Page 9 of Devoted in the Midlife

"Oh baby," I murmured into his velvety scales. "Mama has to go find some important daggers so we can keep everyone safe. Like a treasure hunt! I'll be home before you can even miss me."

Flint snuffled into my collar, his baby dragon breath heating my neck.But already miss Mama.

Something twinged in my abdomen, almost a physical ache. Being a vampire had brought many strange changes, but dragon motherhood was by far the most bewildering. I nuzzled him, breathing in his warm vanilla scent.

"Tell you what," I said brightly. "While I'm gone, you can be the man of the house. Keep an eye on things here, and have Papa help you practice your flying. I bet you'll be soaring by the time I'm back."

Rweelly?His sapphire eyes blinked hopefully.

"Really," I nodded. "But now I need my best dragon warrior to be brave for me, okay?"

Flint wriggled with determination, puffing out his chest.Flint brave! Flint fierce!

He leaped awkwardly from my arms, beating his wings with mighty gusts that scattered the papers from my desk. As I crouched to gather them, grinning, eager thumps shook the doorframe.

"Reporting for duty!" Zara singsonged, her combat boots dancing. Tendrils of hair escaped her sleek ponytail as she gesticulated animatedly. "This is gonna be epic. Do you think there will be mummies? Or ancient booby traps we have to dodge like in Raiders?"

"Unlikely," Kendra replied from the hallway. "The temple has been abandoned for centuries. Though I suppose we could encounter residual magic."

She entered in a designer hiking outfit, every hair sleekly anchored in a braid. I didn't need to breathe anymore, but Kendra still managed to make me feel underdressed in my practical leathers.

"We talking shriveled corpses or magical lightning?" Luke rubbed his hands together, grinning mischievously. "Either way, dibs on not being cursed this time."

Kendra shot him a withering side-eye. "If you get cursed, I'm portaling you to Siberia until I find a counterspell. I don't have the bandwidth to deal with another zombie squirrel incident."

"That was one time!" Luke protested. The amusement crinkling his warm hazel eyes softened his words.

I bit my lip, fighting a smirk. Luke had an uncanny ability to diffuse tension with his charm, both the natural kind and the out-of-control magical kind.

"There will be no curses," Izora declared from the doorway, somehow managing to look both regal and cozy in a cashmere turtleneck. "I have seen this temple in my scrying. It holds magic, but nothing we cannot handle." Her eyes flashed with dismissal.

I met Kendra's gaze and saw my own internal "you had to say it" reflected back. Izora's assurances had a way of tempting fate. But none of us were foolish enough to contradict the ancient semi-reformed vampire queen.

Zara bounced on her toes. "So that's a maybe on the mummies, right?"

"We can always hope," Luke winked at her.

Adalinda swept in. "I would rather not entertain mummies if we can avoid it. But speaking of ancient magic..."

She turned to me, her bottomless onyx eyes sparking with epiphany. "We will need an Orichalcum-lined box to safely contain the daggers once we find them. Their divine energy will not be kind to vampiric constitutions."

I blinked. In all our careful planning, that particular detail had slipped through the cracks. Transporting artifacts that could dampen our powers definitely required precautions.

"Orichalcum," I repeated as if saying it with enough authority would conjure a solution. "Right. Of course. Do we...have anything like that?" Ancient mystical metals weren't exactly standard household goods.

"I saw one!" Zara exclaimed, then deflated slightly. "In a museum in Prague. Behind many locks. And possibly some lasers."

"Let's maybe avoid international museum heists this week," I suggested delicately. Grand larceny was more of a month-two agenda item.

"Perhaps your Jax has something suitable in his collection?" Adalinda's suggestion lilted upward musically, even as her sharp eyes watched me like a hunting hawk.

My stomach fluttered at the possessive — Adalinda never referred to Jax without it, a habit I wasn't entirely sure how to interpret.

"I can check," I nodded, already reaching for my phone. Texting was still faster than telepathy over a distance.

Jax's response pinged back immediately, because of course he had nothing better to do than anticipate my every whim. The words "giant diamond" caught my eye as I scanned it.

"He has a lead box," I relayed slowly. "But apparently there's a massive de-cursed diamond in it that he needs to remove first?"