Chapter 18
EIGHTEEN
Samantha
My breakfast plate is nothing but syrup and whipped cream. The french toast and bacon have long since been devoured, and I seriously think it might be time to undo my pants and just flop down on my bed until I feel less bloated. Across from me, Granger takes his final bite, and our group seems to be in lazy mode. I have a feeling none of us really wants to go out and search for Malikay and his gang again today.
Dr. Duncan exits the elevator on the other side of the room and hurries to us. As I watch him, I instantly know that today isn’t going to be a relaxing day. He stops in front of our table, and I have a flashback to him in his blue and white striped pajamas, which we’d caught him in during the attack in the night. The thought eases some of the tension inside of me.
“There’s something you should see,” He tells us, combing his fingers through his unruly blond hair.
“That sounds ominous, doctor,” Evander remarks, dropping his napkin on his plate and standing.
We all stand and Granger gives a forced smile. “How come no one ever says, ‘there’s something you should see,’ and then it’s like a giant sundae or a puppy?”
Zane perks up, eyes sparkling. “Later, I shall say those words and show you my cat. Then, you will be happy.”
“Not the cat again!” Aydan groans.
But the truth is, the little girl is growing on us. Although she’s not super cuddly, she’ll now occasionally walk up to us, rub on our leg, then dart away when we try to pet her, so that’s progress. Zane swears up and down that she’s super cuddly with him when we aren’t around, but I’m not sure any of us believe him.
As we head for the elevator, no one says a word. We climb in and go to the surface, hoping not to see any more dead bodies or burned buildings. We’ve experienced enough of both to last us a lifetime.
“Any clues about what we’re going to see?” Granger asks, as we step out of the elevator.
“I think you just have to see it for yourself,” Dr. Duncan says, leading us down the sidewalk, towards the front of Specter Inc.
It’s kind of sad. In every direction, the once-beautiful grass has been burned to a crisp. The view feels like that of the lands after an apocalypse rather than the lovely space it used to be. Evander said he already has plans to replace all the grass, but that fact has been made more complicated because not many contractors want to work next to a bunch of dragons.
Speaking of which… there’s dragons sunbathing by the cliff, dragons in the sky overhead, and dragons playing in the ocean. If Evander wanted to create a sanctuary for them, he’d succeeded.
It takes a few minutes before we reach the gate to the outside of Specter Inc. Dr. Duncan waves his arm, and the security guards open the gates. We all step out together… to see the strangest sight possible: huge solar panels have been tossed into a giant pile in the grass off to the side of the road.
The solar panels shine in the sun, and I let out a little gasp and head toward them. Moving closer, I touch their surfaces, feeling strangely warm inside. Have solar panels always been this pretty?
“What is this?” Aydan asks, wrinkling his nose.
“Did one of our betas do this?” Evander asks, clearly confused.
Dr. Duncan shakes his head. “An unknown dragon piled these here in the early hours of the morning. He wasn’t one of our tracked dragons, but he didn’t attack or cause issues either, so security didn’t inform me about this until this morning.”
“Why would anyone do this?” I ask, stroking the panels, struggling to keep my eyes off of them.
“Is it not obvious?” Zane asks, frowning.
All eyes turn toward him.
After a minute, Granger says, “No, man, we have no idea why a dragon would do this.”
Zane flashes all his teeth in an almost-smile. “The dragon dropped these here to court Sam.”
“To court Sam?” Aydan asks, his voice a mixture of shock and irritation.
Zane nods.
“How would this… court her?” Granger looks as confused as Evander and Aydan.
Zane looks to me. “Female dragons like shiny things. I courted Sam myself by collecting gems and other pretty things I knew she would like.”
All eyes are on me.
“Do you… like these solar panels?” Evander asks, almost in disbelief.
I feel my cheeks grow hot. “I don’t know… they are kind of pretty… and shiny.”
Granger groans. “Now we all have to start buying her shiny things, or she’s going to add a fifth dragon to our group.”
I walk over and slug him in the shoulder. “I’m not that simple-minded.”
“Says the girl who was stroking a solar panel a minute ago,” Aydan mutters.
I respond with a glare.
Zane gives me a look. “If you accept the gift, you are accepting their courtship.”
“Like hell!” Evander says.
Aydan crosses his arms over his chest. “The fuck she will!”
I roll my eyes. “ Obviously , I’m not being courted by another dragon. The four of you are more than annoying enough, I don’t need to add another guy to the list.” My mind starts working. “But who would have done this?”
Zane answers easily. “These gifts came from either Than or Kek. Can’t you smell them on the panels?”
I sniff deeply. There it is. A faint terrible scent, although I can’t tell which of the two the scent belongs to, or if the smell is some combination of the two of them. “Maybe they actually listened to me about trying to win me in a different way, which is a good thing.”
“Except that it’s not going to work,” Aydan says in a bossy tone that makes me glare at him.
“The thing is, I don’t want to accept their gifts, and I also don’t want to discourage them from trying to find their own female in a gentle way. Is there a way to do that?”
We all look at Zane.
“Not that I can think of.”
I frown. “If I could just talk to them without Malikay and Balor, I think I could get through to them.”
Zane suddenly bounces on his feet. “I do think there is one way we could arrange that.”
“What way?” I ask.
He grins.
“Zane…” Evander begins.
“Trust me,” he says sweetly. “It will be fun.”
Famous last words.