by Julie Wetzel
Laying Terra on the soft grass, Alex backed up to look her over. She was unnervingly still. Nuzzling her softly, he drew in a deep breath. The air was free of the tang of blood, but it was filled with a heady concoction of pheromones.
Terra moaned softly as Alex’s snout bumped into her stomach.
Pulling his head back, Alex shook it, trying to clear his mind. He sat down on the grass to think. Terra was alive, but she was also out cold. It had to have been a mixture of the hormones in her system and the adrenaline from their flight. Well, at least now he wasn’t going to have to fight against her reaction to the drugs.
Looking down at her still form, he studied her. Mine! His dragon’s declaration rattled through him so hard it made his teeth clench. That could be an issue. He cocked his head to get a better look at Terra. Warmth and contentment swirled up through him. He let out a deep sigh and shifted back to his human form. There was no fighting it now. Sometime during their harrowing escape, his dragon had laid claim to the woman. A true bonding wouldn’t be complete until he shared a scale with her, but no matter what he did, he belonged to her now.
Bending down, Alex scooped Terra up and headed towards the little cabin. He laughed softly as he stepped onto the covered porch. This was his cabin. Well, it wasn’t exactly his cabin, but it was the one he took care of. Eternity kept a series of small houses across the country, places where their agents could stop and rest as they went about their business. They were free to be used at any time by any agent. The agent was just expected to leave the place the way they found it. There was a special monitoring system that would alert the main office when one of the houses was in use, and they, in turn, would alert the keeper of the house that the building was in use and when the occupant left so it could be checked. It was a very convenient system. And a lot cheaper than constantly paying for hotel rooms.
Alex dropped Terra’s feet to the floor and held her against him as he punched in his code to unlock the key box. Each agent had their own code that would be reported back to the main office. Taking the key, Alex opened the door and carried Terra inside. The cabin was just the way he’d left it on his last inspection—nice and clean.
Crossing the one-roomed cabin, Alex set Terra on the double bed. Carefully, he shifted her around, undressing her. She wouldn’t need his coat or that stupid bag. He paused to look at it. A piece that he had been missing slipped back into place. The bag! He dropped the satchel to the floor and turned back to Terra. His revelation could wait until he had seen her put to bed properly.
Leaving her in just her T-shirt and underwear, he paused to admire her. This was the view he had missed this morning when she had gotten up to shower. He’d been a fool not to appreciate it then. Carefully, he pushed her slightly rumpled hair back from her face as she relaxed in his arms. He wanted to kiss her and hold her against him. To feel her soft flesh against his again. That had been an amazing way to wake up. It would be an even more amazing way to go to sleep. Of course, there were some very vigorous activities he would like to do with her between the time of going to bed and falling asleep, but that would have to wait until later. He still had things to do, and she was in no condition for what he had in mind. Shaking the image away, he pulled her up and tucked her in under the covers.
“Get some rest, love,” he whispered.
Placing a light kiss on her forehead, he stood up and away from her. That was all he was going to allow himself to do until he was sure the pheromones were out of her system. He wanted to make sure their first time together was something special, not rutting driven by a chemical reaction. And definitely not when she was unconscious!
It took him a moment, but he pushed back the thoughts of his mate and turned his mind to what had to be done next. There were still questions he needed to answer. One thing that boggled his mind was the group that was kidnapping dragons. How had they found his home? He was sure he hadn’t been followed from Melanie’s house, but they had showed up awfully quickly after he and Terra had arrived at his place. Could their attackers have been waiting for them? And if so, how would they even know where he lived? That bothered Alex.
Picking up his leather bag, he took it to the dinette table. It was surprising that Terra had still been carrying the thing—he had forgotten all about it. How could I have forgotten about something so important? He laughed at himself. That was the stupidest thing he could have possibly thought after the last two days. He had forgotten most of his life. Of course he could forget about something as small as a bag. No matter how important it was.
Dumping the bag out on table, Alex sifted through its contents. The fact that Terra had added her things to it made him smile. He moved her purse to the side and considered his things. There was the file, a pack of gum, and the silver necklace. Moving the file and gum back to the bag, he considered the necklace. That was the important thing he had forgotten. He couldn’t quite remember how he’d gotten it, but he knew it had something to do with the men chasing him.
He stared at the charm for a long time, trying to remember how he’d acquired it. The memory played with the back of his mind, but he just couldn't get it to come out. The only things he was sure about were that he’d gotten it when he went to check on Melanie, and that the last of his missing dragons was dead. Just like the rest of the dragons in his file.
Reaching out, Alex touched the charm. The sting of magic bit his fingers, but he didn’t pull back. This was why the mystery group was after him, and he needed to find out what it was. Clenching his teeth against the pain, he pressed his hand down over the charm. The longer he touched the metal, the more the energy radiated up his arm. When the pain got too much to handle, Alex pulled his hand away. He could feel his dragon half writhing in agony, as if the magic had tried to tear it out of him. As the power faded, Alex could feel a distance between his two halves—something he had never known. It was weird. Slowly, the sensation subsided, leaving him whole again.
Someone needs to know about this, but who?
Alex turned away from the charm and went to get his phone out of the pocket of his coat. There were fifteen missed calls and as many text messages. And that was just since they had left The Dragon’s Wing. Who the hell could have wanted to get a hold of him so badly? Alex scrolled through the log. Most of the calls and texts had come from one number. Sanders.
Sanders liked to keep a line on the agents under him, but Alex couldn’t remember him ever being this fussy about someone not checking in. Then again, he had never gone missing before. Plus, there had been that whole business with Michael. He had only been missing for a few days before turning back up with Lady Carissa. What a fiasco that had been! The poor man was still on medical leave as he learned to live with his new instincts. And being bonded to the king’s sister probably didn’t make his life any easier.
Alex shook his head as he thought. He couldn’t imagine what Michael was going through. To suddenly have instincts pushing one around would be rather unsettling, but then again, Alex relied on his other half to keep him out of trouble. Most of the time, his dragon made better decisions than he did. Alex glanced over at Terra, asleep on the bed. Hopefully, his instincts had made a better decision than his rational mind when it came to her. Only time would tell.
Letting out a long breath, Alex turned his thoughts back to his phone and the man who had blown it up. Maybe Sanders did have cause to worry, but did he have to disturb everyone in his search for Alex? Brigs had mentioned that the man had blown up everyone’s phones looking for his missing man. Alex held his finger over the call log, ready to return the worried man’s call, but a growl from his dragon stopped him from placing it. Sanders’ worry was way out of proportion for the situation. That didn’t sit right with Alex. Shifting his finger down, Alex called the number that appeared in the call log only once.
“Hello.” Daniel’s voice rolled out of the phone.
“I need to talk with you,” Alex said, getting straight to the point.
There was a long paus
e before Daniel answered him. “Is everything all right, Alex?”
“No,” Alex answered. “There is something seriously wrong, and I need to speak with you, alone, as soon as possible.”
Daniel let another pregnant pause hold the space between them. “All right. Will you be coming here?”
Alex thought about it for a moment as he listened to his dragon. “No,” he said softly. His dragon did not like the idea of going into the main office. Something about that idea raised the hackles on the back of his neck. It was also a fair distance, even by wing, and that would leave Terra unprotected for too long. He didn’t like leaving her at all, but he needed to get this taken care of. “Can you meet me at The Dragon’s Wing?”
“Give me thirty minutes,” Daniel answered and hung up.
Alex let out a relieved sight. He wasn’t sure what had his dragon so up in arms about going back to the main office, but Daniel should be able to help him put things together. Turning to look at Terra, Alex made his decision. He would leave her here. It would be best to let her rest until the hormones were out of her system.
Pulling her phone out of her purse, he entered his number in her address book. That way, she would be able to contact him in case she woke up before he got back. Dropping the phone on the table with a nice note, Alex gathered his things and slipped them into the bag. For a moment, Alex considered the charm on the table. He didn’t want to touch it again, but he needed to take it to Daniel. He needed something he could transport it in—something where he wouldn’t have to touch it when handing it off to Daniel. A quick search of the cabinets came up with a plastic sandwich bag. Perfect. Using a fork, Alex lifted the necklace up and slipped it into the bag. He dropped the sandwich bag into his satchel. There. Now he had everything he needed to sort out what had happened to him. One last check on Terra, and he was ready to go. Hopefully, this trip wouldn’t take him long, and he could be back well before she woke up.
12
“So what’s the problem?” Daniel called out as soon as Alex landed.
Alex paused and looked down at the head of Eternity. He hadn’t even waited for Alex to shift back to his human form before getting started. Usually, Daniel was more patient than that.
“I need your help with something,” Alex answered as he made his way all the way into the barn over The Dragon’s Wing.
“I figured that,” Daniel said as he crossed his arms over his chest and waited for Alex to come closer. “I’ve been on the phone all day, trying to sort out whatever you’ve gotten yourself into. And that’s really hard to do when you don’t know what the issue is.”
“Really?” Alex snorted, amused.
“Yeah,” Daniel said. “I can’t begin to tell you how many complaints I’ve received about Sanders today. Apparently, the man has been harassing every agent in this area, looking high and low for you since yesterday. What have you done to ruffle the man’s scales so badly?”
Alex snorted out another breath and shifted back to human form. “Other than my job? There’s no telling with him,” he said as he closed the distance to the head of Eternity. “You know the man worries about everything. And you really shouldn’t use that phrase with him. He isn’t a dragon.”
Brushing off Alex’s correction, Daniel let out a deep breath. “In light of recent events, he has good reason to worry. A missing agent is nothing to laugh at. Just ask Michael. Sanders hunted me down last night when you didn’t report in. I didn’t know what to think.”
“That I went home with some hot chick and was too busy to check in?” Alex snarked. As it was, he had spent the night with a beautiful woman in his arms, but Daniel didn’t need to know that.
Daniel raised an eyebrow at him. “I might believe that from someone else, but not from you. Besides, I hear tell that there was reason to worry. Brigs said a lady brought you in earlier and you seemed a little… off.” A note of concern crept into Daniel voice. “Are you all right?”
Alex smiled at him. “See, I told you there was a woman involved,” he said as he led the way into the locker room. Letting the sarcasm drop from his voice, he shook his head. “No, I’m not okay.” He glanced back to the man following him. “A lot has happened since yesterday.”
Daniel followed but didn’t press Alex to tell him what had happened. That was one of the things Alex loved about the man. Daniel may ask, but he would sit and wait until you were ready to give up your secrets, even if he were busy.
Drawing in a deep breath, Alex opened up his locker. A wave of things avalanched out of his normally neat space. His eyes opened wide, and he looked up at Daniel. “Something isn’t right.”
Daniel looked down at the mess spilling across the floor. “I can see that.” He paused as he took in the condition of Alex’s things. “Why don’t you get dressed and then tell me what’s happened?”
Nodding, Alex untangled his clothing. Someone had done a very thorough search of his things, and Alex was ready to lay money that they had been looking for the necklace in his bag. But how had they managed to get into The Dragon’s Wing and find his locker? Sure, the main barn door was left open so dragons could come and go in their grand forms, but there had to have been forty lockers in here. How did they know which locker was his?
A horrible thought crossed Alex’s mind. “How many people have access to the solitary dragons list?” Alex looked up at the shocked expression on Daniel’s face. Obviously, the man hadn’t been expecting that question.
“Well,” Daniel said as he thought, “almost everyone in Eternity has access to some part of the list.”
Alex shook his head as he pulled on his shirt. “Not some part. All of it.”
Pausing to think, Daniel watched as Alex got dressed. “Only the king and I have access to the full list.”
“All right.” Alex stood up to face Daniel. “Then who has access to the short list? The one that contains dragons under five hundred years old?”
“What are you playing at, Alex?” Daniel asked.
Alex let out a sigh and pulled the file of missing dragons from his bag. He held it out for Daniel to take. “I’ve been going through the list of missing dragons, trying to find some connection. Some reason they were taken and others weren’t. The only thing they had in common was the solitary dragons list.”
Daniel took the folder, opened it, and flipped through the first few pages, glancing over the work Alex had done. “So you think someone targeted these dragons because they were on the list?”
“Yes,” Alex answered. After much consideration, that was the conclusion he had reached. “I know that different teams are given different parts of the list to work on, and there are only a few of us who have run of the entire list.” Reaching out, he tapped the file in Daniel’s hands. “These dragons come from different sections of the list. So, either we have one person with access to the master list, or many people leaking their individual sections.”
Shock stole across Daniel’s face. He closed the file and gave Alex a grim look. “You know what this means?”
“Someone high in Eternity is helping to kill dragons,” Alex replied, stating the unthinkable.
The look Daniel gave Alex was skeptical.
Alex held his hands out to the mess that had fallen out of his locker. “How else do you explain this? And there were agents waiting for me when I got home. They attacked Terra—”
A horrible thought hit him. Terra! Alex ran his fingers up through his hair, pushing it back from his face. “Oh God! I left Terra at the safe house. Alone!” Grabbing the junk that had fallen out of the locker, he shoved it back in and slammed the door. “I’ve got to get back!”
“Wait!” Daniel grabbed Alex before he could rush back out. “Which house is she in?”
“Mine.” Alex fidgeted as his dragon pushed him to go back to his mate. “The one on Edgewood Drive.”
“Come on.” Daniel practically dragged Alex into the main room of the pub. “Brigs!” he hollered as he went in.
Brigs popped o
ut from behind the bar. “Yeah?”
“Call McGee and get him and a SWAT team over to the rest house on Edgewood Drive. Now! Tell them to expect trouble.”
“Yes, sir!” Brigs answered and disappeared into the back.
Daniel pulled Alex out of building and shoved him into the passenger seat of a truck. “You are going to explain everything that’s happened in the last two days,” he demanded before slamming the door.
Alex nodded his head and tried to focus on the past two days’ events, but the thought of Terra being in danger drove his dragon into a fit. He had to get there to make sure she was okay.
***
The sounds of a door opening pulled Terra from her nap. She moaned in pain as she tried not to wake up. Her head spun, and her stomach didn’t like the motion. Swallowing hard, she tried to bury her pounding head into the pillow.
“He’s not here,” a male voice called.
Terra froze. She recognized that voice.
“But she is,” another voice answered.
Oh God! Terra turned just in time to see a man in black closing on her. It was the same man who had knocked on her front door the day before. Parker! In this outfit, he looked like the mercenary she suspected him to be. Letting out a scream, she scrambled back across the bed.
Parker laughed and pounced on her. “Go ahead and fight,” he said with a smile. “Makes my job more fun.”
Struggling with all her might, Terra tried to get away, but he was larger than she was. It didn’t take him long to have her pinned to the bed.
“Bring me a rope,” Parker called out.
Brett stepped in with a length of rope in his scruffy hands.
Crying out, Terra fought as the men bound her hands and feet. After a few minutes of her screaming, they ripped a section out of the sheet and tied it around her mouth. She looked on, helpless, as they tossed the house, looking for something. They left nothing untouched.