34. Rehan

CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR

REHAN

C ikku’s little car pulled up along a crumbling stone wall. Behind it, a wire fence went up at least twenty feet. Yellow warning signs declared it electrified, which Tyson, bless his stupid fire brain, had checked with his tail.

I left his smoking body with Lux, Og, and Tenzin halfway up the fence line.

Jay turned off the car, leaving us in the pitch dark of night. The stars twinkled, reaching all the way to the inky blackness that made up the sea. On the top of a steep hill above me, flood lights lit the medieval fortress walls. Even in the darkness, anyone could see for miles.

I shifted my eyes into my dragon sight and opened the door for Jay, holding out my hand. She pursed her lips but took it, and I hauled her out of the car and into my arms.

“I missed you on our run this morning,” I said, keeping my frustration out of my words. “Did you find anything?”

Jay ignored the first part of my sentence, as I knew she would. Tyson and Lux pushed her beyond her boundaries last night, and no matter how much she enjoyed it, she was still Jay.

“Nothing helpful,” she responded evenly. “What do we know?”

I reported because that’s what Jay needed right now: facts. “The fortress belongs to a self-proclaimed jewelry collector, Drukpa Petit.”

Jay pursed her lips but waited for me to continue.

“Tyson found some basic information online. He’s a billionaire who made his fortune in gold. Tyson thinks he might be supernatural. He wrapped his aura around Caoimhe in a way Tyson can’t really explain, but we don’t know how to follow up on that.”

Jay tilted her head to the side. “You can’t identify supernaturals on the internet.” Jay pulled out her phone. “But I know someone better connected to our world.”

Whomever she called picked up on the second ring. “I need everything we know about Drukpa Petit.”

I shifted my ears.

“I’m unfamiliar with the name,” Jay’s vampire accountant said smoothly. “But I will look into it immediately. Should I assume you are now in Malta as there have been several charges to your cards, including one for six thousand euros at a suit store and five hundred at Dildopholis?”

Jay’s blush spread down her neck. “I’m traveling with some guests.”

“Should they also be added to your accounts?” the vampire asked.

“Also?” Jay furrowed her brow. “Who else is on my accounts?”

There was an awkward pause before the vampire cleared his throat. “Bradly Cooper. You added him in April.”

Bradly sounded a lot like Brad, the name Caoimhe mentioned. Jay met my gaze before focusing on the ground.

“What charges has Bradly Cooper put on my accounts?” She asked in a neutral voice.

The sound of clacking keys filled the line. “The list is extensive, though his last purchase was over a month ago. Travel, including England, Ireland and Malta. Of course, all the hotels and food required for those trips. Bradly has much more expensive taste than you. He’s also made two large cash withdraws and several purchases from Magizone Prime.”

Jay jerked. “And where were those sent to?”

The line went quiet for a moment. “I can only see the transactions, not their shipping location. Jaiyana, is something wrong?”

Jay rubbed her arms. Although I didn’t know what was going on, I had a feeling she didn’t know who Bradly Cooper was. It sounded like he spent a lot of money. Although dragon shifters didn’t rely on currency, I was keenly aware of how important it was off our island.

“Did he clean you out?” I asked.

“Jaiyana,” the vampire's smooth voice edged with frustration. “You are obviously not with Bradly. You used a portal to get into my office, breaking every security system I had, and demanded Bradly go onto your accounts. Never have you put another soul on your accounts in the two hundred years we’ve been working together. You assured me you were in control of your own faculties and on a vital project.”

“Did I say what the project was?” Jay asked.

The vampire snarled, and not the rumbling snarl of a dragon, but something sharper and higher, which had me edging away from the phone. “No. You. Did. Not.”

The line went deathly silent, and it took me a moment to remember vampires didn’t need to breathe.

“Shall I take Bradly off the account?” The vampire asked.

Jay shook her head. “No. But immediately notify me of any transactions. What did this guy look like?”

“Human and living. I’m terrible at guessing ages. Possibly in his late forties. Your height, brown eyes, with short black hair under a ball cap. No distinguishing scars or markings. I will have a photo from my security camera emailed to you immediately. Shall I research him in addition to Drukpa Petit?”

“Yes,” Jay agreed. “Drukpa first, as his situation is active.”

“Active,” the vampire repeated. “And too complicated for you to explain to me right now.”

Jay smiled at the phone. “You know me too well.”

“Does this have anything to do with the unborn demons in the Ley Lines?” the vampire asked.

“Yes,” Jay said tightly.

“Then I will not press you now,” the sound of the vampire's fingers blazing across a keyboard filled the background of the call. “But if you do not fill me in, you will need to find yourself a new accountant.”

“Understood,” Jay said and hung up.

Our gazes met, and a silent stream of information passed between us—Bradly Cooper, who might go by Brad. We had a name, maybe more.

Jay’s gaze unfocused as she spoke to herself. This time, I didn’t call her on it.

“We need to get Caoimhe first.” Jay focused on me again.

I nodded in agreement.

She tapped her palm with her pointer finger. “Drukpa Petit, who I may or may not have stolen Gorm’s Casket from, now has my friend inside a medieval fortress. He’s loaded, also known as he has every human resource at his disposal with who knows what security.” She narrowed her eyes. “And for all we know, he could be a powerful supernatural as well.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, not liking her accusatory tone. Instead of calling her on it, I fed her more information. “A white Mercedes, along with three large men, accompanied her into the building. She was not restrained and walked on her own. We’ve seen no one come in or out, so we have no idea how many people are inside.”

Jay uncrossed her arms and pressed her palms together so hard her knuckles turned white. “Why did she go with this guy? Why did Og let her get in that car? I told them not to let her out of their sight.”

Once again, I bit my tongue and didn’t comment on the vague nature of those instructions.

“Og thinks she might have been drugged or magically coerced.” I rubbed my delt. “Or maybe she just wanted to help and thinks she’s doing the right thing.” I wanted to be Jay’s support. I tried so hard to sit back and agree with her to balance her discontent with Og, but it wasn’t helping any of us. “Love, you had to know Caoimhe might end up in the wrong hands. Why didn’t we have a backup plan? Or at least we could have talked about this as a group. You gave us the least possible information and then disappeared.”

Jay scowled. “It was an easy job: watch a pregnant girl flirt and keep her safe.”

I froze. She was casting blame. The cap I kept tight on my emotions cracked. “We’re not fighters,” I said slowly. “We’re not trained soldiers. We’re your mates. Even if we could read your mind, you’re not around enough for us to even try.” Anger bubbled up from the bottle I’d shoved it into. I stepped forward and pressed a finger into Jay’s chest. “You told us at the end of every story you’re alone again. But you’ve removed yourself from the story as thoroughly as dragons removed themselves from the world. And with the same results. Except now, your demons are biting us in the ass, and I won’t for a heartbeat let you blame anyone but yourself.” Jay tried to look away from me, and I cupped her cheek. “Your fear is destroying the present. It’s the reason Caoimhe’s trapped in that fortress.” Jay’s eyes watered, and guilt filled her face. “That first day, in my hut, you asked me if we could just be friends with benefits. And I said yes. It was that simple.”

“But now we know it’s not that simple.” The guilt vanished, and a shield of stubborn obstinance bloomed in her posture. “We can’t be friends. You are tools for me to use until I can set you free.”

I had a million things I wanted to say. A million reasons she was wrong. A million examples proving she didn’t believe her own words. But I didn’t give any of them. “You’re blind, love. As blind as the dragon council. What’s worse, just like them, you are choosing to be blind. There’s nothing I can say or do to change that.”

I stepped away from her, and my heart pinched. I thought Jay was different. She’d inspired me to stand up and question. But here she was stuck in her games.

I turned and started walking up the hill. After only a moment, she followed after me. Instead of coming up at my side, she followed at my back.

I hated it.

The steep climb left a sheen of sweat over Jay by the time we made it to the scant cover I’d left the others in. She smelled amazing. Her licorice scent curled around me, but I couldn’t let it weaken my resolve.

Tenzin looked at Jay with bloody murder in his eyes, and I moved to the side instead of protecting her.

“She’s in there,” Tenzin jerked his finger toward the lit fortress.

“I know,” Jay said calmly. “We’ll get her out.”

“How?” Tenzin asked.

Jay put her hands on her hips. “If we wait, Marduk will fix this for us.”

I didn’t even see the fire dragon move. Jay was suddenly on the ground with blood leaking out of her broken nose. My dragon roared, but I didn’t go to her. Ogden took two steps before noticing my lack of action and coming to a reluctant halt.

While Tyson held his fellow fire dragon back, Lux came to Jay’s side and whispered in her ear. Jay let out a bitter nasal laugh and winced.

“I know, I deserved it,” Jay said.

“I didn’t say that,” Lux snapped. “I didn’t even imply it.”

Jay tried to wrinkle her nose and winched in pain. “Well, I shouldn’t have said it at all.” She glared at Tenzin. “But it is the truth. Marduk’s resources on this island are vast.” She grabbed her nose and straightened it with too much familiarity, letting out a painful squeak. “That fucking smarts as a mortal.”

“I’m not putting us further under Marduk’s control,” Tenzin growled, barely controlling his dragon. “Fix this now, sorceress, if that’s even what you are.”

Jay stood, refusing Lux’s help. “We go in under Og’s invisibility spell. You find her, and then we bust out. We do it right now.”

Tenzin clenched his fists, his horns growing and shrinking as scales washed across his body.

“It can’t be that simple,” Lux stated, eyeing the medieval fortress.

Jay’s phone buzzed with a text message. She read it. The tiniest tick of her eyebrow was her only reaction before she pocketed the phone again and looked up without saying a word.

“Anything that could help us?” I asked, knowing the message had to be from her vampire accountant.

“No,” Jay stated.

Lux, unaware of our conversation by her car, focused on her plan. “We’re not playing the odds well. There are big holes in our information. We saw your car, so Drukpa must have as well. The fence has an active current, so there must be some surveillance. If they used magic on Caoimhe, that opens up a new can of worms we, as isolated dragons, have no experience with.”

“I have some,” Ogden added.

“Exactly.” Lux snapped his fingers. “If this were a board game, I’d spend the round collecting more resources.”

The sound of breaking bones cut into the air as Tenzin’s dragon tried to take over. His effort of will to stay human physically pressed against my own. Once under control, his scales slithered across his skin in rolling waves. If we didn’t go soon, Tenzin would storm the fortress alone.

I met the gaze of each of my fellow dragons, seeing the same conclusion in their eyes.

“You are dragons,” Jay said, pointing to each of us. “Massive reptiles with control over the elements. Even half shifted, you’re a force to be reckoned with.”

Her attempt to manipulate us by stroking our egos in Ireland came back to me. I scowled, unsure if she was doing the same again and hating that I didn’t know.

“Four go in, and two stay out.” I looked right at her, wishing I could see into her thoughts. “We’ll join if we see a signal or get a text message.”

“Why?” Jay asked.

I bit my lips shut.

Jay’s face twisted, and she stared at the ground. She knew why. I gave her orders like the ones she gave us, with no reasoning or information to back them up. Although a bit of guilt blurred my confidence, I didn’t take it back and gestured for Tyson to come to my side.

To my surprise, the fire prince did. His burnt tail whipped behind us dramatically.

Jay glanced up, her green eyes flashing. “Lux and Ogden are barely speaking to each other.”

I crossed my arms over my chest. “You made this bed. Lie in it.”

Jay gritted her teeth and stomped a few feet toward the fence. I couldn’t even guess the conversation she had with herself. She let out a frustrated breath and mumbled. “It’s Og and Lux’s fucking bed, and I want them to lie in it.”

Pink stained both dragon’s cheeks, and I grunted in agreement.

“What is she—” Tyson started to ask.

“Og, are you ready to hide us?” Jay cut him off.

Og coughed. “I am?”

His voice sounded more like a question. His gaze slid between Jay and me.

I jerked my chin slightly up. Og pursed his lips and nodded, acknowledging my change in allegiances. There shouldn’t even be sides to pick. I hated this.

“Tenzin take point. Scales on.” Jay assessed the fence as if she could jump it herself and cursed, glaring at me.

“Lux, a little help?” she said.

Lux came to her side. With a running start and a bit of help from the wind, the two cleared it. Og followed next, with Tenzin on his heels. The four disappeared under Ogden’s invisibility spell.

Tyson put a hand on my shoulder. “Are you sure this is a good idea?”

“No,” I stated. “But it can’t make it worse.”