Rex (Dakota Kekoa Book 2)

by Rita Stradling

  My grandfather walked ahead of us, down the stairs and into the hearth room. “Through there, you can have an hour to talk alone and settle any remaining business between you.” He didn’t look at us as he said it, and I could see a twinge of a blue sadness wafting through the edges of his giant soul.

  Wyvern stiffened beside me, but he didn’t say anything and let me lead him into the private hearth room. Once we were inside, I slowly turned toward him and looked up into his beautiful pale face.

  “If you’re asking me to be in a contract with you again, I’m going to have terms.” He gave me a wide, closed-mouth grin.

  I burst into tears.

  “Dakota,” Wyvern said, pulling me into him.

  I pushed my cheek against his shoulder. “Why didn’t you tell me about your father telling the other dragons and that everyone was threatening us?”

  His hand caressed down the side of my hair. “I should have. I meant to. I was planning on telling you but… I didn’t. I knew that you would just use it as another thing to push me away.”

  “Yeah, but Wyvern, I almost lost my sister, uncle, and grandfather because of it. I almost lost you because of it.”

  He didn’t say anything, just continued to hold me.

  “While you were dying, there was this string of soul between us, tugging on my chest like I could literally feel you dying.”

  After a minute he said, “I knew that there were risks, but I’m selfish, and I didn’t want to give you up.”

  “I’m selfish, too. And I don’t want to give you up either.”

  “But you’re going to.”

  “But I have to. We’d be stupid to stay together just to die while we’re teenagers for nothing.”

  “I’ve always thought of myself as rather stupid.” He leaned back to give me a small grin.

  “I’m pretty stupid, too.” I huffed out a laugh.

  His hand came up to cup my cheek. “So you’ll stay with me?”

  I shook my head. “Not officially. Actually… I think we need to make it very public that we’re not together.”

  “Can I still do this, but not officially?” He kissed me gently on the lips. I met his kiss hungrily.

  Wyvern grabbed onto me, his arms wrapping so tightly around me I could barely breathe, but I no longer wanted to. I wanted to breathe him. His lips were not gentle on mine, nor were mine on his.

  He led me back to the couch, kissing me all the way there. He sat down, pulling me onto his lap. And I savored every second, the taste of his lips on mine, the feel of his hands in my hair, and then squeezing round my back. My hands slowly moved over his buzz cut hair, then down to his back.

  “I love you, Dakota, so crazy much. And I don’t want you to leave me,” he whispered onto my lips.

  “I don’t want to leave you. I don’t think I ever really did. But… we need to do it, publicly.”

  He leaned back his head to look up at me. “Publicly.”

  “I think we both have to get into contracts with other people. We need to put on a show of not being together so that everyone forgets.”

  He exhaled heavily and pressed his forehead into mine. “That sounds particularly distasteful. And I definitely don’t appreciate the idea of you doing this with anyone else… me either, for that matter.”

  “I’m not suggesting we do this with other people.” I leaned down and kissed him. “I was thinking more along the lines of the contract you had with Jezebel, a favor from a friend.”

  “Who would you be in a contract with?”

  I swallowed. “Someone from Regina Imogen’s family.”

  His eyes widened. “You’re not serious?”

  “I am. They made it clear that that’s what they want, and my family needs that particular alliance right now.”

  “Dakota, their contracts are different than ours. Do you know what that would mean?”

  My brow furrowed. “What?”

  “They feed on their intended… it’s in their contracts that they have the right to feed on you.”

  I swallowed, then looked away. My voice came out quiet and breathy, “Wyvern my family needs that contract right now. I can’t prove it. Your father forbade me to mention it. But I don’t think my younger sisters and I are going to survive much longer if we don’t have that particular alliance.”

  He hugged me to him, and we were both silent for a few minutes just watching the fire.

  “Harrison,” Wyvern said, interrupting our silence.

  “Huh? Harrison, what?”

  “Your contract should be with Harrison.”

  I shook my head. “I was actually thinking any brother but him.”

  He leaned back to look at me. “I think he’s the best—the only—choice. He would do it for me if I asked him. He would probably even help us be together, cover for us.”

  I looked away. “I think that might be a little… awkward.”

  “I don’t trust any other of the Regina’s brothers to feed on you. Harrison is respectful, he would do what he had to keep up the pretense of the contract while making sure to not compromise your honor.”

  I smacked Wyvern’s arm, making him give the barest of grins up at me.

  “Seriously?” I whispered, shaking my head.

  “I obviously do not like the idea of you being in a contract with anyone but me, and I definitely don’t like the idea of anyone feeding on you, but if you want to do this, please let it be with someone I trust.” He kissed me again, gently.

  I pulled back to examine him. “Who will you ask for your contract?”

  “Hmm… that’s a good question. She can’t be too tall, nice legs—”

  When I poked him, he just grinned at me.

  “You are so violent today,” he whispered.

  “You deserve it.”

  “You know you’re still going to have to be my date for several parties.”

  I cringed. “No, I forgot. Looks like I’m going to have to cancel—”

  “Nope.”

  “But, I—”

  “No.”

  I rolled my eyes. “Fine. But we’re going to have to act like friends only.”

  “Good that we have so much experience at that.”

  “As in, you are terrible at that.”

  Wyvern leaned back to smile at me, but the smile fell. “We don’t have much time left.”

  “And I haven’t told you anything about what happened.”

  “I think I know a little. That’s actually what took me so long to get here. Sophie turned herself in and so did Annie and Brian.”

  “Sarah?”

  “Is gone.” Wyvern’s lips pursed. “They won’t give any information on her so far. However, Sophie did give me the stone.”

  “What? Really?” I scurried off his lap to sit beside him. “Wait so, she gave it to you, or she brought it to attack you?”

  “Gave it to me. Sophie also gave up all the information she had on it. She explained about you confronting her in the car, then about how she knew her sister was the traitor all along and how she let her sister attack me. It seems the other guards played their part unwittingly, but they now both refuse to give up Sarah’s location. While they claimed to have no involvement in Sarah’s plot, they are obviously more loyal to her friendship than to me.”

  “What are you going to do with the gemstone?”

  “My father ordered me to give it to your grandfather. I already delivered it to him.”

  “You saw your father?”

  “Yes, I—” Wyvern reached out and took my hand in his. “Could we talk about all this when we’re with your grandfather? I only have a few minutes left with you.”

  “Okay.” I leaned in close to him, giving him a light kiss.

  We stretched out on the couch, just holding each other, and kissing. By the time there was a knock on the door, my lips were bruised, and my face stained with tears.

  I had never been very good with expressing my feelings, but I let a little of my emotions slip from my f
ingers and into Wyvern.

  He looked at me, understanding in his eyes. “Me too,” he whispered.

  The knock came again.

  He kissed me gently once, and then we went to get the door.

  Chapter Thirty-five

  I looked on at the small innocuous cuff-link sitting in a case fortified with six layers of something that looked like glass but probably wasn’t.

  “Doesn’t look like much, does it?” Bobby’s rail thin arm came around me. Though his hug felt very different, his soul wrapping around me felt exactly the same.

  Lorelei leaned in over the case, while still keeping her distance. She’d gone through the lava portal in Waibibi three days ago, though she still wore dampeners in both of her healed ears. Lorelei had flown in three days ago—the same day Wyvern had flown out. My mother, Stacy and Deagan had chosen to stay at court to ‘support Clara’, which was fine by me as they were all probably a lot safer there.

  Lorelei looked back at Bobby and me. “I can’t believe you’re doing this.”

  “You felt it too, Lorelei,” I whispered. She had tried to tell me from the day that I’d gotten her out of the boat, but I hadn’t given her an opportunity to do it privately. The Regina had a piece of our father’s soul in her.

  “That’s why you’re doing this?”

  “No… not all of it, but I—”

  My grandfather walked into the room, and we fell silent. A few steps behind him my cousin Ashley followed. Her too-perfect nose was stuck in the air while her too-perfect lips pursed into a smug look.

  My grandfather stopped before us and the case that was sitting on his long dining room table. “I am going to have this moved to the hoard today, I hope you know. I do not like this fascination you all show for the Mortemgemma.”

  Bobby laughed. “I just never thought I’d be taken down by a teenage girl with a shiny stone.”

  My grandfather grinned. “With the company you keep here, I would think you would not underestimate them.”

  “That’s a good point.” Bobby squeezed me, and then put an arm around Lorelei and squeezed her too.

  My grandfather turned to me. “I am reassigning you. Ashley will take your place in securing the alliance with Oceania. You will have a short contract with one of the sons of an ally instead.”

  I swallowed, squeezing my eyes shut. When I was able to keep my cool, I met my grandfather’s gaze.

  He was watching me patiently and expectantly.

  “May I object?” I asked him.

  “I will hear your objection.” He nodded.

  “It needs to be me.”

  “It needs to be anyone from the family. Ashley is trained in both romance and in espionage. She is also not a particular target of the Vrykolakas. I’ve concluded she is a better fit for this assignment.”

  Behind him, I could see that Ashley was fighting a smile.

  “The Regina doesn’t want Ashley, she wants me.”

  “I have no interest in what the Regina wants. Imogen has been trying to arrange a contract between our families for centuries. I will make some economic concessions and that will be the end of it.”

  “I need this, Grandfather. The Vrykolakas went after my dad and is so hell bent on killing all of us. I need to know how to stop him.”

  “It needs to be found out, but you do not need to be the one to do it. You will be among the first to receive the information when Ashley acquires it.”

  I looked into his eyes. “Please.”

  He looked at me for a long time, and though his expression showed nothing, I could see an entire world of thoughts behind his eyes.

  “I’ll make any concession you want. I’ll take Ashley… or anyone with me. I know I can do this.”

  “You want to deliver yourself into the hands of my greatest enemy.”

  “I’ll be safest in his hands, because if I’m in anyone else’s, he’ll want me dead.”

  No one made a sound as we waited for my grandfather to make his decision. I didn’t take my gaze from my grandfather, and he didn’t take his from my face. Bobby still held me tightly to him, which was as much support as he could really give me without disrespecting my grandfather’s right to decide.

  “It will have to be more than just Ashley who accompanies you, you will need layers of support.”

  I broke away from Bobby and threw my arms around my grandfather. “Thank you.”

  “Dakota, your happiness at the prospect of throwing yourself into enemy hands is only making me rethink my decision.”

  “Sorry, I’ll be miserable, I promise,” I said, pulling back.

  My grandfather shook his head. “Lorelei, as you are not part of this assignment, you are dismissed.”

  “Yes, Grandfather,” Lorelei said before immediately walking out of the dining room my grandfather used for smaller occasions.

  My grandfather went over the revised mission, and when he was finished, we switched position. I was instead under my grandfather’s arm, and Ashley under Bobby’s.

  “You will have no warning to abort the mission, so be prepared to be teleported at any moment.”

  Ashley and I both nodded.

  “You two will take lead in this, Dakota and I will be right behind you.” My grandfather looked at the watch on his wrist, then nodded to Bobby.

  In a blink, Ashley and Bobby were gone.

  My grandfather turned to look down at me. “I have something for you.” Out of his pocket, my grandfather pulled out a small purse. It had a sheen I immediately recognized.

  “Not… not for me? Are you serious?” When he placed it in my hands, the leather was soft and supple on my fingers. “Is this drake serpent leather? It’s so soft.”

  “It is.” My grandfather reached over and unzipped the purse. “This portal goes to Father’s study instead, though all your items should have already been moved within reach of the portal.”

  I reached in the purse and pulled out Contingency.

  “Awesome.” I drew out the word.

  I placed my gun back inside and felt Wyvern’s scale, my paintball gun and a folded letter. I pulled out the letter.

  It was a thick parchment material that was sealed with a wax seal. I broke open the seal and read the message inside:

  ‘This portal is my gift to you as your last one was irrevocably destroyed by the Wyvern High Rex. Expect many more of these letters. I expect responses.

  With love,

  Pax’

  I laughed a little to myself.

  “You will need to wait to respond as we need to go.”

  “I feel like it would be a travesty to pin this to my pants,” I said, looking at the drake serpent leather purse.

  “He gave it to you to use, my dear.”

  I cringed a little as I stuck a safety pin through something worth more than most of my grandfather’s hotels and pinned it to the back of my pants. “Okay, I’m ready.”

  My grandfather put his arm around me and a second later we were in a bathroom stall. My grandfather hugged me to him as my knees tried to give out under me. When I got my feet, he released me and walked first out of the bathroom stall. I couldn’t see my uncle’s teleporting brand, I never could, but what a smart place to put it…unless it was occupied. I wondered how many bathroom stalls had Bobby’s mark on them.

  Exiting the stall, an empty bathroom decorated all in white, with white blown glass chandeliers over white marble counters greeted me. Though the bathroom was very fancy there was a long line of stalls in it and we were at the very end of the line. My grandfather waited for me and we exited into the empty VIP area of the Crimson Midnight together. Harrison waited just outside, his gaze immediately finding mine as we exited.

  Ashley and Bobby stood nearby, Ashley with a sultry expression fixed on Harrison and Bobby with a friendly one.

  I turned my gaze back to Harrison. “Hey, there.”

  He nodded to me, giving me a slight smile, then he turned to my grandfather.

  My grandfather gave Har
rison a slight bow, which I followed, because if my grandfather did it I definitely had to.

  My grandfather straightened to regard Harrison. “Thank you for meeting us, Princep.”

  “Of course. My sister is eager for this meeting, if you will follow me?”

  We were deeper in the VIP section than I had ever been, and we approached the crimson room from the opposite direction. To my surprise, Benjamin was again guarding the door.

  As he opened the door to the crimson room, he even had the audacity to smile at us as we passed. All of us, except Ashley, did not bow to him.

  It was strange how similar entering the crimson room was to the first time. Again, we entered a space filled with vampire-dracons. Imogen’s brothers lounged on the couch, it was as if they had never moved. Imogen too, was sitting in the same throne-like chair at the end of the fire pit, light from the fire flickering over her face. Her gaze found mine as we walked toward her, she seemed to be looking over my face from forehead to chin, then she met my eyes.

  “She’s healed,” I whispered, shocked, before I could think better of talking.

  The Regina continued to regard me. Her soul was still as large as a half-dragon’s but instead of being an immense cloud of darkness, it was condensed around her.

  She waited until all of us bowed deeply to her to respond. “It was a gift from my ally, the answer I sought for centuries.” Her gaze turned to my grandfather beside me, and I could see white wisps of anger and hate threading through the midnight of her soul.

  My grandfather regarded her coolly, but threads of anger and hate were clear in his soul as well. They had woven years of hate between them until the tapestry threatened to smother us all.

  “Please, sit.” The Regina gestured to the long couch that Bobby had sat on the last time.

  Bobby chuckled. “Good to see that no servers are lurking behind the couch this time.”

  The Regina’s attention moved to my uncle. “It is good to see that you are alive, Robert, if not recovered. My brother tells me that it was a near thing.”

  After taking a seat beside me and my grandfather, he nodded. “Appreciated, and likewise, though you look in much better shape than me.”