But it had to be dealt with.
“Find him. If he has the artifact, retrieve it. I want to know if it’s worth salvaging the Integrity, or if I should take the insurance money.” She walked over to her desk chair and sat. Even alone with the one person she trusted most in the world, she never truly let down her guard.
“You don’t think there’s more than one artifact in the wreckage of the Reliant?” Birch didn’t even glance at the guest chairs, so she motioned him to one of them. He sat.
Karina took another sip of her drink. “Doubtful. Travel was iffy in those days. I can’t see the Knights risking two powerful artifacts on one ship. They’d want to split them up in case of a wreck.” She tapped the side of the crystal glass. “And if the archaeologist took the one big find, it’s doubtful there is another one there.”
Birch nodded as though he’d expected her to say that.
“What do you think?” He was the only person she would ask something like that. Anyone else would see it as a weakness and exploit it.
Birch didn’t reply immediately. He sat and seemed to be considering every option, every scenario. She knew because she always did the same. He was the one who’d taught her how.
“I think you’re right. Either Bellamy is dead and the artifact is lost, or Dexter will find her and retrieve it. And I don’t think you’ll get it back if that’s the case.” He rubbed his hand over his jaw and nodded as if coming to some decision.
“I think word has leaked to Temple by now.”
Karina felt like growling. Herman Temple was a thorn in her side. “No doubt it has.”
“Let him do the work for you. He’ll send one of his people out to search for Dexter and the woman.”
That was actually rather clever, not that she expected anything less from Birch. He was a big man, and fast on his feet when he needed to be. Because he never had much to say, many people made the mistake of thinking he wasn’t very bright. They couldn’t be farther from the truth.
“And the Integrity?” she asked.
“Keep Calloway on the job until the insurance people have come and gone. Then take the money. No need to waste more time and manpower. You can always get a new research vessel.”
Birch was right, as usual. Karina rose, leaving her half-full glass on the desk, and Birch immediately came to his feet. “I’m going to call it a night. Let me know if you hear anything.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Ezra wanted this call over and done with so he could enjoy Sam. He’d been all over her practically as soon as he’d stepped inside the front door. He’d taken her against the wall with no preliminaries at all. Just a wham, bam, thank you, ma’am. And she’d fed him soup. Soup she’d made for him from scratch.
He wanted to take her to bed so he could worship every inch of her amazing body before he made love to her again. But first, he had to deal with his family and the situation with the Knights.
“If you leave the dishes, I’ll get them when I’m done.” She’d cooked. Didn’t seem fair for her to have to clean up.
“That’s okay. I’ve got it. This time,” she added.
He grinned. His Sam was no pushover. While she piled the plates and bowls and cutlery into the dishwasher, he dialed Tarrant. It was earlier on the West Coast, so the rest of them should be awake. Tarrant and Valeriya were in Washington State, Darius and Sarah were currently in Arizona, and Nic was in Nevada.
“What?”
Ezra put the call on speaker and set the phone on the table. “It’s lovely to hear your voice, too.”
“What’s happened?”
“Two whole words.” He knew he shouldn’t tease Tarrant, but sometimes it was just too easy. Silence was followed by a low growl. “I need to talk to you all at once.”
The phone went dead.
“He sounds angry.” Sam squirted dish liquid into the pot and filled it with water. He could sense she was worried and didn’t like it. If his brother was nearby, Ezra would kick his ass.
“Ignore Tarrant. He always sounds that way. I don’t know how Valeriya puts up with him.”
Sam left the pot in the sink and wiped her hands on a kitchen towel. “Is that his wife?”
Ezra wasn’t quite sure how to answer that. Wife? Mate was more accurate. The phone rang and he held up his index finger. “Hold that thought. Yeah?”
“I’ve got everyone connected,” Tarrant told him.
Ezra took a deep breath. “A lot has happened since we last talked.” He was aware of Sam listening as he told his family about his trip to the Easton and coming back to the island to find Dexter hurting Sam.
She was standing in the kitchen with her arms wrapped around herself. She looked so alone. He stood and went to her. She looked up at him and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” he whispered.
“Hey, we’re still here,” Tarrant pointed out.
Ezra threw his arm around her shoulders and brought her back to the table with him. “Sorry about that.” He wasn’t really, but best not to tell his brother that. He sat back in his chair and pulled her down onto his lap.
“You destroyed Dexter’s body.” It wasn’t so much a question as a statement of fact. He knew it’s what Darius would have done.
“Not exactly. I took his boat out to sea and dumped the body overboard. If it ever washes up, it will appear as though his body was battered by the ocean.”
“Smart.” Tarrant gave his approval.
“I also hauled up the dinghy that Sam stole when she escaped the Integrity.”
“Let me guess,” Nic interjected. “Another wreck?”
“It happens at sea.” Maybe two was a little suspect, but the Knights would eventually have to accept both people were gone—Dexter dead and Sam off the grid with him.
“It’s a little too neat and tidy, but it’s the best you could do.”
Ezra didn’t take offense to Tarrant’s observation. He knew his brother was worried about him. Sam was getting tenser by the second. If her spine got any stiffer, it would snap.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted out. “To all of you. All I can do is promise to never divulge Ezra’s secret.”
The silence was deafening.
“It’s not your fault.” It didn’t surprised Ezra that it was Valeriya who spoke first. She, of all of them, knew what it was like to feel guilty about having an association with the Knights.
“I did what I thought best,” Sam told them all. “But if I’d believed for one second that the stories Gervais Rames told me about dragons were true, I would never have gotten involved with the Knights. I just wanted to enact some kind of revenge or justice or whatever you want to call it for my friend. He was the only family I had.”
Ezra nuzzled her neck, wanting to comfort her. He also wanted to change the subject. What was done, was done. There was no changing it. “Tarrant, I need the name of the jeweler you and Darius used?”
He wished he could see his brothers’ faces. He knew they had to be shocked. Sarah gave a squeal of delight and he heard the clapping of hands.
Sam swiveled so she could look directly at him. “A jeweler.”
He nodded. “Those sapphires belong in a necklace, for you.”
There was both fear and wonder in her eyes. “Like the one from the fire drakon?”
“A more modern setting. Silver or platinum, I’m thinking.”
“What the hell happened?” Darius demanded. “You’ve never given up drakon tears before.”
He was grateful to his brother for not saying he’d never cried his eyes out before. Saying he’d never given tears up made it seem more manly.
“Sam was hypothermic, her heartbeat erratic.” Ezra ran his fingers through her wild curls he loved so much, over her delicate cheeks, and finally across her lush lips. There was so much about her that he admired beyond the physical.
He eased his hand under the hem of the oversize shirt she wore. His shirt. He felt like beating his chest, but he didn’t thin
k that was a particularly wise course of action. Her thigh was warm and supple. He coasted his hand over the curve of her hip and into the slope of her waist.
“Welcome to the family.” The dry undertone in Darius’s voice jolted Ezra. His damn brother knew what he was doing. Maybe not exactly, but he knew where Ezra was heading. He had to get off the phone before he ended up making love to Sam while his family got an earful.
“Thank you.” There was a tentativeness in Sam’s voice but also pleasure. “And Ezra’s secret is safe with me.”
“It better be.” Tarrant was as gruff as ever. “Hurt Ezra, and we’ll end you.”
Ezra was more amused by his brother’s warning than furious, especially since Sam was smiling at him. “I can live with that,” she told them all. “I do have a question.” She pushed off of Ezra’s lap, something he wasn’t overly pleased with, and began to pace.
“Shoot,” Tarrant told her.
…
It was both thrilling and intimidating to be a part of this group. She still didn’t understand the intricacies of all their relationships, but they were family in every sense of the word. She sensed they shared a deep history and that there wasn’t anything they wouldn’t do for one another. That was love. That was loyalty and commitment.
It was what she’d always wanted.
Having Darius confirm Ezra had never shed drakon tears before awed her. Her drakon might never give her the words, but there was no doubt in her mind that he loved her.
If she was a part of this group, this family, she needed to understand things better, maybe even find a way to help them to offset all the trouble she’d brought with her.
“You’ve lived for years. Centuries. Right?” she asked him.
“Yes, about four thousand,” Ezra confirmed, “give or take a decade.”
She still had a hard time wrapping her brain around a number that large. Ezra had seen the rise and fall of the great civilizations of history. Drakons understood the ancient world better than any living scholar. They’d lived it.
Maybe it was her background in archaeology, the years she’d spent studying various cultures that gave her an insight they might not have considered before.
“Why now?”
Ezra frowned and leaned back in his chair. With his legs kicked out in front of him and his hands behind his head, he was the epitome of the relaxed male. She knew that could change in a heartbeat and he’d be ready to fight, to protect. Her Ezra was a warrior at heart, but he was also a scholar.
Sam began to pace. Walking always helped her think better. “Maybe I’m out of line, but I know Darius is also a drakon. In our last conversation, he referred to the Knights as hunting us, and not you,” she pointed out to Ezra.
“Fuck,” Darius muttered. “I did. So?”
“So”—Sam ran her fingers along the edge of the wooden table—“I gather you and Sarah haven’t been together for long.”
“Again, so?” Darius was obviously not happy with the turn in the conversation. Neither was Ezra, if his sudden frown was any indication.
“Bear with me. Please.” She gripped the back of one of the chairs. Maybe she was poking her nose into an area it didn’t belong, but if her theory was right, the rest of the drakons out there could be in for a rough road unless they were prepared.
“Go on,” Ezra encouraged.
She nodded and took a deep breath. “I don’t know if you’re human or not, Tarrant.”
“You know,” he told her.
She did. In her heart, she suspected all the men were drakons, including Nic. “And you and Valeriya haven’t been together for long?”
“No.”
“Why now?” Nic sounded thoughtful. “That’s what you mean, isn’t it? Darius and Tarrant hook up with women, and now Ezra.”
“Exactly. Why now, after four thousand years? If it was only one of you, I wouldn’t even question it, but three drakons finding a connection with women in such a short period of time after all these years is significant. Do you think there’s a reason?”
“I want to say coincidence, but it pushes the boundaries too much.” Tarrant sighed. “Any ideas?”
“Maturity.” As she’d expected, she’d stunned them all silent. “It makes sense. You guys live a long time.”
“Undetermined,” Ezra told her.
“So what if you needed four thousand years or so to reach sexual maturity.”
Nic laughed. “Sweetheart, I’ve been bedding women since I was fifteen. Or was it fourteen. Things were a lot different back in those days.”
“I’m not talking about sex, but the need to mate, to settle.” And she certainly didn’t want to think about the thousands of women Ezra must have slept with. She warmed to her subject and started pacing again. “Maybe all of us women have something in common?”
“Like what?” Darius demanded.
She was thinking out loud, something she often did when she was working. “I have no idea. It’s nothing more than a question at this point.”
“You think other drakons will be experiencing this drive, this need to mate, as well?” Tarrant asked.
“Maybe. I don’t know. It’s just a thought, a theory.”
“Why four thousand years?”
“Well,” Sarah interjected. “Men mature more slowly than women.” Valeriya laughed and Sam couldn’t help but grin.
“There is that.” She walked around the table to Ezra. “Like I said, it’s something to think about.” She stopped several steps away from him. If she got any closer she’d probably end up in his lap again. Not necessarily a bad thing, if they weren’t talking with his family. “Nic needs to be careful,” she blurted.
“Why?” Nic asked.
“If the Knights discover drakons are eager to mate and can figure out what kind of woman calls to a drakon—” She couldn’t finish the thought.
“They’d set a trap,” Ezra finished. “Like staking out a virgin like they used to in the old days.”
“They actually did that?” Sam was both appalled and curious. “Did it work?”
Ezra scowled and shook his head. “No, it didn’t work.”
She shrugged. “I had to ask. How else will I learn?”
“We all need to think about this,” Tarrant pointed out. “In the meantime, Nic be careful if you’re attracted to any woman.”
“I’m attracted to many women,” he quipped.
“Don’t be an ass.” Ezra leaned forward, his fingers touching the edge of the phone. She thought he wanted to reach out and touch his friend. “You be extra careful. If I have to rescue you from the Knights, I won’t be pleased.”
“Maybe I’ll come for a visit. Meet the lovely Sam in person.”
Ezra growled, the low rumble vibrating through the floor and up her legs. “You’re always welcome.”
Sadness tinged Nic’s laugh. “But not as welcome as I was before.”
Ezra shook himself. “No. You’re always welcome. Come and meet my Sam.”
A shiver of longing snaked down her spine at the possessiveness in his tone. She could tell he was concerned for his friend. She took the few steps necessary to bring her to his side. She rubbed his shoulder, and he leaned into her.
“I will. Not sure how soon I’ll get there, but soon.”
“Watch for Knights,” Tarrant reminded him. “Ezra’s neck of the woods is going to be lousy with them for the next while.”
“Do you think they’ll buy the whole boat wreck and lost at sea scenario?” Darius asked. “For both Dexter and Sam?”
“No.” Ezra rubbed his chin across her stomach. Even through her clothing, it sent tingles all the way to her toes. “They’ll send someone to investigate. Several of the high-ranking Knights might send men loyal to them to check things out. Eventually, they’ll have to give up, but they’ll always have one eye open for Dexter and for Sam.”
And wasn’t that a happy thought? Sam was tired of the Knights and their deadly games. She wanted to spend time alone with Ezra
and learn more about him. She wanted some semblance of a normal life, whatever the new normal was going to be.
“You two must be exhausted,” Darius pointed out. “Best to get some rest.”
“I doubt they’ll sleep just yet.” Nic chuckled. She couldn’t take offense since he was probably right.
“Let me know if you hear anything.” Ezra was watching her now. The heat from his gaze was warming her all the way to her soul.
“What about the book?” It was Sarah who reminded them they still had a deadly artifact in the safe in Ezra’s office.
“I think we should destroy it.” As much as it hurt Sam to even think about destroying a piece of history, the book was a threat to Ezra. “It’s too dangerous to simply leave there, even if it is locked away.”
“Do you feel any affects from it?” Sarah asked.
“What do you mean?” She wished she could talk to the other woman, to all of them face-to-face.
There was the briefest of hesitations before Sarah continued. “The book I discovered kept growing in power the longer it was around Darius, around me.”
“Really? You could sense that?” Sarah obviously had talent. “Ezra mentioned you have a gift for psychometry, but I’m not quite sure how that works.”
“He did, did he?” Darius was obviously not pleased.
“Yes, he did.” Sam plunged onward, sensing they were getting closer to learning some things they needed to know. “I can find artifacts, but I have an affinity for those associated with arcane rituals, mythical creatures. It’s like a hum in my blood that gets louder the closer I get.”
“My talent is magnified around books,” Sarah offered.
Valeria cleared her throat. “I can sense danger around me. My instincts tell me when to hide, when to run, basically the best way to deal with it.”
Sam met Ezra’s gaze. Could they have discovered the link that easily? “Maybe that’s it. All of us women have a little something extra, some sort of extra ability that so-called normal people don’t have.”
“What do you think?” Ezra asked the others.
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