Page 15
CHAPTER 15
Using Skrinde’s phone, Victor dialed the drug lord’s emergency contact, connecting with his gardener who apparently had no idea why she was her boss’s emergency contact but said she could get a message to him. Victor’s message was simple. “If you prefer your multimillion-dollar haul of drugs not to be dumped into the Everglades, we require your presence at The Peach Pit at six a.m.”
Victor hung up and placed the phone on the bar. “The hook is baited.”
“You think he’ll suspect it’s a trap?” I asked.
Zee draped himself against the bar to Victor’s left. “Nah, not in the middle of South Beach. Besides, we’re wanted criminals who definitely do not have a direct line to an SSD agent. Who we’re gonna call for backup.” He waved over the barman and ordered another cocktail. Drinks were on the house, thanks to Kat. “We’re gettin’ good at this hero schtick.”
We really were. We’d saved a pack of biker werewolves, a hotel full of LARPers, and hopefully now a whole city of Lost Ones under a drug lord’s thumb. “It’s almost as though we know what we’re doing.”
“I wouldn’t go that far.” Victor smiled.
“Well, we got a few hours to kill. I wanna get wasted, then get a hand job so I can power-up. You know... just in case we need some extra ooh la la ?”
“I’m not convinced we’ll require multiple orgasms for this plan to succeed.”
Zee snorted. “Who doesn’t need multiple orgasms?”
“The Stephanie Hotel’s dead chef?” I quipped.
“Heart attack, Kitten. Not my fault.”
It had definitely been his fault. We chatted some more while the drinks kept flowing, feeling good in the warm Miami night, surrounded by Lost Ones and humans who were out to have a good time. This might be our last chance to relax for a while. Tomorrow, the SSD would arrive to take us back to San Francisco, back to where my brother waited. Zee and Victor didn’t let on that they were nervous about tomorrow, and what would come next, but I saw it whenever a silence stretched a little too long or concern chipped at their smiles.
As Zee headed to the bar to refill our drinks, Victor leaned over, catching my eye. “Zodiac’s earlier suggestion may have some merit. The plan could use a little extra... ooh la la , as he mentioned.”
“What do you have in mind?”
Victor’s side-eye coasted toward the restrooms, then back to me, making my heart skip. I was not going to say no to any kind of offer that saw me and Victor getting up close and personal.
“Just a quick one?” I grinned, and took his hand.
It was quick and frantic and greedy fun that saw us back at the table in under fifteen minutes, just as Zee got back from the bar. He instantly knew we’d been up to some sexual shenanigans, and grinned. No comment required. We chatted some more, the music and drinks—but mostly the company—providing the perfect atmosphere.
A little after one a.m., Kat poofed to our table in a cloud of pink glitter. “Are you all set for the showdown?”
“As set as we’re ever going to be,” Zee said from his lounged position in the oversized seat, with me tucked next to him.
Even Victor appeared relaxed, with his sleeves rolled up and his hair bundled into a messy bun.
“Fabulous, then can you entertain us, Lycian? It’s been so long since I’ve heard your gorgeous voice.”
Zee merely smiled, almost shyly. Why didn’t he jump at the chance to strut his stuff in front of a more-than-willing crowd?
“Zodiac?” Victor enquired, as surprised as me.
He caught Victor’s gaze, and his lashes fluttered when he looked down at the table and our half-finished drinks. His arm, draped over my shoulder, tightened some.
I knew what this was. He wanted to be with me and Victor, wanted to drag out the seconds into hours. He really was worried about tomorrow.
I sat forward, and looked him in the eyes when he raised his gaze. “It’s alright. You should go have some fun. We’ll be right here.”
Victor gave a slight nod, agreeing with me, and offered up a soft smile too. “I must insist. One of your breathtaking performances will be the icing on the cake of this fine evening.”
“They even have a stage.” It wasn’t a big stage, and it had gotten a bit lost behind the jungle-like foliage. But once Zee was on it, and the lights were on him, it would shine.
Zee glanced over, as though he hadn’t clocked the stage the second he’d walked in. “It would be a waste not to perform something,” he said, as though he hadn’t already decided to get up there and drive this unsuspecting crowd wild.
“Exactly,” I agreed.
“Oh fine, because you guys asked.”
“Excellent!” Kat squealed.
Zee was on his feet and leaving the table with Kat when he glanced over his shoulder, looking back at us. I gave him a wave, and he smiled back, that soft, quiet, gentle smile. My heart cinched and an unexpected lump tried to climb my throat. A cough cleared it, but not before Victor noticed.
“Are you well, my dear?”
I didn’t know any words powerful enough to explain how I never wanted this night to end, how I’d drag time to a standstill if I could. I was a dragon—one of the last, one of the strongest, most powerful beings to exist this side of the veil—but I couldn’t slow time.
“I just uh... I’m just goin’ to get some air.”
“Adam?”
“I’m okay...” I got to my feet and left the table. If he came with me, I’d turn into a sobbing wreck. He’d hold me, tell me everything was going to be alright, but it wouldn’t change anything. Victor could stop an angry mob with a single word, but he couldn’t stop tomorrow either.
After fighting my way blindly through the crowd, I found a back door, and stumbled out of the main club just as the opening bars of “Feeling Good” began to play. One of Zee’s favorites, and he always performed it to perfection.
The short corridor led to an outside fire escape someone had wedged open. I stumbled outside and leaned against the wall. The music played. I could hear Zee inside, giving it his all.
If my brother snuffed out his light, so help me, I’d tear the stars from the night sky and use them to shred his scales.
“Hey buddy, you okay?”
“Huh?” I smiled at the server taking a break to vape. “Yeah, you know...” I shrugged.
“Yeah,” he said, somehow knowing .
A black pickup truck rumbled by the end of the back alley. It was only there a few moments, illuminated under a streetlight, then gone again.
There had to be plenty of black pickups in Miami.
It didn’t mean anything.
“Hey, you got the time?”
“Sure.” He checked his phone. “One thirty.”
Six a.m. was our meet time. The time Agent Leomaris had agreed to send in the SSD agents. I headed back inside, where Zee had switched it up to sing “Roxanne” by The Police. He had the perfect voice, adding some throaty growl to go with the song’s gritty theme.
I got turned around in the maze of back corridors, taking a left somewhere instead of a right, and ended up heading into a quieter part of the club. About to give up and turn around again, I caught sight of Kat’s name painted on a door in neon pink. Definitely not the men’s room, but an easy mistake to make if I was asked.
I tried the door, found it unlocked, eased it open, and ducked inside.
A burbling fish tank full of lively, brightly colored fish lit the office behind a desk. I almost regretted trespassing until I noticed the framed photo on the shelf by the tank. Kat and Skrinde shaking hands in front of some development land, both full of big smiles.
I picked up the picture.
The scene could have been innocent. It didn’t have to mean Kat was friends with Skrinde. They were both Lost Ones in business in Miami. It was probably just a small world, right?
But if they weren’t friends, why display it?
My insides fluttered.
Placing the photo back, I turned to the desk and opened a few drawers, not sure what I was looking for. Something, anything that would stop my instincts from setting off warning flares.
Zee trusted Kat. They were friends, war buddies, brothers in arms.
But being trapped on this side of the veil changed people—changed everything. Not always for the better, like it had me, Victor, and Zee.
Kat said he’d had a human partner, someone he’d cared about. If I could find something on him, then maybe it wouldn’t all have been lies... I rummaged some more, shifting papers aside, the seconds ticking down. A folded photo had been shoved to the back of the top drawer. I opened it.
The image showed The Peach Pit’s owners, according to the handwritten scrawl. Skrinde, Kat, and their third business partner, a human guy with a kind smile. You wouldn’t shove this crumpled picture in the drawer and display the other if you hated Skrinde as Kat had claimed.
My gut sank. Kat was not what he seemed.
A hail of pink sparks spritzed over me.
“You shouldn’t be back here.”
A blow to the back of my head tipped me forward, moments before the world went black.