Page 4 of Awaken the Dragon
He leaned into the next turn, focusing on getting to the doorway before his beast fought to break through and take to the sky. The bike would never be as fast as the stretch of wings floating through the air. A huge part of him craved that feeling almost as deeply as the beast, but he would continue to fight it. He had no other choice.
Invisible to the human eye, a golden yellow doorway shimmered in the distance. The bike surged forward, going straight through that colored opening before it snapped closed.
Once on the other side, he stopped the bike and got off, booted feet hitting the mossy-soft ground. He walked until he stood beside a gnarled thorny tree a good distance away,bringing his wrist up close to his mouth to make the call.
“At the East 50th veil. Send a vehicle, loaded. And do a deeper search for client number 9729.” He said the words fast and quietly, never doubting his orders would be received and carried out. On all the business and tax forms, he was the owner and lead agent of the Legion Security Company, but, in reality, he was so much more.
“Where are we?”
She was closer than she should be. He turned to see her standing no more than three feet away. Everything about him was enhanced, from his vision to the speed with which he moved. Where he came from, his stealth and strength were unrivaled. Yet, he hadn’t heard her approach, nor felt the warning of someone sneaking up on him.
“You didn’t do what I told you to do. I instructed you to run and take shelter in that club.”
She didn’t blink but moved her arms until she clasped her fingers together in front of her. She looked demure standing in a dress that seemed to be sewn with gold thread, her chin lifted, gaze focused on him. For a split second, that unnerved him. He was looking at her through human eyes, not exactly sure when the beast’s had receded since he’d been so focused on getting off the streets and making the urgent call. Now she was in her normal form, not the glimpse of her soul identity that he’d seen upon first meeting her—the face that should have been his first clue that things were about to go wrong.
“I was unaware that I took orders from you.”
Her voice was calm yet held the barest hint of rebuff that only stoked his ire.
“I can’t do my job if you’re not inclined to follow simple instructions. The next time I tell you to do something—”
“I will do what is best,” she interrupted. “Always.”
His words were meant to be a final declaration; now he bit back the heated rumble that churned in the pit of his stomach.
“Stand here. The vehicles will arrive momentarily, and then we’ll leave.”
He walked away from her, going to stand closer to the door, as if by sheer will the trucks would pull up on command. That wasn’t how it worked, but staring at her was making him feel...uncomfortable. And he was never uncomfortable. He’d worked long and hard to maintain a level of contentment and wasn’t totally sure why that was being shaken tonight. What he was certain of was that something was going on, something he wasn’t going to like.
“Upon this earth there are said to be veils separating the human from other species and worlds that exist on an alternate plane. I studied world mythology during my time at school. Is this that place?”
The majority of Legion Security’s clients were human. Celebrities, politicians, wealthy humans who needed personal protection for a multitude of reasons. Steele led the home and business security division, while Magnum dealt with the personal side. As for Theo, he handled the preternatural cases because he was the badass of the Legion, or at least that’s what his staff called him. There were some humans who were aware of the preternatural world blending with its own. And then there were the nonbelievers.
Shola hadn’t seemed afraid or surprised by the tracer demonics so she definitely wasn’t a nonbeliever.
“There are veils that serve as passageways between the different realms of the universe. We are in the In-between.” Even as he spoke he had a sense that she knew, or at least she should have known. Shola N’Gara was anything but a normal human, the appearance of a soul identity, or a being’s true soul, was proof of that. She didn’t move like any woman he’d ever met. When she walked, her long legs carried her in a graceful fashion, but he’d also seen her quickly climb off his bike and take a fighter’s stance. Of course, he’d turned away from her at that moment because he’d been more concerned with saving her life. Tracer demonics traced high potency power and when they found it, they attacked with a bite to their prey before sucking every drop of power from them and moving on. Humans that inadvertently ended up in a tracer’s path were killed easily by as little as a scratch from the midlevel demonic. If one had come close enough to Shola she would be dead right now.
“So we’re hiding.” It was a statement, one she seemed fairly certain was true.
“I have no need to hide. Whatever wants me, I face.”
“Like you did those demonics.” This came in her still calm and placid tone, which contradicted everything he thought he was sensing about her.
He turned slowly until he was facing her again. She’d moved from her previous spot. Not too close behind him this time, but definitely not where he’d left her. Unlike in Burgess, the In-between was a bright place. It was warm like a thousand suns beaming concentrated rays into this one locale. The ground was foggy and the warm breeze that passed through was visible in wavy lines. While he could see through to a being’s soul identity, he wasn’t a reader, meaning he couldn’t sense her soul emotions the way an empath or some of the magickals could. But he wanted to. That was shocking because in all the time he’d been on this realm, the last thing he’d wanted to deal with were emotions. Not his or anyone else’s.
“I suppose you read about them too.” He sensed that all of her knowledge wasn’t coming solely from books, but in the end decided to focus more on the demonics at the moment. It was his job—or rather his penance—to keep the preternatural from interfering with the human world.
There was a slight lift of one arched brow before she replied, “Reading is fundamental.”
“So is following the rules,” he snapped.
She didn’t respond even though he was almost certain she had lots to say.
At first glimpse she appeared docile, yet the set of her shoulders when she stood, and the gentle almost hypnotic sway of her hips when she walked, screamed of a passion so vibrant it was like a physical assault. Either that or he was just damn horny. The churning he’d felt in his gut moments ago was now spreading, moving through him with a warm pressure etching along his skin. Irritated by the feeling, he turned away from her again.
He stared at the door they’d traveled through. It was still closed, its impression a steady hologram on this side, instead of the shimmering rays of light displayed on the side of the Human Realm. Also as opposed to on the other side of the door, time stretched on like an eternity here. He looked down to check his communicator, waiting for the notification that the other vehicle had arrived.
“I need to get to the hotel.”
