Chapter 2
Emmett
Elana brought the fork to her mouth, and I gritted my teeth at the soft, decadent moan that came from her as the flavor of the cheesecake hit her tongue.
She was several tables away, but I heard it all the same with my ultra-sensitive dragon hearing.
The sound was something between a sigh and a purr, making my body lock up.
The other guests didn’t matter. Neither did the elaborately decorated ballroom. All I could focus on was the way her throat moved when she swallowed, and the way her tongue darted out to catch a crumb at the corner of her mouth.
Elana might be considered older in human terms, but that didn’t make her any less attractive.
She carried herself with effortless command, her movements so graceful and full of poise that I was immediately mesmerized.
Her once-blonde hair was sprinkled with white, but it framed her delicate features perfectly.
A gold necklace rested on her collarbones, probably borrowed from Desmon’s hoard.
She made the simple act of eating dessert look like weaving a magical incantation.
Her gray-blue eyes sparkled when she opened them, catching the light and outshining the crystal chandeliers overhead.
A smile lifted the corners of her lips. Time had softened her edges, but I was certain that she was once the kind of beauty with the power to stop or start wars.
And her magic? It swirled around her like a vortex, making my dragon want to roll over and expose his belly.
But it wasn’t her beauty or magic I was after.
Human romance wasn’t something I was looking for.
I’d come to the gala for two reasons. The first was to invite Meera and Graham to be Melly’s godparents.
The second was to look for a guardian for my daughter, and after searching far and wide, I’d concluded that my brother’s housekeeper was the ideal candidate.
I hadn’t needed to ask who she was. I’d already known. We’d met on several occasions, though it often led to her glaring at me before squirreling off to some corner of Desmon’s estate.
The woman who’d raised Desmon’s personal wizard wasn’t just his housekeeper; she’d been the wife of a powerful wizard, a wizard who’d drained her magic dry. She’d spent the last two decades hiding from said wizard inside the only place he couldn’t reach: a dragon’s lair.
Her ex-husband was behind bars now, but that didn’t mean she was free from his grasp.
I didn’t miss the glares sent her way coming from the table of WEC wizards across the room.
The WEC, the Wizards’ Elder Council, had only ever seen women as tools to be used, first as a well of magic, and then as a womb to produce more male heirs.
Elana was long out of her fertile years, but every wizard there saw her replenished magic, sparkling irresistibly like a diamond in a sea of coal, and the greed lit up in their eyes.
I wondered if they wanted to help their friend get revenge for his imprisonment, or if they were just after her magic for themselves.
Which was why when one of the men dressed in a tailcoat that looked stuffy and outdated followed Elana as she got up and started out of the grandiose ballroom, I decided to tag along.
I’d come to the Monsters & Magic Charity Gala in my human guise for a reason.
With my aura shielded, most would think of me as nothing more than a man.
They called me the runt dragon for a reason.
My beast was smaller than other dragons when I was younger, and while I’d filled out much since my early days, I was still just a bit smaller than Desmon.
But it hadn’t just been my physical size.
My aura was weaker too. Over time, I’d learned to use that to my advantage.
It made walking amongst humans that much easier, and that meant I was able to steal their ever-changing technology to bolster my strength.
It also made it safer dealing with wizards and others who might wish to trap a dragon. Tonight, it made me appear as nothing more than a man. The ring I wore, infused with magic from my personal wizard, did the rest.
Elana’s first stop was the ladies’ room, and the man milled around outside, eyeing the guard in the hallway. I elected to sit by the fountain and wait. When she stepped out, she didn’t head straight back to the ballroom, but instead stepped out onto the balcony.
The moment I spotted the manticore’s shadow slinking after Elana, I knew trouble wasn’t far behind. Mateo was the head of security here in the museum, and I’d run into him a few times in the past, here and at Desmon’s estate. He noticed me too.
“What are you doing out here?” he demanded, his scorpion tail swishing from side to side. He’d not worn a glamour for the event. His voice was a low growl and menacing, and if I were a mere human, I’d have instinctively stepped back.
His true form was on full display: the muscular lion’s body, the human face twisted into a permanent scowl, and that scorpion tail lashing behind him like a whip. His golden eyes locked onto mine with the same suspicion I felt toward the wizard lurking nearby.
“Is it so wrong to enjoy the spring air?”
“That won’t work with me, dragon. Why are you following Elana?”
I decided not to bother with games. “The same reason you are: protecting her. That wizard doesn’t strike me as the friendly type.”
Mateo’s tail swished harder. “And what is it to you? Why do you care?”
I spread my hands. “I’m a dragon.”
He bared his teeth. “What the hell does that mean?”
“What can I say? I’m simply protecting my future asset. I look after what’s mine.”
The growl that rumbled from his chest vibrated through the air. “Elana is not yours.”
“Not yet.” I held his gaze, unflinching. “But I intend for her to be my daughter’s governess. And a dead governess can’t do much teaching, now can she?” I shrugged. “So to my dragon, I’m protecting my future asset.”
Mateo’s claws flexed, digging into the stone railing.
For a second, I thought he might actually lunge at me.
But then his tail stilled, and his head tilted to the side.
Sounds came from his headset, but all I heard was a bunch of gibberish.
There must be some magic at work here, preventing me from listening in.
His expression shifted. “Your daughter, uh,” he said, surprisingly with a sudden change in focus. “So Omelet is a girl.”
“Omelet?”
“That’s what Seth and I called the egg.”
I frowned, considering how close my child had been to getting scrambled during her misadventures before hatching.
I hadn’t even known she’d existed at the time.
Melantha’s mother, a cruel and wily she-dragon, had tricked me out of my genetic material.
Then she’d gotten herself spelled into a one-hundred-year sleep after losing a challenge.
I’d known about the stolen DNA and had orchestrated her punishment myself by furtively assisting my brother win the bet.
I just hadn’t known about the already-incubating egg.
The moment I’d seen it in that video, cradled in the human named Meera’s arms, I’d known that there was no way I could get rid of it.
My life had changed that instant. I’d never considered having a child, but now that she existed, I knew I’d do anything to protect her.
And so, fatherhood had been thrust upon me with no warning. And I was completely out of my element.
“You called my daughter Omelet?”
The manticore shrugged his giant lion’s shoulder.
“We didn’t know it was a girl. I guess it’s ‘Omelette’ now.
” He grinned, and it wasn’t a pretty sight, unless you had a thing for sharp teeth and canines.
His eyes drifted over to the man who was even now disappearing back through another door into the museum.
“Since you’ve got this, I’m heading back to the ballroom. Elana better return in one piece.”
He left and I followed Elana and the wizard, all while wondering what the catch was and what was said to Mateo privately through his headset. Had it been Desmon?
But there was no time to ponder that now because the wizard was following Elana across the balcony. She hadn’t been the only one to decide to take a walk out here after the dessert and before the raffle. The balcony was filled with people gazing westward toward the setting sun.
Elana was walking faster now, clearly aware that she had a tail. She stepped back into the museum through the next set of double doors. Sure enough, the man followed her through.
The little witch continued down the hallway and turned a corner.
I followed behind the man, and he didn’t once notice me.
Sure, I had my ring which hid my aura, but a wizard of his caliber should at least be wary of his surroundings in general.
Was he so enamored with her magic, so greedy to get his hands on her power, that he couldn’t look away?
What did the idiot think he could do in a place like this? It was swamped with guards and cameras.
I wondered if Elana noticed me. If she did, she didn’t give it away.
She stopped under a spot of light just outside of an archway to one of the museum exhibits. A camera above her head was pointed right at her spot. She turned with a glare at the man with her arms crossed.
The fire in her eyes was mesmerizing.
She spoke softly, but the threat in her voice was unmistakable. “What the hell do you want?” Her magic danced around her, sparkling like a warning.
The man stepped back, as if stunned. And the way the wizard hesitated, you’d think he’d never heard a woman speak before.