Page 33 of Awaken the Dragon
She inhaled deeply and was instantly filled with the powerful rustic scent of masculinity that was all Theo. She would know it anywhere and was certain she would never forget it. Nor would she forget just how close she’d come to kissing him. His blue eyes had been warm as he looked down at her, strength oozing from every pore of his body that was perfect in the black slacks and fitted burgundy long-sleeve shirt. In the waning sunlight, his light brown hair was the impeccable highlight to his honey-hued skin tone. It had taken every bit of her will to keep from touching him, rubbing her hand over his thick biceps and wrapping her arms around his neck. The kiss would have been explosive. She knew it and was certain Theo had been thinking the same.
But it hadn’t happened. And that was a good thing.
This, what she was about to do, would have only been more complicated if that kiss had come to fruition. She did not need complications; she needed to get this job done now. And to somehow not fall for the handsome blue-eyed guard who was beginning to ask too many questions.
With that thought, she walked into the river, letting the cool water seep through to her very bones, feeling her fingers tingle and her mind open like a flower in bloom. When the water grew deeper and the current picked up, she dove forward and began to swim.
Chapter Twelve
Theo’s office was on the sixty-first floor of Masters Tower. It was the only office on that floor, with a receptionist area and conference rooms on the other side of the building. The Legion Security Company employed thirty-two human agents and support staff. Their smaller offices were located on floors fifty-eight through sixty. The floors above Theo were Isla’s domain, filled with all the digital monitoring and technological equipment she needed to run every aspect of Theo’s business effectively.
Isla Camoy rarely stayed in the loft assigned to her at the Office. Instead she used one of the smaller offices on the sixty-third floor as a place to rest whenever she wasn’t working. At five feet six inches tall, Isla was the smallest of Theo’s Drakon team. Her skin was the color of milk chocolate, her eyes chestnut brown and hair like sheets of black hanging straight past her shoulders.
“Evening meetings downtown aren’t usually your thing,” she quipped when she walked into Theo’s office at a little past six. “And it’s the weekend.”
Theo had been sitting in the black leather desk chair facing the window, which offered an unfettered view of downtown Burgess. At the sound of her voice, he turned the chair around slowly, stopping just as she reached his desk. His office had a sleek, contemporary decor, but in contrast to the city lights, there wasn’t a lot of color in this space. There were no pictures on the walls, no trinkets on the built-in cases, and only three extra black suits hung in the closet across from his private bathroom. His desktop was glass with an embedded keyboard, giving him access to everything from the building’s temperature control to the security features on each floor and cameras in every area except the bathrooms. There were sophisticated heat monitors and demonic sensors installed in the bathrooms so that sight wasn’t necessarily needed to know if any insidious activity was going on.
Isla wore a white jumpsuit and held a clipboard in her arm, as the communicator on her wrist twinkled in multiple colors.
“This is a special meeting and it was imperative that it take place as soon as possible,” he told her.
“And whatever this Warrick Camden is, his entourage is setting off every security mechanism we have in place.”
She looked down at her clipboard and pressed buttons not visible to anyone but her. Dual screens of information appeared in the air inches above Theo’s desk. Red hot spots blinked throughout the building’s blueprint.
“His people are spreading out, checking the perimeter.” Exactly what he’d expected they’d do. “We would do the same.”
“Because we’re security. We’re actually protecting people from human crimes and preternatural behavior. What’s this guy’s story?” she asked, lifting a thick, but perfectly arched brow.
“Last I checked when I arrived, Magnum and Steele were uploading a report. It should be coming through the communicators shortly.” He kept his eyes on the screens and his mind focused on the meeting about to take place. Beneath the skin of his back the beast’s scales rubbed and waited to poke through. That wasn’t going to happen, not if he could help it, but just in case, the Drakon warrior was ready. He kept his eyes on the screens noting the hot spots continued moving, all registering the same low-level heat signature.
“This has something to do with Magnum’s case, doesn’t it? The bride from Yorubaland?”
“What do you know about her?” Because she didn’t spend as much time at the Office as the others, and her work never pulled her into the field, Isla tended to stay on the outskirts of their cases.
Her head tilted slightly, and she watched him for a few seconds before responding. “She traveled with a pretty intense guard force. Their weapons were a security concern at the airports, but they were eventually granted passage. Style of dress and the armored limousines they drove into town were another eye-opener. The human military was immediately alerted, as were local enforcers. All of my preliminary scans registered them as some type of royalty in their land. The names matched everything Magnum had in the file, so I didn’t do any further checks. Not until Bleu put in his request.”
The bones in his legs ached as the beast grew restless, so he stood, moving to the window again and slipping a hand into his front pants pocket as he stared out at the city. At this height, it appeared he was closer to the skyline, that open abyss calling to the other part of him like a beacon. If he closed his eyes, he could see the majestic body of the beast floating through the air in all its glory. There was a time when that would have been the norm to him. The skyline would routinely be filled with beasts of his kind in day and night, without judgment or consequence. That had been in a different place, under a different regime. It would never happen here amidst the colorful skyscrapers, humans who were led by their fear, and preternatural beings who had found a refuge from any real laws for their kind.
“There’s a Drakon among them,” Isla said. “Bleu and I weren’t totally sure at first, especially since the records from the airport stated they’d all returned the day after you picked up the client. But one remained.”
A muscle in his jaw twitched.
“Where is it now?”
“We don’t know. You’re the only one who can see soul identities. The only reason we’re certain it’s a Drakon is because the box Bleu was able to find and direct Aiken to had an imprint.”
A Drakon’s imprint was as good as its birth certificate or DNA test in the human world and came in more than just a print on a surface, but was also a scent that lingered only for another Drakon to capture. It would provide vital information on the dragon, such as its clan link, color and size. It would not give the simplest detail such as its name and more importantly its locale.
A loud beeping prevented him from asking his next question. He turned to see all the hot spots had gone still and a new one had appeared just a short distance from the door to his office. They were in position.
“Do you want me to stay?” Isla asked after watching the screen.
“No. Go back to your office and watch the others. I’ll take care of him.”
She nodded and left through a secret door masked as a panel in the brown painted wall while he continued to stare out the window. When he heard the low knock on his door, he turned slowly and buttoned his suit jacket. After straightening his tie, he smoothed his beard and took measured steps back to his chair. He waited another few seconds before saying, “Come in.”
The door opened and the air shifted. He saw the shoes first, black, leather, expensive. The cuffs of black pants rested over glossy footwear, and pants led upward to an expertly tailored jacket, a crisp white shirt and bloodred tie. He was almost as tall as Theo and had a mostly gray goatee and shiny bald head. Stepping inside, he closed the door with a quiet click and continued to walk, stopping only three feet away from Theo’s desk.
