Page 49 of Awaken the Dragon
“Because I am thinking I might be a little too young for you.”
He chuckled. “You’re a demigoddess, and I’m a dragon shifter. I think we’ve successfully bucked the conventional rules already.”
He had a point.
While they walked this time, his hand found hers, fingers twining together in a way she recalled seeing in movies. The tightness that had filled her chest before bloomed until there was a fullness in the area of her heart, a feeling she was still afraid to analyze, but too smart to ignore.
“What are we doing?” she asked after they’d walked awhile longer.
“I don’t know,” he replied.
But he didn’t release her hand as they continued to walk.
“This isn’t good,” Bleu said as he smoothed down the hair of his beard. “In fact, it’s worse than anything we could’ve imagined.”
The Drakon were assembled in the main conference room, sitting around the table staring at a wall where a complete picture of the universe was on a clear screen. The background was dark and littered with stars, seven orbs and thirteen moons taking their rightful places. Bleu was the only one standing, using a pointer while he continued to explain.
“These are the four realms,” he said, pointing at each orb on the screen. “The Far, Human, Spirit and Fae Realms. And these are the veils that separate each realm.”
Wavy yellow ribbons spiraled around each orb, filling the space between them like a sort of glue. The remaining three orbs were outside the ribbons and, to their knowledge, were uninhabited.
“Is this a history lesson?” Reece asked.
Ziva shook her head and Aiken chuckled.
Theo looked over to where Shola sat to his right. She was quiet, but staring at the screen as if she were, in fact, in school. He wanted to touch her again.
“They appear brighter than usual,” Steele said.
Bleu nodded. “Yes. Glad you recognized that. Centuries ago, the Watchers of the Far Realm took note of this change. It occurs every five hundred years and lasts for one hundred nights.”
“And what does this have to do with our present issue?” Steele asked. “We’ve had some exposure that we probably need to clean up. Enforcers are watching the Tower and lighting up our phones with requests to interview Theo and all of his agents with reference to what happened two nights ago. We have other clients that we need to be working with, but we’ve been stuck here, twiddling our thumbs.”
“The exposure was contained,” Theo answered. “There are no reports on the local or national news, which leads me to believe the only ones who saw me were the vampires who were there, and who are now all dead.”
“All except one,” Reece added.
Shola shifted in her seat. Theo wanted to reach out to her, but he refrained. After their first night and morning together, they had returned to their separate rooms, and stayed apart for two days, unsure of how to proceed with what was very new to them both. This morning he’d decided—or rather the very surly beast inside him had decided—that was foolish. There was no way to un-ring that bell. He’d touched and tasted her, he couldn’t even fathom not being able to do so again.
So he’d sought her out and had convinced himself that the first priority was to learn more about her and what he needed to do to assist her, but they’d ended up simply walking and holding hands. Something Theo had never done before, but had enjoyed immensely.
“Warrick is my responsibility,” she said. “I will deal with him.”
“Wewill deal with him,” Theo corrected. He didn’t miss the rise of Ziva’s brow at that proclamation.
Bleu cleared his throat loudly. “If you would all let me finish, I believe this is connected somehow.”
Silence ensued, and Bleu nodded before continuing.
“As we know, the veils through which passage to the other realms is made possible, are not open to all, at all times. There are intervals of closure as well as secret locations to which passage can be granted. This is to keep the balance of good and evil as even as possible on each realm. Except the Spirit Realm, of course, since the majority of convicted demonics are sentenced to suffer there deep within the bowels of the earth.”
“Where they belong,” Reece added.
Theo gave him a warning look and Reece shrugged.
Bleu continued, “These realms appear brighter for one hundred nights. This signals the time in which all the realms are open to travel about on a search for more power. And when they are open—”
“Evil has free rein to move about and to gather more power,” Magnum stated. “Sonofabitch! Someone’s making a play for the convergence.”
