Page 31 of Awaken the Dragon
It was always quiet here. Tranquil and serene. A place where Theo went to come down from the thoughts and memories of his past. He was never going to be the whole of what he was before. That life was forever behind him and for good damn reason. It had to be. Coming to the Human Realm and keeping forces that were beyond a human’s control, or even belief, at bay was his job. It was the job he’d assumed when he left the Far Realm and all the horrific things he’d done there.
So he understood being dedicated to a job. He could totally relate to someone finding their purpose in life and going for it with gusto. What he didn’t understand or couldn’t even pretend to rationalize was evil. He stepped out of the cave and into the waning daylight, wondering if that was why Shola was here.
The minute his booted feet touched the moss-covered rock of the surface just outside his cave, he felt it—he wasn’t alone. In this private portion of the structure he’d designed, the place where none of the other Drakon who lived here would dare come, he felt the undeniable presence of another slip beside him like a warm breeze.
He stepped with intent over the rocks and then jumped down about four feet to a pure grass surface. Standing for a moment, he looked around, nostrils flaring as he scented the air, picking up a familiar aroma of flowers and earth. To his right was more grass for another forty feet. A thick copse of mature trees stretched toward the sky with branches full of leaves that dipped and leaned until they created a canopy that in some areas prevented the sun from shining through. To the left, grass carpeted the earth for at least a quarter mile before easing into a slope that eventually led to the river. From here, he could hear the trickle of water.
That’s where she was.
He didn’t rush, but took steady steps in that direction, while the earthy fresh scent that had tickled his nostrils seconds ago grew more intense, until it filled every crevice of his soul. The undeniable urge to get closer to the scent pushed him forward until he came upon a spot where the grassy hills broke apart and the arms of the river stretched through the land. In the distance, trees formed an aisle, ushering the water down the rocky path until it would eventually empty into the larger body of water known as the Susquehanna. And like an angelic frame set amidst a picturesque landscape, she stood between two of those trees, arms folded over her chest as she stared down at the water.
When he came closer, he realized she knew he was there. She didn’t speak, and for what seemed like endless moments, neither did he.
Long lashes fanned against her smooth skin when she closed her eyes. He was looking at the face she showed to the world, no rhyme or reason as to why he could sometimes see her soul identity and other times did not. It didn’t matter; in whichever form, he liked looking at her, much more than he knew he should.
“How did you sleep last night?” he asked when their silence had stretched on for far too long.
“Fine. Tell me who the woman was that was killed at the hotel.”
So they weren’t going to do small talk. He was cool with that.
“Her name was Grace, and she worked at a club downtown called Twilight.”
“Why was she in a room booked under my name?”
“I don’t know. Do you?”
She leaned forward to gaze at him intently. In that moment, she held every part of him hostage, every sense that he possessed was trained on her, whatever she needed or wanted, he would give.
One brow arched and her lips quirked. “If I knew I would not have asked you.”
Touché.
“As I told you before, I believe someone is after you.” He’d wondered all night how he should play things with her after all that had happened in the last few days. On one hand, he’d considered locking her in one of the rooms he’d had built on the lowest level of the Office. There’d only been one other occasion when he’d used those rooms, when a feline shifter had needed refuge.
On the other hand, he wanted to believe that she had no idea what was going on, that she was really focused on whatever she thought her job here was, and that she would stop at nothing to complete it. Unless, he stopped her first.
“Nobody knows me here,” she replied and eased back into her position against the tree.
“But somebody knew you were coming. We were attacked on our way to the hotel.” The thought still pissed him off and solicited an angry thrust from the beast. “There were two rooms reserved under the name N’Gara at the hotel. Grace Brinkley was killed in one of them.”
Again, he hesitated, giving her the chance to add to the story, to come clean with him, if there was something else she knew. She didn’t, and fury bubbled deep in his gut once more.
“I do not understand. Nobody in the Western World knows me except Warrick. Nobody knew I was coming here except Warrick and you. I mean your company. I know my father hired you, but did he say why?”
He stared out to the water another moment before answering, debating whether or not what he was going to say was going to matter. “Your father contacted Magnum and asked only that you be guarded until the wedding.”
“Because he is Yoruba,” she said. “Like us.”
He nodded. Magnum and Steele had never told him they were from Africa, nor had he asked. There weren’t many Drakon on the Human Realm, and the ones who were, stuck with their clans. They didn’t reveal themselves to the humans, and most didn’t give a damn about the preternatural occurrences on this realm. The Drakon were born to rule and to take care of their own. Nothing else.
“That box Bleu gave you. Why was it so important?”
“It is mine,” she snapped. “I shipped it so that I would have it here.”
“It was filled with rocks.”
She did not respond.
