Chapter Three
Ekon
“Why can’t I go?” Todd demanded, hands going to slim hips, his foot tapping impatiently on the carpet as he stared up at one of his mates, Lucas. He was more opinionated than Kijina, who sat on one of the many sofas with the four girls painting his toes and fingernails in glittery pink.
“We can’t all go”—Lucas held up his hand when Todd’s lips parted, his expression suggesting he was about to argue—“and don’t say your kraken doesn’t need us to protect it.
My love, our dragons won’t tolerate the distance.
Be reasonable. Allow Ekon to collect the data you want.
He can take one of those new scanners you’ve made.
” His tone turned cajoling, and Ekon could see Todd wavering.
There’d been a lot of discussion about the records between Todd and his mates.
Todd was keen to bring them all to the house, just his mates thought that would be asking for trouble, so they were compromising—kind of.
Ekon was the answer when he wanted to go for his own personal reasons.
“The girls would miss you terribly, I would, and so will Lucas,” murmured Kijina softly, giving Todd a beguiling smile that made Ekon even more conscious of his single, unmated status.
The sound of teeth grinding together came with a head bob before Todd swung to look at Ekon. “Is that alright with you?”
Ekon hid his thoughts and inclined his head in agreement.
“I’ll do whatever you need me to. I don’t have a problem with searching for what you need.
” How long that would take was anyone’s guess.
Ekon pinched the bridge of his nose recalling exactly had big the bunker was.
“You could give me the years of birth, and that could cut down the time I’ll need to search.
If memory serves me right, they were dated files.
Did you figure out if the dates were of birth or when the species was discovered? ”
“Good idea, I can send you a message with that info. And the information unfortunately wasn’t clear on what method they were using either with the numbered coding.
With our birth dates, it might unlock that answer.
” Todd looked thoughtful as he pinched his lower lip.
He cast a belligerent glare at his mates and scowled.
“It would be so much better if I was there too!”
Ekon bit the inside of his cheek at the two unrepentant dragons watching their mate.
“Ekon is more than capable of finding what you need,” Lucas pointed out from the seat he’d taken near Kijina, arm slung over the back of the sofa, fingers brushing Kijina’s shoulder.
Todd threw up his hands and stomped to the door, glancing back over his shoulder at Ekon. “Then I want as many files scanned as possible!”
Ekon would do his best and agreed.
“Come on, I’ll show you what I’ve been working on.”
Quickly following Todd, dragon laughter floated out the door behind him.
Todd just shook his head, heading up the stairs with Ekon close behind him moving silently.
In Todd’s workroom, Ekon once more put his hands in his pockets recalling how Todd didn’t like folks touching.
Todd went to a large stack of shelves filled with gadgets that Ekon was clueless over their use.
“This little beauty is a handheld scanner and uploads anything you scan it over in a split second directly into my supercomputer,” Todd explained, heading over to the other side of the room where he had several computer towers, some with wires hanging out as if not finished.
“See… as soon as I run it over a piece of paper it uploads straight to my computer.”
He fiddled with his keyboard, and the vast wall-mounted monitor, as big as any flat screen TV that Ekon had seen in a hotel, flicked to life. There was the information off the paper.
“Fuck, that is fast. No delay at all.” He met Todd’s grin with one of his own. “How will that work in the bunker? Place, as you found, has magic protecting and blocks the satellites from finding it. Could it block the signal from your scanner. I’m assuming it needs Wi-Fi to get it to work?”
Todd pushed up his glasses with his index finger after the exuberant head shake. “Been working with the signature magic on the files themselves. My kraken had some ideas about using its frequency to see if it would allow me to piggyback mine off it.”
“Holy fuck, you’re magically sending the images to your computer!” he exclaimed in a squeaky voice that was better suited to a pig.
“Sort of, I’m combining my magic signature with that of the magical being who is protecting the bunker. It’s potent stuff.”
“Magical being? How do you know that?” Ekon questioned, intrigued.
“Because what’s on the files is strong, and that’s from the briefest of touches. It’s most certainly a magical being, fae even.” Todd’s excitement was palpable as he offered the scanner and a file to Ekon.
For a reason he couldn’t explain, Ekon was reluctant to touch the file. So he went to the table holding the computer, asking, “How many files do you want me to scan?”
Ekon had up to now pretended he hadn’t gotten deflated since discovering that Todd didn’t have his file.
He did his best to not get worked up about why his file wasn’t with the other assassins he was caged with.
As they knew he had already decided to return to the bunker, helping Todd was no hardship.
Even if it meant scanning thousands of documents.
Todd bore a sheepish grin as he shrugged. “As many as you can do without your arm hurting with a repetitive strain injury.”
Chuckling at the absurdity of such a thing, Ekon made no promises.
“I’ll see how it goes.” He hadn’t forgotten how long the corridor was or how many paper files were stored in that place.
Or how damp and dank the place was. He’d gotten a little spoiled over the last few years staying in swanky hotels with room service.
Todd clapped him on the shoulder. “Great, when are you planning to go?”
He’d been back for three days, and neither Todd nor Marvin were of any real help which meant staying longer with how he felt wasn’t an option. “If the plane is available, then I’ll leave today.”
The Thalassa brothers work fast, and three hours later Ekon was back at the airport ready to board the jet, his only regret was the man clinging to him. He patted Marvin’s shoulder. “I’ll be back, and I promise it won’t be a year this time.”
“Promise?” Marvin questioned, sniffing as he let go, swiping the back of his hand over his rosy nose.
“Of course,” he assured, offering a smile that lacked enthusiasm when it meant being around all the happily mated couples, but this was Marvin. “And I’ll make sure it’s a much longer visit.”
He patted Marvin’s shoulder one last time and walked up the steps of the plane, sighing in relief when the door shut.
He sagged into one of the seats and rested his head back, shutting his eyes, pinching the bridge of his nose.
An ache at the back of his eyes kept them from opening as the steward busied themselves for take-off.
You must return. They must return, or we are doomed.
Ekon jerked up, blinking rapidly at the voice… he glanced about the empty cabin, his hand pressing to his pounding heart at the distress he could feel flowing through him as if it was his. Except, it wasn’t. It belonged to the shadowy figure, one who had never fucking spoken to him before.
“You need to buckle up sir, we are ready for takeoff,” the steward murmured as he approached from the flight deck.
Ekon clipped his seatbelt in, following instructions. They were way easier than attempting to work out if he was having audible hallucinations now to top off the rest of it.
The need to close his eyes and rest came with apprehension he hadn’t felt since the first experiments they did on him.
His original animal spirit was a cougar.
The torment inflicted on it made it cagier than the other animals inside him.
He had always kept his natural animal when shifting, but he had abilities that weren’t natural to a cat.
Although cats were strong, his strength came from rhino.
His speed came from a peregrine falcon, he couldn’t fly but could achieve speeds of over three hundred and twenty kilometers an hour.
His stamina came from an arctic tern. He could travel thousands of miles and not feel tired.
This was one of the reasons he knew something was wrong, besides the sense of expanding.
His usual abilities were nowhere near what they were.
For how long they’d been depleting, Ekon couldn’t say with not using those skills daily like he once had.
He looked out the small window at the cloudless sky as the plane rose effortlessly. His mind drifted as his breaths slowed, centering himself, and before he knew it, his eyes drifted shut.
Kelvin spoke aloud, “These shelves are the ones I’d empty and take away with us.”
Ajani eyed the shelves. “That’s still thousands of files, and how can you be sure they’ve not been meddling with other files?” He pointed to the extensive shelving. “There are so many, and as you said, they’ve been here a long time by the dates. Aren’t the files at risk if we leave any behind?”
“My kraken, once it has a scent, can process it uniquely. It also never forgets a scent it’s collected. Ever.”
“Isn’t that so cool?” Marvin bounced next to Ajani.
Ajani nodded. “We won’t be able to carry that many files between us. The plane is miles away. How do you propose we transport the ones you want to take? Then how are we gonna secure this place and prevent anyone coming in? Marvin figured it out. There might be others who can.”
Kelvin answered. “You don’t need to worry about that. My kraken can handle that. As for securing this place, we can conceal its whereabouts, the same way we do for our island.”
Bits from that visit filtered through his mind as Ekon dream walked, watching the sequence unfold but standing there now as an observer, looking through someone else’s eyes.
They took what was ours to keep. Keeper of all, hear me. Come to me before it’s too late, and all is lost.
Once more jerking up, Ekon rubbed at his eyes as the wave of tiredness swept through him like a river bursting its banks.
The sense of urgency increased by the second.
He released a shuddery breath, noticing they were descending.
He checked his watch, blinking owlishly at how long he slept for.
What had felt like seconds was hours, yet he didn’t feel refreshed. If anything, he felt worse.
Not long later the jet landed on a private air strip thirty miles from where the bunker was.
The small warehouse had storage facilities for the freeze-dried food and water he’d brought to last two months if he needed it.
It paid to be prepared. It was the closest they could get because of the forest. Ekon planned to trek back and forth under the cover of darkness to get what he needed.
For now, he slung an enormous pack over his shoulders which contained food and water, enough for several days, clothes, sleeping bag and his throwing knives along with other weapons.
Todd had wrapped and tucked the scanner in the top of the pack. Thus far, Ekon had avoided touching it. The nagging feeling in his gut said he didn’t want an audience when he finally laid hands on it. Why, he couldn’t say, but he trusted his cat’s instincts on such things.
He waited until the jet took off before he started his trek. He didn’t expect trouble, but years of being prepared for every eventuality were ingrained, so he kept himself alert using all his additional senses.
Around the twenty-mile mark, Ekon sensed a change in the air.
It hummed against his bare arms, his jacket removed after mile four.
He stopped and dropped to one knee, careful with the weight on his back not to topple as he reached out to touch the earth.
Against his palm the soil felt warm… inviting.
The strange notion lingered as he brushed the dirt off his hand and rose to continue. He didn’t need a compass or a map having been before, only this time, there was something different. Something was calling him.
He picked up speed and the forest around him grew quiet. Only broken by the sound of his boots hitting the ground.
Sweat glistened on his skin as the sun set and the forest grew shadowy with the breeze moving the leaves in the canopy above his head.
He slowed and came to a stop at the edge of where the magic began.
Like an invisible line only he could see, he paused, the sense of expanding inside him grew when he lifted his foot and took a deep breath, stepping past the magical barrier.
A heat powerful enough to incinerate an army gathered in his core.
His arms flew out without control and his neck arched back.
Breathing became impossible as his skin became drenched in sweat, his clothes clung uncomfortably.
His ears popped and his vision wavered before everything snapped into focus.
Almost like he’d needed glasses and had surgery, and they had taken the pads off for the first time he could see… everything.
What the fuck is that?
You’re home, the unknown voice replied simply.
Only there was fuck all simple about it.