Page 27 of Drakhana's Treasure
To be pulling an assault like this, they have to be leaving themselves thin on the ground in LA. I can’t help wondering why they are doing this, or at least, why now? Do they need the territory or the money because the clan has grown too large? That really is a scary thought.
Shifter babies have been rare for some time now. I’ve never seen one, although a few have been born in the last thirty years. I heard it was a shifter wide problem, not confined to the fire clan which gave us some comfort.
The elder’s hesitation to wed couples has come from this problem. Even though the rampant promiscuity has mostly failed to reliably produce children, the elders don’t like the idea of two people being taken out of those ranks. To ask for the sacred bonds with Kirralee might even be blasphemy by their standards.
I don’t think the sacred bonds have been undertaken for hundreds of years. Everyone is too afraid to limit the breeding potential of the clan.
If the ice dragons have started breeding again then they really could force us from our home. Numbers are one thing we don’t have.
As I pass through the bar and head to my ground floor office, I consider talking to my LA partners. We have spies in the city, as well as a few small businesses. Nothing like what we have here, nothing big enough to attract attention. Just enough to be able to keep an eye on them.
I could start making maneuvers in LA. I decide to email a couple of our guys and get them to check out the holdings owned by the ice dragons. If anything is failing or losing shareholders, I want to know about it. That would mean they are pulling resources just to come at us here in Vegas.
If I start undercutting them on their own turf, they might pull back to LA. They could also push us even harder here. If they have the numbers, they really could push us out of Vegas. If I’ve spent all my money attacking LA in the meantime, I’ll have nothing left for the refugees that would be left here.
I rub my temples absently while I send the email. A few messages have come in from Zelena and Kane, updates on their acquisitions. They are doing so well I message back that they should take my afternoon meetings. Zelena in particular is an absolute machine. She happily works twelve hours a day and can make a million in an hour with the right contacts.
Not so long ago I was pissed that the students were taking me away from my work. Now I’m relieved that the students are taking it from me.
If I’m not needed here in the seat of our power, would they let me go? I’ve been running Vegas for such a long time now. It might be too much to ask the council to approve both the sacred bonds and my leaving Vegas.
Assuming that we will keep our throne, of course. If we keep hemorrhaging money like this there will be nothing left for us in Vegas except a few buildings that cost more money than they make. If our patronage drops much lower… We go into serious debt.
Why can’t they just fight us like dragons! After hundreds of years of war followed by uneasy peace as we set up our city strongholds, I thought we didn’t need to fight anymore. I should have seen business challenges coming and I’m pissed off to be taken by surprise like this. Since they are winning the financial battle, why would they bother to fight us tooth and claw?
I just want to walk away from it all.
I’ve never been this frustrated, this far from focus. I’m sitting here trying to rationalize the ways of dragon conflict when my mind just keeps slipping back to the elder chamber. I want to petition them for the sacred bonds. I want them to say the words and then I walk out of there with Kirra on my arm and the world is ours. We can go anywhere we want.
Sacred bonds release you from clan duty. It means that this connection, this love, is more important than anything. This is respected by the entire clan once it has been ratified.
I watch the messages on my tablet and phone screens slowly wind down to nothing. Zelena, Kane and Bailey have picked up the slack just as I hoped. I can’t remember the last time I saw my notifications empty.
There is only one thing I want to do.
Find Kirra and make sure she’s okay. I’ve been worried about her for days but I knew if I rushed to her side it would look suspicious, especially after my little stunt the other day. Of course, the man in charge would be worried enough about a young clan member to call the doctor and fly her to treatment… but I’ve been coming in naked with her too many times now for this to be coincidence.
My dragon rumbles inside me, soaking up my frustration. It’s remained quiet over the last few days, but all I have to do is just think about Kirra and it starts clawing at me again. Our dragons don’t care about financial struggles, clan politics or sacred bonds. They just want to fly away together and never touch the ground.
I have to see her. I literally can’t hold myself back any longer. A courtesy call to a sick trainee is perfectly acceptable and if I choose to take her to dinner, that shouldn’t cause a stir. If anyone asks, I’ll just say I’m evaluating her for future positions.
I’m out of my chair and headed for the elevator before I can think. After this many days, I feel like I’m being slowly strangled to death every moment I’m not with her.
I can’t keep living like this. Something has to be done. I lived too long without happiness to give up on it now.
Nineteen
Kirralee
Sitting on one of the many lounges scattered across my sunken living room, I stare out through the wall of glass. The city looks dirty, rubbed over with grime. A smoke haze hovers over it, making everything slightly apocalyptic as the sun starts to drop towards the horizon.
I’ve barely moved for days. I tried to go straight back to work, but my health faded every second I was amongst the humans and the technology. Once I started falling over and dropping things, the other staff told me to leave.
I’m used to sitting in one spot for a long time. It’s my favorite thing to do in my lava caves. Sit so still for so long that I seem to become part of the rock. The only reason to move, most of the time, was to hear the lava’s voice from a different place.
Since the ice dragon touched me, I haven’t felt well. Th extreme heat of the desert woke my dragon which connected me to the fire within myself. The second I returned and the human world started pounding at me I started failing. It’s like I can’t maintain my inner nature and stay human at the same time.
I wrap my arms around myself, wrapping the blanket around my body even tighter. I can’t get warm.
