by A. C. Arthur
“I don’t believe... I mean, I didn’t believe,” she was saying as he stood. “I’ve heard people talk about things they’ve seen or something that may have happened to a friend or family member of theirs. But I dismissed it all as, I don’t know, really bad gossip, or worse, some sort of reality TV gimmick. I just never thought it was true.”
“It’s true,” he said. “And I’ll answer all of your new questions on the ride or after I meet with the others. But right now, we’ve got a lead on where Temptra may have taken your friend.”
The light of curiosity that had been just brimming in her eyes disappeared and her shoulders squared. “Where is she?”
“I’ll find out as soon as I get to the meeting location. And, ah, get some clothes on, because in case you haven’t noticed...” he said, and looked down at his naked body.
“Oh, I noticed,” she replied. “Why do you think I hightailed it over here the moment you were back?”
His ego inflated on command, just as his dick gave a jerk of awareness that she was close and staring at him at this moment. She wasn’t repulsed by him, nor was she still angry at him for the mind cleaning, even though he could admit she had every right to be. He still wasn’t sure why it hadn’t worked, but if it meant he got to experience her looking at him with such appreciation again, he didn’t really care.
“Come on, I’ve got clothes in the truck.” He took her hand and they walked through the area in the forest where he spent a lot of his personal time.
Theo had purchased the mountain and all the forested land surrounding it to ensure that they’d have privacy and space to move around in their true form. But Steele had never felt as if that was really his place to be free. This spot was located on land owned by the government but left alone by some type of historical proclamation so it had become the perfect place for him to be alone and to be free whenever he needed to.
“You keep clothes in your truck like some type of secret agent,” Ravyn was saying as they came closer to the edge of the trees.
“Like a man who doesn’t like to walk around with his ass out after he’s shifted.”
“Do you shift often? I mean, I’ve never heard stories of dragons. Just some ramblings about people that could take on the features of wolves or big cats and people who could see the future or hear things that others couldn’t. Cree can do that,” she said quietly.
“He can do what?”
“He can hear and sense things. It started when he was young but his father didn’t like him talking about it so he stopped. I used to listen to his stories but I thought they were just stories.” She sighed heavily. “I was so wrong about everything.”
They were at the back of the SUV when Steele took her by the shoulders. “Don’t beat yourself up about this. You had no reason to believe otherwise.”
“When your best friend tells you he can do something, you should probably believe him.”
“Or you can listen to him when he talks about the things that he can do because others didn’t do that for him in the past.”
She smiled up at him and Steele took a step closer to her, his body reacting a bit more forcefully to his naked state and her proximity.
“Did you say somebody called you? How? I didn’t hear a phone? And if you’re expected somewhere you should definitely get dressed and, ah, soon.” Her gaze dropped down between them to his erection and when she looked back up at him again the haze of lust that clouded her eyes only made him harder.
He opened the back of the truck and reached inside to pull out a duffel bag. Unzipping it he grabbed gray sweatpants and a T-shirt, tennis shoes and socks.
“We have a signal that only the Drakon can hear,” he told her as he pulled the sweatpants and T-shirt on.
He leaned against the truck to pull on the socks.
“Oh, like a Bat Signal,” she said and when he glanced over at her she grinned. “You’ll go commando, but you gotta have socks, huh.”
Steele stood, then he turned so that he was now in front of her and grabbed her face between his hands, lowering his mouth until it met hers. For a second she held her head perfectly still as if she was contemplating whether or not she was going to accept his touch or his kiss. She had every right not to. He’d done the one thing she didn’t want any man doing to her and he was sorrier than she would ever know about that. So he waited for her to make the next move.
“I don’t know what’s happening between us,” she said and continued to stare up at him. “I should hate you for betraying me, but I don’t. And I don’t know what that means.”
His beast was ready to be free again. It was ready to claim its mate. Steele, on the other hand, was right where Ravyn was with the uncertainty. Even though he’d told her and showed her what he really was, the same obstacles still existed for them. Cree was in danger and here she was ready to do whatever to save him. They were both humans and neither of them deserved to be up against a Dhampir and a cursed dagger. So no matter how much he could now admit his beast was probably right to want her, he couldn’t bring himself to ask her to stay in this world with him.
“I did betray you. I wish I could take it back, but I can’t.”
“I can’t undo anything that’s been done either,” she said.
“We can move forward and save the people we both lov...we both care a lot about,” he said and cleared his throat.
What he’d been about to say was crazy and it couldn’t be true. She’d only been an active part of his life for two weeks, and the other time he’d been following her she hadn’t known he existed. Besides that, love didn’t have to be part of the Drakon Selection. A beast could want its mate with or without its mate returning those feelings. It couldn’t touch its mate until at least the physical draw was reciprocated, but emotions were something totally different. The process was barbaric, as Opal had often stated, and one that Steele had never given much thought to. Until now. To enforce that thought, his beast pressed into Steele, encouraging him to move his head closer to hers. Ravyn tilted her chin up to him. He leaned in a little closer, until his lips just brushed against hers. She made the next move by puckering her lips for another kiss. This one started with a flash of light and then melted into what felt like a warm reunion as their tongues danced and dueled once again. She immediately pressed her body against his, her hands going to his shoulders as she tilted her head to deepen the kiss.
When he reluctantly broke the kiss and rested his forehead against hers so they could catch their breaths, he chuckled. “It’s not a Bat Signal, whatever that is,” he said, reminding her of the conversation they’d been having before the one about emotions that just couldn’t be between them. “And you’re gonna appreciate the commando choice at some point.”
She grinned, slipping a hand down until it rested over the tent in the sweatpants created by his overwhelming arousal. Gripping his length through the material was just as enticing as if she’d stuck her hand down his pants and palmed him skin-to-skin, so he dutifully sucked in a breath, in lieu of begging her to keep going until he came.
“I think we’re both appreciating it right now.”
They definitely were, until a flashing blue light from the dashboard of the truck illuminated the interior and shined brightly on them as they stood in the night air.
“Another signal?” she asked.
He nodded. “The private signal is to be heard while in Drakon form. Secondary calls will go through our communicators.” The one he’d been wearing was programmed to disintegrate the moment composition of his human arm changed. He bent forward and put on his shoes, then returned to the back to fish out the backup communicator he kept there. A second backup could be found in the glove compartment.
“The watch I saw you talking to at the senator’s house,” she said and reached up to close the back hatch while he fastened the communicator onto his wrist.
“Yeah,” he
replied but she was already walking around to the passenger side of the truck.
Steele moved to the driver’s side, climbing in just as the phone inside began ringing. He closed the door and started the engine before answering the call.
“Hey, Isla, I’m on my way.”
“Good, because we’ve got a situation that I don’t think any of us were prepared for,” Isla said through the secured line.
“Great,” he replied, “another one.”
Ravyn didn’t ask as many questions as he’d thought she would on the drive back and he took that time to think about what was going to happen next. He wasn’t taking her back to the Office, so Theo could be glad about that. But they were heading back into downtown Burgess, to the Towers building where he knew Magnum and Reese had taken Enes. He’d only instructed them to take the scumbag Vertis with them when he’d left Robles’s house with Ravyn, but he didn’t know what else the team may have done or found out in that time. His priority had been Ravyn and now that he was certain she was alright, he could shift gears and think of a way to get her friend back safely and get rid of Temptra.
“This is the building where the Legion really is,” she said when they turned the corner and were in front of the Towers.
“Yeah, we occupy a few floors in the building and then rent out the others. I’m going to go around back and then into the parking garage. We’ll take an elevator up to the offices and then I’ll probably have to leave you.”
“No.” Her reply came so fast he turned to look at her.
Reaching a hand over, he touched hers where it rested on her thigh. “You’ll be safe here. We’ve updated all our security in the last few months so getting in uninvited is damn near impossible. And I’ll ask Isla if you can go to her rooms so you’ll be more comfortable. I think there’re some other rooms there just for staff who may work late and don’t want to get on the road to travel if they’re too tired.”
“No.” She was shaking her head this time. “I’m not afraid to be alone. I just don’t want to be left out. If you’re going to be discussing Cree and how we’re going to get him back then I want to be there.”
Steele took a deep breath and turned into the garage. He circled around three levels until he reached the top and found his reserved spot near the back wall of the building. When he switched off the engine, he lifted her hand to his lips, kissing the back of her fingers.
“I’m going to do everything in my power to keep you safe, Ravyn. I need you to trust and believe that.”
The interior of the truck was dark, but he could see her face clearly. Her high cheekbones lifted as she smiled and leaned in to kiss him lightly on the lips.
“I trust you, Steele. It’s the rest of your crew I’m not so sure about.”
“They’re a good crew.”
“They just don’t like me, I get it. I’m not everybody’s cup of tea,” she said in a tone that he didn’t like.
He was certain it was supposed to be a confident, nonchalant tone, but instead he’d heard the undertones of sadness.
“Let’s go,” he said and kissed her one more time before climbing out of the truck.
They rode the elevator to the sixty-first floor where Theo’s office and the conference rooms were located. He walked down the familiar hallway knowing he was definitely in unchartered territory as he held Ravyn’s hand. He was about to say something meant to keep them both calm and collected for what was about to come, but the sound of voices stopped him.
“What did you tell them?” Steele knew that voice. It was Ziva and it was coming from one of the smaller conference rooms that were along one side of the wall, while the two larger ones were on the other side.
The door just in front of where he and Ravyn had stopped was ajar but there were no lights on inside.
“I told them what they needed to know about Temptra.” The other voice was vaguely familiar to him, only because he’d just recently heard it.
“Enes, I’m not playing games here. This is my job. It’s my life. I don’t have time for you playing some immature game to try and get back at me.”
“Why would I want to get back at you, Ziva. You were pretty clear when you gave me your terms, and when I couldn’t meet them, you bounced. I would’ve done the same if I were in your position.”
Ziva huffed. “You were in my position. We were together and then we weren’t because you got scared.”
“Not scared. Ignored. Your job is everything. I was second.”
“You were...you were...”
Steele and Ravyn looked at each other, both wondering what they should do next.
“You told them I knew about Temptra,” Ziva picked up where she’d left off. Or rather she changed the subject, which Steele had to admit he was glad about. The last thing he needed tonight was to witness scenes from Ziva’s love life.
“You did know. I told you when you found me at the apartment last month. I told you something big was coming and that you and your band of dragonfolk wouldn’t be ready for it.”
“That was cryptic as hell, how was I supposed to take that information back to the others?”
“You should have because now they’re pissed that you didn’t. So, you’d better just march me in there right now so I can get the rest of this story out before they decide to hang your ass right beside me.”
“Let’s go,” Steele whispered and hurried Ravyn past that door.
“I know that voice,” she said as they were speed walking the rest of the way down the hall.
“Yeah, it was Ziva. You met her at the Office.”
“No,” Ravyn said. “I meant the other voice.”
He stopped when they were in front of the door to the large conference room. “You know Enes? How?”
She shook her head. “I never got her name, but she’s the one who introduced me to Vertis at Twilight.”
Chapter Fifteen
Could this possibly get more daunting?
She’d just seen a real live dragon in the woods and felt the very real and very hard dick of the human whose body that dragon inhabited, her best friend had been kidnapped by who knew what and now, she was walking into a room with eight people staring at her as if she were buck-naked and about to dance on the table.
Ravyn tilted her chin and squared her shoulders. She walked a couple steps in front of Steele only because once he’d allowed her to enter the room ahead of him, he’d released her hand. Not totally sure where she was supposed to go, she just kept walking until Shola stepped from around the guy standing at the head of the table and came to stand in front of her.
“I knew we’d see each other again,” she said as she reached out to take Ravyn’s hands.
Her palms were warm and the quick smile that spread across her face was genuine, just as it had been the first night she’d met her. “Hi, Shola.”
“Come sit here beside me.”
Ravyn didn’t bother to look back at Steele, but followed Shola because that air of authority she’d noticed the first time they met was magnified tonight. Perhaps because of the tall, brooding guy standing at the head of the table glaring at her with the purest bluest eyes imaginable.
When she was on the other side of the table accepting the chair offered to her, she looked across to see that Steele had taken a seat next to yet another awesomely built guy—the one who’d grabbed her as she’d tried to run after Cree. He had locks similar to Steele’s but from what she could see while he was sitting, they might be longer than Steele’s. Beside him was another guy—and if the situation were different, she might consider this a buffet of hot-ass men—this one with a lighter complexion than Steele’s, his beard more like a dusting of dark hair than a full-grown style.
“I’m Reese.” The guy sitting next to her spoke, pulling her attention from the lineup across the table, over to him.
“Hi, I’m Ravyn,�
�� she said, and accepted the hand he had extended to her.
Reese had a bright smile and if he wasn’t wearing the sunglasses she’d bet it reached his eyes in a laughing way. His hair was a riot of curls that he’d pulled up in some type of way so that it was away from his face.
“You already had the pleasure of meeting Shola,” Reese continued. “Her husband Theo runs the show here at the Legion.”
She hadn’t needed to be told that, because again, the air around Shola and the man at the head of the table reeked of power and leadership. Theo barely nodded in her direction and she returned the favor.
“Across from us are top agents here at the company, Aiken French, Magnum Eze and of course, you know our dear Steele.” Reese’s introductions were done with the same affable tone he’d taken in speaking to her and Ravyn found it relaxing.
After offering a polite smile and wave to Aiken, who treated her to a breathtaking grin in return, she let her gaze settle on Magnum. “You’re Steele’s brother?”
“Older brother,” Magnum replied before tossing a look to Steele.
She settled back in her chair thinking how fortunate for this world that there were two of them. The door opened then and two women walked in. One taller, wearing black leather pants, gray studded bra and a matching black leather vest. Her blonde hair fell in wide waves around the sides with a spiked mohawk down the center.
Ziva. She’d had eerie eyes that night Ravyn had met her too. Now, she wore sunglasses. These people must have invested a ton of money in a sunglasses company.
Behind her, moving at a much slower pace, was the woman Ravyn had seen many times at Twilight. Her gold-blonde hair was styled in short tight curls, her lipstick a frosted hue, her attire denim—skintight pants, red tank top and cropped jacket.