No matter how often we all went out together; and it wasn't that often, someone was always sleeping with someone else. Jealousies infested the camp and drove people nuts until someone blew up at somebody else and there was a problem. Mostly, I was just glad that I didn't have to deal with it directly. That was his job.
Yawning, I gave in with the television and shut it off. Lunch was a distant dream, something I'd eaten on my way home after work, but I didn't need a lot of fuel to run off of. Especially when it was long past time to go to bed.
My phone awoke me seconds later and I growled at it, flinching at the sun streaming into the bedroom at-oh, was it that late already? I sighed at the clock and answered the phone. "Yeah, I see what time it is. I'm sorry. Last night was rough. I'll be there in twenty."
"Can you make it fifteen? That guy from before is here asking about you and me," Nicole said.
She sounded like she'd been put through the ringer already. It was only 8:30. "There've been a lot of guys recently."
"Eskal Vervain, that guy. He doesn't have his buddy here with him today, just him. And Doctor Sonnet has been in some meeting with him for hours. I think we're gonna get sued."
Fuck, I couldn't afford that going down and neither could she. I hung up and threw myself through a shower. I just couldn't face work smelling like yesterday, not if big, tall, and billionaire was going to be there. If he strutted his stuff, I'd feel like I belonged in a dumpster.
And to be honest, I probably did where he was concerned. But who cared about what he thought of me? I yanked on a t-shirt, a pair of jeans, and some sneakers and flew out the door as quickly as I could.
Thankfully, there were no cops waiting for me at the dig site. It was a small relief, but every little bit counted. Willem awaited me at the check-in tent, looked me over, and shook his head. "You couldn't even comb your hair?"
"What're you doing making best buddies with that rich asshole?" I asked, signing in as quickly as I could. The pen splattered me with ink and I sighed, doing my best to wipe it off on my pants.
His face turned into a storm cloud. "His money is sitting in your bank and you're going to talk to me like that? He and his insurance auditor want to speak with you and Nicole immediately. And we'll be talking about your insubordination when you're finished."
"Insubor-" I sputtered. "Are you serious? I have a right to know why you're speaking directly with him and I can't believe that you'd-... God, man. Where am I going?"
"Inside the portable office. Hurry. He's been sipping coffee waiting on you for half an hour."
The portable office was actually a single-wide trailer that more-or-less kept our documentation dry. It was where we charged the power tools, too, when we needed them. Though I had to admit, we were getting through the soil pretty good at the moment. Yes, we hit hard stuff more frequently than I enjoyed, but the dirt around the finds yesterday had been easy enough to remove.
The trailer had been one of the first shocks I'd had when I'd joined the junior team almost a decade ago. No one told you that this kind of work was all outdoors in the blistering heat until you were already on a site and signed up for your major. But I'd come to cope with the heat as much as anyone could.
I still couldn't really get used to the whole trailer thing. The entire interior was crammed full of stuff we needed, blinking lights on charging tools simply everywhere. I liked things to be organized and the inside of that trailer was not.
He waited for me at the end of that chaos, a Starbucks cup raised to his lips, his face unreadable. A man with another trillion-dollar suit sat next to him, out of place with his bright blue mohawk and even brighter orange eyes. I stared at him for a full second, incredibly rude and possibly apologetic, before I walked through the disorder around me and sat down in front of them.
"Sorry, sorry," Nicole said, running through the rest of the mess a breath after me and slamming down next to me. She smacked a portfolio in front of herself. “Everything’s a mess out there today. Tomorrow's supposed to bring a deluge of rain and we've been laying coverings over everything all morning. What can we help you gentlemen with?"
I wasn't surprised that Nicole didn't blink at the new guy's hair. She'd been in some kind of scream band when she was in high school. It was why I didn't do karaoke with her.
"My insurance adjuster has a few questions for you the two of you," Eskal said. His voice was like crushed velvet sheets in the dead of winter. I eyed him and turned my head away, looking instead at the portfolio.
Nicole nodded. "Sure. We have a few minutes, don't we?"
I shrugged. Eskal motioned to his insurance adjuster. "In that case, Doctor, if you would be so kind as to follow Iyadre into the office over there so he can get your statement?"
I opened my mouth to object but Nicole and Iyadre, the mohawked insurance agent, were already heading into the tiny office that served Doctor Sonnet. The last thing I wanted was to leave my friend alone with these weirdos, but I didn't own her and it damned sure wasn't my choice where she went.
"While I work with you," Eskal said. "Tell me about the discovery. What else have you found?"
My gaze shifted back to him. My brows came together in a glare. "That's easy enough for you to find out by contacting the research office as is outlined in paragraph 117 of our contract and-"
"Olivia, I don't have time for your senseless contracts. And why play games with each other? We know what we are."
"Uh?"
He shook his head. "You must know something of the arts."
"I took an art history class when I was in college," I said.
Eskal frowned at me. The moments ticked by on the old analog wall clock as I sat there, trying to figure him out. Maybe he was some kind of supernatural collector. There seemed to be a lot of those wandering around, according to several of my mom's old friends. They were stealing mermaids and people who practiced magic; that kind of stuff.
But those people had been around since the beginning of time. That was nothing new and they rarely turned up in a polite suit and tie number, willing to sit down and talk about whatever it is that Mr. Vervain was here to bother me about.
While I thought, he finished his coffee. The cup was left on the table between us, a barrier that gave me something to look at instead of him. "The arts. The occult. Esoteric studies."
"I don't know anything about witchcraft," I said, immediately. I probably said it a little too quickly.
His eyes sparkled. "I didn't say witchcraft."
And when I say they sparkled; I mean it. Whatever was sitting before me wasn't a normal human. After you run around in witchy circles for enough time, you get a sense of other magical stuff. Someone's having a bad day? You feel it. If you run into a house where something terrible happened? Yeah, you get a sense of that, too.
What I felt in front of me was like looking into an active volcano. I didn't know what that was and I wasn't sure I wanted to. I pushed my chair back and stood, only for him to follow me. Backing against the wall was the worst idea I'd had all day, other than coming to work, but it's what we do when we're scared. My shoulders hit the formaldehyde-layered plastic and his hands slapped to either side of them.
Eskal loomed over me, too big and too strong to ignore. I shrank inside his arms, trying not to go to pieces.
"If you scream, I will be forced to move indelicately," he said. "Should I be required to do such a thing, I may harm you."
"But if you kill me, everyone will know it was you or your buddy. Iceydycey or whatever his name is," I said, my voice definitely not shaking.
Amusement touched his expression. "Iceydycey."
"You heard me."
"Indeed. Are you a hedge witch? An herbalist? A mage?"
I swallowed and shook my head at each one. "I'm a scientist, a paleontologist. I work with stuff that's real, not the junk in fairy tales."
"Strange you would say that when most of your work requires you to guess how bones fit."
I whipped my head up and g
lared at him. "It's science. We work off of facts and discovery. We're always learning but we have methods, tried and true methods, that guide our estimations and our practice. What you're talking about is nonsense. I'm not a witch!"
The last word came out louder than I'd meant. It also carried with it a hurricane-force gale that sent everything in the office swirling around Eskal and I. As the papers landed like snowflakes, I watched a smile curl his features and shivered.
I was in so much trouble.
"Little witch, little mage," Eskal said. "I have a proposition for you."
His chest nearly touched mine and I held my breath, pressing back into the wall for all I was worth. It was his voice, right up against my ear, that made my knees tremble. Out of fear, terror, that stuff. I was in so much trouble. This man was going to eat me up and throw me away, maybe even sell me off somewhere. I hadn't used magic in so many years and I sure hadn't meant to use it right then.
"I don't want any deal with you, whatever you are," I said, putting as much power into my words as I could.
That drew a laugh from him. It was made of spikes that tore through me like so much tissue paper. "I could make you rich beyond your wildest imagination. Your parents? Forever cared for. You? Never another day digging in the dirt. You are part of our world, not this. One favor, witch. You need only gift me a single favor of my choosing and you need never work again."
"My parents are dead," I snapped. "And I don't want you to owe me anything."
But I had to admit, the idea of being rich was tempting. And if my guess was right, the man in front of me wasn't a man at all. Not if those opals were eggs.
Not if they were important to him.
"My condolences," he said. "I, too, suffer from the effects of a loss of family."
"Which is why you want the eggs," I growled.
His brows raised. "You are experienced to recognize them. Most practitioners never come across such treasures. But you know them. You knew them on sight. What a confusing person you are, Olivia. Why fight me for my own kin if you knew?"
There was a sincerely curious tone in his voice. I watched him, trying to figure out what his game was. If I lied, would he know? Dragons were dragons, as far as I knew, but if dragons were real perhaps, they could become people, too? But then, where did the scales and the wings go when they were pretending to be normal humans?
God, what was I thinking? I'd left that ridiculous life behind years ago. We had proof that dragons didn't exist; no more than werewolves or unicorns. I shook my head and put my hand on his chest. "Get out of my way before I call the cops. You don't have any right to detain me and I'm not keeping you from anything. They're just opals and you're some kind of crazy."
"If I'm so crazed, what happened to the paperwork in this room?" he asked. "No, little witch. I think we'll be seeing more of each other. Alas, your overseer is coming to bother us. Shall I remove him from this trailer before he gets here?"
"You lay a hand on him and I'll see you in prison," I said, caught somewhere between fear and anger. It wasn't like I liked my boss, but I wasn't about to see this supernatural weirdo hurt him, either.
I needed to report this guy to the cops, to the Fontaines, to anyone who would listen. Hell, the Fontaines may have been the only ones who had the power to slow him down. They seemed like weirdos, too, but the more approachable kind. Besides, how weird could they be? They ran a dog food factory, for crying out loud.
The door opened and the room seemed to flash around me. I was back in the chair across from Eskal, sitting quietly. The paperwork had replaced itself, everything as it was when I'd entered the trailer. Nicole came out of the office laughing, shaking her head and saying something that I didn't fully catch.
I eyed Eskal, who sat sipping a coffee cup that was once again full. He placed his sunglasses on his nose, the same pair he'd had the day before.
"I apologize, gentlemen, but I really do have to have these girls head back to work," said Sonnet.
Eskal waved a hand dismissively. "They gave us nothing to work with, in any case. You would be exceptionally proud of them. Though this one? Olivia, isn't it?"
When he said my name, it was like the air left the room but just for me. That was a type of power that I would never have. Only beings with more magic than they knew what to do with could pull something like that out of nowhere. I glared at him, but he ignored me.
"Yeah, Olivia. She's been with us for a while now. You held off on him, huh?" Nicole asked.
I snorted, the only thing I could do after such a magical sucker-punch. Eskal sighed. "Unfortunately. I do thank you ladies for your time. Iyadre, if you would?"
Eskal rose and the pair of men moved to leave the office as one. My boss watched them go but for a moment, then rounded on us with a million questions that I didn't listen to. Instead, I watched as Eskal and Iyadre walked toward that ridiculous sports car for the second time in two days.
Just before he got there, Eskal turned to look at the windows of the office. He slid the sunglasses down his nose and winked a wide, slit pupil amber eye at me. Then he turned, walked to the driver's side door, opened it, and slid in.
Oh.
Oh, God.
Dragons.
Chapter 5
Eskal
The world slid past the car as Iyadre drove. I watched him for a moment, remembering.
Dragon nests are communal property. With so few omegas, we require the guardianship of multiple flights to guard the eggs. I called the omega who had hatched me my mother, but who knew if we shared genetic relations?
She had raised me, as she had raised Iyadre, Nariti, and Vadriq. Hatchmates often fell in love, confided in one another, and took to each other as family. It had been no different with the four of us.
There was little enough chance that I would ever find an omega of my own. Instead, I took pleasure in the presence of my hatchmates and they me.
"Do you think the girl will help us?" he asked.
I snorted and gave him no answer. I was sour enough over the potential loss of the eggs; I didn't need to explain it to him, too. We pulled up in front of my home. Another vehicle was already present, Nariti's battered old Nissan truck. Beyond it, a motorcycle lay tipped precariously against the front porch.
Vadriq.
The too-tight slacks entrapped me further at the thought of him. Why were they too tight? I ignored the potential reason, but a blonde with a scowl on her face danced in the back of my mind. It was the attraction to power, I told myself. Nothing more than that.
Iyadre parked but I was already out of the car and headed inside, intent on the scent of motor oil and fury.
My lover was solid in human shape, slabs of muscle laying over a body that was too lean. The sharpness of his cheekbones, the dark circles under his eyes, they waited for me in the dining room.
Vadriq was still in his leathers, though I thought them more amusement than anything else. What reason need a dragon of additional scales, much less in cow hide? But it was human law and he made an attempt to fit in with the ridiculousness of it all. I prowled toward him, pleased that he was in my lair, and yanked the jacket from his shoulders.
In turn, Vadriq leaned into me, lifted his chin, and kissed me. I growled and pulled my head away from him. He had the gall to smile up at me. "Got ya."
"I kiss first, not you," I reminded him. "You rank beneath me. You should act like it."
He rolled his eyes and turned his back on me, pulling out of the jacket and leaving it on a dining room chair. "Did you get the eggs or not?"
"Not, though we made a good effort," Iyadre answered. Was everyone intent on undermining me?
Vadriq shrugged. "You can only do so much. Nariti's barbequing. I'm heading out to help him. Either of you two hungry yet?"
The idea of food sent a bolt through me. I couldn't remember when I'd last had a meal; the coffee certainly hadn't been enough for me. Without a moment's pause, I brushed past Vadriq and headed back to the pit, wondering
why I hadn't smelled cooking meat on the way in.
Nariti lay in dragon form, blue as the ocean, upon the ground. He was curled around the cooking pit, an entire lamb roasting on a spit. Every so often, he blew a spout of aquamarine flames upon the fire that lay burning already, stoking it without having to move.
I looked around at the walls that surrounded my yard. It was a long thing, but still incredibly urban. No one lived to my left, yet there was still the possibility of a squatter or someone with a drone. I glared at him. "Have you lost your mind?"
On Wings: A Reverse Harem Dragon Shifter Romance (Her Secret Menagerie Book 2) Page 4