Page 16 of Edge of Darkness

“Oh, sorry. I didn’t realize it was so late. Thank you.” Hudson joined Connie at the table. “Pizza?”

“Homemade pizza,” Connie corrected.

Since all of Hudson’s court lived in the compound, he employed a full-time staff to cook in his home. All the dragons on Hudson’s land had their own homes, but several of the single ones ate at the main house. In a very loose way, Hudson’s residence functioned like a werewolves’ pack house.

Hudson took a bite and groaned softly. “This is excellent.”

“Did you expect anything less?”

“Nope. Stella and her staff excel in all forms of cooking. To say otherwise would be to tempt Fate,” Hudson quipped as he took another bite of pizza.

“Yeah, Fate in the form of your head cook. She’d probably whack you on the ass with one of her wooden spoons. Stella doesn’t play.”

“No, she does not.” Hudson picked up the soda that Connie had brought and took a sip. “So, about that human Kage wants us to keep an eye on.”

“What was the guy’s name again?” Connie asked.

“Kit Meadows. He’s the owner of The Book Spot. His ex was the hunter who let Nox into Kit’s office.”

Connie grimaced. Talk about betrayal. “Ouch.”

“Yeah. And the ex is missing too, so Kage and Austin are worried about Kit’s safety.”

Kit owned a bookstore that Austin had done a book signing at. The two had hit it off and had become friends when Austin had suddenly backed off.

Austin had mainly done that because he hadn’t wanted to draw Nox’s attention to any friends of his. Not that it had done any good. Nox had attacked Kit, assumed his identity, and lured Austin into a trap.

“Any idea of who you want to use to babysit the human?” Connie asked as he bit into his pizza.

“I think Beckett would work nicely. He’s pretty nonthreatening for an Ancient—which is good for Kit’s peace of mind. Plus, Beckett’s a bookworm. Doing guard duty in a bookstore should be right up his alley.”

“I’ll check with him and see what he’s got going on. You do realize, of course, that saying Beckett is nonthreatening for an Ancient is all kinds of wrong, right? He’s damn near as powerful as you,” Connie pointed out.

“This human is important to Kage and Austin. That makes him important to us, which is why I am assigning a Grand Lord to watch after him,” Hudson said.

Dragons had titles that correlated with age. Hatchlings were dragons from birth to ninety-nine years old. Younglings were one hundred to four hundred ninety-nine years old.

Dragons who were five hundred to six hundred ninety-nine years old had the title of Sir/Mistress. Connie fell in that category. Any dragons seven hundred to nine hundred ninety-nine years held the title of Lords/Ladies.

Dragons a thousand years and older who were not born a King or Queen held the title of Grand Lord/Lady, like Beckett, and were also considered an Ancient.

A King/Queen was a solid color of whatever court they belonged to. In Hudson’s case, since he belonged to the Fire Court, he was a completely red dragon.

“Be that as it may, I do believe Beckett will enjoy this little mission. I’ll caution him to try and keep his power dampened around the human.” Hudson took another bite of his pizza. “Let me know if he’s willing to take the assignment.”

“Of course,” Connie said. “And that’s enough talk of business for the night. I swear, if I didn’t keep an eye on you, you’d work twenty-four seven.”

Hudson leaned back in his chair and grinned at Connie. “Good thing I have you, huh?”

“You better believe it.” Connie then kept their conversation to topics that did not include work so Hudson would relax.

Once they were finished with dinner, Connie took the trays back to the kitchen. He knew better than to leave dirty dishes in the sink, so he loaded them into the dishwasher and returned the trays to where he got them from.

Humming a Katy Perry song about a dark horse that he’d had stuck in his head all day for some reason, he returned to Hudson’s office. Not finding him there, he went to Hudson’s private den, which was right off the master bedroom.

There was also a pool just outside Hudson’s master suite that was only for his use. Connie agreed with his decision to create his own little private place inside his home, otherwise he’d be tripping over his dragons at all times of the day and night.

Hudson’s house did have a living area that wascommunal, though. There was a TV with a gaming system, plus a pool table and darts. Also, in the main house was a massive gym and a custom theater. The kitchen served three meals a day that anyone was welcome to partake in.

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