Page 53
How had he missed this sign of longing before Aqua gave it a name?
She hadn’t needed to use a single ounce of her succubus magic to ensnare him as he’d suspected. His dragon had done all of that work for her.
She came back with a small well-worn children’s book, one that had a picture of an angry child at the front. He cocked his head to the side.
“For the fire-dragon that was with you yesterday. If you guys are going to work on your image issue, he’s going to have to learn how to at least pretend to be in a better mood. He damn near ruined the effect of your heartbroken moment. This helped me deal with my rage over the Coven butting into my life. It’s great.”
He couldn’t help the chuckle. “I’m sure he will appreciate it.”
Blaise wouldn’t, but it amused Alessandro.
Silence fell as they stared at each other. Her blue eyes showed her disappointment. Unlike her open seduction, she didn’t voice it.
“Oh!” She grabbed his arm before he phased out. “Before you go, can you tell me about the bear shifter attack? Was there some sort of priceless treasure at the heart of it?”
Alessandro narrowed his eyes. “Yes.” He said softly, “But one that had been with the Sleuth for a long time. It was their totem. The carnage stopped when we found it and repaired it.”
Rowan bit her lip and asked. “Do you mind showing me?”
“This is a shifter issue. Outsiders like yourself shouldn’t be so quick to become involved.”
She looked mildly offended at the comment. “Outsider? Soon, this is going to be a problem for absolutely everyone. One of my best friends is a shifter. Should I wait for whoever is behind thisto come after him to be involved?” She scoffed. “One incident is just an incident, but five of them are a planned attack. I fear that there are more waiting on the horizon.”
He thought so too. However, with the injuries that seemed to be common for her, he didn’t want her anywhere near the issue, even if it wasn’t his place to say so.
It was infuriating.
He growled at himself, “There were no signs of an intruder. The bear who broke the totem was under some kind of hypnosis and I found him amongst one of the fallen. Their alpha informed me he kept shouting that he could hear voices from it. He said the voice of his dead mother pleaded with him to break it. The others tried to stop him, but he had a special ability; he could make anyone combust into flame without requiring physical touch. They weren’t able to stop him.”
Rowan frowned and put a hand on her chin. “Did you feel any foreign magical signature?”
“No. I raked the compound over. But unlike the attack on Draconis, there was no lingering magic.”
“I couldn’t find anything with the wolves either. Could whoever set Elaine on Draconis have learned their lesson about that?”
Alessandro felt the hair on the back of his neck stand. If this reasoning stood, it meant someone had infiltrated Draconis and seen Alessandro find the signature or witnessed Naseem complete his investigation. The barrier that had kept out Japhet, one of the most formidable witches of modern times, had failed to detect an intruder.
Yet, it was only speculation. The turn around time of the attacks had been so small that it didn’t leave room for improvement if all the other attacks were to follow the same trajectory as the first.
“I’ll review the camera footage at Draconis.” He bowed his head and said, “Take care of yourself, Princess Rowan. If you continue down this path, you are in more danger than you have ever faced before.” He almost phased away with those as his last words until she touched his arm to stop him.
“Hey. This feels a lot like goodbye for good.” She whispered.
He remained silent.
“Not an ‘I’ll see you later after I settle my dragons and the world into peace’.” Her eyes searched his, willing him to say more.
He forced himself to shake his head.
She was absolutely unabashed when she asked, “Why?”
He hadn’t expected the question, or for her to actually expect an answer from him.
“Where exactly will continuing this lead us?” He leaned against her dresser.
“A very fulfilling sex life?” Her eyes flashed violet.
Alessandro crossed his arms and set a stony stare her way.
Table of Contents
- Page 1
- Page 2
- Page 3
- Page 4
- Page 5
- Page 6
- Page 7
- Page 8
- Page 9
- Page 10
- Page 11
- Page 12
- Page 13
- Page 14
- Page 15
- Page 16
- Page 17
- Page 18
- Page 19
- Page 20
- Page 21
- Page 22
- Page 23
- Page 24
- Page 25
- Page 26
- Page 27
- Page 28
- Page 29
- Page 30
- Page 31
- Page 32
- Page 33
- Page 34
- Page 35
- Page 36
- Page 37
- Page 38
- Page 39
- Page 40
- Page 41
- Page 42
- Page 43
- Page 44
- Page 45
- Page 46
- Page 47
- Page 48
- Page 49
- Page 50
- Page 51
- Page 52
- Page 53 (Reading here)
- Page 54
- Page 55
- Page 56
- Page 57
- Page 58
- Page 59
- Page 60
- Page 61
- Page 62
- Page 63
- Page 64
- Page 65
- Page 66
- Page 67
- Page 68
- Page 69
- Page 70
- Page 71
- Page 72
- Page 73
- Page 74
- Page 75
- Page 76
- Page 77
- Page 78
- Page 79
- Page 80
- Page 81
- Page 82
- Page 83
- Page 84
- Page 85
- Page 86
- Page 87
- Page 88
- Page 89
- Page 90
- Page 91
- Page 92
- Page 93
- Page 94
- Page 95
- Page 96
- Page 97
- Page 98
- Page 99
- Page 100
- Page 101
- Page 102
- Page 103
- Page 104
- Page 105
- Page 106
- Page 107
- Page 108
- Page 109
- Page 110
- Page 111
- Page 112
- Page 113
- Page 114
- Page 115
- Page 116
- Page 117
- Page 118
- Page 119
- Page 120
- Page 121
- Page 122
- Page 123
- Page 124
- Page 125
- Page 126
- Page 127
- Page 128
- Page 129
- Page 130
- Page 131
- Page 132
- Page 133
- Page 134
- Page 135
- Page 136
- Page 137
- Page 138
- Page 139
- Page 140
- Page 141
- Page 142
- Page 143
- Page 144
- Page 145
- Page 146
- Page 147