Downstairs in the kitchen, she poured herself a cup of tea from the automatic coffee maker and sat at the kitchen table. Cato entered the room a moment later, looking concerned.
"Bethi completed her analysis," he said.
"And…?"
"There is an eighty-five-percent chance that Raiden was correct in his estimation of the reason behind these disappearances."
"What do we do now?" Flora asked.
"I'm not sure what we can do," Cato said. "Up until now, we have been most concerned about protecting our children, mates, and homes. But now there is a large-scale disappearance the likes of which humanity has never seen in recorded history. We haven't dealt with anything like this before.”
"We should attack them at their source," Dax said, walking into the room.
"The AI told us what was happening," Aiden said.
"The problem is, we don't know where their source is," Cato said. "Bethi wasn't able to connect it to any one vampire or coven. All she could come up with was the probability that it was a vampire feeding frenzy."
"We can't just sit back and wait for them to attack us," Dax said. "That's why it’s gotten this bad."
"Raiden suggested our recent attack on the local coven is the reason behind this slew of kidnappings," Flora said. "He predicted this would happen weeks ago."
"Why didn't he bring it to anyone's attention?" Cato asked.
"Raiden is used to not being taken seriously. But he's been preparing for this as long as I’ve known him."
"All we can do is double down on our efforts to work on the vaccine. It is our biggest contribution to the safety of mankind," Cato said.
Chapter 6
Raiden turned off the treadmill and wiped the sweat from his brow. He'd just finished a twenty-six-mile run. He went to the kitchen to replenish his water bottle before the next round of squats. As he walked into the living room on the main floor, he found Flora sitting on the couch, talking to Zephyr.
"What are you doing here?" he asked, more harshly than he’d meant to.
Flora cleared her throat and fidgeted in her seat, pursing her lips. She seemed uncomfortable and unsure of herself.
"Flora has come to work with me on the vaccine," Zephyr said. "Cato is overwhelmed with the baby, and they are stalling in their progress.
"I'll be staying here for now," Flora said.
"Here at the House of Storms?" Raiden asked.
"Is that a problem?"
"Of course not. We need all hands on deck, preparing for the coming battle. The vaccine is a top priority."
"I can see that you're prepared," she said, taking in his shirtless upper half as he wiped away the sweat that dripped down his abs.
He looked down at himself, and heat rose in his cheeks. "Yes. It's important to stay in top shape. I need to get back to it. Good luck with the vaccine."
"I haven't seen you online lately," Flora said.
"I've been playing less. Now is the time for action."
"But your guild is going to fall behind Crimson," she said with a laugh.
"Ranking number-one guild in our battle group is not more important than protecting the human race."
"What did you tell the guys?" she asked.
"I told them that I had an important mission to save the world."
"And what did they say to that?"
"They think I'm taking time off to spend it with you," he grumbled.
"What would make them say that?"
"Believe it or not, the guys won't stop talking about us dating."
It was Flora's turn to blush. Her cheeks turned a bright cherry red. "Why would they say something like that?"
"Because they're guys. They think any girl they come in contact with needs to be gotten by somebody. That's just the nature of human males."
"It's the nature of dragon males also," Zephyr said dispassionately.
"Not Raiden," Flora said with a laugh.
"I have more respect for you than that," he said.
"I know you do," she replied softly.
"I need to get back to the gym before I cool off too much," he said.
"Right.” Her voice cracked.
Raiden escaped the living room and the heat of Flora’s gaze. Back in the gym, he punched the bag hanging from the ceiling. He had a 360-degree view of the grounds from up in the observatory-gym, but the beautiful scenery did nothing to soothe his anger. He didn't know why it should bother him so much to have Flora around. She was his best friend, and now more than ever, they needed to buckle down and work together to defend the planet from vampires. So why was he so agitated?
When Hanish had met JoJo, he'd felt the same way, but his dragon had let him know immediately that JoJo was his mate. Raiden's inner dragon remained silent as the grave. All he could think was that getting ready for battle always made him agitated.
Flora wasn't his mate, and that was all there was to it. He wished he could stop thinking about her. Maybe if she found a boyfriend or if he finally found his mate, they could put all this behind them and continue being friends. But with the vampires increasing their predation on humanity, neither of them would have much time for dating. He was just going to have to suck it up and deal with the fact that he was inextricably attracted to his best friend, who just happened to not be his mate. He'd never heard of anything like this happening to a dragon, but there were only nine dragons alive on the planet. There was no such thing as normal.
When he was finished with his workout, he went back downstairs and got himself a turkey sandwich with mayo on sourdough, three hard-boiled eggs, and a protein shake. As he ate his lunch, Hanish entered the kitchen and gave him an appraising look.
"You were right all along, Raiden," Hanish said. "I noticed you haven't been spending all day in front of the television since the attacks."
"I have more important preparation to do now. I've kept my reflexes sharp and my instincts honed, but now is the time to focus on my physical form. I'll be flying practice missions starting tomorrow. You're welcome to join me if you want. I've invited the others. Yuki, Akash, and Ragnar have agreed to go, but Zephyr has declined."
"Hopefully, they can advance their work on the vaccine now that Flora is here," Hanish said.
"If they find the vaccine, that will solve all of our problems."
"Not quite. First they need to discover the vaccine, then they need a way to transmit it to every human on Earth. That could present a serious problem."
"I never thought of that," Raiden said.
"Raiden, I want to apologize…" Hanish started.
"There's no need," Raiden said, waving his hand.
Neither he nor Captain Hanish was much for sentiment, and Raiden wasn't sure if he could stomach his captain’s apologies. It was enough to know that he acknowledged him and that they were again on the same team and wavelength.
When the war was over, Raiden would find something else to do with his time. But at the moment, the most important thing was protecting the human race from the vampires, and he intended to make that his priority until he'd seen the very last one perish.
Chapter 7
Flora followed Zephyr down to the basement laboratory, embarrassed and slightly flustered. Seeing Raiden without his shirt and covered in sweat, with his muscles all pumped up, had a distinct and aggressive effect on her libido. She squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head, trying to forget the sight of the man she insisted was nothing but a friend.
"He's my best friend. He's my best friend. He's my best friend," she kept repeating in her mind. But no matter how many times she said it, the mantra didn't help. All she could see was his tanned skin, his sexy tattoos, and the trail of black hair running from his belly button down into his pants. It was terrible. She needed to stop. She had to focus on the problem at hand.
Zephyr had more advanced medical equipment than Cato, but he was not a biologist. He had done his best to outfit the ship's laboratory with the type of gear they would need for the project. And she had
sent him notes on what they would need. But it still wasn't ideal. The Dragonians might be an advanced race of aliens, but their equipment was different than what she was used to.
"I hope this is to your liking," Zephyr said.
"It's perfect," she lied. "I made some progress on sequencing the differences and similarities between Dragon Souls and mated Dragon Souls. This may give us further clues about exactly what creates the antibodies."
"Very well."
"It would be better if we had biological samples," she said.
"I'm afraid we can't do that."
"I meant blood samples."
"Where could we get such a thing?" he asked.
"Blood banks. Hospitals. Universities. We just need the proper paperwork. I think we will get further using biological samples than continuing to do computer simulations. There is only so much we can do digitally before it stops making any sense.”
"Hmm, interesting. Azure," Zephyr said to the ship's AI, "find us the best source of human blood samples and let me know how to get it."
A few minutes later, Azure recited the address of the closest blood bank and the requirements for procuring it.
"I want you to create that paperwork and send it over to them. Have a wide cross-section of samples delivered by tomorrow."
"Done," Azure said a few minutes later.
"Excellent," Flora said. "Until then, I'll continue working on the simulation that I started in the House of Flames in Cato's lab. It was showing some promise."
She sat down at the computer and loaded up the simulation she'd been working on. She watched the transformation of the genes as the current formulation of the vaccine worked on the simulated human blood. It was looking more and more promising until it was ninety-nine percent done. She bit her lip, hoping that this was the final breakthrough she needed. But at the very last minute, the same thing that had happened with every other simulation happened again: the vaccine mutated and turned into a cancer, growing and growing until it ate away at all of the genetic material in the blood. She groaned and smacked her fist on the dashboard.
"That's attempt three hundred fifty-seven," she said.
"We will find the vaccine. I'm sure of it," Zephyr said, running his own simulation.
"We have no choice,” she whispered.
Flora went upstairs after the failed simulation. She found some leftover Chinese food in the fridge and sat at the kitchen table. As she was picking through the chicken fried rice with her chopsticks, Raiden walked into the room, fully dressed this time, his hair wet and messy and his face clear and bright.
"Did you have a good workout?" Flora asked as he opened the refrigerator and pulled out a protein shake.
"My endurance is increasing every day."
"That's good."
"I'll be ready when the vampires attack," he said.
"What makes you so sure they'll attack us? They're feeding on humans."
"Because we are their ultimate objective. We are a danger to them and to their continued use of the human race as food. It is in their best interest to remove us from the planet as quickly as possible. I think they are gathering their strength for a final attack on us."
"Should I be worried?
"Probably," Raiden said.
"Well, that's comforting," she said with a snort.
"I don't mean to worry you."
"I'm just kidding. I know what the stakes are. I was kidnapped by the vampires myself. They made me one of them. I know better than anyone else what they're capable of."
"How much do you remember from your time with them?"
"Unfortunately, I remember everything," Flora said. "I remember how they interacted, I remember how they behaved, and I remember the way they treated their human blood slaves. And worst of all, I remember what I became when I was one of them. It's not an experience I would ever want to relive. I still have nightmares."
"I didn’t know," he said in a low voice.
"It's just something I'll have to get through."
"I'm here if you need anything,” he said, his voice gentle as he gazed at her through his thick eyelashes. In that moment, her heart melted, and she wanted to throw herself into his arms. He was so beautiful, thoughtful, and strong. He had so much integrity and such a sense of duty to a race of creatures that was not even his own. Flora's heart burst so violently it hurt.
She took a deep, shuddering breath and sighed. "Thank you, Raiden. You're a true friend."
"You've been a friend to me too. I'll never forget how you've been there for me. You believed me even when no one else did. I would never jeopardize our friendship. I want you to know that nothing could be more valuable than that."
"I feel the same," she said breathlessly.
"Good.” His voice was low and full of gravel. He stopped in the door, turning back to her. "If things could be more… if it wouldn't hurt both of us…"
"What?" She knew exactly what he was talking about, but she wanted to hear him say it.
"It's nothing.” He gripped the bottle of protein shake. "Forget I said anything.”
"Wait.” But it was too late. He had already disappeared out the kitchen door.
Chapter 8
Raiden met Yuki, Akash, Ragnar, and Hanish on the back lawn behind the mansion. They were going to have their flight-formation practice that day in preparation for the coming battle against the vampires. He looked at his crew and nodded before leaping into the air in his dragon form. The others followed suit behind him. Forming a pattern in the sky, they flew under the cloak of invisibility to prevent being seen by humans on the ground. They could sense each other through their mental link and the imagery that played across the screen of their eyes when they activated it.
"Form H formation," Hanish said.
The dragons swooped into a new pattern. "H feet attack," Hanish ordered. The two bottom parts of the H legs swooped down toward the ground.
"A formation," Hanish ordered, and the dragons on the ground flipped back into the air and formed into another pattern.
"Spear-tip attack," Hanish said, and the top point of the A formation swooped down to attack.
After they'd gone through these maneuvers for several hours, their formations and responses were honed and coordinated. Hanish ordered them to break for lunch, and they returned to the mansion, landing on the back lawn and transforming into their human forms. The guys walked into the kitchen, sweaty from their practice. They found JoJo, Zephyr, and Flora already eating turkey sandwiches at the table.
Raiden wiped his forehead with a towel by the door, and his eyes swept over Flora's face. She was wearing a soft pink cashmere sweater that hugged her curves, with a neck that dipped just low enough for him to see the rise of her breasts underneath. He blinked and gritted his teeth, looking away.
"How was your formation practice?" JoJo asked, standing from the table to kiss Hanish on the cheek. "Oh, you're sweaty." She wiped his face with a handkerchief from her pocket.
"It went well. It was a good idea. We haven't had formation practice since awakening. After a million years in stasis, we were all getting a bit rusty."
"Speak for yourself," Raiden said.
"I agree with Hanish," Ragnar said, rolling his shoulders. "We haven't been practicing enough."
"You've all been distracted by your mates and your debates." Raiden gave Akash a sideways glance.
"Now that we know what the vampires are capable of, we will take this more seriously. We have people to protect.
"Speaking of people to protect," Yuki said, sliding his finger over his cell phone, "I'm checking in on Krista." He connected with her over FaceTime. She smiled, her face glowing and bright as she greeted him.
"How are you? Is everything okay?" Yuki asked.
"I'm just finishing up my work here at the office," Krista said. "I'll be heading home in a few minutes."
"We'll be back in half an hour," Yuki said.
"Don't rush back on my account. I'll be just fine. Remember, I have mate
d Dragon Soul blood. Vampires can't bite me without dying."
"But the baby… you're so close."
"You're right. I'll wait for you at the office."
"We'll be there soon." Yuki put his cell phone back in his pocket. "We should go," he said to the others.
"Are you concerned that the vampires might try to kidnap Krista's baby?" Hanish asked Yuki, glancing at JoJo.
"I wouldn't put anything past them. We need to be careful," Akash said.
"We all need to be careful," Hanish agreed. "We'll see you again tomorrow for training. Bring Krista with you this time so we can keep an eye on her here. Maybe you should think about moving in with us as she gets closer to term."
"I don't know how Krista would feel about that," Akash said.
"Our mate has a mind of her own," Yuki said, "and she has work, and her doctor is back in the city."
"I'm sure if you talked to her, she would see the wisdom in coming to the mansion for protection," Hanish said.
"We need to go,” Ragnar said.
Ragnar, Yuki, and Akash quickly left. Hanish and JoJo went to put Tor down for a nap, and Zephyr returned to the basement. Raiden and Flora were left in the kitchen alone together. As she picked at a plate of carrots, he ate a sandwich and potato chips.
"How is the research going?" he asked.
"We received a shipment of blood samples this morning, and we're separating the human blood from Dragon Soul blood. It does make a difference in the effect of our vaccine attempts."
"Should you develop a different vaccine for Dragon Souls than for humans?" Raiden asked.
"At this point, it seems unnecessary. The failed attempts fail equally in humans and Dragon Souls alike."
"I'm sorry things aren't going better for you and your work."
"This isn't about me. This is about the entire planet."
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