20. Chapter 20
Izzy breathed in the grassy and vanilla scents of ink and decaying glue.
She squeezed through the tiny aisles with another book in hand until she reached a large rectangular table and a leather-backed metal chair that sat in the center of the room.
Next to it lay two large chests filled with the Archives.
It was paradise.
Later that afternoon, she read her fifth Centurion journal written in Castilian Spanish.
The Keepers want to hide the knowledge written by the Tribunal: six dragons that came to Earth from the Garden.
Our ancestors. Ones that secreted away our traditions into the codices.
My life’s mission is to find their resting places.
What truths can they tell us about our origins?
Voices filtered into the room. Serephina’s stern yet airy tone and a deeper voice. Steady footsteps thudded against the floor.
Izzy’s shoulders straightened with anticipation, her mouth tightening against an unexpected grin. Stop that nonsense. Daxton can wait until after I finish this passage…
The visitor sat on the opposite side of the table. Heated inhuman energy crashed against her skin.
That’s not Daxton’s presence. She frowned and gazed over the stacked books before her.
“Ouch,” Keiran murmured. “Don’t look so upset that I’m not Daxton.”
Why hadn’t she picked up on Keiran’s aura earlier? And where had Serephina gone?
His dragon watched her with glinting metallic eyes. The heavy weight of his stare left her eyes sore. She fiddled with the pages of the open book. His company unnerved her, and from the look he gave her, he knew it.
“You’re mistaken.” To escape his intensity, she returned to the book, heart galloping in her rib cage. “The interruption disturbed me.”
“Ahh.” The murmur said he didn’t believe her. “Daxton would be here, but he’s out hunting two Tattered Ones.”
“Two?”
“Yes, it seems that a pair of Tattered Ones are working together.”
Izzy clenched her shirt above her twisting stomach. “That’s impossible.”
“You must be special.”
She shook her head. “I barely have power.”
“Then the target on your back must be for some other reason. Whatever it is, I hope Daxton puts a stop to it before more people get hurt.”
She did too. One Archfiend was bad enough. She trembled at the thought of what the two of them could do together. “I’ll help him in any way I can.”
As if Keiran had all the time in the world, he poked at a stale roll on a plate of food Serephina had brought for Izzy earlier. Frowning, he grabbed an apple from another platter. When he tossed it to her, she almost bumped her hands into the counter in her haste to catch it.
“Please don’t wither while you’re learning about us,” he said.
His eyes locked with hers, and she took a bite. Sweetness filled her mouth with crunch. A prickle heated her back and accompanied the realization that he’d compelled her to eat. She didn’t need or want his prompting, but if he planned to talk, she could indulge her hunger.
“Daxton is my second-in-command in all but name. If he trusts you, I know I can do the same,” Keiran said. “I wouldn’t have let you near Pentros otherwise.”
“Why do you hold him in such high regard?”
“Many dragons look up to him, and most have received his help. He built his company from the ground up, establishing a branch in every state. It’s been our financial backing for years.” He chuckled. “He’s already made his role as chief seem like a cakewalk.”
“Daxton’s a chief?”
“Yes, of this territory.”
His bringing her to New Hampshire and his proximity to Acadia National Park made sense. He’d carried himself with a certain authority, but she thought it was because of his role in his company.
Keiran cleared his throat. She reined in her wandering mind.
“It’s hard to teach someone how to prioritize others over themselves,” Keiran said.
“And that’s something that comes naturally to him.
Everything he has done has put him in a position to become the next Centurion of North America.
So, if you’re a threat to him, I won’t hesitate to erase your memories. ”
Something crawled along her spine. She swallowed. “And what if he’s a danger to me?”
“We would ensure your safety.”
“I’ll hold you to that.”
He ran his hand through his curly black hair but gave a pointed look to the apple.
She ate another mouthful.
“I, too, am mystified by what is happening between the two of you,” he said.
“But I want to make you aware that he’s acting as if he’s caught in a woman’s heat.
I’m not telling you this so you’ll go easy on him, but understand that things will be testy until he can figure out his response to you.
The greater a dragon’s dominance, the more overwhelming their protective and possessive instincts become. And you’ve gotten under his skin.”
Lightning crackled along Izzy’s veins at the memory of her body’s reaction when he’d grabbed her. Under the skin was too tame for what it truly was. He had nestled into her bones, the fiber of her being, like a wave that had slammed her to the ocean floor.
Izzy cleared her throat. “I have seen signs in him similar to the Dance accounts in Centurion Cornelius’s journal. From what I have read, he is handling himself better than most.” Of the accounts she read, most had ended with shifting dragons and bloodshed.
The glossy darkness in Keiran’s eyes became liquid, as if the dragon stirred. It reminded her of a passage from a book about the rare black dragons. Those referred to as wild and untamable beasts cloaked in human skin.
“Can I demonstrate something to you?” he asked. “It might hurt.”
Too curious to say no, she nodded her head.
A cement wall of dominance crushed her spirit, as if a powerful demon tried to bend her to its will.
Izzy gasped. Relying on her spirit’s strength, she combated the force with her own will.
She didn’t look away even as pain shot through her temples like sharp hot pokers.
Pressure and heat suffocated her like she stood in a cremation chamber.
Her sentiment that his presence might burn her alive was coming true.
“Daxton is like me, except most of his strength is kept under lock and key,” Keiran said.
“I haven’t met a man with such a dominant beast. He’s a quarter of my age, yet he stood against me today as if he were my equal.
I do apologize for the pressure, but this power you’re under, Daxton experiences it every day and must keep it contained. ”
Izzy struggled to breathe, her head pounding.
Keiran cleared his throat. “I’m also not forcing you to eat, but instinctively you’re doing what I’m nonverbally telling you to do using my dominance.
Dragons are instinctive, and sometimes that can be hard to control.
Just like you can manage your instinct to eat, Daxton can manage his protective instincts around you, but it’s taxing when he has a dominant dragon breathing down his neck. ”
As the weight lessened, Izzy’s stomach twisted in knots.
“I’ll keep that in mind and do my best to uncover what is between us,” she said, voice breathy. She couldn’t imagine fighting such a force daily.
“Have some answers by the time I return.”
She tugged at the tail of her shirt to dry the cold sweat that had gathered there. “You’re leaving?”
“There’s another chief I have to deal with.”
His heated presence still pressed at her. A threat. Maybe not to her, but what of the other Fallen? “Keiran, will my kind be safe from the dragons?”
“My dragon doesn’t consider you a threat.” His mannerisms, direct eye contact, and steady posture spoke of truth. “Our Insight governs us, and evil does not touch you. As such, we would never harm you or others like you. As long as you do not choose a Tattered One’s path.”
Relief tugged a sigh from her lips. “Do I have your word?”
He pressed his fist to his heart. “I promise, Izzy. You never know, we might make a good team, dragons and Fallen.”
She offered a shy smile as the tightness in her chest subsided. With a last leveled look, he stood and walked away. Her eyes had just sunk back down to the journal when he spoke again.
“Oh, and Izzy?”
She looked up.
“This thing between you and Daxton…it gives me hope.”
What a curious choice of words. She didn’t know what he hoped for, but a connection between a Fallen and a dragon had to have a purpose. Though, no matter what purpose, she still intended to break it.
That evening, Izzy rubbed her back, aching from sitting on the uncomfortable chair for hours.
A book swayed in her numb fingertips. A rumble of annoyance tightened her throat, but she pushed it down.
She was determined to control her emotions in her human body, so she stayed in it, but she struggled to focus, especially when Serephina exuded excited energy and continued to ask Izzy to go on a walk.
Serephina stood with her shoulders braced against the bookshelf, biting her lip, phone lifted to her face. Occasionally, she sprang upward and paced, her gaze sweeping between Izzy and the door.
Izzy didn’t care that Serephina watched her, but the constant disruptions sent tension to her temples.
She couldn’t afford distractions. Now that she knew the truth about Daxton’s blood, she combed the Archives for information about the fusion between the dragon and human body.
When Serephina leaned over the counter and tipped Izzy’s book down with her finger, Izzy stared up blankly.
“I know I’ve asked you a million times,” Serephina said. “But for the one million and first time, can we please go for a walk?”
Izzy pulled her hardback from under Serephina’s touch. “And I’ll ask you again. Why?”
Serephina pursed her lips. “I hate being cooped up.” Her cell phone lit up, and her attention shifted to the door again.
“I’m not buying it. In the past five minutes, you have looked at your phone ten times. You managed to ignore it twice, but barely. So, tell me what is so important.”
Serephina lifted the device again. Her eyes glittered as she looked at the screen. Glancing at Izzy, she groaned. “Okay. Fine. Daxton and Silas are about to fight. Something about Silas scaring you with Illusion…”
He’d been serious? And to fight Silas over frightening me? Her skin warmed.
“They probably wished to do it in private,” Serephina said. “But he’s the chief. And…”
Daxton in combat? Two male dragons battling? What form would they be in? That’s totally educational, right? Annoyance wagged its finger in her mind, reminding her that she was allowing Daxton to distract her once more. She slapped the book shut, interrupting Serephina.
“I’m taking that as a yes,” Serephina squeaked.
As quickly as Izzy stood, Serephina grabbed her arm and tugged her out of the library.
Fresh mountain air filled Izzy’s lungs, clearing the stuffy sensation lingering from the library. A brisk wind sent a chill through Izzy, and she crossed her arms. The sun hung low on the dark blue-and-violet mountainous horizon.
“Here you go. Don’t want you to freeze to death.” Serephina unzipped her tan running jacket.
Izzy grabbed the offered garment. It felt like it had just come out of the dryer. As she slid it on, an aroma like cinnamon-glazed apples tickled her nose. “Am I even allowed to walk around Pentros?”
“Just don’t draw attention to yourself. You’re Marked, so others will accept your presence here.”
Serephina followed a trail around the enormous barracks to the athletic track. Voices and cheers saturated the air. They came upon a large group of people in a circle.
“Hurry,” Serephina said, bouncing to see over people.
Before Izzy had the chance to protest, Serephina guided her into the crowd.
As Izzy entered the cluster, warmth enveloped her, and dragon spirit energy buzzed against her mind.
She labored to breathe. Young and old faces gathered, paying them no attention.
Those who noticed them gave Serephina a quick, annoyed glance before moving out of her way.
Was Serephina more dominant than the others?
Izzy followed but kept her face down and covered.
Serephina stopped, and Izzy came up beside her.
In the ring of people, Daxton faced off against Silas—shirtless.
Sweat glistened on Daxton’s defined pecs and dripped down his ripped body to the top of his blue sweatpants. Her brain burst into enticed flames. Leaving the library…excellent choice.
Both men displayed sensual masculinity. But Daxton had a lithe fluidity to his build that made him appear almost exotic compared to Silas’s more robust shape. She briefly stopped breathing and drank him in as she would a book about male anatomy.
Daxton and Silas circled each other. When Daxton stood facing her, Silas grappled him. Izzy had never understood the thrill of violence, but Daxton’s flexing muscles made her breath hitch. Warmth built between her legs. She shifted her feet and steadied her hands against her sides.
Daxton seized Silas in a rear naked choke and drew his shoulders back. A force pulled between them, and his gaze caught and held Izzy’s. She gasped as shock seared through her system. The fire that danced between them was raw attraction.
She felt like a woman in heat. And she enjoyed it.
Before she could become a pile of melted flesh, Silas took advantage of Daxton’s distraction.
He dropped to his knees and rolled Daxton over his back.
Izzy gasped. Daxton moved with the toss and escaped the hold that could have broken his arm.
She breathed out a sigh of relief. The crowd cheered, spirit energy amplifying with their excitement.
Serephina clutched Izzy’s shoulders and steered her out of the group.
“Sorry, honey.” Serephina wore a shit-eating grin. “You’re a bigger distraction than I expected, and I have one hundred dollars on him. My brother is too old to take him on.”
Izzy swallowed and tried to breathe.
As soon as they freed themselves from the crowd, Serephina released an obnoxious laugh. “You poor thing. I suppose I’d be shell-shocked, too, if I were the target of that stare. You two have sexual tension written all over you.”
Under normal circumstances, Izzy could brush off such brazen remarks. But at that moment, she couldn’t breathe beyond her desire, let alone ignore what Serephina said.