Page 45 of Awaken the Dragon
“Taking care of her meant changing her so that she’d become one of us and thus keep our secret. It didn’t mean killing her and leaving her body in the hotel room still dressed in her uniform from the club.”
The entire hotel incident still bothered him days later. Enes had been told to take care of Grace, a server from the club, who had showed up at the hotel room where he’d been scheduled to meet someone else. The mistaken identity hadn’t been caught until it was too late—after he’d fucked and bit her. He’d called Enes to handle the situation, and Enes had killed the girl. Hoan thought it was messy and irresponsible. Warrick agreed but didn’t give a damn what that demonic thought. He was more concerned with the fact that his orders hadn’t been followed and had been contemplating how to deal with the situation.
“You initiated the exposure.” Defiance and disdain were clear in her tone.
His fingers froze over the first cufflink on his shirt. “Excuse me?”
Enes leaned forward, resting her elbows on her thighs and looked up at him, eyes glittering gold.
“You showed Grace who you were. She came to deliver the food you’d requested. And you knew she wanted to be with you. You’d known that for months and yet you’d never told her that wasn’t a possibility. What happened that you ended up revealing yourself to her?”
He wasn’t used to being questioned, especially not by his children, so he grit his teeth and let his next words marinate while finishing with the first cufflink and moving on to the next.
“You shouldn’t have killed her,” he continued in a slow, but nonetheless deadly tone. “And don’t think I’ve forgotten that you need to be punished for that deed.”
She popped up out of the chair like something had burned her, crossing over until she was standing directly in front of him.
“Punish me for doing what we started? I’m the only one with my head still in this game. If you could keep your dick out of every human that breathes in your direction, we wouldn’t be in this predicament!”
Her eyes were full vampire, teeth bared, hands fisted at her sides. He could smell the arousal that coated her folds. Moving faster than even she could, he cupped her mound through the thin pants she wore, and her thighs trembled.
“You work for me,” he said through clenched teeth. “Who I fuck is none of your concern.”
Desire flickered in her eyes but she didn’t flinch. “Until you need me to kill for you.”
Warrick raged on the inside. He could have thrown her out the window at that moment, snapped her neck or ripped her throat out the way she’d done Grace. But he didn’t because Enes was his child, just like any other that he turned, so there was always going to be a bond between them. Which was one of the reasons Warrick had cut back on whom he decided to drink from, in Burgess at least. There were a few in his higher command that he assigned the task of recruiting now. Enes was one of them. Yet, she still wanted more.
In that regard, Warrick had nothing to give her, and she was too valuable to him to be killed.
“Don’t forget you are here because of me. Ever!” He stared at her intentionally hard so that not only were his eyes more golden than hers, but actual sparks of blood appeared in his irises. It was a sign of supreme power, one meant to send a vampire to its knees in front of its superior.
But Enes wasn’t like other vampires. While she did look away from him, she didn’t move. Warrick believed it was because she liked his hands on her, no matter the form. With that in mind, he pulled away from her and she stumbled back onto the bed. He grabbed his belt and finished dressing.
“I’m through being diplomatic,” he began after he’d stepped into his shoes and bent over to tie them. “Now that we have the attention of the enforcers, let’s make them earn their pay.”
“We must make our payments first,” she insisted.
“Fuck them! I’m through paying those pompous human cocksuckers for the privilege to do business in this city. When I have the power to rule this realm, they’ll be paying me!”
And that time was coming sooner, rather than later. The convergence was near, and there was only one thing standing in the way of his success. Theo Masters, that dragon bastard, had what belonged to Warrick. She was the key, and he planned to get her back. Even if he had to kill a dragon or two in the process.
Theo was on his last set of push-ups, his arms and legs burning with the intense two-and-a-half-hour workout he’d put himself through, but the physical exertion was exactly what he needed after the night and morning he’d had. It was late, almost twenty-four hours exactly from the moment he’d done the unthinkable.
He went down, pushed up, went down, pushed up, driving himself to a point where it almost seemed like a punishment. That would make sense considering he’d done exactly what he’d told the others not to do since the moment they arrived in Burgess.
Do not use their power. Do not use any of the magick that was bestowed onto them upon birth. Function like a human in every way, even when dealing with the preternatural, unless there was absolutely no other option. And then, at that point, use extreme caution. Exposure was the enemy, more so for them than any other type of being. Even though there were some in the Human Realm who knew of the preternatural element that lived alongside them, the majority were still in the dark, whether by choice or simply via ignorance. Two worlds were allowed to exist as one on this realm, and for the most part, none were the wiser. This was the only realm where that was the case. This was the only realm that hadn’t witnessed the wrath of a Drakon.
Humans didn’t understand what they feared. In fact, they hated it to the point of feeling their only option was to destroy any and everything that was not like them. He’d seen this over and over again throughout the centuries he’d been on this realm. They even did this to their own species. That which did not look or act like a certain race within their fold, couldn’t possibly be considered the same. It was a ridiculous and destructive notion, especially considering how many different races and species they knew absolutely nothing about.
It was a pity the way humans judged and were judged, and yet, the preternatural had their own hierarchies and rules that had carried them from one war to the next as well. Still, it had never been Theo’s intention to shift while on this realm and to blatantly appear where any human could see him in his true form.
But Shola’s life was in danger. So there’d been no other choice.
Down and then up, down and then up. He’d stopped counting the push-ups after he’d cleared one-fifty and that was at least fifteen minutes ago. Down and then up. Down and then...black twist front leather loafers stepped into view. Theo continued for three more push-ups before easing back to rest on his knees and then coming to a stand.
Bleu wore herringbone tweed slacks and a gray, yellow and white button front shirt in a design that Theo was certain would make him dizzy if he continued to stare. He looked away and walked across the mat floor of the gym. This room was larger than the two levels of the building downtown where humans paid a membership fee to work out, and had much better equipment.
He took a seat on the weight bench. Bleu followed him and now stood with his arms crossed over his chest, staring down at him.
