Page 32 of Awaken the Dragon
“Magnum said they may have been river rocks blessed with some type of power.”
“Magnum should mind his business,” she said and pushed away from the tree.
She walked until she was standing just a few inches away from the river’s edge.
Theo followed, stopping right beside her. He was so close that he could smell the sweet scent of the shampoo she’d used in her hair.
“You’re my business now,” he said quietly. “If someone is after you, they’re going to have to go through me, and I promise you I’m not easily beaten.”
She turned, tilting her head to look up at him. He liked when she did that because it showed her tenacity and unwavering strength, or undeniable stupidity considering who and what she was actually facing. But she had no idea. In that very moment, he believed that she had no clue what he actually was, and if he could believe that, then would it be so farfetched to say she had no clue as to what was actually going on around her?
“I am not afraid of you.”
And she wasn’t. Theo had known that since the night she’d climbed onto the back of his bike, and then again when she’d climbed off his bike prepared to fight the tracer demonics. Shola N’Gara wasn’t afraid of anything. He admired that about her, but also wondered how her fearless spirit played into everything that was happening.
“I’m not a threat to you,” he replied. “You can trust me, Shola. Whatever it is that’s going on, you can tell me, and I’ll do everything in my power to help you.”
“I do not need your help,” she stated evenly. “I have trained for this all my life. I know what needs to be done and I can... Iwilldo what I came here to do.”
He nodded because he’d once come here with the same determination. But whatever her purpose was for being here now, his purpose for the last three hundred years had been to protect the humans from preternatural forces, and he planned to continue doing just that. Even if it meant going against her. “And you don’t think it’s easier to just tell me what that is?”
She opened her mouth to respond but he touched a finger to her lips, silencing her. Soft. That’s the word that came to mind as his gaze dropped to his finger and he watched as it moved slowly along the outline of her mouth and then to the seam that separated her lips. She continued to stare up at him, not moving, not speaking, just blinking slowly and waiting.
What did she want him to do next? Tell her he would let her run wild in his city, bringing forth all the demonics in the vicinity to perform some mysterious task? Drop her off to her husband-to-be and walk away as if he’d never met her? Remove his finger from her lips and put his mouth to hers instead?
The last hit him with a jolt and a forceful push from the beast within that had him dropping his finger away. Her tongue inched out, quickly swiped over the spots where his finger had been, and Theo lowered his head. He leaned into her, determined to follow the trail of her tongue, to lick her softly and then... Her tongue disappeared, but her lips parted farther, her lids growing heavy over her eyes. He was going to kiss her. He didn’t have any other choice. He didn’t want any other choice. His lips were a whisper away from hers as she leaned into him, tilting her head, preparing to accept what he was so ready to give when his wrist buzzed.
They both looked to the communicator glowing a bright red and buzzing.
The beast wanted to open its mouth to release a vicious roar, which would no doubt convey its irritation. The man simply closed his eyes and took a step back. The interruption was probably saving him from breaking one of his staunch rules about poaching on what didn’t belong to him. He looked at Shola who gave him one long glance before turning away and moving closer to the water.
“Go,” he spoke into the communicator, turning around so Shola wouldn’t hear what was being said.
“A request for an appointment tomorrow morning came through the hotline,” Bleu relayed. “It’s from Warrick Camden.”
He sucked in a breath and rolled his head on his shoulders. “I want to meet today, at the Tower. Set it up. I’m on my way back.”
“Will do.”
The communication ended, and he stood still. Magnum and Steele had gone underground to find out whatever they could about Warrick Camden. As the search for demonics went, underground wasn’t actually a place, but more like a variety of clubs, restaurants and other businesses that were known to host the preternatural. There, they would ask questions and return with any information there was in these circles about Camden.
But instead of the two Drakon reporting back with their findings, Camden had just contacted him about meeting. What were the odds of that happening?
“How did you get here, Shola?” he asked without turning around.
“I asked Aiken to take me to a place where I could walk and think. He told me how to get to this location. I like it,” she said. “It reminds me a little of Mobo.”
His special place reminded her of her home. He didn’t know how to react to that. What he knew was that at least here, in the spot that brought him solace on so many occasions, she’d be safe. For now, that was all that mattered.
“Stay as long as you like,” he told her. “Bleu and Aiken are both here if you need anything. I’ll return later.”
Theo walked away before Shola could respond. She hadn’t anticipated him joining her. The moment Aiken told her of this place, she’d known she had to come. Going back to the tree where she’d been standing before Theo appeared, she grabbed the backpack she had dropped on the ground. Securing it to her back, she walked to the edge of the river and closed her eyes.
It was time. Do or die.
Stay as long as you like.
His voice sounded in her head, over her conscience that had been repeating the new game plan on loop since she arrived at the river.
