“It’s over a hundred and fifteen years old, and I had it made for me.”
Her mouth dropped open and he laughed. Nodding behind her, he watched the lights still coming up. “Go ahead, look.”
Turning, Amy looked at the vault behind her. She gasped. “This is small?”
She was completely astonished. This was not a small amount. There were cases of gold and jewels, bookcases, gorgeous pieces of furniture. She walked toward the treasures and peered at them. There were small earrings of perfect diamonds and huge rings with glittering citrine. Bars of gold with stamps on them. Ingots of silver. Silks. Linens.
“How is this not impressive?”
“Niko had me help reorganize his vault after his father died. I only have about a quarter of what he does.” He walked around the desk to follow her. “I keep growing it, bit by bit, but it’s hard. Wealth breeds wealth, and I’m not a rich person. I worked very hard when I got to London to build what fortune I had. I was a very good speculator at the time. Winnie and I never wanted for anything. My hoard grew the most then.”
Her eyes were drawn to a pale blue topaz pendant. It wasn’t the biggest thing in there, by any stretch of the imagination. Something about it, though, called to her. She glanced at Max, who nodded, and she opened the case.
“This is beautiful.”
Max grinned. “Of all the gems and jewels in here, you pick one of the smallest, most understated pieces.”
“I’m not fancy, Max, if you haven’t noticed. I like simple.”
“I know you do.” He reached into the case and pulled the necklace out of it. “I bought this in India, at the end of the British Empire. An Indian prince was trying to turn his treasure room into cash and gold alone. I bought a lot of his jewels. Some were just jewels, but some had histories. This was his grandmother’s and her grandmother’s. She was gifted it as a token of true love from her eventual husband. He had been a miner for the province, and this was given to him by one of the foremen whose life he saved. He had it set and pledged his life to the foreman’s daughter.”
He unclasped the claw at the back and draped it around her neck, refastening it. “And now it’s yours.”
She gasped. “Max! This is part of your hoard!”
“You’re the only treasure I need.”
Her knees wobbled. How had she fallen for this guy so hard? She really loved him. It wasn’t hard to believe that she was his mate. The adoration in his eyes was a little overwhelming now and then, but she suspected it was the same for him.
She cleared her throat and looked around. “I…have a little surprise and confession. When my father died, he left me a key. The letter that came with it shocked me, but I followed the directions he gave. The Hogan family has been part of the Sectorum for years, and the Sectorum started as part of the Catholic Church. The key was to a vault outside of Paris, on land my family was given by the church six hundred years ago. The reason I said I didn’t care about the size of your hoard is because of what was in that vault when I got there a year later.”
Turning to him, she shrugged. “Once we are mated, Max, I want to move the contents of that vault here, to join your hoard.”
“Our hoard,” he corrected. “Once we are mated, you’ll feel the pull to protect this too.”
She sniffed. “Max. This isn’t a little bit. This is wealth from Rome. This is stuff that my family has been accruing since fourteen hundred. I’m going to need help moving it. No one knows about it. Only my mom, my sister, and me after Dad died. The amount of money in that vault…” She touched the necklace. “We live humbly. We don’t have to. To me, wealth is knowledge, which is why I still work with the Sectorum.”
He shook his head, clearly confused. “I don’t…”
“I don’t need your hoard, Max. I have my own. When your dragon sees what we have combined, he will be a very, very happy dragon.”
She could see the comprehension slide over his face. “Then, you’ll be happy staying in the house in Old Town? I don’t have to build you a second home with gold facades and tapestries?”
“Why would I ever ask you to do that? You see where Mom and I live, on purpose. We could have moved out of Blowing Rock years ago. Dad could have moved us. But we like it there. Money does weird things to people. I am delighted you showed me your hoard. I know it’s part and parcel of being a dragon’s mate. But I’m impressed by you.”
Max stared at her, and she was momentarily confused and worried that he might not have understood what she was getting at, still. But in the next moment, he grabbed her around the waist, hoisted her over his shoulder, and carried her over to the couch. While he placed her down delicately, his kisses were bruising and his hand plucked the button of her pants open. Taking his cue, she did the same to his button and zipper and shoved them down his ass.
Her hand wrapped around his cock, stroking him firmly. Meanwhile, he slipped her pants far enough down that he could pull one leg out and just let her pants dangle on one leg.
“What the hell did I do to deserve you?” Max panted. He didn’t give her a chance to answer—instead, he slanted his mouth across hers and possessed her again.
His finger played at her entrance, and finally slipped two inside, pumping in the same rhythm her hand stroked over him.
“Why always the fingers, Max?” She gasped. “I just want you to fuck me.”
“I know I’m not small,” he said. “It’s more comfortable for you if I play a little. Make you wet and willing.”
She smirked as her hand found the heavy sac below his erection. “I’m going to let you in on a secret, Maximillian.” She took a moment to swipe her tongue over his lips. “I don’t think there’s a moment when I’m not wet and willing for you.”
“Shit…” he mumbled.
Amy led his cock over to her waiting entrance and placed him, holding him there so he got the hint that she was ready. He grinned and pressed in.
They both let out a groan of delight as her wet heat clenched his hard shaft with determination. After just a few slow strokes Max switched to hard, heavy ones that made Amy tip her head back and yelp in pleasure.
“Oh, God, yes. Yes. Please…” She gulped in air as hard as she could.
Before they went any further, Max pulled out and she let out a moue of disappointment. He didn’t let her linger long—he pulled her to her feet, turned her to face the couch, and bent her forward.
His dick slid back in and Amy braced one hand on the seat and one on the back of the couch. He started to slam home inside her over and over, relentlessly.
“I adore fucking you like this, mój cenny. I do. I loved watching that thunderstorm while I pumped into you. And now I can see all my treasure from here. Gold, jewels, and the most delightfully, secretly filthy woman I have ever met.”
“Shit,” she breathed. “Keep talking, Max. Please. Be filthy.” She reached down to play with her clit, but his hand beat her there by mere seconds.
“You like when I fuck you, don’t you?” His hand had a wicked grip on her hip, while the other brutally tweaked and teased her clit. “You love the feel of my dick deep inside your cunt. There’s nothing you like more than when I tie you up and fuck you senseless. What if we added something to that, mój cenny? Would you like to be spanked?”
His hand hit squarely on her ass, and she yelped, nodding. “Yes!”
Another hit just as he filled her fully with his erection. And another immediately after that.
“I’m coming!” she yelled.
Another hit, just as his finger pressed against her clit once more. Amy exploded, screaming words she wasn’t sure even made sense.
And her climax—as was the usual—set off Max’s. He shot himself deep inside her channel, painting her with the thick white ropes of his cum.
She felt her legs starting to shake and shiver, and was pretty sure that Max’s weren’t going to be far behind hers.
“So…” he breathed and pulled her down on his chest, letting her rest th
ere. “What else do we need to know about these power outages that we haven’t already charted? Distance, time, frequency, who is more affected by them. There’s just all kinds of things going on here.”
Amy took a moment to let herself catch her breath. Sex with Max was always overwhelming, and she really needed a recovery period. “I don’t know. There’s all kinds of things that we could chart, like strength over time, and—”
Her phone pinged in her pocket. Before Amy could even climb off Max to find her pants and answer it, he shrieked and threw his head back, bucking up and convulsing almost as though his spine was being pulled in on itself. The shriek was deafening, and Amy leapt off him, grabbing his hands to try and keep him steady. After thrashing for another few seconds, he collapsed, out cold.
“Max? Max!” Amy tried shaking him, but he was dead weight. She grabbed the blanket and threw it over him, and grabbed her own pants, yanking them on. She ran out of the open vault, across the cavern to the main entrance. As soon as she was up the stairs, she found Niko and Aaron slumped over just a few feet apart.
She’d been planning to ask Niko for help.
Pulling out the phone, she saw Lola’s text on the face, and she open the screen.
DeLola: Rigel just said there’s another coming.
Amy balked and texted back.
AimFire: Did it just hit about two minutes ago?
DeLola: Yes. Just about.
“Holy shit,” she said aloud to no one.
The source had to be in the vault.
“Well, you all passed out when the vault was open. What else am I supposed to think?”
Niko pulled the cold pack off his head and pressed the tender spot where he’d hit his forehead. “How can that be? There aren’t a lot of people who know about that vault. Us, the leprechauns, and now the vampires. But that’s it.”
Aaron waved a hand and brushed them all off. “Better question. What the hell is down there that would do this? Why did it knock us out this time and not other times?”
Amy pointed to the now closed steel door. “The vault was open this time. Every other time, it was shut. No one has been down there since the power outages started?” Everyone shook their heads. “Then this is the first time it’s had a clear path to the door. Look, even Lola said that Rigel was tossed to the floor like a rag doll, and all the other times he just went out.”
“But…” Max took a deep breath. “Who has it? No one has been down here since before it started. I haven’t put anything in my vault since…what? Last year? I rarely come down.” He ran a hand over the bracelet with the red ruby in it. “I don’t need to.”
“That’s fine, but someone had something in one of their vaults that’s causing this. We have to look.” Amy folded her arms.
Niko laughed. “That’s not going to happen. I can’t even imagine letting anyone but Betsy in there. I told her, and I’m sure Max will tell you, we will eat foreign trespassers. Even familiar people are in danger of being eaten alive. We can’t go into each other’s hoards.”
Amy picked at her fingers. “Do you all keep a mental tab of what you have and what you’ve pulled out?”
“Of course.” Max nodded. “It’s how we did it before computers.”
“What about you leprechauns? You have a territoriality issue?” Amy raised an eyebrow at Aaron.
“Yes, but not like these lugs. We can permit certain trusted individuals into the vault.” He sighed. “Amy, that wouldn’t be you. I’m sorry, but there are too many who still just don’t want to trust you. They just remember Sectorum and the murder they brought.”
She waved it off. “There are other people. Like Keni and Sia or even Rijn. We can get them down here tomorrow. And I’ll check out the vaults.”
“Uh, Amy…” Max started.
“I’m not actually going to go into anyone’s vault, Maximillian. I have an idea and I think it will work better than just looking at lists. Let’s get everyone to Niko’s house tonight. The dragons, a few of the leprechauns, Keni, and Sia. Rigel and Lola if they want. I think we’re damn close to figuring this out.”
Raissa stared at her. As did Henry and Niko. Max laughed as she rolled her eyes.
“Look, guys, unless you’re doing really filthy things I don’t need to know about, all I’m doing is going to be checking your memories for the past few weeks and you’ll be there to point out if there’s anything you don’t want me to see. This is directed lucid dreaming. Just let me in and show me around.”
“I don’t know if I’m comfortable with this,” Henry said. “You know I’m pretty old and I’ve been through some shit.”
Amy huffed and stared at him. A moment later, she rolled her eyes. “Look. I was in the mind of a man who raped, murdered, cooked, and ate his two year old child. Any of those fit any of you?”
Niko grimaced. “That’s disgusting.”
“You didn’t have to wander around his mind as he remembered thinking if he wanted to get the ketchup out of the fridge.”
“Oh, ew, no, gross. Stop.” Raissa held up her hand. “That’s beyond reason. I’m just worried that my dragon is going to freak out when it realizes you’re there for the hoard.”
“I’m not there for the hoard. I’m there for information surrounding the hoard. Things that have happened recently. For all we know, you could have put a talisman in there and didn’t realize what it was. You could have a djinn in your vault and that’s what this is. I’m going into Max’s head too. So it’s not like I’m singling anyone out. I mean, I know what he has in that vault. I’ve been there already.”
“Yes, you were,” Max grinned with a wink.
“Down, lizard boy.”
“Hey!”
Amy kissed his forehead. “You’re just overeager.”
Collin stuck a finger out. “Don’t say it, Dad. Don’t say it. I hear your quips all the time at home. Leave them there where I can close the door at the least.”
Max laughed. “Man, you need to loosen up.”
“I’m fine, don’t worry. Amy, do you need to go into my head?”
She shook her head in the negative. “Not at all. You don’t have a hoard down there, and we only need to find out what’s already in the vaults.”
The four dragons affected by the dreamwalking traded looks, and Max shrugged. “Look, she’s been in my head before. We’re sharing a bed. I’m more than happy to let her wander around. It doesn’t hurt, and if you don’t want her going somewhere, you just ask her not to go there. She’s not after the hoard. She’s not after the amounts or what you have. She’s independently wealthy. You have to believe that she’s only there for information regarding what’s been put in the hoard lately. Six months, Amy?”
“Something like that. Anytime you’ve been down there. Look, I’ll do Max tonight and he can report back what I’m actually looking for. Then I can do Niko, then Raissa, and Henry, since he seems the most reluctant to have me in there.”
Max watched them and saw the three of them nod their agreement. “Fine,” Henry said. “In that order. And you’re all going to tell me what it was like.”
“Fine.” Raissa rolled her eyes.
“What about the leprechauns?” Keni asked.
“They have to pick an emissary. Like you, Keni. Or Sia, Poppy. Someone like that,” Amy said. She held up a finger. “This is important. The vault cannot go beyond this small ring of people.”
Max nodded. “I’m sure there are people who suspect that it exists, but we can’t let them know for sure. Let it be rumor among those who don’t have a magical compulsion to hoard gold. Just let it stay that way.”
“One hundred percent understood,” Rigel said. “Just as you keep our compound off the tourist maps. It’s only a rumor in the woods.”
Max nodded. “All right then. Amy will start with me tonight and then I’ll get each of you set up for the dreamwalk.”
“Meanwhile, I think we need to relocate the vampires away from Pine Valley. Very far away,” Lola said. �
�I don’t want to find out when these power outages are going to start killing them. When they are going to destroy Rigel.”
“I can’t disagree with this,” Niko said, smiling at his grandmother. “I don’t know how far we have to go to get them safe, but if we don’t, we are going to lose a vital part of our community.”
Everyone at the table mumbled their agreement. Max took a sip of the drink in front of him. “Where? When?”
Rigel smiled. “We have a secondary compound outside of Banff, Alberta, Canada. As for how we get there? As soon as we can time this correctly, we’ll get ourselves there.”
“Oh, that’s right. The discorporation thing,” Keni said. “Then as soon as the leprechauns pick their representative, we’ll kick that out.”
“I’ll get to work tonight on the dreamwalk,” Amy said. “Max, you’re up first.”
Max pressed into her once and again. Amy gasped as she fell over the precipice of her climax, screaming his name. He followed her and spilled inside, bathing her walls with himself.
He quickly maneuvered them into a comfortable snuggle in the bed and smiled at her. “Now, I’m ready.”
Amy laughed. “You and your penis. Always ready to go.”
“Give me five and I will be.”
“No, no. Not tonight. We have to do this dreamwalk.”
“Can we have sex in the dream?”
“I’m going to start calling you a horny lizard.”
Max grinned then yawned. “Mmm. Nap time, I think. I’ll see you on the other side, mój cenny.”
His eyes opened again, not a second later. Still in bed and naked, he saw Amy standing there in a nightgown. She smiled. “Took you long enough.”
“What? I just fell asleep.”
“Half an hour ago.” Waving her hand, a pair of boxers appeared on him. “Let’s avoid that distraction, shall we?”
“No fun.”
“Hush. We’re here for a reason. We can screw each other’s brains out in the real world.”
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