Page 50 of Awaken the Dragon
Steele shook his head. “Warrick Camden.”
“He’s not powerful enough,” Theo added. He’d been thinking about this since Bleu had come to him in the gym yesterday morning. “Warrick is not even accepted within the Royal Blood of his species. There’s no way he has enough backing to bring all four realms together under his rule.”
“Unless he’s not working alone,” Steele said and looked at Shola.
Shola looked to Theo and he nodded for her to speak. They’d talked about this the morning they were in the cave two days ago. He knew she was still leery about telling his team everything regarding her appearance here, but he’d assured her that they could be trusted.
Despite her concerns, she spoke calmly and succinctly. “I was sent here to kill Warrick. He is threatening to take over my village. My people would be enslaved to him the moment I marry him.”
Throughout the room, there were a few gasps, some leery looks and a nonbeliever.
“Geez, then why the hell did your family send you to seal such a deal?” Ziva asked.
“They had no choice. A deal was made,” Shola replied.
“A deal with the devil,” Steele said with a shake of his head. “Why was there no counter curse? The Yoruba look to their deities, their witch doctors and—”
“Iamthe counter curse,” she announced firmly. “I have been trained in the way to take Warrick down. My one purpose in life was to kill him. That is all.”
In Theo’s opinion, that was too much. How had her father or this great Orisha goddess thought to wrap this weighty chain around her delicate neck and force her to carry it for all her life? Why had their one plan rested solely on her? He hadn’t liked it from the moment she told him about it and hearing her tell his team only reinforced his commitment to taking this burden away from her.
“We get Camden, and then we get whoever he’s working with,” Bleu stated. “Before the veils go back to normal. If enough power is gathered the realms can be converged, and whoever wields the power to do that will rule.”
Silence fell throughout the room.
“Well, that’s an easy enough task,” Reece said with another shrug. “Let’s kill Camden, find his partner, and roast his ass too.”
“That was very eloquently put,” Ziva quipped.
Reece shook his head. “I’m not the eloquent one. That’s Bleu and Aiken. I’m the one that gets the job done.”
“After he finishes talking about getting the job done,” Magnum said with a shake of his head.
Theo looked among these dragons. Ones who had come to him for refuge and instead had brought him a sense of purpose to add to the declarations he’d already made for his life. He cared about them, and so had insisted they keep their identity a secret. Now, he wasn’t so sure that was going to be the smartest move.
“We’re going out,” Theo announced. “Camden won’t sit still and wait for our next move. Our contact at the enforcer headquarters has already reported that there’s been a rise in robberies. Someone’s hitting the clubs and cleaning them out of their money and drugs. Crime bosses are not happy and are preparing their retaliation. In short, there’s about to be a war in Burgess if we don’t get a handle on this quickly.”
“So we suit up?” Steele asked.
Theo knew what he was asking and why he was asking in that way. His cover as a dragon had been revealed to Shola. But she had no idea that everyone in this room were also dragons.
“On the low,” he replied. “We keep everything we do on the low for the time being. Is that clear?”
Steele nodded first and the others followed.
Theo wouldn’t require them to hold back on their powers anymore, but that didn’t mean they were free to walk into a club, open their mouth and singe somebody just for the hell of it. That wasn’t how Legion Security operated. It wasn’t how these Drakon were going to operate, at least not under his command.
The meeting was over, and everyone stood to leave. Shola had stood also but she didn’t leave. When they were alone, she looked at Theo.
“I am going with you,” she told him. “And before you get all into your guard routine, I think that ship has sailed. I am either going with you to carry out my destiny, or I will do it on my own.”
She was calling a truce. Offering to work together instead of apart. It was a noble gesture, one that made her even more desirable to him than the sexy blouse and skirt she’d changed into after her run and their long walk. But Theo had already decided she would remain by his side. That was the only way he knew she would always be protected.
“I wouldn’t have it any other way,” he said and again, took her hand in his.
Chapter Eighteen
An hour after the meeting Shola answered a knock at her bedroom door.
