No amount of arguing would dissuade Chandra, which meant Tomas still glowered at her from across the jet. The man sulked because she’d insisted on coming along instead of going to a safe house.

But Chandra wasn’t about to hide herself away, not knowing what happened. How could she stay away from Tomas for who knew how long?

She might have teased him about being clingy, but the truth was she had to fight constantly not to throw herself at him. It baffled her how much she enjoyed sitting on his lap, snuggling as they watched television. Making love anywhere they chose.

And that was what it was to Chandra. Love. She loved a chauvinistic, arrogant dragon, who wanted to tuck her away to keep her safe. But Chandra wasn’t the type to hide.

Dear Devi, I love him, but is a future with him even possible?

It’d better be because contemplating a future without him proved even more terrifying.

“You should have stayed behind,” he grumbled.

“We’re a team.”

“More than a team, if you ask me,” Deka added with a snort.

Tomas glared. Deka snickered some more. Adi was snuggled in the back on some guy’s lap, and the aunt snored closer to the cockpit. The private jet came in handy when hatching plots.

As part of the ruse to bait Parker, Chandra and Tomas were smuggled from the plane to a car, careful placement of the luggage carts providing a screen.

They drove from there to the Silvergrace manor—and Chandra meant manor. She’d never been this close to something this big. The house had more windows than she could easily count.

“How many people live there?” she asked.

Sharing the back of the second row of the SUV with them, Deka answered. “It depends on the time of year and who’s working out of town. Right now, we’re a little light, given Adi and Aimi both moved out with their men.”

“Your jealousy warms me,” Adi replied from her spot in the third row, leaning against a big human she called mate. Chandra knew the guy. They’d briefly worked together at Lytropia, and he was who she’d called when she got in trouble.

Dex had been happy to see Chandra alive, his relief palpable, as well as his wince. “Sorry, I didn’t go looking. I thought for sure you were a goner. Especially once Lytropia was destroyed.”

At least he’d noticed she was gone. Her family had never even realized it. Then again, Ishaan might have lied, seeing as how he probably knew about her capture and wanted to keep it secret.

Spilling out of the SUV, she paused to crane and gawk. The giant house awed Chandra, and the outside, while grand, couldn’t compare to the interior.

She loved the vaulted ceilings and the intricate plasterwork all around. While the surroundings were pretty, she wouldn’t want to live here. Imagine having to dust.

A woman who’d aged with elegant grace soon arrived to meet them. “There you are, Professor Obsidian, and you’ve brought company.” The woman’s lips turned down. “Adi, please put our guest somewhere while I take the professor to meet someone.”

“Who?”

“A colleague of yours. Dr. D’Ore.”

“He’s here?”

“Yes, and uninvited, too.” The moue clearly stated this was considered quite a faux pas.

“Take me to him at once.” Tomas didn’t ask, he ordered.

“Deka, attend the human.”

“Actually, the doctor stays with me.” Tomas didn’t ask; he stated. “I wouldn’t want her to be accidentally misplaced.”

“In a cooking pot,” snickered Adi.

Having begun to get used to the rather odd humor Tomas displayed, Chandra ignored the cannibal reference. “I promise to stay out of the way unless Tomas tries to eat the guy.”

“I wouldn’t eat him. Too scrawny.”

“But you have thought of dismemberment,” she said with a tilt of her head.

He smiled. “It makes for a more permanent death.”

“And that is why I want to be cremated,” Deka advised them all. “Zombies don’t come back from ashes.”

“They also don’t taste very good.” At a sharp glance from Chandra, Adi shrugged and gave a sheepish grin. “Or so I hear.”

How, oh how, had these people managed to remain hidden? They gave themselves away at every turn.

Perhaps they just don’t hide themselves from me. Chandra was allowed in on the secret. Problem was, would they ever let her out?

Not alive.

Gulp.

Fingers laced with hers as Tomas grabbed hold of Chandra before he followed their hostess. “Don’t worry, doctor. Zombies are rare and harder to create than you’d think.”

She should be appalled they even existed, and yet, the scientist in her clapped her hands and went “oooooh.” Chandra liked strange things. Even dead ones.

What she didn’t like was this place with all the silver accents. The women with silvery hair, the shades of it from platinum to a deep gray. The random specks of color from a throw cushion, some books, flowers, only served to highlight the stark aesthetic beauty of the women and the home.

After traversing a few gleaming halls, they strode into an office, a large one with massive French doors at the far end that looked upon a garden. Ringing the walls, bookcases filled with leather-clad tomes. In the middle of the room, a huge desk with a chair behind it and, in front, a pair of club seats.

One held a silver-haired woman of indeterminate years. While her features appeared smooth, there was a certain grace and serenity that seemed to indicate wisdom.

In the other chair, Dr. Samael D’Ore. Just as blond and good-looking in person, younger seeming too as he laughed and talked to the woman with the chignon.

“Really, Yolanda. I left you to guard the boy, not flirt,” snapped the woman that news reports called Zahra Silvergrace. Heiress but also a shrewd businesswoman who’d grown her empire. She took her seat behind the massive desk, staking her importance.

The woman with the bun waved a hand. “The boy is harmless.”

“So harmless he showed up here unannounced asking to see Dr. Obsidian, which is odd given his travel here was done quite discreetly.”

“I have my sources,” D’Ore claimed with a smile. He stood and held out a hand in Tomas’s direction. “I’m Dr. Samael D’Ore, and might I say it is a pleasure to meet the legendary Dr. Tomas Obsidian. I wrote my thesis on you. I can only hope to become as great when I reach your age.”

Tomas stiffened. “I am not old, boy. And it will take more than luck next time for you to find a treasure. Some people only manage it once in a lifetime.”

Chandra wanted to shake her head at the male posturing.

“I guess we’ll have to see. But I do have an advantage.” The sly smile didn’t sit right with Chandra.

This whole situation seemed odd. This wasn’t in the plan. The plan was to have Tomas come here and for it to accidentally slip he was hiding with the Silvergraces. Being a guy, it wouldn’t last. Tomas would leave in a huff, alone, and Parker would try and nab him.

“And what would that advantage be?” Tomas asked. He didn’t show anything but polite courtesy on the surface, but she heard his mind-whisper of, Be ready. He’s not what he seems.

“Whatever his advantage is, he’s not wearing it,” Mrs. Silvergrace announced. “He was searched quite thoroughly before being allowed inside.”

“And yet you missed it.” D’Ore shook his head. “Perhaps you should look again.”

Tomas canted his head and stared at D’Ore as if he could see what the man hid by pure force of will.

Undaunted, D’Ore stared back, the faint hint of a smirk on his lips. “Have you figured it out yet?”

“You’re not human.”

“What are you talking about?” Yolanda frowned. “Smell him. It’s quite distinct.”

“It is,” Tomas agreed. “Did you know Parker’s been working on a formula at his labs to mimic human smell and hide dragons?” They’d tested it on him.

“Someone needs to eat that man,” someone muttered.

Tomas moved closer until he stood right behind D’Ore. The man didn’t turn to watch but rather looked straight left, his piercing gaze stuck on Chandra.

“If it isn’t the missing doctor. I hear your disappearance caused quite the ruckus.”

“What are you talking about?” Tomas growled as he rounded the chair and loomed in front of the young man. “What do you know about Chandra?”

“More than I wager you do. For one thing, I know Parker wants her back.”

“The human girl? Why?” This came from Mrs. Silvergrace.

“She’s part of the plan. So are you, Tomas.” D’Ore took a step forward. “The time is coming. Things are moving into place. Will you be with or against us in the final battle?”

Who is us? Chandra wondered. She blinked before she’d even formed a reply then completely lost the thread as chaos erupted.

“Where did he go?” Yolanda exclaimed.

“He was right here. How did he vanish?” barked Mrs. Silvergrace.

“That is a cool trick,” muttered Tomas.

Standing from behind her desk, the leader of the Silver Sept slammed her hands on the hard surface of her desk. “Someone get Varna and Valda to pull up the security cameras. I want to know what happened. Where did that boy go? How did he manage to disappear?”

They never did find out because, no matter how many video feeds they checked, D’Ore never appeared. As a matter of fact, it looked as if they conversed with thin air.

Adi was especially intrigued. “It’s as if he was invisible to the video recorders.”

Since video looked for how light bent in respect to objects, Chandra mused aloud, “He’s obviously letting light through his body rather than reflecting it back.”

“Some kind of cloaking device. But the question is, was it manmade or inherent? I’ve never seen anything like it.”

“Perhaps we should focus less on the fact that he has no reflection like a vampire, and more on that Parker wants Chandra.” Tomas didn’t seem the least bit impressed with that fact.

But it was Xylia, who’d just walked into the room, who had an answer. “Of course Parker wants her. Given you’re sleeping together, I’m going to wager he’s interested in the baby.”

Thunk.

Tomas hit the floor hard.