19. Chapter 19
The call took longer than Daxton wanted. It was difficult to listen to the CEO on the phone when Izzy’s abandoned expression made him want to drop everything and stay with her. As he walked back through the greenhouse, Keiran was walking back from the library.
“Is she settling in?” Daxton asked, stopping at the front desk.
“She has Mrs. Renly running in circles.”
Daxton intended to make it up to Izzy for leaving her alone, but if she’d immersed herself in learning already, she might not appreciate the interruption.
The entrance door slammed shut. A hunched Serephina, in unkempt clothing, moped into the room and headed for the coffee machine. Long, blazing-red hair lay in a mass of curls down her leather jacket. She hummed as she poured herself a mug of coffee.
Daxton smiled. Still a night owl.
“You’re late, Serephina,” Keiran said, authority deepening his tone.
Serephina sighed. “I wanted to grab breakfast first. Where’s this person I’m supposed to watch?” she asked in a raspy voice.
Keiran’s setting up a guard for Izzy rubbed his scales raw. He understood Keiran didn’t trust her, but it also felt like a distrust of Daxton’s judgment. At least it’s Serephina.
“Hey there, Blaze,” Daxton said.
Her hand stilled above her cup. She whirled around. With a blast of energy, she ran into his open arms. “Daxton.”
Blaze appeared in her midtwenties, even though she was a century old.
She was still young among the dragons but had wormed her way onto Daxton’s likable list. As older dragons weren’t accustomed to touching, she’d trained him and others to accept hugs by persistent repetition, so he expected the embrace. He wrapped his arms around her.
“I hear you gave Percy a headache.” Her auburn eyes twinkled as she released him.
Keiran shook his head and spoke with his dragon deep in his voice. “You’re a bad influence, Serephina. Why don’t you tell Daxton why you’re on guard duty?”
She bristled, avoiding their gazes. “Where is this chick anyway?”
Keiran sighed. “She’s with the Archives.”
“Why?”
Keiran raised his eyebrows while a crack of dominance punched the air with power and heat. His expression said, “Do your job.”
Her jaw ticked, but she headed to the rear. After a few steps, she veered back for her abandoned mug.
“Can you make sure she gets something to eat soon?” Daxton asked.
Blaze walked past him. “My pleasure.” She gave a fake bow and glared at Keiran as she departed.
“Let’s talk in your office,” Keiran said.
Nerves tingled in Daxton’s chest. This won’t be good.
Once they stepped into the mountain air outside, Daxton asked, “What did Serephina do?”
“She gambled while on duty the other night and lost over five grand.”
Daxton blew out a whistle as he raked his hand over his head. “Wasn’t she doing better when Soren forced her to leave Nevada?”
Daxton had met the twins’—Silas and Soren—baby sister, Serephina, in Las Vegas when she had lived in Warra Territory.
Her evening gambling trips had been something he’d never forgotten.
Blaze’s nickname wasn’t just a nod to her hair color.
It came from the poker term after she’d pulled the face cards the first night they’d played together.
“That was before Silas made her human boyfriend forget her.” Keiran walked up the porch of the barracks and held the door open for Daxton. “According to Silas, the human had been asking too many curious questions. I try to stay out of their sibling affairs, but somehow, I’m always roped in.”
Daxton headed inside. “Glad I’m not in your shoes.”
Keiran stared at him with downcast, brooding eyes.
Daxton laughed. “Why do you have her guarding Izzy?”
“She needed something to keep her out of trouble. Izzy doesn’t seem like the gambling type.”
“Probably right.”
Daxton’s phone chimed. Knowing his meeting with Keiran hadn’t started, he answered, “This is Daxton.”
“We tracked a Tattered One’s faint presence to a burned-down fisherman’s cabin,” Jamal said. “The trail’s gone cold, but you should get out here.”
“Your suggestion was spot on,” Jamal said, leading Daxton and Keiran down a dirt path. “It’s less than a mile off the coast, so it would have been easy to find from the ocean.”
The late afternoon sun warmed Daxton’s skin.
Izzy had stayed at the library to do research and only wanted updates.
Even without her proximity, his dragon was too preoccupied with the hunt to fight against Daxton.
He unleashed his Insight, pain splintering across his skull as he took in as many energies as possible.
He could sense his surroundings all the way to the grassy signature of a faun a mile away.
Underneath everything, a Tattered One’s energy, like burning metal in acidic fumes, drew him forward.
Up ahead lay the charred support beams of a cabin with scorched debris around it.
The scent of burned wood and plastic clung to the air.
From the smoke rising from one of the back corners, Daxton surmised it had burned recently.
But the Tattered One’s spirit energy was faint, as if he’d masked himself somehow.
Daxton should have been able to track the Tattered One even if he flew away.
“Any victims?” Daxton’s throat tightened.
“The man who owned the cabin. The Tattered One’s concentrated signature leads me to believe the Tattered One had been leeching from him to heal.”
Tattered Ones couldn’t enter the body like Izzy had, so they attached themselves like leeches to heal.
“Thank you,” Daxton said. “Let’s expand the search area. Keiran and I will start at the victim and work our way out.”
“Yes, Chief Dyamur.”
Jamal led them as close to the charred remains as they could go from outside the cabin.
They wouldn’t have long before they’d need to alert the authorities, so they needed to work fast. Just as Jamal mentioned, the Tattered One’s signature radiated from the dead body.
Keiran was a force next to him, and the victim sat like a heavy rock in his gut.
He should have killed the bastard sooner.
“This is the Tattered One’s fault, not yours,” Kieran said.
Keiran’s words didn’t lessen the dent of his guilt, but he appreciated the sentiment. Daxton hadn’t picked up any signatures outside the cabin and followed Keiran to the backyard.
“Let’s have your report concerning Izzy as we track anything down,” Keiran said.
With his heart in his throat, Daxton explained how he and Izzy had crossed paths.
He discussed Simon’s manga, which Keiran had glanced over on the ride to the scene.
Since the older dragon might understand the link between them, he didn’t leave out any details.
Even the kiss on the plane that had him aching to connect them again.
Keiran’s expression was stoic as he studied the terrain.
“I talked to Sarah first, and I understand your fixation. But your protectiveness of her concerns me.” He pushed back a branch for Daxton as they continued deeper into the woods toward the salty air of the ocean.
“This link between you, I don’t know what to make of it.
” He gave a wry smile. “Though I dislike that you’ve Marked her without my permission, I won’t pass any judgment when I don’t understand what is happening. ”
“Honestly, I want to Mark her again. Even with that prickly exterior, I want to pursue her.”
“A woman has wrapped the great and terrible Wandering Cannon around her finger, huh?”
Daxton brooded over the truth while Keiran barely held in a grin. Daxton fanned out from Keiran and walked parallel to him.
“I’ll ask around about the link,” Keiran said. “I can’t say I’ve heard of a bonding quite like this. But older generations might have the answer. Hopefully, Izzy can enlighten us. If I may ask, what did it feel like when you bonded?”
Daxton rubbed his itchy neck. “Erotic yet familiar. I hate to use the word fated, but it fits.”
Keiran’s brow rose.
“Besides that, her presence calms my dragon side,” Daxton continued.
Keiran cocked his head, his tone disbelieving. “She calms you?”
“Around other men I’m territorial, but with her, I feel content in my human skin.”
Keiran gave a few wide-eyed blinks. “Well, damn…that’s rare. Especially considering your…history.”
Daxton swallowed and forced the memory of almost becoming Lost from his mind. “It worries me but gives me hope that I might be able to learn to control my dragon.”
“Sometimes a pair of dragons will Mark each other during the Dance. But they are never apart long enough for others to sense it. No one describes it as making their dragon content. It satisfies the beast, but only until after they recuperate after mating.”
Daxton had never been with a woman during her heat cycle, so he hadn’t been aware of that. Neither had he been near a pair partaking in the Dance. While growing into his wings, he’d been mostly alone.
“When I had talked to Sarah, I thought you were chasing after a woman in heat,” Keiran said.
I never thought of it that way.
Keiran’s caution made sense, and Daxton was fortunate the Centurion understood the situation. He ran his fingers over his hair. “Remind me to pity the males caught in the Dance.”
“Don’t forget the women who must also take part.” Keiran’s words struck a chord in him. He wasn’t alone in all this—Izzy also felt the attraction and oddity of the situation. He’d have to figure out how to take it slow with her before he scared her away.
“About the manga you showed me on the drive. Contact the author. I want copies. We can share it with the chiefs first, and I’ll have a briefing before we spread the news.”
Simon would jump for joy to comply, but as for Izzy, Daxton understood her necessity for discretion. “I need to verify with Izzy before we go to everyone.”
Keiran’s brow furrowed. “Let her know we’ll keep it in-house.”
Keiran stilled a moment before Daxton’s Insight picked up a muted tendril of burning metal in acidic fumes. Found you.