11. Chapter 11
Izzy fumbled with her glasses and avoided Daxton’s devouring gaze. Heat rose to her cheeks as she stood in the hallway of her cabin, a packed duffel bag hanging from her shoulder and the journal Daxton gave back to her held tightly against her chest.
Fotios’s voice whispered in her mind, “I thought the plan was to break the link. Not lust after him.”
Right. Breaking the link was why she agreed to go with him.
Daxton cleared his throat. “Ready to go?”
“Almost.” She maneuvered around the stacks of books and stowed her bag and Cornelius’s journal on the dining room table.
Daxton stood behind her as Simon headed around the stacks out of Daxton’s sight. Simon’s gloved fingers were raised to avoid any collisions while he carried a syringe. He gave a pointed look toward Daxton. Izzy noted Simon’s perspiring forehead and shaking hands.
Her body tensed. Simon asked to test his blood, not assault him. She leaped forward and grabbed Daxton’s arms, intending to move him if her command didn’t stop Simon.
“Don’t be a fool. I told you to ask,” she said, head angled around Daxton to glare Simon down.
Simon’s shoulders drooped, and he frowned. “Way to ruin it. He almost punched me. I’m owed retribution.”
“Almost hurting one another is not right.”
Flexing muscles under her grasp caught her attention, and she looked up. Daxton’s smiling face was inches from hers.
Her heart jolted in her chest. The magnetic pull strengthened, and she jerked her hands away.
“Thanks for the rescue,” Daxton murmured. “But the stench of fear gave him away the moment he came up the stairs. Now, what was he planning?” He looked over his shoulder.
“He wants a blood sample for our research,” Izzy said. “That’s what I dreaded might happen if I allowed your kind to guard Simon. He already pulled blood from me when I returned to try to physically test for the link.”
“Ahh…” Daxton remained calm, his face stoic. “You have guts,” he said to Simon.
“I hoped Izzy would play along. Maybe say something mean to get some blood vessels pumping, I guess.”
She stepped away from Daxton. “Even with your expertise, trying to get a sample like that would have been risky and messy.”
“Expertise?” Daxton asked.
“He went to medical school with me. He can make a blood draw quick and relatively painless.”
“What about you?” Daxton asked Izzy.
She swallowed the bundle of nerves lodged in her throat. “I’m adequate enough.”
He held out his arm to her. “Let’s see, then.”
The ringing in Izzy’s ears drowned out Simon’s surprised exclamation.
Why was Daxton being so compliant? Was there nothing abnormal in his blood? And why were her hands quivering?
“I don’t have gloves,” she said.
“I’ll let only you do it,” Daxton replied.
“We’re the same size.” Simon dug into his pockets and produced an assortment of wrapped supplies along with another pair of individually packaged gloves.
Dazed and trembling with the need to detach from her overwhelmed human body, she tugged on the small-sized gloves Simon handed her and grabbed the syringe.
“You’ll need to sit down.” Simon pulled out one of the table chairs.
Daxton sat and rolled up his sleeve. Simon wrapped a large rubber band around Daxton’s upper arm as a tourniquet.
Izzy found the bulging muscles distracting, so she met Daxton’s eyes to find his pupils dilated. The protruding veins in his neck further showed a fight-or-flight response.
“Are you scared of needles?” she asked.
He swallowed. “My other side. It doesn’t react well to this kind of sharing.”
“You said your other side was instinct, right? Then fear will only make your control worse. Let’s try something else. Close your eyes, breathe deep, and exhale through thinly pursed lips.”
She returned his questioning look with a pointed one. “We’re going to convince your body and your dragon you’re safe.”
He didn’t seem convinced, but he did as she said.
After a few breaths, she added. “Concentrate on the feel of the sensation beneath your feet. The air between your fingertips as you continue breathing.” She gave him a few more examples to focus his concentration, and when his body loosened, she knew the meditation was taking effect.
“Now, I’m going to step closer and draw your blood, but I want you to focus on the air. What does it smell like?”
As she stepped forward, her own nerves bubbled under the surface.
Izzy had taken blood many times, even from herself.
Despite what happened in the hospital with her mom…
a syringe was just a syringe. Why was this any different?
Taking a deep breath, she listened to her own advice and wiped her mind except for the task at hand.
Excited tingles ran up her palm from touching his warm skin.
Her airway felt constricted. His other hand opened, and his shoulders slumped as if further soothed by her touch.
Even with shaking hands, she withdrew his blood efficiently. Finished, she handed Simon the blood-filled tube and pressed gauze against the bleeding wound before bending Daxton’s arm to hold it in place. Daxton’s eyes fluttered open and held her with a reverence that made her heart jump.
“Thank you, Dr. Izzy,” Simon said before beelining for the tower.
“Did that feel better for you?” she asked.
Daxton swallowed and nodded. “I didn’t expect that to work.”
“Sometimes it’s best to try something new. Was there a reason you wanted me to do it?” She headed to the table to tear off a piece of medical tape.
“Your touch is calming to…that side of me. Another mystery I don’t understand.”
“You make me nervous,” she said, straightening his arm to tape the gauze into place. Her fingers lingered over his soft arm hair.
“You block the nerves out well. That was efficient.”
“I don’t like emotions, and you make me feel.” She collected the trash from the table and walked into the kitchen.
“I won’t apologize for that.”
She held in a smile.
“I would have told you what you wanted to know about my blood,” he said.
“Frankly, data might tell me more than you can.” Especially about your cell division abilities and their link to your immortality. She threw the items away.
Daxton deflected the pride-blowing implication behind her words with a saucy grin. His lack of ego impressed her.
“Since it’ll be days before I can get results from Simon…and my curiosity is getting the better of me,” she said. “What do you know about your DNA?”
Daxton shook his head as he chuckled. His easy laughter, so unexpected from such a large, domineering man caused a bubbling sensation in her chest. Her lips wanted to rise into a smile, but she ignored the temptation.
“I’m no specialist, but from what I’ve learned, nothing in our blood raises red flags,” he said. “The dragon is more of a spirit entity that can present itself biologically when needed.” His irises appeared like capsules of flowing liquid bronze.
A touch caressed the shield she’d built between them. She shivered. A spirit dragon sounded much like a Fallen. “Do you shift, or do you split into it like I can with my spirit?”
“We share flesh.”
She craved to watch him shift, even as terrifying as her encounter with his dragon had been.
She licked her lips. “No extra chromosomes?”
“Sorry to disappoint, my little Flemming.”
His endearment wrapped around her mind. The correct name-drop of a pivotal scientist in chromosome research made her cross her arms in front of her like a shield. The attraction bubbling in her chest turned chaotic.
He not only had brawn but also brains. How unfair.
“What about you?” he asked.
“I’m every bit as human as the next person.” A vexing discovery for her after she learned how to compare DNA sequences toward the end of her previous life in the 1980s.
“Boringly so,” Simon said from behind them, making her turn. He breathed heavily, which wasn’t a surprise since the specimen refrigerators were in the basement under the tower.
“Did you remember to pack the charger and your phone?” Simon walked to Cornelius’s journal atop her duffel bag and lifted the cover.
You’re too curious for your own good, Simon. As Daxton hadn’t given her permission to share the knowledge of his kind with Simon, she closed the journal on his finger. “Yes, thank you.” Worry scratched at her throat. “Are you sure you don’t want to come?”
He pulled his finger back with a dramatically limp wrist. “You mean head toward danger instead of staying here on lockdown with our fancy instruments, doing research?” He paused. “Yes. I’m positive.”
She’d also rather be staying put, but her research could continue with studying dragon history. “Daxton, did you give him the emergency contact?” She eyed Daxton over her shoulder, and he nodded. She faced Simon. “Are you good supply-wise?”
Simon sighed. “Let’s be clear—if it weren’t for me, we’d be nutrient-deprived, morale-compromised, and one algorithm away from cannibalism.”
She smiled. Sometimes his dramatics got the better of her. “I suppose you’re correct on that one.”
Daxton gaped at her, eyes wide as if she’d transformed into royalty. She covered her smiling mouth and avoided his gaze. Her smile wasn’t worth gawking at.
“Before you go…” Simon said to Daxton. “Are you willing to pay for my storytelling amazingness…my manga?”
“My blood should be payment enough, but what’s your price?”
“Whatever cash you have in your wallet will suffice.” Simon pulled the book from behind him.
Glancing at Daxton, she observed the musings of a gambling expression on his face: eyes narrowed and lips cocked in a grin. He didn’t bother to pull out his wallet.
“How do you know I’m even carrying cash?”
Simon shrugged. “You seem like the type to be prepared.”
“All right. Deal.” Daxton stuck out his hand as if he didn’t care how much cash he had.
Simon strode forward and pumped Daxton’s hand enthusiastically. Hands still clasped, he presented Daxton with the manga as though awarding him a diploma. “Good. That’ll be four hundred and seven dollars.”
“Where did that number come from?” Daxton asked.
Simon yanked a mahogany leather wallet from his back pocket.
Izzy palmed her flaming cheeks. “Simon, seriously?”
Daxton patted his pockets as if checking whether Simon had stolen anything else before he snatched it back. From his smile, he seemed more impressed than perturbed.
She’d grown accustomed to Simon’s thieving hands long ago.
Over the years, he’d learned to return her possessions right away, so she didn’t say much.
Better to let him enjoy theft as a game, rather than the desperate move it had been when he’d lived on the streets.
She imagined it was why he was so obsessed with the Bubblegum Bandit.
“When?” Daxton removed the cash and handed it to Simon.
“As you entered the door. You were pretty distracted.” Simon turned to Izzy with his boyish grin. “You sure you’re okay with me selling the book?”
She had rarely allowed him to sell any of his accomplishments—part of their contract—but when was the last time she had seen him this happy? “As long as he agrees to share it only with those I deem suitable. It keeps me from having to explain my story.”
Daxton’s serious gaze spoke of honesty. “You have my word.”
She grabbed her items. “Ready to go?”
A warm weight rested on her shoulder—Simon’s hand. “I know there’s research ahead of you, but please take care of yourself.”
She didn’t offer any reassuring smiles. Simon was always adamant about her caring for her human body, but she knew how hard she could push her vessel.
She absorbed the sensation for a moment before she pulled away. “If you have an immediate need of me, call.”
Simon frowned, but gave her a nod, agreeing to use her Angelic name to Summon her if needed.
Unwelcome delusions filtered into her mind. Fotios’s laugh lines were etched onto Simon’s face, and his eyes appeared like Fotios’s dusky blue.
She tugged at the sides of her cardigan and walked away with a frown. Banishing the image back to the locked compartment in her mind, she twisted the door handle. She wasn’t going to lose Simon like she had Fotios, so why had the memories crept up on her?