Depth (Apalala Clan Book 2)

by Dzintra Sullivan

  “No,” Payton whispered. “I was going to talk in priv—”

  “Man, that’s one crazy place.” Attor laughed as he sat in between V and Taryn. “I grabbed all they had and said I was coming back.” Looking at V, he laughed. “Not sharing, man, get your own.”

  V lowered his eyes to look at Payton. “When?” his voice growled with concern.

  Payton spoke through her closed teeth, “When I had a chance to get you alone.”

  “It’s you!” Taryn slowly turned to look at Attor, beside her, he looked like a giant. Even being a reputable five feet seven inches, his massive size dwarfed her completely.

  “Me?” Attor looked down at her. “What did I do now?”

  “That smell, you’re making me hungry.” Taryn laughed as she threw out the comment haphazardly.

  “I know. But as I just told V I don’t share, and he’s my brother. So, you, as nice as you seem, haven’t got a chance in hell of touching my tacos.”

  “Keep the tacos, I want the pie.” She laughed.

  “What pie?” Attor’s head tilted.

  V groaned, he had put the puzzles pieces together a few moments ago, now he was just waiting for the penny to drop for his brother. Fate? He said to himself. You are one crazy bitch.

  Taryn looked at his tray. “Mmm….” She shrugged. “You must have brought back the smell with you.”

  “Wait…” Attor froze.

  Fuck, here we go, V said to himself.

  “I smell like…” Attor’s voice was shaky. “Pie?”

  Taryn paused, her brows creased as she tried to work out exactly where the smell was emanating from. Tilting her head, she leaned a little closer to this very large mountain of man muscle and sniffed. Once… twice… “Shit!”

  “What?” Attor exclaimed, his voice pitched with a sudden twang of terror.

  “It’s you,” Taryn laughed. “Whatever that cologne is, it’s intensely addictive. I didn’t know they made male scents like that.”

  “All I can smell is tacos…” Kylee chirped up. “In case anyone gives a fuck.”

  “Attor…” V started to say, but stopped as Attor held up his palm.

  “What kind of pie?” he asked quietly. Be savory. Be savory. Be a fat greasy peppered steak and onion pie, with a pea mash. Be savory. Be savory, Attor chanted his thoughts to himself silently as he awaited an answer.

  “Huh?” Taryn snagged her attention back to Attor. “What? Oh… what smell?” She frowned with a laugh. “One would think you knew what cologne you were wearing.”

  “Humor me…” he snapped. Attor saw the fleeting look of hurt that flashed across the woman’s face as his words were more aggressive than he had meant. Closing his eyes, he took a beat to regain his composure. “If you would please humor me…” Attor’s words were soft and melodic. “What smell do I have?”

  Taryn paused for a moment, sizing up this strange man and his demands. She took a breath and said, “To me, it’s an incredible lemon smell, like a fresh lemon meringue tart my grandmother used to make. They lived on a farm, and she would make this tart from her own personal lemon tree. They were huge and very juicy. After it was baked, she would sit it on the kitchen window pane to cool down, and the smell would make me come running from down the paddocks.” Taryn memories of her childhood made her mouth turn upward with a smile.

  “Oh, shit,” Attor said.

  Ding, ding, ding, V said to himself. We have a winner. He looked at his brother and smiled, placing a hand on the middle of his back. He leaned in and said, “Remember when you laughed at me, and my fate-filled moment?” Attor nodded to the question. V added, “Welcome to the club, brother.” He laughed as he wrapped his arms around Payton. Placing a kiss on the top of her head. Having fate find you a match is certainly a shocking revelation, but looking back, he wouldn’t change a thing. “Fate is a wise and wonderful thing. Even if at times, you question its sanity.”

  “All this talk about food has made me hungry for more.” Kylee stood up. “I’m heading for the Waffle-Inn truck. Anyone want to come?” She looked pointedly at Taryn.

  Nodding, Taryn stood up. “Sure, maybe they will have a lemon curd one.”

  “Breathe, Attor.” Payton laughed as she poked him in the leg,

  Attor exhaled a breath he didn’t know he was holding. “Fuuuck,” he whispered.

  “Yeah, I had the same response when this one…” V looked at Payton, “… did the same. Can’t change fate, though.”

  “But… I don’t have time for this…” Attor looked at V with terror creeping across his face. I have a secret hunt to plan. I have birds to kill. I don’t have time for a... for a… mate, he said to himself.

  V laughed. “I think your advice to me at the time of my encounter was ‘Fate doesn’t give a shit what time it is, just that it is… time.’ I thought it was harsh at the time, but now as I say it back to you, it seems totally logical.” V laughed again.

  “I think I just lost my appetite.” Attor placed his taco tray on the blanket. “I… I think I’m just going to head off.” Nodding, he stood up. “Yeah, I will head home… home.”

  V watched his dazed brother stand and leave.

  “Should you go after him?” Payton asked, her face was full of concern.

  “And waste these tacos?” V laughed. “Not a chance in hell, he just needs some space. I’ll catch up with him later.” V grinned as he lifted the first of many free tacos to his mouth. “Life is good, baby…” And between mouthfuls, V repeated, “Life is very, very, good.”

  Opening his eyes slowly, Attor didn’t feel like he had slept at all. He flicked the light switch beside his bed and looked around his room; it all looked the same. His leathers were still thrown across the large recliner rocker he had in the corner of his room. His semi-dry towel was still dangling from the corner of his full-length mirror. He was in a hurry yesterday when V told him they had a job. He had quickly showered and just thrown it, and it landed where it landed. Turning his head as he lifted his arms and placing his hands behind his head, he noticed his desk was still strewn with papers, and empty used coffee mugs. His trash bucket was still overflowing with rubbish he’d been meaning to empty for days before.

  He took a deep breath and slowly released the air. There were no windows in the Nest, so day to night looked the same. Dragons had an inner clock which worked on a far more astral level. Unfortunately, that meant sleeping in was unheard of. Sure, you could linger in bed, but you were awake.

  Thud. Thud.

  The heavy thumps on his door were accompanied by a message, “Warrior meeting, five minutes.”

  Attor knew it was Wyvern’s voice. With the change of their home, there had been a rippled change in his youngest brother too. Wyvern’s voice had lowered even further, and now he had the deepest of the brother’s tones. His body had begun to gather volume, and he was going from the littlest baby brother to one of the largest.

  Dragons were late bloomers, they tended to remain more human-sized up until the age of around eighteen to twenty, then something happened and they went up a size or two. The dragons when in human form were still comparable, they needed to be able to infiltrate the worlds around them. Most humans just thought they were obsessed gym junkies and roid users. Attor laughed at their assumptions. Sure, they were gym junkies, it was the only way to maintain the peak of fitness for the job of protecting the clan, but drugs of any type were banned. Not that they had any effect on dragons anyway. It was a waste of time, because drugs and alcohol had little to no impact on the dragon metabolism. This, of course, didn’t mean the brothers didn’t drink. If they went out, and it was deemed appropriate, they had a drink. Jo and Ladon particularly liked a drink or five. It just didn’t have the same effect. They didn’t get drunk. They chose to drink purely because they liked the flavor, not because they needed an escape from the troubles of their world.

  Attor threw back the covers and stood up. Planting his feet flat to the floor, and evenly spaced directly under his sho
ulders for optimal balance, he reached both arms up to the roof. Holding for a beat, he then reached forward and down to the floor, placing his hands flat against the tempered stone of the volcano. He felt the energy of this sleeping beast leap up into his body, releasing his own endorphins to run wild in his body. Taking a step to the side, he lunged to the right with a controlled speed as he leaned his left arm over his head and reached for the wall. Attor concentrated on his breathing as he inhaled with a movement, and exhaled slowly as he held it. Returning to the center, he lunged to the left and repeated the reach this time with his right arm. Bringing it back to the middle again, he took in a large breath and leaned forward into a plank, arms outstretched and his back flat and ninety degrees to his legs.

  His door opened, and Jo laughed. “Hey Superman, you’re late.”

  Controlling his breath despite the intrusion, Attor returned to a central position. Hearing his brother continue laughing down the hall, he flicked a confused look in the mirror and rolled his eyes. The half that was not covered by his towel showed he was only wearing a pair of Superman boxer briefs.

  “I guess it could have been worse.” He shrugged. “Could have been my birthday suit.” Stepping into his jeans, he grabbed whatever shirt was top of the pile and wandered off to the central meeting room.

  Attor was sliding his second arm in as he rounded the corner, pulling the shirt down tightly over his broad chest. When Jo burst into laughter again, he shot him a look. “Fucking grow up, Jo, it was just underwear. You’re just lucky I wasn’t naked. Otherwise, you would be crying into your pillow about inadequacy.” Attor held up with pinky finger and wiggled it.

  “Forget the Man of Steel undies, check your shirt, big fella!” Jo laughed again, as Ladon turned and burst out laughing too.

  Attor looked down and saw that his shirt was pink and it said ‘I believe in rainbows, unicorns, and men who put the seat down.’’ “What the actual fuck?” Attor scrunched his face as he looked at his shirt, only just realizing now how tight it actually was.

  “Why are you wearing one of Payton’s shirts?” V said as he entered the room.

  This set Jo and Ladon off into a new fit of laughter as Attor stripped the shirt off himself, ripping it in his haste to get the woman’s shirt off his body. “Fuck,” he exclaimed with frustration.

  “I guess you owe Payton a new shirt,” V added as he sat down, calmly putting his folders on the coffee table in front of him.

  “Okay, don’t know how it ended up in my room, though.” His frown fell onto Ladon, who was unnecessarily jovial at his predicament. “Payback will be a mean-ass bitch, sent straight from the devil’s own PMS riddled ovaries,” he spat at his brother. He took a seat furthest away from the boys, he was now only wearing a pair of jeans and holding a ripped pink shirt.

  “Worth it…” Ladon laughed. “Totally worth it.”

  V coughed loudly, Attor gave the finger to his brother in a show of his maturity then turned his attention to Volos. “We have developments. I think it’s best if we’re all made aware of them,” V said calmly. His leader voice being used in its best form, smooth, rounded and powerful enough to bounce off the walls without any use of aggression.

  “V, I don’t want them to know…” Attor started to say.

  V held up his hand. “Wyvern has found some activity that involved Q.”

  Attor stopped talking, realizing this wasn’t about him, but about the very phoenix he had been hunting. V was finally doing his job.

  Wyvern stood as V opened the floor to him. “There’s been a number of conversations I’ve recorded that have trace markers of Q’s involvement. After the Oasis, I spent many nights writing a program that was loaded with his markers. Certain phrases, words, IP indicators that have more than three bounced locations.”

  “Brilliant, Vern. Man, if only I had a tenth of your smarts,” Ladon said.

  Wyvern smiled. “It’s just learned, Ladon, nothing that impressive. However, this program gives us a chance to try and stay one step ahead. Nothing promises complete awareness, but any information we have is better than nothing.”

  V nodded. “We’re very thankful for your dedication to clan security, Wyvern. Tell us more about the conversations.”

  “Yes, the chats…” Wyvern grabbed some paper and started handing them out to the brothers. “As you can see it’s not much, but we have a couple of names which have bubbled to the surface. Cinders is one. I’m not sure if this is male, female or even if it’s simply a pseudonym for someone else. But it keeps popping up in all these chats, so it’s a name to keep in your minds.” Shuffling some papers, Wyvern continued, “Q keeps his true identity hidden, but it is him according to my markers. There’s also another name, I will assume male, because of the language it uses. But again, I cannot confirm this yet.”

  “Which one is that?” V asked as he looked at the papers in front of him.

  Wyvern said, “Singed. I assume Mr. Singed, but don’t quote me on it.”

  V nodded. “Good. It’s something, and some names we can keep our ears open for,” he said.

  “There’s one more, but this one’s a little left of field,” Wyvern added, all four of the brothers looked up at him “Not sure if I should say it. It might open…” he looked at V, “… other business.”

  “Other business?” Jo asked. “There’s other business?”

  “If you feel it’s relevant…” V took a breath, “… then we should all be aware.”

  Wyvern shrugged. “Okay, a name that’s popping up is Ms. Pettigrove.”

  “That’s not on any of these conversations?” Attor asked as he flicked through the papers quickly. “What’s the connection to us?”

  Wyvern said, “Nothing primarily.”

  “Then why is she on our list?” Ladon asked.

  “Because…” V stood up, his presence was more than just physical. The energy that emanated from him was consuming of all who were near. “Ms. Pettigrove is an American. She has been named as the only person to contact in regards to a murder.” Jo went to ask something, but V continued, “There was a suspicious murder in Las Vegas, but the most suspicious part is how it’s being handled. There’s no police or FBI involvement. They have been removed, and the entire case has been given to this Ms. Pettigrove.”

  Attor felt weak as his brain made the connection between the murder, murderer, and his newly discovered mate. “Fuuuck…” The word slithered out on a slow breath from his mouth. Lifting his eyes to look at V. “This is the connection?”

  V nodded. “It would appear so.” V rubbed his chin. “In order for this to be put at a high importance, and it needs to be…” he said and paused. “You need to tell the brothers what has happened.”

  Jo flicked his head between Attor and V. “I have no idea what’s going on. But what does some weird ass murder set up in Vegas have to do with us?” Shrugging. “We haven’t lived in Vegas, only a couple of distant contacts there.”

  “Jo is right,” Ladon said. “We need to focus on our own right now. A murder in Vegas has nothing to do with us.”

  “You would think so, right?” V laughed lightly as he turned to Attor. “Care to enlighten the brothers?”

  “No, I wouldn’t,” Attor spat. “I don’t want to have to explain that the woman who’s wanted for murder is one of Payton’s friends. Nor do I want to have to explain that fate has a nasty way of ripping a dragon’s testicles clear from his body by making this same fucking female smell him as a mate.” Attor’s voice was loud and full of frustration. “I don’t want to have to explain any of this shit to any of you.”

  “Wait,” Jo froze. “Mate?”

  V nodded, unable to control the laughter bubbling up from his chest. “Our brother has found his mate… or rather, his mate has found him.”

  Wyvern asked, “Hang on…” He was confused. “Ms. Pettigrove is hunting Taryn. Taryn is wanted for murder. And now you’re saying Taryn is Attor’s mate?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m sayi
ng,” V snorted.

  “Does she know?” Jo asked.

  “No. Payton knows. She triggered on the scent comments a couple of nights ago, but it was only at the festival we went to yesterday on an observation assignment, did this come to our attention,” V said.

  “Who were you there to observe?” Ladon questioned.

  “The same fucking woman,” Attor shouted. “The lemon-pie smelling murderer herself.” He stood and shook with anger at fate throwing him a curveball he didn’t want. “My apparent perfect mate for this world is a freaking murderer!”

  “Who did she kill?” Jo asked.

  “Oh, yeah, wait for it…” Attor’s voice pitched with frustration. “She killed her fucking boyfriend.” Throwing his hands into the air. “My mate killed her fucking boyfriend.”

  “Allegedly,” V added. “No conviction. She’s innocent until proven otherwise.”

  “From what I know about this case, her ability to do what they’ve said is highly doubtful. I don’t think she did it,” Wyvern said.

  “Then why run?” Attor yelled.

  V held his hands up, palms forward, asking for calm. “Let’s all sit…” Pausing before continuing, “This is a highly unusual situation. One we will have to take a great deal of delicacy in sorting out. Not only has our brother found his perfect soul mate, but she doesn’t know. She is human and wanted for murder,” V said. “Plus…” he added. “All the other Q shit we have spoken about. So, let’s take a breath, and give this a little time to digest completely,” V asked of the brothers.

  Wyvern nodded. “I will get back to the web, see what I can find.”

  “I’m not sure what the fuck I’m going to do, but yeah, okay…” Jo said as he ran his hand through his hair “Fuuck.”

  “I’m with Jo. I got nothing…” Ladon shrugged. “Congrats Attor. A mate. Wow!” His eyebrows went high. “That’s… wow… fuck.”