Page 28 of Claim the Dragon
Chapter Eight
Rays of sunlight were just peeking through the sheer curtains at the hotel window when Steele appeared in the center of the room.Although immediate movement was possible the moment he came out of a fade, he remained still, looking around the space.
What the hell was he doing?
Saving her.
And sleeping with her.He’d literally slept in the same bed, holding her close to him for the last few hours.That could be construed as him being her personal guard, which was more Magnum’s area at the company.Or it could be what it was, him actually liking the act of holding her while she slept.
A string of curses followed that thought, and he moved, stalking across the room to pull the curtains closed.He took another shower, a longer one filled with steam that he hoped would clear his mind of the nonsense that had been residing there where this woman was concerned.This human woman who didn’t want him in her life any more than he wanted to be there, but had opened herself to him in the hottest way possible.
Half an hour later, after he’d pulled on sweatpants and a T-shirt, Steele walked barefoot out into the living area of the suite.He sat in the uncomfortable chair behind the too-small desk and powered up his tablet.The second it was up and ready he dialed a number and then propped the tablet up so he could see the screen.
“Good morning, Sunshine!”Isla said in a tone that was full of anything but golden cheer at the moment.
Actually, Isla never had a cheery tone.On the occasions that Steele saw her, which were few and far between because, besides his recent defection, Isla was the only Drakon who didn’t stay in her designated suite at the Office.She preferred her space, that’s the reason she gave Theo or any of the others anytime they asked about her not being there.Steele never asked.Not because he didn’t care about her, but because he knew the value of having personal space.
“Hey,” he replied in just as droll a tone as she’d used.“I met with that new client, Daron Robles yesterday.”
“Okay,” she said and turned her attention to another screen while her fingers raced over a different keyboard.
Isla’s office/living space was located in the Towers, otherwise known as Masters Towers, which was owned by Theo.This was the official business location of Legion Security and it was where the company’s thirty-two human employees worked.Isla was often the only Drakon in the building—after the meeting with Chief Lord Hikeen Montoy had gone terribly wrong and Shola had been kidnapped—cloaked in extra layers of Drakon magick as well as a full-scale security arsenal that would make the weapons at a military base as worthless as those metal detectors at the doorway of the courthouse.
“Senator Daron Robles, age forty-nine, race Afro Caribbean, marital status single.Political career started as a city representative twenty-four years ago.With the financial backing of the Burgess City Enforcers and The Winston Group, he won the senate seat five years ago.Owns homes in Sodesto, on a private island in the Caribbean region and a newly built compound in Madagascar.No children, five bank accounts, one faithful assistant of twelve years, Marona Combs.”
She’d recapped all things Steele had already learned about Robles.
“Where did he go to school?Any degrees in archaeology?Other interests in that area?There’s a bank on that island in the Caribbean where his vacation home is, can we find out how much is in that account?I want a list of withdrawals and deposits in the last six months.No, make that a year.”
Steele watched as her fingers continued to move over not just the keyboard to her left, but another one on her right.Her head turned from one screen to the next, long, straight black hair swishing over her shoulders with each motion.
“Cordone College in a town called Lufet.That’s in the southern region.Was born here in Burgess and returned with a Bachelor’s degree in Archaeological Studies, with a minor in political science.His father had been a senator, as well.It’s gonna take me a minute to get into that offshore account,” she said.
Steele sat back in the chair, rubbing his fingers over his chin.“That’s fine, just get it to me as soon as possible.”
“Why?I thought Robles was our client?My preliminary background check on him was included in the packets sent to your communicator yesterday morning.”
“I got it.But I need more information.”
She looked directly at him now.Resting her elbows on her desk, she clasped her fingers together and eased her chin onto them.“And I’ll ask my question again, why?”
There was only so much information Steele wanted to divulge to Isla, even though she was the information and technology guru of their group.If there was anything to be found, she could get it even if she had to use her power of mimicry to make it happen.Luckily for Steele, the only way she’d get all the information he had was to transform herself into him, and even that wouldn’t give her access to his mind, only the body that others could see.
“The item that was stolen from his house was an Egyptian dagger.I looked through a few books that were online and found out it was stolen from King Tutankhamun’s tomb.I want to know how Robles got his hands on it and who might be willing to steal something so expensive from him.”
“Ohhhhh,” she said with a nod.“Got it.I’ll start a search.And while I’m at it I’ll also trace Robles’s political dealings.Maybe he’s in debt to someone and needs the money his insurance company will likely pay since the dagger’s been stolen, to pay off that debt.”
Or maybe he’d secured the dagger for another purpose, a murderous one.
Steele wisely kept that thought to himself and logged off from the call with Isla.
By now it was barely eight o’clock in the morning.He got up from the chair, went into the bedroom to put on socks and shoes and then made his way down to the hotel gym.
His beast was itching to be free and if he was back at the Office, it would have been as simple as heading out the back doors to the secluded space designed for the Drakon to roam.In the city there was no such place, but pushing himself to the limits—which for a two-hundred-and-ninety-year-old dragon, was pretty far—would have to do the trick.The physical exertion would help shave the edge off the sexual hunger already building inside him again.What had he expected?It’d been at least ninety years since Steele had been with a woman.Celibacy was his choice.Connections of any kind for him had been off limits.Last night was a temporary reprieve, but it wouldn’t happen again.It couldn’t.
He walked through the gym, all the way back to the weights and added all the weights stacked to the bar before lifting it over his head, one, two...sixty-seven times.And still, he wanted her again.
Ravyn woke alone.
