by Willa Hart
“Tell us what happened, Rufus,” Kellum said, perching his butt on the desk.
Rufus shook his head and winced from the pain of it. “I was sitting at my desk, filling out the paperwork for Enoch Trinkas’s file, when five big guys stormed the place. Just went crazy and attacked without warning.”
“Why didn’t you shift?” Danic asked.
“I did. Eventually. But they took me by surprise, and I was too busy fighting them off at first. Plus, it’s pretty cramped out there, so I only managed to get half-shifted before they took off.”
“How do you know it was Titus?” Ryen asked, his face somber for once.
“He was speaking some kinda funny foreign language. Sounded sorta Russian, maybe?” Rufus shrugged. “Who else could it have been?”
“Any idea what they wanted?” Ash asked. “I mean, they didn’t come here just to beat the shit out of you.”
“Sorry, I didn’t get a chance to ask and they didn’t bother mentioning their motive.”
Danic growled in frustration. “This Titus guy is totally unhinged. First, he hires Enoch to steal a huge ruby, then he beats up the owner of the ruby, then he kills Enoch. Now he’s ransacked Max’s office and Drakonis. Why? What the hell is he looking for?”
“Remember what the ruby owner told us after we saved him from Titus?” I asked Danic. “That he’d come to Big Bear wanting to know where the real jewel was? But Archibald insisted the ruby Titus bashed him over the head with was the real gem.”
“Why would he think it was here?” Hale asked, but I had no answer.
“Maybe he isn’t looking for the jewel anymore,” Kellum said, his eyes sparking with an idea. “Maybe he’s looking for Max.”
“That doesn’t track,” I said as I finished up with Rufus. “Anyone in their right mind would know Max wouldn’t step foot in Drakonis.”
“Titus wouldn’t know that, though,” Kellum pointed out.
“There’s one other commonality at play,” Ash said, avoiding my gaze.
The guys all traded glances before settling their attention on me. Ants crawled under my skin at what their expressions were saying while their mouths remained clamped shut.
“What? Tell me.”
Kellum stepped forward and grasped my shoulders, as if he had terrible news to impart. “You.”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” I said, brushing away his hands and packing up the first aid kit. “I’m nobody, as Lazlo pointed out so politely. Nothing. Less than nothing, at least where dragons are concerned.”
I felt, rather than saw, them all take a step closer to me, which was pretty much as close as they could get in the cramped space. Ryen took my hand and gently turned me around to face them.
“Not to us,” he said, the rest nodding their agreement. “To us, you’re everything.”
Good lord, what a way to make a girl’s panties melt! So not the time or place, but I couldn’t stop my heart from beating solely for them. I wanted to kiss each and every one of them, but Rufus’s presence would have made that a tiny bit awkward. I settled for a teary smile.
“Which is why you will never be left alone again,” Kellum said with authority. “Ever.”
I barked out an ironic laugh. “What are you talking about? I’m never alone, not these days.”
“Kellum’s right,” Danic said. “You need round-the-clock protection, which means one of us will be by your side, twenty-four-seven.”
Great, I was only a liability to them. Don’t get me wrong, the idea of having one of my boys with me at all times sounded pretty damn sweet, but it was yet another reminder of how pitifully useless I was to them. I didn’t like that feeling, so I bustled out to the lobby and got busy cleaning up the office in an effort to fight off tears of frustration. The others joined in and we quickly tidied up as best we could.
“Oh no!” Rufus cried as he kneeled down and picked up something from a pile of rubble in the middle of the room. “Eustace!”
The tiny succulent cradled in his massive hands had been crushed during the melee. It was only a plant, but Rufus sniffled as if it had been his best friend. Maybe it had been. Poor guy.
I searched until I found its tiny pot, which had miraculously survived unscathed, and took the broken plant from him. I gently tucked Eustace into the pot until it kinda-almost looked normal, then set it on the desk Ash and Hale had righted.
“Maybe it will be okay,” I said, even though I had no hope. “Give it a few days.”
He nodded but slumped into his chair and stared glumly at the plant. Rufus wasn’t one for self-pity, but he probably didn’t get beaten to a pulp every day either. He’d earned the right to pout a little. If Max were here, he’d bestow some kind of wisdom on him that would perk up Rufus quickly.
“Hey,” I said, a proverbial light bulb going off, “Maybe I should try to find Max again. I need to practice my vision skills anyway, right?”
The couch in the discussion pit had been demolished, so Ryen and Hale grabbed the dusty and torn cushions and lined them up on the floor for me and helped me lie down. They all took a few steps back, giving me space to relax. Almost before my eyes closed, I felt myself falling through time and space, sorta like when you’re dozing off and you feel as if you’re tripping over the side of a cliff, only you don’t jerk awake.
Once the sensation stopped, I opened my eyes to find myself in a dark corridor. The walls were made of dark, hand-chiseled stone, similar to the ones in the elder council chambers, but these looked older. Ancient. Shadows flitted across the textured surface, sending chills skittering up my spine. A heavy wooden door sat closed at the end of the corridor. I took a step forward, or tried to. It felt as if my feet were made of lead and I was wading through quicksand. It took forever to take a single step, but I eventually made it to the door and reached for the ornate handle.
Poof!
The door dissolved before my eyes. When the mist cleared, I was standing inside the cave I knew was Max’s lair. His throne-like chair sat empty and I didn’t even need to look around the chamber to know he wasn’t there. Where the hell was he? I didn’t want to think he was avoiding me, but after a lifetime of constant abandonment, I couldn’t shake the feeling. Wouldn’t that be a bitch? After five years of growing more and more comfortable in my own skin and my place in the world, only to have one of my rocks reject me?
The temptation to burst out in tears, like five-year-old Favor, was strong, but I fought it. Looking at the evidence, as Max had taught me, I realized I had no reason to think Max’s feelings for me had changed. My inner child simply wanted to throw a hissy fit because she couldn’t get her way. Ugly, but true.
As I’d done the last time I visited, I took a stroll around the room, searching for anything new or out of place. I was about to wake myself when I caught sight of a single piece of paper on the side table sitting against one wall. It was a note in Max’s handwriting, but in a language I had no right understanding. Yet I did. I’d never been trained to read or speak Balaur, the ancient dragon tongue, but in this dream state, the strange symbols were suddenly as easy as reading English.
Party Favor,
I’m sorry I can’t be there right now.
Off to hunt some jadokari.
Stay close to my nephews.
They will protect you.
Max
PS: Give Shirley my love and tell her I miss her.
My face flamed hot as I wondered if Max had any idea exactly how close I’d become with his nephews, one in particular.
Chapter Twelve
Uncle Max had never warned me that my growing dragon keeper powers might zap my energy, but I guess we have to learn some lessons on our own. Either that or the events of the preceding week had really taken it out of me. The adrenaline that had been pumping through my system during Titus’s attack on Drakonis had worn off, leaving me achy and groggy. All I wanted to do was roll over and take a nice long nap.
“Favor, are you all right?” Kellum’s voice breached my com
fy, snuggly bubble of what could best be described as sleep, and I grumbled in his general direction for it.
“That sounded like a ‘fuck off’ to me,” Ryen joked from the end of my little cobbled-together bed.
My eyes fluttered open to find Kellum leaning over me. The rest were scattered around the room, all eyes on me, watching with a mixture of worry and warmth. As tired as I was, it felt nice to have them be concerned. I could certainly get used to that.
Hale leaned over Kellum’s shoulder and smiled at me. “Did you find Uncle Max?”
I shook my head against the cool vinyl of the cushions and rubbed my eyes. “He left a note.”
“Let me guess, cryptic as hell, right?” Danic’s deep voice rumbled.
“Actually, no,” I said as I sat upright, even though every cell in my body cried to lie back down. “Said he was off to hunt down some jadokari.”
“Where?” Ash asked.
“No idea. Didn’t say.” I debated about whether I should tell them about my sudden ability to read Balaur fluently, as well as being able to remember it after waking, but decided it didn’t really matter. They already knew that skill was starting to develop in me anyway. “He did say I should stick close to you guys, though.”
“Hey, we’re finally getting a step ahead of the guy,” Ryen said, bouncing on the balls of his feet and grinning. “Now we just need to set up the internet in the office and hide it from him until he comes around, and bam, we’ll all be back in business.”
That was good for a laugh because we all knew Max would rip out any internet lines as soon as he returned.
“I know you’re joking,” Kellum said, shifting into coordination mode in the blink of an eye, “but actually, we should get a few things set up here if we’re going to be using this as our base of operations for a while. I’m thinking fixed wireless, anything else we can rig up from our mobile equipment to make this place functional.”
“And clean up the place,” Ryen added, glancing around at the destruction.
“And clean the place up,” Kellum echoed, raising his eyebrows and pushing some papers on the floor out of the way with his foot.
“Why didn’t you clean up while I was passed out?” I asked.
Kellum frowned. “Favor, you were out all of thirty seconds.”
Good grief, I’d never get used to the time gap during my visions — or whatever they were called.
“You look exhausted,” he added, worry tinging his tone.
“Thanks.”
His eyes grew wide as he realized his faux pas. “I mean…I just…uh….”
Ryen gave his older brother a wry smirk. “Real smooth, bro.”
Kellum turned to Danic, panic in his eyes. “Why don’t you take Favor home so she can get some rest. We’ll get to work while you watch over her.”
“Sounds good to me,” Danic said, striding over to me with confidence and purpose.
Without a word or even pausing to ask if it was okay, he scooped me up in his arms as if I weighed as much as a kitten. I yelped and whipped my arms around his neck for support, even though I didn’t really need it. As Kellum had pointed out once, Danic was a one-man army, and I could never be safer than in his arms.
“A little redundant to say you’re in good hands,” Kellum said with a chuckle.
Ryen gave a little wave. “You two be good. Save the drag racing ambulances and doing donuts in the police station parking lot for me, m’kay?”
Danic’s big chest hitched against me as he chuckled. “No promises,” he growled quietly to me.
I had to hand it to Max’s nephews. Even in the midst of a massive crisis, they had a way of seamlessly working together as a team. Two people who could do that was pretty rare, but five? Lightning in a bottle. Danic settled me in the passenger seat like I was a rag doll, and I didn’t mind one bit. I barely had the energy to stand, much less climb into Kellum’s big SUV. Once he got rolling, though, he turned in the opposite direction of Max and Shirley’s house.
“Where are we going?” I asked.
“Thought you’d like a caffeine infusion,” he said as he pulled into a drive-thru coffee shop.
Danic was such a paradox to me. Big, strong, silent type, yet he had the tender heart and thoughtfulness of a young lover. My own heart swelled with affection for the walking, talking contradiction-in-terms.
“I wouldn’t turn down a Mexican mocha.”
He smirked. “What’s that?”
“Just order it. I come here all the time, they’ll know.”
A few minutes later, we were on track to Shirley’s with two Mexican mochas in hand. The warm, spicy taste perked me up in no time, and while I’d normally be worried about the caffeine this late in the afternoon, I was tired enough that I wouldn’t have trouble crashing in a comfortable bed.
“Not bad,” Danic said, smacking his lips after trying his first sip. “Do I detect cayenne? I like it.”
“Really? Some people think it’s weird.” I wanted to tell him how impressive it was to me that he bothered to even try it but thought that might sound condescending.
“I’ll try anything once,” he said with a shrug. “I’m not much of a coffee person, but this is nice.”
Aunt Shirley’s car was gone when we pulled into the driveway. No doubt she was out and about with her friends again. As Danic walked around to open my door, I made a mental note to pass on Max’s message to her as soon as she came home or I woke up, whichever came last.
“Gotta say, it’s nice coming here more often,” he said as he lifted me into his arms again. I didn’t really need it, but what girl’s going to turn down being carried by a super-sexy dragon shifter? Not this one. “You never really realize how much you appreciate something until it’s taken away.”
A sadness I could relate to tinged his words. I thought back fondly of my first five years, when I had no idea how good I had it — until I no longer did. Twelve long, ugly years in the foster system had built up many walls, most of which I’d thought were impenetrable, but then Shirley and Max brought me into their lives and tore those walls down brick by brick. And now Max’s nephews were tearing down the rest, with almost no effort.
When Danic kicked open my bedroom door, my first sight was of the rumpled bedcovers, exactly the way I’d left them before rushing to accounting class in order to see Zoe. My heart sank as low as my face fell. He laid me down, then frowned at my expression.
“What’s wrong?”
I knew he’d respect my wishes if I refused to talk about it, but the time had come to open up to him, to reveal something sacred. And very little else in my life was more sacred than my bond with Zoe. I scooched up into a comfortable position and set my cup on the nightstand. He followed suit.
“Zoe. We’re…in an awkward place right now.”
The bed tilted under his weight as he sat next to me, one hand braced on the other side of me, effectively pinning me in, though it felt more comforting than threatening.
“Wanna talk about it?”
Boy, did I. I’d held back telling the guys about it all because I thought they might get mad at me, but looking into Danic’s gray eyes, I realized how stupid that was. They cared for me and would never blame me for what happened. I took a deep breath and launched into the story. By the time I finished, he looked stoic, but not alarmed.
“Think she’ll be okay?” he asked.
Damn that tender heart of his! Thinking of Zoe’s well-being over the fact that revealing dragonkind to a human could be met with stiff punishments. I smiled up at him, cupping his cheek in my hand, simply to make sure he was real. A spark of red flashed in his eyes so briefly I almost wondered if I’d imagined it.
“I hope so. We’ve had plenty of arguments over the years, but this is totally new territory.”
“New territory can be unsettling,” he said softly, his voice heavy with alternative meaning. “I’m sure she’ll come around. I, for one, can’t seem to stay away from you, so I assume everyone feels the sam
e way.”
I let my hand skim down his neck, across his shoulder and down his arm until my hand lay on his. Then I met his gaze, allowing all the heat in my body to radiate out through my eyes. As if that was even a thing.
“I hope you two don’t feel exactly the same way about me,” I murmured, wincing inside for the clunky come-on, but not really caring.
A smile spread across his plump lips, sweet at first but quickly turning predatory. I saw the moment some thought flitted through his mind because a veil dropped over his eager expression.
“You’re exhausted,” he said, his voice thick as he tucked me under the covers. “You really should get some sleep.”
I grabbed his hands in mine, weaving our fingers together and staring up at him with a confidence I had no right to feel. “For some reason, I’m not all that sleepy anymore.”
Danic stared at me for a long time. An eternity. His entire body tensed up, yet he didn’t move. Or speak. Which wasn’t that surprising, considering it was Danic. But he was the kind of man who said as much with his body as a poet could with words. I knew a great battle was waging inside him, whether to accept my obvious invitation to ravish me, or to leave me alone long enough for me to rest. Finally, he spoke through gritted teeth.
“Are you sure?”
I grinned up at him. “Are you kidding?”
Before I could take a breath, his lips were on mine, pressing me hard against the headboard, my face in his hands. I grunted with need for him and shifted until I was on my knees, giving as good as I got. I pushed him back on the bed, knowing full well he could overpower me with his pinky, and started unbuttoning his shirt. The angle was bad, so I just had to straddle him, my jeans getting in the way of getting to the good stuff, but all in due time.
With each inch of his chest that became exposed, my lips followed. He tried to touch me, but I slammed his arms to the sides and gave him my best schoolmarm glare, then resumed my explorations of his incredible body. Every muscle seemed to have two or three secondary muscles popping out. Every hard ridge led to deep valleys of warm, smooth skin, and my tongue wanted to lick across every inch of him.
