Chapter Twenty-Nine

The succulent scent of baconwafted in the air, along with the aroma of fresh baked muffins. Blueberry, too, usually Jacken's favorite. Today, it tasted like sawdust. Crumbling the muffin onto his plate, Jacken slugged back another mouthful of coffee, scalding his tongue and not giving a shit.

Activity in the mansion's dining room hummed around him, the soft clink-clank of dishes and silverware, the low murmur of people talking about stuff he couldn't give a shit about. But then there wasn't much he cared two fucks about anymore. He ate, drank, slept, and put one foot in front of the other to keep the machinery of his body working, but that was about it. He was a drone. The worst he'd ever been. His persona in O??rat had been Giggles the Clown compared to this. Everything was nothing. Food had no taste, music had no rhythm, friendships had no depth, the world had no color, no substance. No vibrancy.

Because it was a world without Toni.

They couldn't find her. Not anywhere. Night after night over the last week, he'd gone topside with a team to search for her, but they always returned without a single lead. No sign of life at Alexander Parthen's house or at Toni's place or at her work. Not anywhere.

Cleeve couldn't pin her down, either. The last known trace the computer whiz had been able to find of either Toni or her brother was on the day Toni had escaped. A substantial ATM withdrawal had been made by Alex Parthen from near his home. The same day, Jacken and his men had found the Pathfinder, but since then, nothing. No activity on credit cards, no cell phone calls, not a single thing Cleeve could track. Toni, her brother, and four other Dragon women had all become a bunch of ghosts.

Toni was gone. For good. Like in, never-fucking-ever coming back. Accept it, asshole.

Jacken glowered down at the scrambled eggs congealing on his plate. Jesus H. Christ, if there was a man on this earth stupider than he was, he'd like someone to stand up and name the imbecile. How could he have ever thought for even a fleeting second that life might be easier without Toni around? That somehow his existence would be less agonizing if he was spared the necessity of watching her hook up with another man some –

The rapid-fire staccato of multiple footsteps interrupted his thoughts, the strides heading down the outer corridor's polished wood floor toward the dining room. Jacken grimaced at his coffee mug. More of the community's bullshit to deal with. He was the interim man-in-charge, so when anyone had a problem these days, it was his ear they yapped it into. Not exactly known for his people skills, he sucked at the job and liked it even less, but there wasn't a whole lot of choice in the matter. Over the last week, Roth had been progressively withdrawing, to the point that for the last two days he hadn't even left his penthouse. The community was heading rapidly down the john, and nobody seemed to have the first clue how to save it. Jacken least of all.

The Dragons' husbands burst into the dining room, Pedrr and Willen log-jamming in the doorway before stumbling inside, followed by Luken. Sedge and Arc entered last, more calmly, but still clearly jacked with tension. Everyone started talking at once.

" – received a message –"

" – women want to meet at –"

"Finally! Dear heavens, one more day and –"

" – leave right away!"

Jacken took a sip of his coffee and didn't say anything, sticking with his whole not-giving-a-shit attitude toward this goat rodeo.

"Cut the noise!" Arc barked at the husbands. Stepping forward from the group, Arc held out a piece of paper to Jacken. "This was emailed to Beth. Toni's the one calling for the meeting, Jacken. She wants to see you, man."

He surged out of his chair before he was even aware his brain had given his body the command to stand. The dining room went pin-drop quiet, everyone no doubt listening to his heart do the 100-yard dash.

He pushed the single word between his teeth. "Where?"

* * *

Stationed just inside the ER,Kimberly was standing at a perfect vantage point to spy on the front door of Scripps Memorial Hospital. "They're here," she said into her cell phone to Toni on the other end. "Roth, Dr. Jess, Jacken," she named the entering Varcolac, "and the husbands: Pedrr, Willen, Luken, and Sedge. No Arc or Beth, though."

Her heart did a funny pirouette in her chest as she watched her own husband step onto the hospital elevator. He was moving in that fluid way of his, his shoulders so broad he almost had to angle his way inside. She'd really missed him over the past week. She'd visited her parents while she'd been up here, and that'd been nice, but it was Sedge who now meant home to her.

"I'll be right up," she finished off with Toni. "I'm just going to grab a cup of coffee first." The reverse day-night cycle between ??ran? and topside was killing her. She didn't think she'd adjusted, even after an entire week up here.

Pressing her thumb on her cell phone's red end call button, she headed for the vending machines.

* * *

Toni heard them coming threeminutes after the phone call from Kimberly, the thunder of footsteps approaching from the nurse's station stirring a flutter of excitement in her belly.

After the longest week of her life, she was finally going to see him again. Jacken ….

It'd been a roller-coaster seven days, every hopeful idea she'd come up with for creating a life with Jacken getting shot down by a cold dose of reality, back and forth, until she'd finally put her hematological ingenuity to use and discovered a do-able option – a meaningless option if it turned out that Jacken didn't love her. Because no way was she going to bond permanently to a man who didn't.

He was drawn to her, she knew that much, and by more than just her scent. They'd shared some pretty intense moments. But, seeing as all those moments had ended with him backing off, she really didn't know for sure how he felt about her. Had he backed off out of pure necessity because of his vow of celibacy, or because he genuinely didn't want her in his life, bugging him? The answer to that, more than her upcoming confrontation with Roth, had her nerves jumping.

"You ready, Toni?" Alex was perched on the edge of a long, oval table. They were in a conference room in the hematology wing, with the other Dragons seated in plush chairs around it at the far end of the room, minus Kimberly, who was still downstairs in the Emergency Room. Their combined seven children were safely tucked away in the hospital daycare. Just tonight, Toni had tendered her resignation at Scripps, but had kept her hospital privileges as an adjunct physician.

She took a deep breath. Right. Keep focused. This was hardly the time to get caught up in a love-daze. Much still had to be decided before she earned her Happily Ever After – if she earned it. Giving Alex a quick nod, she stepped out of the conference room.

Jacken was on point, in front of the other Varcolac, and the sight of him flipped her stomach into a full somersault. Sweet Jesus. He looked smokin' hot, from his thickly corded legs in black jeans to the leather jacket that hugged the V-shape of his muscular body, the snug fit of his clothes highlighting his masculinity and power. It made her want to do nothing more than run her hands all over those chiseled bulges. She released a slow breath. Damn, who would've guessed Tall, Dark, and Homicidal was what buttered her bread, but evidently it was.

The rest of the men were well-dressed in suits, except for Sedge, who was wearing olive slacks and a dark mauve button-down left open at the collar. Dr. Jess had also thrown on a white lab coat for good measure.

She was extra glad now she'd taken such care with her own appearance. She'd clipped her hair into an elegant ponytail, which lay shimmering over one shoulder, and had dressed in a newly-purchased black pencil skirt, black sling-back pumps, and a wraparound blue silk blouse which, while totally decent in all respects, had made even her own eyes go a little zowie when she'd seen The Girls in the mirror. She'd wanted to look pretty for this, though, and … apparently, she'd succeeded.

The group of Varcolac slammed to a halt the moment she stepped into the hallway.

"Goodness," slipped incredulously past Dr. Jess's lips, while Jacken looked like he wished he had a lead pipe to gnaw through.

She strode forward, fighting the urge to run at Jacken and throw her arms around his thick neck with a Got any Hershey's syrup and whipped cream handy? or something equally subtle and coy.

"Gentlemen," she greeted as she came to a stop in front of them. This close, she saw that Jacken was drawn and leaner, still totally do-able, but definitely a man who looked like he'd been through the wringer. Had this past week been as awful for him as it had been for her? Probably rude to hope so. "Thank you for coming."

Jacken glowered at her. "Do you have any idea how fucking worried we've been about all of you?"

She paused, momentarily caught off guard by his heated rejoinder. Then she piffed a breath. Well, it was nice to know some things never changed, and Jacken's inability to be diplomatic about anything that displeased him was clearly one of life's constants.

"You're a lovely sight, Dr. Parthen," Roth complimented. "But also a surprising one. Once you rid yourself of us, we never thought to see you again."

"If all goes well with our negotiations, Mr. Mihnea, I plan to return to the community."

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Jacken stiffen. Was that a good or bad sign?

"I see," Roth said noncommittally.

"Why don't we all go into the conference room." She gestured toward the door. "We'll have plenty of privacy there."

The seven men stepped inside. Luken, Pedrr, and Willen started for their wives at the far side of the room, but Toni pulled out a chair at this end of the table, prompting them with another, "Gentlemen."

There would be no consorting during negotiations.

The husbands reluctantly sat.

Sedge began to sit, noting his wife's absence with a frown, then shot up again.

Roth had spotted the intruder, too. "We have a visitor, I see."

"This is my brother, Alex," Toni said.

Jacken put two and two together. "You told him about us?!"

"Yes," she replied calmly. She physically turned Alex around and lifted the back of his T-shirt, showing them the significant brown dragon tattoo marks on his back, originally thought to be the aftereffects of a bad sunburn. "He's one of us."

She politely gestured everyone to take a seat. Toni and Alex sat on one side of the table, Roth, Jacken, and Dr. Jess across from the two of them, with the Dragons and the husbands seated at opposite ends. Perfect positioning for a typical Mexican standoff.

She folded her hands on the top of the table and locked gazes with Roth, blue eyes clashing with gray ones. They weren't in his library-office with her trapped and helpless this time, were they? He damned well needed to be fully aware of that.

Roth broke eye contact long enough to glance around the conference room. "All of this drama doesn't seem like your style, Dr. Parthen."

She lazily lifted her brows at him, adopting an expression of mild curiosity, almost boredom. An interesting opening sally. Was Roth trying to make her feel churlish? Childish? Or get under her skin by making her think he knew her better than she knew herself? She smiled. She wouldn't give him any of it. "You made the dramatic gesture necessary, Mr. Mihnea. You weren't listening to the women of your community down in ??ran?. The hope is that we'll have better luck with you up here."

"Just because someone doesn't concede to another's wishes," Roth countered smoothly, "doesn't mean he hasn't heard them."

"Ah." Toni sat back, her forearms on the armrests. "So you were just ignoring them?"

"Not in the disrespectful way you're suggesting." Roth steepled his fingers together in front of him. "I assure you that I haven't been disregarding anyone's feelings or wishes. There have just been issues of survival at stake."

"We appreciate that you're dealing with your own set of challenges." She paused a moment, tamping down the urge to snark, spare us that argument, we've all heard it ad infinitum. That probably would come across as churlish. "Our position is this, however: nothing excuses taking women against their will. If you continue to kidnap Dragons, we will refuse to live in ??ran?. That's the bottom line, and it's non-negotiable."

His brows arching, Roth turned to look at the Dragons at the far end of the table. "You plan to leave your husbands and children?"

Toni felt her face tightening, her jaw locking. She and Kimberly had discussed the possibility that Roth would use the Dragons' love for their Varcolac husbands against them. Now here he was, being oh-so-Roth-like. "The Dragons have no intention of leaving their children. They'll live topside with them."

Willen sucked in a breath. "By darkest night."

"Maggie, my dear …" Luken began.

"The husbands," Toni plowed on before the Dragons could waver, "will be invited topside once a week during nighttime hours to feed." She smiled tightly at Roth. "The Dragon women don't want any harm to come to their men, whom they love dearly."

"No." Jacken snapped off the single word like a curse.

She shifted frosty eyes over to him. "Unless you plan to kidnap us again, and woe betide anyone who tries it," she gritted, "then you can take your no and stuff it. The only way to get us back into the community is by agreeing to our demands." She looked at Roth again.

He inclined his head at her. "Nicely played."

"This isn't a game," she shot back, air burning through her lungs. "The Dragons engineered this escape to make sure that you understand they're dead serious about their concerns over ??ran?'s leadership. I recommend you listen to them, Roth, for once."

Roth tucked his steepled hands beneath his chin and regarded her mutely.