Chapter 27
Chapter Twenty-Seven
FIONA
B y the time I’m cleaned up and finally eating Connor’s pancakes, I’m absolutely ravenous. And sore. Every second of making love to Connor is worth it, but my lady bits have taken a beating. I shift in my seat a few times before putting another bite of pancake in my mouth.
“Is sex always going to be like this?” I squirm again. “Don’t get me wrong. I love it. But every time with you has been fucking intense. I’m pretty sure we left bruises.”
Connor’s cheeks lift with his crooked smile. “I keep telling myself I’m going to take my time with you, but whenever I touch you, it’s like…” He just shakes his head.
“A forest fire,” I say. “All the kindling goes up at once and the heat is too overwhelming, impossible to control.”
“Fire signs. I warned you.” He laughs. “Next time. Next time we’ll take it slow. ”
I bite my lip. “For the sake of my human flesh. Please.”
He takes a sip of his coffee. “If you do have bruises, they won’t last long. Dragon energy has healing powers. The longer you stay with me, the stronger you’ll become. Human mates are rarely, if ever, sick, and when they do catch something it’s usually because their dragon mate has been away.”
I stop eating, the implications hitting me directly in the solar plexus. “Are you saying my fibromyalgia?—?”
“No,” he says quickly. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have given you false hope. Dragon energy heals, but fibro isn’t like an injury. It comes from within. My presence will help you recover faster and be more resilient to your triggers, but it won’t cure you.”
“Oh.” I can’t help the disappointment in my voice, but then he’s a dragon, not a magic wand.
He reaches over and brushes a knuckle along my jaw. “Hey, there’s not much data on this specific scenario. Maybe it will be better. Less frequent.”
I frown slightly. “Better is good.”
We’re interrupted when then the front door opens and Bones bounds toward us. Zaire calls from the foyer, “Is everyone dressed? If I spend another minute outside with Bones, I’m going to need a tent.”
“Yes!” we both call in unison.
Zaire glances between me and Connor as he loads his plate from the tower of remaining pancakes. “Please just wait until I’m done eating.”
It’s all I can do to stifle my laughter.
The dragons arrive at nine, starting with a tall, dark, and stylish man whom Connor introduces as Seb. I learn that Seb owns a record label with offices in New York and LA. Unlike Connor, who has a sort of rugged and wild quality about him, everything about Seb is highly groomed. Not a single dark hair betrays its marching orders, and the midnight-blue velvet jacket he wears falls smooth over a long, lean physique. There’s something lethal about him for sure. The dragon occasionally manifests when his conversation with Connor becomes heated, but he’s less stocky than my mate, more ballet dancer than bouncer, and from the moment he shakes my hand with a smile so smooth it gleams, I realize that physical grace extends to his personality.
Remus is something else altogether. The tattoo artist slips into the room like a shadow and gives me a quiet smile when we’re introduced. His brown eyes twinkle with a kindness that belies the devil tattoo laughing at me from his biceps. And when he joins the others in the living room, he doesn’t sit but lingers near the fire, easily overlooked next to Seb’s flashy and illustrious presence.
Ellison arrives last, and I immediately feel the tension his presence causes Connor across our bond. It’s easy to see why. His suit and tie are freshly pressed although it’s late in the day, as if a wrinkle wouldn’t dare to crease the man’s clothes. He’s uptight and formal. When he briefly shakes my hand, he seems hurried and a bit cool. Oddly, I don’t get the sense that it’s anything personal. My intuition tells me he’s just an asshole to everyone, a villain in Versace, a demon to anyone who dares oppose him.
When he enters the room, the entire mood changes, from a happy reunion to a formal meeting. Seb starts to fidget. That muscle in Connor’s jaw is jumping like someone plugged it in. And Remus, although I wouldn’t have thought it possible, blends even more into the shadows beside the fire.
I cross my arms and pop out a hip. I’ve dealt with men like this before. Ellison Weber will not succeed in intimidating me. I station myself in the archway between the foyer and the living room, outside the circle of dragons, and wait for them to start.
“Maybe we should go somewhere more private,” Ellison says, tipping his head in my direction. “After all, this is an official meeting of the four.”
“Anything you tell me, she’ll know anyway,” Connor says. “She’s my mate. She stays.”
Glances are exchanged but no one challenges him. I stay put.
“Right,” Seb eventually mumbles. “Congratulations.”
Remus nods in my direction.
“Yes, congratulations,” Ellison adds, brushing invisible lint from his sleeve. “As happy as I am for you, I presume this mating has caused some complications?”
Connor recaps what’s happened and the message exchange on my laptop.
Ellison speaks first. “Let me get this straight. He’s contacted her and told her to be ready. Nothing more? No instructions or time frame?”
“Exactly,” Connor says .
“That doesn’t give us much to go on,” Ellison says. “My advice is to move her. Hide her somewhere else. Take her off-world if you have to.”
Seb smooths his jacket. “He can’t take her off-world, not without the Oracle’s permission. And he can’t get that permission while she’s in seclusion.”
“Roman has eyes everywhere. If he’s traced the connection and knows she’s here, he’s probably watching the place. It’s not safe to move her,” Connor says.
“Sorry, Connor, but it’s not just about keeping Fiona safe,” Seb interjects, leaning forward in his chair with a gleam in his eye. “This is our opportunity to lure Roman or one of his cronies onto dragon property. If we do that, we can capture and question him. We want information. He has it. Fiona is the perfect worm to catch that fish. When will we have another chance like this?”
Connor tenses. He does not like them referring to me as bait, but he holds his tongue, although I sense the strain it takes to do so. Part of him must know that it’s a good strategy, although every instinct in his body hates the idea.
Remus clears his throat, and they all turn to look at him. His hands are in the pockets of his dark jeans, his white T-shirt glowing in the firelight. “It’s the best thing we’ve got. Stefan hasn’t responded to our ultimatums, Donovan is MIA. If Roman tells her to be ready, then he’s coming or sending someone for her soon. No one has died since Lucy, but everyone’s on high alert. I’m hearing stories from dragons in my shop about humans getting real personal all of a sudden. There’s something brewing, something we’re not seeing.”
“Real personal, like they’re trying to determine if they’re dragons?” I ask softly. Connor nods.
Ellison crosses his legs at the ankle. “The problem we’re facing is that vague feelings of being targeted are not a violation of the peace accord. And we still have no proof that Lucy was killed by the Order. What we do know, what the Order has evidence of...” He points at Connor. “...is that you stole the man’s fiancée. Legally, we broke the accord. Luring him here and capturing him isn’t going to go over well.”
Ellison’s tone isn’t unkind but it is terse. I get the sense that he’s simply interpreting the letter of the law as it pertains to the accord, but everyone, especially Connor, bristles.
Connor waves a hand through the air dismissively. “You know damn well that if they didn’t kill Lucy, we would have been given an explanation by now. They’ve gone dark because they’re guilty.”
Seb raises both hands. “All of this is moot. It is what it is. We’re here, and as Remus suggests, we’ve no better option. Now that Connor has mated her, we need to protect her, and if Roman is dumb enough to step foot on dragon property, it would be stupid for us not to seize the opportunity, accord or no accord.”
“This would be a great time for the Oracle to come out of seclusion,” Remus mumbles.
Ellison groans. “So, what are we looking at logistically? Should we take shifts? A few days each? I’ll need to work around my cases.” Ellison pulls his phone from his pocket and starts thumbing through his calendar.
“You’ll stay as long as it takes!” Connor barks. “I don’t give a fuck about your law firm. You’re a warrior first. This is her life we’re talking about.”
“And the peace accord between humans and dragons,” Ellison retorts like he believes everyone in the room is losing sight of that fact. “We’re going to protect her, Connor, but unlike your restaurant, I don’t have a staff that can take over all my cases in my absence. There are practicalities?—”
I push off the wall and take a step toward them, spreading my hands. “Why don’t I just respond to his message and find out when he’s coming?” I offer, because I sure as hell can’t stand by while the tension continues to grow between these two. Connor’s in charge, and if it was up to him these three would be guarding me twenty-four seven. But I’m not their only priority. Each of them has a life outside the brotherhood as well as an entire species to protect.
Connor growls, the bond between us going taut with his annoyance.
When all four dragons are looking at me, I say, “I can ask Roman for more details. Tell him to hurry. I mean, if you want to use me as bait, it won’t hurt to chum the water.”
“You’ll have to be careful how you word it. He’ll be suspicious,” Remus says.
I shrug. “Let’s just do it now.” I turn to go get my laptop and Connor is behind me, following me into the hall and all the way down to my room where we left it .
“What are you doing?” he asks.
“Going to get my laptop.”
“You know damn well that’s not what I mean.”
I grab the laptop off my desk. “Then what do you mean?”
“You’re involving yourself. Putting yourself in danger.”
I roll my eyes. “Roman is not going to jump through the screen, Connor. All I’m doing is messaging him back.”
He grinds his teeth. “I don’t like it.”
I push past him. “It will be over soon.”
I stride back into the living room with my dragon mate hovering behind me and lift the screen. After logging in, I navigate to the message that says to be ready. With four dragons looking over my shoulder, I type: Please, Roman. I can’t stay a prisoner here any longer. I’m going crazy. Please tell me you’re coming soon.
“How’s that?” I ask.
Remus rubs his chin. “Tell him you don’t know how long you’ll have access to Messenger. If you don’t respond, it’s because you’ve been caught or are dead.”
“Good idea.” I add that to my message and hit Send.
We wait. The three dots appear.
“Jesus, that’s fast,” Seb says.
“It’s his personal phone.”
The message comes through : Can you reach the southern border of the property at 4pm tomorrow?
I’ll try, I respond.
“Fuck,” Connor says behind me.
“What? What’s on the southern border? ”
“The lake. And it’ll be the damned hardest to defend,” he says.
“Why?” I ask.
Ellison gives me my answer. “We need for Roman, or whoever he sends for you, to touch ground on dragon property in order to be justified in taking them prisoner. Water is neutral territory. If he comes by boat, we can’t do a thing unless he docks and comes inland.”
“Hmm. Then for this to work, I’ll have to lure him to shore somehow.” I’m about to share some ideas I have to do just that when my body is yanked out of my seat and thrown over Connor’s shoulder.
“Meeting adjourned,” he grits out.