Before he could make his way to the locked door at the end of the hallway, it slid open and Tarrant stepped out. “She asleep?”
Darius nodded. “She’s still exhausted.”
Tarrant brushed by him and headed toward the kitchen. He followed close behind, his stomach grumbling at the prospect of food. He hadn’t eaten nearly enough these past two days. His brother seemed to be of the same mind, because he began pulling out pots and pans.
The two of them had worked this way many times in the past, and it wasn’t long before a huge pot of pasta and sauce were bubbling away on the stove and two massive steaks were marinating. They’d start with the pasta and finish with the steaks.
Darius wiped his hands on a kitchen towel and tossed it aside. He pinned Tarrant with a glare and leaned against the counter. “What did you say to Sarah?”
“What did she tell you I said?”
He hated when Tarrant did this, answering a question with another question. “She didn’t tell me anything. She didn’t have to.”
Tarrant nodded and stirred the sauce as the tomatoes and spices began to bubble. “I told her the truth. That if she’s with the Knights and does anything to hurt you, I’ll end her.”
Darius’s dragon roared inside him and his body began to shift. He struggled to control the transformation, ruthlessly shoving his body back to his human form. He crossed his arms over his chest to keep from reaching out and strangling his brother.
“Look, I know you don’t like it.” Big understatement there. “But”—Tarrant set the spoon down on the counter—“I don’t care. It had to be said. That way, if I have to kill her, she can’t say she wasn’t warned.”
Darius’s fingers were wrapped so tightly around his upper arms he knew he’d have bruises. “You don’t touch her.” His voice had deepened.
Tarrant dragged his fingers through his hair, the expression in his eyes one of pure exasperation. “Listen to yourself. You barely know this woman, and you’re ready to die for her.” He put his hands on his hips and glared back. “You might be ready to give your life for her, but I’m not.”
“I shouldn’t have come here,” Darius muttered.
Tarrant got right up in his face. “Fuck you. Yes, you should have come here. I’m your brother.”
The fear in Tarrant’s eyes drained the anger right out of him. Darius reached out and wrapped his hand around the back of his brother’s neck and pulled him in tightly. Their foreheads touched and they stared into each other’s eyes.
“I’m sorry, T.”
“Yeah, me, too.”
They stood there for a long moment. Darius remembered all the times they’d been there for each other. For four thousand years, the four of them had been a unit, but there was no denying he was closer to Tarrant than he was to either Ezra or Nic. Not that he didn’t love them all equally—because he did. It was simply that he and Tarrant had known each other since childhood, before they’d realized what they were, that they were different from the other boys in their village.
“Thanks for turning off the camera. I know that had to go against your instincts.”
Tarrant raised his head and grinned. “It did, but I didn’t want to see your hairy ass. It might have scarred me for life. I might have gone blind.”
Nudity was no big deal for them, considering the age they’d been born into. They’d run around half naked their entire childhoods. Then there was the whole shifting thing. Hard to keep your clothes on when you shifted. Tarrant had done it to give Darius and Sarah privacy.
“Thanks anyway.”
Tarrant gave him a quick nod. “Pasta is done.” He stepped away and grabbed the hot pot off the stove while Darius busied himself putting dinner rolls and butter on the table. The two of them sat on the stools and ate in silence until both plates were half empty. It was only then Tarrant ventured to speak. “There has to be a reason why you’re so attracted to Sarah.”
Darius twirled spaghetti around his fork but paused before eating it. “That’s what I’m afraid of.” He ate the mouthful of pasta and chewed, not really enjoying the subtle flavors. “It’s more than just attraction.” He set his fork down on the side of his platter and thumped his chest with his fist. “I feel her here. I want her with me all the time. I want to do whatever it takes to make her happy.”
Then he added the real shocker. “I don’t want to live without her.”
Tarrant’s mouth fell open, and he pushed his plate aside. “Holy shit.” His eyes widened. “Do you think this is—” He broke off and tried again. “That she’s—”
Darius nodded and said what his brother hadn’t been able. “I think she’s the one. The one our sire told us came along very rarely.”
“But she’s human,” Tarrant pointed out. “How can she be your mate?”
“We’re not fully dragon,” Darius reminded him. “There are no other dragons here and no female drakons. Drakons are all male. That leaves only human females for us to mate with.”
“That’s fucked up,” Tarrant muttered. He sighed and rested his elbows on the counter. “She’s human,” he repeated. “Her life span is in years, decades, no more.
Darius’s chest ached and he rubbed it. “I know.”
“Shit. Okay.” Tarrant rubbed his hands over his face. “Let me think.” His head jerked up. “You can give her your blood to extend her life. The Knights have been doing it for hundreds of years, why shouldn’t we do it for someone we actually want to have an extended life.”
“That’s assuming she feels the same way about me.” Darius wasn’t sure what Sarah felt for him. He knew she was attracted to him. That didn’t mean she loved him.
And he wanted her to love him. That’s what he needed to fill the empty void inside, the one that beckoned him to the Deep Sleep of the drakon.
Darius finished his pasta first and pushed away from the counter. He got the steaks out the refrigerator and soon had them sizzling on the big grill pan.
“What are you going to do?” his brother asked.
“Protect her. Destroy the Knights.” It was a simple plan, but Darius figured those were the best kind.
Tarrant snorted. “A little light on details, bro. How do you plan to protect her and defeat the Knights?”
Darius flipped the steaks and thought about it. “The book is the first problem. It needs to be destroyed.”
Tarrant held out two plates and waited while Darius deposited a steak on each one. “Father Simon is willing to do the exorcism on the book, but you’d have to go to him.”
“Where is he?” Darius asked. The thought of taking Sarah away from the safety of Tarrant’s fortress was abhorrent to him, but he knew she wouldn’t stay behind. Nor could he leave her.
“Right now he’s visiting a place called Salvation in North Carolina.”
Darius rolled his eyes and picked up his knife and fork. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? It couldn’t be in the same bloody state. It has to be on the other end of the country.”
Tarrant shrugged, popped a piece of meat into his mouth and chewed. “Be thankful. At least he’s in the United States. Father Simon has spent his life traveling and researching the occult in order to be able to understand it. He rarely stays in one place for long.”
It made sense that a priest might have access to books and knowledge that wouldn’t be readily available. The Church and the Knights had crossed paths many times in the past, and depending on the priest, it had gone both very well and very badly for the drakons.
“You’re sure we can trust this priest? If he gets his hands on the book and uses it…” The implications were too horrific to even imagine.
Tarrant finished his meal and shoved his plate away. “I saved his life a long time ago. He knows what I am and has kept my secret all these years.” There was pain in his brother’s eyes as he continued. “I already told you that I offered him my blood, a chance at immortality, or at least prolonged life, but he wouldn’t take it. Said it isn’t his place to live forev
er.”
Darius knew how hard it was to lose friends, which was why he’d stopped making them centuries ago. He stuck to his own kind, to his brothers, until Sarah.
“Give me another day or two to see what else I can uncover. We need to know as much about the Knights as we can—who their current leader is and who their more prominent members are. We’ve gotten lax in the past few decades, while they’ve been lurking in the shadows getting stronger.”
Darius couldn’t argue with Tarrant about that. They had gotten remiss about keeping an eye on the Knights. Honestly, he’d hoped they’d disbanded after the last major strike against them a century ago. In reality, they’d been regrouping and getting stronger than ever.
Having the military involved could be problematic. Thankfully, the Knights were usually too focused on their own ends to involve outsiders. But that could be changing, which would complicate matters.
“We need to reach out to other drakons and let them know.” Darius rose from his chair and began to clean up from their second meal. “I know you have a list of the whereabouts of most of the drakons in the world.”
“I do like to keep in touch from time to time.”
Darius paused before sliding a plate into the dishwasher. “Like what? Once every hundred years or so?”
“That sounds about right,” Tarrant agreed.
Drakons weren’t exactly sociable, at least not with each other. It was partly due to their aggressive nature when they were together in a group, and partially a protective measure that had evolved over time. If their enemies found them, they would only find one of them and not more. Even Darius and his brothers were rarely together at the same time, not since technology had evolved. They mostly stayed in contact by phone or video chat.
He missed the old days when they could spend weeks together in some isolated section of the world, shifting and flying through the air, unseen by humans. Thanks to satellites, those times were mostly gone.
It was also the reason Tarrant had gotten into every arm of the communications and technology industries. When the brothers wanted to spend time together, Tarrant would use his expertise to tap into the world’s satellites and make sure they had a little glitch wherever the brothers gathered. That was a risk they rarely took. Too many such incidents and someone would notice.
With the kitchen cleared away, Tarrant turned on the dishwasher. It was such a mundane chore that it made Darius smile. None of them could endure a messy space.
Well, that wasn’t quite true. Nicodemus was the exception. If he wasn’t careful, his younger brother would end up buried alive in his belongings. It wasn’t that his home was dirty. It was just filled to capacity with stuff. And it certainly wasn’t junk. Nic could outfit several world-class museums from top to bottom with art and antiquities and never notice the dent in his collection.
“Let’s go.” Tarrant finished cleaning the counter and tossed the dishcloth into the sink. Darius followed his brother back down to his fortress. He wanted to stop and check on Sarah but was afraid if he did, he wouldn’t be able to keep himself from going to her.
Wisely, his brother kept his thoughts about Sarah to himself on the elevator ride back down to his computer lab. Tarrant went straight to his chair and rolled it in front of a computer. A few keystrokes later, he opened up a file. “Here’s a list of every drakon I know about.” The list was in a long dead language, one that only a drakon would know and understand. It was also in code, one only Tarrant and his brothers knew.
Darius leaned over his brother’s shoulder and read through the names. He was impressed. Not that he’d ever tell Tarrant that. He wouldn’t want to give Tarrant an even bigger head than he already had.
“How much should we tell them?” Tarrant asked.
“Tell them the Knights are back and they’re after me specifically. Give them Temple’s name and ask if any of them know anything else.”
“What about the book?”
Darius shook his head. “Keep that between us. Last thing we want is a bunch of pissed-off drakons coming here looking for that book. We destroy it and pray there are no other copies out there somewhere.”
“That’s a pleasant thought,” Tarrant muttered as he composed the email. Once the note was finished, Tarrant sent it and then turned his chair around. “What now?”
“Now we wait to see if any of them know anything they’re willing to share. You keep digging into the Knights. We need to find out who is calling the shots, because I don’t think Herman Temple is their leader.”
“And where will you be while I’m doing all that?”
Darius ignored Tarrant’s question and headed back toward the elevator. “You know damn well where I’ll be.”
“I’m going to research mates and see if anyone else has any information.”
He paused and then nodded. “That might be best.” If Sarah was truly his mate, Darius needed to know what to do about it. She was already a part of him, a piece of his soul. Maybe she even was his soul. Either way, he didn’t think he’d survive long without her. Now that he understood what he’d been missing all these long centuries, he didn’t think he could go back to living the way he had.
In this case, ignorance truly had been bliss. He stepped into the elevator and rode it up to the main floor. Tarrant opened all the doors for him and they closed once again.
His brother was even more isolated than he was. At least Darius lived out in the world. Tarrant chose to spend most of his time alone in the fortress he called home. Darius worried about his brother but knew there was nothing he could do for him, except be there whenever Tarrant needed him.
Darius gently pushed open the bedroom door. Sarah was curled up in the center of the big bed, one hand on top of the covers and her mouth slightly open. She gave a tiny snore, and it made him smile. He was sure she’d deny any suggestion that she snored.
He stripped off his clothes, carefully peeled back the covers, and slid in next to her. She stirred and he gathered her into his arms. She rooted around several times before settling with her head on his shoulder.
“Sleep,” he whispered. “I’ll protect you.” He had no choice. The delicate human female in his arms was his heart.
…
Herman projected a facade of calm. It didn’t matter that he was older than the woman walking into his office. There was something lethal about Karina Azarov. She was ruthless in her ambition to destroy or control all dragons and would stop at nothing to reach her goal.
He didn’t make the mistake of believing she was weak because she was female. The women in her family line had always ruled the Knights with an iron fist.
“Welcome to New York.” He waved her to a seat. “I trust you had a good flight.”
“What do you know about the whereabouts of Varkas and the woman?” Karina demanded.
Pleasantries were obviously not welcome, so Herman sat at his desk and rested his hands on the rich mahogany. He knew it projected an image of power. The corners of her lips twitched, as though she knew what he was doing and was trying not to laugh at him. He wanted to wrap his fingers around her scrawny neck and snap it like a twig.
Her two-man security detail was with her, but he had Riggs in the room, and he’d put his man up against her two any day of the week. “Nothing new. We’re monitoring all airports, bus stations, highways, and communications from their last known location. With the amount of fuel they had, they could only go so far without setting down. If they move again, we’ll have them.”
“Good. I want Varkas found.” She stood, dismissing him even though they were in his office. “Contact me the second you hear anything.” She strode from the room and her security detail fell in behind her.
Herman glanced at Riggs. “Stay with her. I want to know what she does and who she speaks with.”
“Sir.” Riggs left the room, closing the door behind him.
A secret door swung open, and Christian stepped out.
“You heard everything.” It wasn’t a
question. Herman knew damn well his son had listened to every single word.
“We’ll find Varkas.”
Herman wasn’t quite as sure. He’d been around a lot longer than his son and had seen dragons disappear. They were old and powerful and resourceful, and it wasn’t smart to underestimate them.
“Keep monitoring the situation and let me know when you have something.” Herman waited until his son was almost out of his office. “And, Christian, don’t double-cross me by going to Karina.” Christian stiffened but said nothing as he left.
He couldn’t count on his son not to turn on him. He could definitely count on Karina turning on him if things went sour. It was time to start protecting himself. It might even be time for a new leader of the Knights of the Dragon. He picked up his phone and dialed the number of another old member of the Knights. “Good afternoon, Jeremiah. We have a situation.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Sarah came awake slowly. She was warm and cozy and not alone. She wasn’t the least bit surprised that Darius was wrapped around her, his big body practically covering hers. They were both lying on their sides, and he had his massive arm around her and her body tucked up against his.
“Good morning or evening or whatever time of day it is.” She’d lost all sense of time. Surprisingly, it didn’t bother her as much as it had. Her well-scheduled life was shot to hell, so what did it matter if it was morning or night?
“Good morning,” he answered. His lips pressed against her temple. “And it is morning. Five minutes past ten.”
“How do you know? Is it some internal clock?” She really needed to learn more about drakons.
He chuckled and rolled her onto her back so she was staring up at him. He raised his right hand and pointed at the nightstand. “External clock.”
A burst of laughter left her. “So no mystical connection to the sun or moon?” she asked when she finally regained her composure. For such a serious man, Darius had a wicked sense of humor.
Drakon's Promise (Blood of the Drakon) Page 21
