from me.

  I reached down toward the little eastern purse, going for my gun, but my hands got caught in the folds of the material.

  Sophie grabbed my arm, while her other hand grabbed the eastern purse and pulled so hard it ripped from my dress.

  I punched her face, but she blocked me. When I aimed a knee for her side, she dove past me down the stairs, flipped over and landed on her feet in the passenger room. She smashed the portal purse in her hand. “I’ll throw it in the ocean if I have to, Dakota.”

  “Wyvern won’t thank you if you do. He gave me one of his scales, it’s in there,” I said, walking down the stairs slowly. I’d never told anyone that before, it was a secret that I really didn’t want anyone to know. But I’d use anything to make sure she didn’t throw my portal purse into the ocean.

  She stared at me, shocked. “He gave you one of his scales?”

  “What happened in there?” I repeated the question.

  “I’ll tell you, Dakota, but only after you sit down and keep your space from me. I’m not fighting you, there’s too much chance of you getting injured.”

  Not taking my eyes off her, I sat on one of the seats, and turned to face her.

  She walked down the aisle to stand in front of me. “Do you know who that family was? Do you know who that woman was?” Sophie’s words had a bite to it.

  “The Regina of Oceania. She’s an enemy of my grandfather’s.”

  “Well, she’s not an enemy of New Anglo—she’s our strongest ally.”

  “Your point?”

  “We should have never been on that ship! Do you know what would happen if the Rex found out who bit your neck?”

  “I let Harrison bite me,” I said.

  “That’s even worse! If the Rex ever finds out, you could cause a war New Anglo wouldn’t win!”

  Her anger was palpable but I wouldn’t let it distract me. “What happened in there?” I screamed at her.

  “I’ll tell you, but you need to promise to me that you will never reveal to the Rex who bit you on the neck. I do not care what you tell him, just never tell him it was Princep Harrison Martin that bit you.”

  “I don’t get it! How could that possibly cause a war?”

  “Because it could be seen as the Princep being a p
arty to a breach of your contract with the Rex, which would be an act of war.”

  “Are Wyvern and Harrison enemies… or rivals?”

  “No.” She pointed at me. “And Gods save us that they never will be.”

  “I promise. I’ll just say another vampire on the boat drank from me.”

  Sophie nodded and whispered, “And I’ll confirm the lie.” She took a seat, and as she sat, it was as if she also dropped the thousand pound load she was carrying on her shoulders. “You have to understand the position you put us in, Dakota. If they found out we were agents of the Rex, any act of aggression from us could have been seen as an act of war. Just us being there while Regina Imogen was trying to undermine your contract with the Rex could be seen as an act of aggression. I knew Harrison Martin would never hurt you,” she said this as if she knew this for a fact. “So when he took you with him, we made it our first priority to leave that room with no one discovering who we were.”

  “You know Harrison?” I asked.

  “Not exactly, but my father knows him well. Princep Harrison lived at the New Anglo Dracon High Court for three years,” she said.

  “He didn’t seem to recognize you or Sarah,” I said.

  “We weren’t at court very much at the time he lived there, we were both in school to become soldiers for the Rexdom. Everyone knows who he is, though, everyone knows who the foreign Princeps that live in the court are, and he was a very popular subject of conversation.”

  “Okay, so what happened on the ship?” I asked, losing patience.

  Sophie ran her free hand through her hair. “The moment that you left, the Regina saw me. She immediately knew what I was and called me over to her.” Sophie pulled her hair back, showing her neck where two dots of drying blood pebbled her skin.

  “You were bitten too?”

  “I let her bite me so we could escape without suspicion.”

  “The exact same reason I let Harrison bite me.”

  “It’s different for me. I can be bitten and no one will care.” Sophie glanced at my neck. “The Rex will care about your bite.”

  “Wyvern doesn’t own me,” I snapped.

  “But he loves you,” she snapped back.

  My voice came out a croak, “You don’t know that.”

  She just cocked an eyebrow at me and held up my little portal purse as if it was some sort of proof. She sighed. “Sarah was supposed to go out and extract you without raising suspicion, but even though I saw her slip away, she was ushered directly back in by that dracon who had been at the door before. He had her in his arms, obviously planning to bite her. I was in no state to escape after the feeding, the Regina had drunk hard and I was almost to the point of collapse. That’s why I didn’t react—” she trailed off, staring at nothing while her expression darkened.

  “Didn’t react to what?” I leaned forward, ready to lunge at her if she delayed telling me anymore.

  Her throat bobbed as she swallowed. “Your uncle just vanished, just blinked out. He didn’t say anything and left Lorelei. Lorelei was just sitting there, looking around confused. She made eye contact with me when six girls from the group of servers we had been standing in attacked her.”

  “What? Attacked who? Attacked Lorelei?” My breath came faster and faster, my heart picking up speed.

  “Yes,” Sophie said, her voice sounded like it came from a long distance away.

  “She’s still there?” A gray haziness crept into my eyes, and I blinked furiously to clear my vision. My heart’s pace beat faster and faster. “Where is Lorelei?” I croaked out.

  Ignoring me, Sophie continued, “I tried to get to Lorelei, Sarah was fighting to get to her too, but the servers, they surrounded Lorelei, and I saw them yanking at her ears. She cried out. It was mayhem in there, suddenly half the dracons in the room surrounded the Regina while she watched the fight. Others seemed to be amused, watching the fight themselves. And then, Lorelei started singing.”

  “No,” I whispered. “No.” Tears streamed down my face, and I couldn’t get enough air into my lungs.

  “The Regina was locked in some sort of trance with Lorelei. It was how the Rex described what had happened at Braiden McCormick’s house. I… I saw the servers opening that ring on Lorelei’s finger. I tried to get between her and the Regina but it didn’t…it didn’t break their trance. Sarah and I tried to fight through the group of servers that surrounded Lorelei, but they’d…they’d been trained.” She paused to swallow. “By the time we broke through their defenses, Lorelei had collapsed and the Regina was just staring, blankly. All the other dracons realized something was very wrong and they attacked us. They got Sarah, they captured all of the other servers, grabbed Lorelei. I fought them off and escaped. I blended into the VIP dining room, sat at a table with some blood-drunk vampires. As soon as I saw Harrison run back in, I escaped to wait for you in the stairwell.”

  “My grandfather is probably—” I choked out, tears coursing down my face. “He’s probably… Lorelei funneled the Regina’s soul into my grandfather. I don’t think souls can be digested. He’s maybe, he could be—” Vomit surged into my mouth, and I rushed to the trash can, upending my dinner from hours ago. Snot and vomit and tears streamed from me. I fell back onto the floor. “Lorelei could be… if she didn’t funnel it all into my grandfather…she can’t digest any soul. What if they’re dead?” I curled into a ball on the floor. The boat spun around me.

  Sophie grabbed me by the shoulders and lifted me into a sitting position. “Lorelei is okay,” she said fiercely, “I saw her come to. She was dazed, but she was okay. She’s in their custody, but she’s okay.”

  “But for how long?” I whispered, “They saw what she did to their monarch.”

  “They don’t know who she is or what she did. They’ll keep her alive until they know who she is. And if they find out who she is, they’ll keep her alive to hold against your family.”

  “And Sarah?” I asked.

  “I’m hoping that they saw her fighting against the other servers,” Sophie said. “She’s trained for situations like these, she’ll do everything in her power to make sure she and Lorelei stay alive long enough to escape or be rescued.”

  “We need to go back,” I whispered.

  “No, if they knew who you were, it would look as if the Rex himself attacked the Regina of Oceania. If there was open war between Oceania and New Anglo—” she paused and closed her eyes, “—thousands, maybe millions would die. Our chances of winning would be slight.”

  I took a deep breath, my lungs finally willing to accept air.

  “It was a setup,” I said. “It had to be. If Bobby hadn’t aborted the mission suddenly, if I hadn’t left with Harrison when I did, I’d be imprisoned in there and Wyvern would have—”

  “Likely attacked the ship,” Sophie said. “He would have made it very clear that you were his. Who knew about your mission?”

  “My grandfather, Bobby, Lorelei and me, maybe Glacier, that’s all I knew of. My grandfather made it sound like officially, there was no mission.”

  “Have you tried to contact Bobby?” she asked.

  “Last time I checked, he hadn’t arrived home yet,” I whispered. “I’m waiting for us to come back into cell phone service area to check again.”

  “The attack seemed to be aimed at your family as much as it was the Regina’s. It’s very likely that the intention was to assassinate both your grandfather and Regina Imogen, as well as possibly start a war,” Sophie said. “How many people know about your sister’s power?”

  “My family, Wyvern, his father, Braiden and his family, and more. I know there are rumors.”

  “How many people know about her earrings?” she asked.

  “Only my family. Even the water witch thought she was making them for me.” I gaped up at her, shocked. “Someone from my family is involved.”

  “Why did your grandfather send you on this mission?”

  “He said the Regina was openly insulting him, her family was
running this cruise line off his shore, using his people. Then she invites him to dine on his own citizens.”

  “She was openly insulting him. She was openly insulting the Rex as well,” Sophie said. “She’s known for these underhanded taunts, flouting that she can pretty much do whatever she wants. As long as she doesn’t openly attack the Rexes citizens on New Anglo soil, we can’t raise a complaint against her.”

  I looked up at Sophie, “I think there was something else going on, too. My grandfather lied about his history with the Regina to us…he never lies, not openly, not to us. Why would he? We would obey him to our deaths no matter what he told us.”

  Sophie stared at me. “I don’t particularly like your grandfather, but I hope he survives.”

  My ringing phone startled me. “Finally,” I whispered as I jumped up and ran to where I left it on the seat.

  Surprisingly, it was my uncle Reeves’s number flashing across my screen.

  I answered with, “Hi Reeves, how’s your party going?”

  “Where are you?” His voice was clipped. There were no voices in the background, meaning he probably had left his party.

  “I’m at home, my mother’s sick.”

  “No you’re not! Glacier has already reported to me about the mission. Tell me the truth, that’s an order.”

  I cleared my throat. “Sophie and I are on a boat; I think we just passed into Mabiian waters.”

  “What did you do to Father?” His voice held a contained fury that I had never heard in my cold, dispassionate uncle before.

  “Is he alive?” my voice shook when I asked.

  “Yes. What did you do to him?”

  I let out a relieved breath. “I wasn’t in there when it happened. Bobby had told me to abort. My guard Sophie told me Lorelei was attacked by some humans. They tore out her earrings and opened her ring. Then she started soul-singing at Regina Imogen. She must have lost control. I think she pulled the Regina’s soul out and fed it to Grandfather.”

  “Where is Lorelei now?”

  “She was captured.” My voice broke as I said it.

  “Where’s Robert?”

  “He’s not back yet?”

  “No.”

  “Bobby vanished just before they attacked Lorelei.” Hearing the words out loud, I knew how bad they sounded. But there was no doubt in my mind that Bobby was innocent. He would have stabbed himself in the eye before he would ever leave Lorelei to be attacked. That thought was both a relief and terrifying. Nothing that I knew of could hold Bobby. And, if he was free, he and Lorelei would already be home.