Page 49 of Dragon Compelled
My eyes snap open.
The books begin to shake.
I back away from them, though I maintain my hold on the locator spell because, although it’s faint, I can feel something. Like the tugging of a string inside of me. Then, I stumble backward as light suddenly explodes from the stack of books.
It’s so bright I have to close my eyes, and when I open them again, I’m no longer alone in the room. A familiar body lies prone on the floor, unmoving. Dread coils in my stomach moments before heart-stopping grief shoots through me.
“No!” I scream and rush forward, falling to my knees beside a pale corpse. Hoc’s eyes are closed, his face gaunt and pale. The stench of death fills my lungs, and I realize with horrific clarity that he’s been dead for quite some time. His brown hair is matted with dried blood as is the front of his shirt.
Tears stream down my face and bile rises in my gut. I lean over and wretch, my shoulders shaking as the contents of my stomach come up. Through it all, tears flow, and sobs wrack my body.
The basement door flies open. I can’t see who is there through the sheen of my tears.
But then Aries is beside me, pulling me against his chest. “I’ve got you, my love.”
Another set of boots sounds on the stairs as someone else joins us. “Shit!”Blossom.
“Come on.” Aries lifts and carries me from the basement, but the stench of death remains in my nostrils. And the sight of Hoc’s lifeless face is burned into my mind. Seared into my soul. If knowledge is power, then why the hell does knowing he’s gone make me feel so powerless?
The image of him flashes into my mind, over and over again, a horrific playlist on repeat.
Hoc is dead.
Gone.
Forever.
Chapter14
Aries
Hours later, Paige is a shell of herself.
Pale, shaking, eyes wide, she looks nothing like the brazen woman who’d stood her ground when I first appeared in this place. She sits in Hoc’s chair, staring at his computer. Eyes empty, face unreadable.
Blossom stands beside her, a statue of support, while I remain on her other side.
Hoc is dead.Neither of us has managed to get anything out of Paige in regard to how she managed to conjure the former head librarian, but there’d been no denying it was him. And based on the state of decomposition, he’d been dead for quite some time. Likely since the day he vanished.
The librarian tattoo on his arm was missing, cut from his flesh, which explains the missing Vetus collection upstairs. Though it doesn’t answer the question as to why Constantine needed those books badly enough to kill for them and just what he’s looking for within the dusty old tomes.
The one thing it does mean is that Constantine has been inside this library, and none of us even knew it. He was right under our noses yet again, and we still missed him. I’ve yet to figure out what to do about the bastard and how to stop him from slipping in again, but I haven’t mentioned it to Paige. She likely wouldn’t hear me anyway, too consumed by her grief.
Losing a father is a pain I understand quite well.
Tawny steps into the room alongside Oliver. Both of the council members have paled, and Oliver removes his face covering.
“I’m sorry for your loss,” he says.
“Sorry?” Tawny snaps, her furious gaze leveling on Paige. “This is a catastrophe of their own making! I’ve never seen such a ridiculous excuse for leadership. Not even in our human corporations." She shakes her head angrily as rage bubbles up in my chest.
My dragon surges beneath the surface of my skin. He wants Tawny’s blood for the way she’s treating his mate.
“How are you pinning this on her?” Blossom demands.
“She’s the only one who stood to gain from this,” Tawny says.
“Gain?” Blossom echoes. “How can you say that?”
