Chapter Twenty-Five
Ezra wanted this call over and done with so he could enjoy Sam. He’d been all over her practically as soon as he’d stepped inside the front door. He’d taken her against the wall with no preliminaries at all. Just a wham, bam, thank you, ma’am. And she’d fed him soup. Soup she’d made for him from scratch.
He wanted to take her to bed so he could worship every inch of her amazing body before he made love to her again. But first, he had to deal with his family and the situation with the Knights.
“If you leave the dishes, I’ll get them when I’m done.” She’d cooked. Didn’t seem fair for her to have to clean up.
“That’s okay. I’ve got it. This time,” she added.
He grinned. His Sam was no pushover. While she piled the plates and bowls and cutlery into the dishwasher, he dialed Tarrant. It was earlier on the West Coast, so the rest of them should be awake. Tarrant and Valeriya were in Washington State, Darius and Sarah were currently in Arizona, and Nic was in Nevada.
“What?”
Ezra put the call on speaker and set the phone on the table. “It’s lovely to hear your voice, too.”
“What’s happened?”
“Two whole words.” He knew he shouldn’t tease Tarrant, but sometimes it was just too easy. Silence was followed by a low growl. “I need to talk to you all at once.”
The phone went dead.
“He sounds angry.” Sam squirted dish liquid into the pot and filled it with water. He could sense she was worried and didn’t like it. If his brother was nearby, Ezra would kick his ass.
“Ignore Tarrant. He always sounds that way. I don’t know how Valeriya puts up with him.”
Sam left the pot in the sink and wiped her hands on a kitchen towel. “Is that his wife?”
Ezra wasn’t quite sure how to answer that. Wife? Mate was more accurate. The phone rang and he held up his index finger. “Hold that thought. Yeah?”
“I’ve got everyone connected,” Tarrant told him.
Ezra took a deep breath. “A lot has happened since we last talked.” He was aware of Sam listening as he told his family about his trip to the Easton and coming back to the island to find Dexter hurting Sam.
She was standing in the kitchen with her arms wrapped around herself. She looked so alone. He stood and went to her. She looked up at him and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”
“It’s not your fault,” he whispered.
“Hey, we’re still here,” Tarrant pointed out.
Ezra threw his arm around her shoulders and brought her back to the table with him. “Sorry about that.” He wasn’t really, but best not to tell his brother that. He sat back in his chair and pulled her down onto his lap.
“You destroyed Dexter’s body.” It wasn’t so much a question as a statement of fact. He knew it’s what Darius would have done.
“Not exactly. I took his boat out to sea and dumped the body overboard. If it ever washes up, it will appear as though his body was battered by the ocean.”
“Smart.” Tarrant gave his approval.
“I also hauled up the dinghy that Sam stole when she escaped the Integrity.”
“Let me guess,” Nic interjected. “Another wreck?”
“It happens at sea.” Maybe two was a little suspect, but the Knights would eventually have to accept both people were gone—Dexter dead and Sam off the grid with him.
“It’s a little too neat and tidy, but it’s the best you could do.”
Ezra didn’t take offense to Tarrant’s observation. He knew his brother was worried about him. Sam was getting tenser by the second. If her spine got any stiffer, it would snap.
“I’m sorry,” she blurted out. “To all of you. All I can do is promise to never divulge Ezra’s secret.”
The silence was deafening.
“It’s not your fault.” It didn’t surprised Ezra that it was Valeriya who spoke first. She, of all of them, knew what it was like to feel guilty about having an association with the Knights.
“I did what I thought best,” Sam told them all. “But if I’d believed for one second that the stories Gervais Rames told me about dragons were true, I would never have gotten involved with the Knights. I just wanted to enact some kind of revenge or justice or whatever you want to call it for my friend. He was the only family I had.”
Ezra nuzzled her neck, wanting to comfort her. He also wanted to change the subject. What was done, was done. There was no changing it. “Tarrant, I need the name of the jeweler you and Darius used?”
He wished he could see his brothers’ faces. He knew they had to be shocked. Sarah gave a squeal of delight and he heard the clapping of hands.
Sam swiveled so she could look directly at him. “A jeweler.”
He nodded. “Those sapphires belong in a necklace, for you.”
There was both fear and wonder in her eyes. “Like the one from the fire drakon?”
“A more modern setting. Silver or platinum, I’m thinking.”
“What the hell happened?” Darius demanded. “You’ve never given up drakon tears before.”
He was grateful to his brother for not saying he’d never cried his eyes out before. Saying he’d never given tears up made it seem more manly.
“Sam was hypothermic, her heartbeat erratic.” Ezra ran his fingers through her wild curls he loved so much, over her delicate cheeks, and finally across her lush lips. There was so much about her that he admired beyond the physical.
He eased his hand under the hem of the oversize shirt she wore. His shirt. He felt like beating his chest, but he didn’t think that was a particularly wise course of action. Her thigh was warm and supple. He coasted his hand over the curve of her hip and into the slope of her waist.
“Welcome to the family.” The dry undertone in Darius’s voice jolted Ezra. His damn brother knew what he was doing. Maybe not exactly, but he knew where Ezra was heading. He had to get off the phone before he ended up making love to Sam while his family got an earful.
“Thank you.” There was a tentativeness in Sam’s voice but also pleasure. “And Ezra’s secret is safe with me.”
“It better be.” Tarrant was as gruff as ever. “Hurt Ezra, and we’ll end you.”
Ezra was more amused by his brother’s warning than furious, especially since Sam was smiling at him. “I can live with that,” she told them all. “I do have a question.” She pushed off of Ezra’s lap, something he wasn’t overly pleased with, and began to pace.
“Shoot,” Tarrant told her.
…
It was both thrilling and intimidating to be a part of this group. She still didn’t understand the intricacies of all their relationships, but they were family in every sense of the word. She sensed they shared a deep history and that there wasn’t anything they wouldn’t do for one another. That was love. That was loyalty and commitment.
It was what she’d always wanted.
Having Darius confirm Ezra had never shed drakon tears before awed her. Her drakon might never give her the words, but there was no doubt in her mind that he loved her.
If she was a part of this group, this family, she needed to understand things better, maybe even find a way to help them to offset all the trouble she’d brought with her.
“You’ve lived for years. Centuries. Right?” she asked him.
“Yes, about four thousand,” Ezra confirmed, “give or take a decade.”
She still had a hard time wrapping her brain around a number that large. Ezra had seen the rise and fall of the great civilizations of history. Drakons understood the ancient world better than any living scholar. They’d lived it.
Maybe it was her background in archaeology, the years she’d spent studying various cultures that gave her an insight they might not have considered before.
“Why now?”
Ezra frowned and leaned back in his chair. With his legs kicked out in front of him and his hands behind his head, he was the epitome of the relaxed male. She knew that could change in a heartbeat and he’d be ready to fight, to protect. Her Ezra was a warrior at heart, but he was also a scholar.
Sam began to pace. Walking always helped her think better. “Maybe I’m out of line, but I know Darius is also a drakon. In our last conversation, he referred to the Knights as hunting us, and not you,” she pointed out to Ezra.
“Fuck,” Darius muttered. “I did. So?”
“So”—Sam ran her fingers along the edge of the wooden table—“I gather you and Sarah haven’t been together for long.”
“Again, so?” Darius was obviously not happy with the turn in the conversation. Neither was Ezra, if his sudden frown was any indication.
“Bear with me. Please.” She gripped the back of one of the chairs. Maybe she was poking her nose into an area it didn’t belong, but if her theory was right, the rest of the drakons out there could be in for a rough road unless they were prepared.
“Go on,” Ezra encouraged.
She nodded and took a deep breath. “I don’t know if you’re human or not, Tarrant.”
“You know,” he told her.
She did. In her heart, she suspected all the men were drakons, including Nic. “And you and Valeriya haven’t been together for long?”
“No.”
“Why now?” Nic sounded thoughtful. “That’s what you mean, isn’t it? Darius and Tarrant hook up with women, and now Ezra.”
“Exactly. Why now, after four thousand years? If it was only one of you, I wouldn’t even question it, but three drakons finding a connection with women in such a short period of time after all these years is significant. Do you think there’s a reason?”
“I want to say coincidence, but it pushes the boundaries too much.” Tarrant sighed. “Any ideas?”
“Maturity.” As she’d expected, she’d stunned them all silent. “It makes sense. You guys live a long time.”
“Undetermined,” Ezra told her.
“So what if you needed four thousand years or so to reach sexual maturity.”
Nic laughed. “Sweetheart, I’ve been bedding women since I was fifteen. Or was it fourteen. Things were a lot different back in those days.”
“I’m not talking about sex, but the need to mate, to settle.” And she certainly didn’t want to think about the thousands of women Ezra must have slept with. She warmed to her subject and started pacing again. “Maybe all of us women have something in common?”
“Like what?” Darius demanded.
She was thinking out loud, something she often did when she was working. “I have no idea. It’s nothing more than a question at this point.”
“You think other drakons will be experiencing this drive, this need to mate, as well?” Tarrant asked.
“Maybe. I don’t know. It’s just a thought, a theory.”
“Why four thousand years?”
“Well,” Sarah interjected. “Men mature more slowly than women.” Valeriya laughed and Sam couldn’t help but grin.
“There is that.” She walked around the table to Ezra. “Like I said, it’s something to think about.” She stopped several steps away from him. If she got any closer she’d probably end up in his lap again. Not necessarily a bad thing, if they weren’t talking with his family. “Nic needs to be careful,” she blurted.
“Why?” Nic asked.
“If the Knights discover drakons are eager to mate and can figure out what kind of woman calls to a drakon—” She couldn’t finish the thought.
“They’d set a trap,” Ezra finished. “Like staking out a virgin like they used to in the old days.”
“They actually did that?” Sam was both appalled and curious. “Did it work?”
Ezra scowled and shook his head. “No, it didn’t work.”
She shrugged. “I had to ask. How else will I learn?”
“We all need to think about this,” Tarrant pointed out. “In the meantime, Nic be careful if you’re attracted to any woman.”
“I’m attracted to many women,” he quipped.
“Don’t be an ass.” Ezra leaned forward, his fingers touching the edge of the phone. She thought he wanted to reach out and touch his friend. “You be extra careful. If I have to rescue you from the Knights, I won’t be pleased.”
“Maybe I’ll come for a visit. Meet the lovely Sam in person.”
Ezra growled, the low rumble vibrating through the floor and up her legs. “You’re always welcome.”
Sadness tinged Nic’s laugh. “But not as welcome as I was before.”
Ezra shook himself. “No. You’re always welcome. Come and meet my Sam.”
A shiver of longing snaked down her spine at the possessiveness in his tone. She could tell he was concerned for his friend. She took the few steps necessary to bring her to his side. She rubbed his shoulder, and he leaned into her.
“I will. Not sure how soon I’ll get there, but soon.”
“Watch for Knights,” Tarrant reminded him. “Ezra’s neck of the woods is going to be lousy with them for the next while.”
“Do you think they’ll buy the whole boat wreck and lost at sea scenario?” Darius asked. “For both Dexter and Sam?”
“No.” Ezra rubbed his chin across her stomach. Even through her clothing, it sent tingles all the way to her toes. “They’ll send someone to investigate. Several of the high-ranking Knights might send men loyal to them to check things out. Eventually, they’ll have to give up, but they’ll always have one eye open for Dexter and for Sam.”
And wasn’t that a happy thought? Sam was tired of the Knights and their deadly games. She wanted to spend time alone with Ezra and learn more about him. She wanted some semblance of a normal life, whatever the new normal was going to be.
“You two must be exhausted,” Darius pointed out. “Best to get some rest.”
“I doubt they’ll sleep just yet.” Nic chuckled. She couldn’t take offense since he was probably right.
“Let me know if you hear anything.” Ezra was watching her now. The heat from his gaze was warming her all the way to her soul.
“What about the book?” It was Sarah who reminded them they still had a deadly artifact in the safe in Ezra’s office.
“I think we should destroy it.” As much as it hurt Sam to even think about destroying a piece of history, the book was a threat to Ezra. “It’s too dangerous to simply leave there, even if it is locked away.”
“Do you feel any affects from it?” Sarah asked.
“What do you mean?” She wished she could talk to the other woman, to all of them face-to-face.
There was the briefest of hesitations before Sarah continued. “The book I discovered kept growing in power the longer it was around Darius, around me.”
“Really? You could sense that?” Sarah obviously had talent. “Ezra mentioned you have a gift for psychometry, but I’m not quite sure how that works.”
“He did, did he?” Darius was obviously not pleased.
“Yes, he did.” Sam plunged onward, sensing they were getting closer to learning some things they needed to know. “I can find artifacts, but I have an affinity for those associated with arcane rituals, mythical creatures. It’s like a hum in my blood that gets louder the closer I get.”
“My talent is magnified around books,” Sarah offered.
Valeria cleared her throat. “I can sense danger around me. My instincts tell me when to hide, when to run, basically the best way to deal with it.”
Sam met Ezra’s gaze. Could they have discovered the link that easily? “Maybe that’s it. All of us women have a little something extra, some sort of extra ability that so-called normal people don’t have.”
“What do you think?” Ezra asked the others.
“I think we need to do more research,” Tarrant told him. “It’s too soon to draw any conclusions.”
“I agree,” Sam told him. As a theory it was worth investigating, but it was still only a theory.
“I’ll keep my eye out for a good-looking psychic,” Nic assured them. The men chuckled, but the women were silent.
“Just be careful,” she told him. She didn’t want anything to happen to any of Ezra’s friends.
“You, too. I’ll see you soon.” Nic left the conversation.
The others quickly said good-bye, and Ezra turned off the phone and stood. “It’s time for bed.
…
Ezra knew Sam had a million questions. He could see them in her eyes. He tucked his phone back in the charger and held out his hand. She took it and they walked through the house and up the stairs. “This is getting to be a habit.”
“What is?” She yawned, her green eyes tired. She’d been running on adrenaline for days. In spite of ingesting some of his blood, her body had been through a lot. What she needed more than anything was unbroken rest, nourishing food, and time.
“Going to bed when the sun is coming up.” Through the bedroom window, he could see the sun rising over the water. It never failed to stir his soul. Didn’t matter how many times he’d seen it.
“Yeah, I’m beginning to feel like a vampire.” She crawled onto the bed, and he sniffed and caught a whiff of his laundry detergent. “Up all night and sleeping most of the day.”
She yawned again and pulled the covers over her. He tossed aside his jeans and climbed in beside her. For the first time since he’d met her, he started to relax. Sam was safe, the immediate threat to her was gone, and the Knights had no idea where she was. He nestled her head on his chest and ran his fingers along her arm.
“Tell me about your friends, your family.” Sam’s sleepy query startled him. He expected her to fall asleep instantly.
“What do you want to know?” He loved having her beside him. Being able to touch her when he wanted, able to inhale her unique fragrance.
She ran her fingertips over his bare chest. “I know Darius and Tarrant are drakons. I expect Nic is, too.”
“Yes, they are.” If he expected her to share his life, he needed to be honest. “The Knights suspect Darius is a drakon. They made a run for him and Sarah.”
She bolted upright, her eyes as wild as her curls. “But they’re safe where they are, aren’t they?”
He eased her back down and started stroking her again. “They’re safe. Darius will take care of them. And Nic is close by.”
She shuddered and clung to him. “I hate the Knights.”
“We all do.” It was easy to forget how much she’d lost to them. They’d killed her mentor and altered the course of her life, leaving her no safe place to call home until he’d found her. “They’re my brothers,” he blurted.
Sam popped upright again and stared at him with disbelief. “Your brothers?”
He tried to draw her back down, but she wasn’t having any of it. She sat cross-legged beside him, all signs of sleep banished. He should have kept his mouth shut until after she’d had some rest, but it was too late now.
He stacked his hands behind his head knowing she wouldn’t sleep until he’d given her some of the details. “Same dragon sire but different mothers. Tarrant and Darius knew about one another. They were from the same village.”
“Where?”
Ezra shrugged. “It doesn’t matter. It’s been nothing but dust for centuries.”
She placed a hand on his chest. He knew she meant it to be comforting, and it was, arousing, too. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be. That was a long time ago. After our sire left this world with the other dragons, we had to figure things out for ourselves, who we really were, what we really were.” That hadn’t been an easy time. Humans had either wanted to revere them as gods or slaughter them. There never seemed to be much in-between.
“So how did you all find one another?”
“Darius. He’s the oldest. We were all born within the span of a couple years, but he was first. He figured if there were two of them in their hometown, there might be more of us in nearby villages. He was right.”
“Wow. Do you think you found all your siblings?”
He’d never really considered they might have missed a brother, that there might be another drakon out there that belonged with them. “I don’t know.”
He sat up and raked his fingers through his hair. “Darius and Tarrant found me first. Then we found Nic.” They’d stopped searching once they’d covered the immediate area. “We were thinking like humans.”
“What do you mean?” Sam scooted closer and touched his arm. He wrapped his hands around her waist and lifted her so she was straddling his lap. If he had to talk about a subject he’d much rather forget, he’d at least like the pleasure of being able to touch Sam.
He blew out a breath. “We were all lost when our sires abandoned us. After it became obvious we weren’t exactly like them, that we were more human than dragon, they decided their grand experiment was a failure and left. They went back to the dimension they’d come from.”
Sam’s jaw dropped. Ezra put his index finger under her chin and pushed until it closed. “That’s…” She trailed off, obviously not knowing what to say.
“So there I was all alone with a mother who hated me. She was frightened of what I was becoming. There was no way to hide it in the beginning. I was too young. We all were. My village cast me out.”
“That’s horrible. And your mother didn’t stop them?” She bit her bottom lip and concern filled her eyes.
“No.” That day was burned in his memory, as fresh as if it had happened only yesterday. “She led them.”
He’d felt so totally alone that day. Hurt and bleeding, he’d stumbled into the wasteland beyond his village, no longer sure he wanted to live.
“Darius and Tarrant found me wandering in the desert.” It turned out he was a lot harder to kill than he’d thought. His physical wounds had healed quickly. “At least it wasn’t as bad as what Darius and Tarrant went through. Their mothers tried to poison them. When that didn’t work, the entire village tried to kill them.”
“That’s so unfair. It wasn’t your fault. How could your mothers do such a thing?” She sat back and cupped his face in her small, capable hands.
“They were afraid.” He’d come to terms with his mother’s failings long ago. “My mother was alone in the world with a son who wasn’t totally human and no man by her side. She didn’t know if we came from the gods or demons. She did what she had to in order to survive.”
“You were a boy.”
Ezra shook his head. “No, in those days I was considered a man.” Still he’d felt the loss of home, such as it was, he’d belonged somewhere.
“Did your sire tell you nothing about what you were?”
“He was mostly absent when I was young. He told me what he was, what I was, when I was twelve. Then he watched me for a couple years to see if his dragon genes would dominate. But we were all something completely different.”
“And what about Nic?”
“After Darius and Tarrant found me, we went to every village within two hundred miles. We found Nic half buried in the desert.” No need to mention he’d been curled into a ball crying for his mother. He was the youngest of them all. He’d been lying on the burning hot sand surrounded by rubies.
Nic had been wary of them at first and then overjoyed to have family. It was Darius who’d gathered the rubies and made Nic take them. His brother’s tears had gotten them their start in life, enabling them to purchase the supplies they’d needed to survive.
“Poor little boy,” Sam murmured. “All of you.”
“But we stopped looking. We were thinking like humans. We knew how far apart our villages were and how often our sires visited. We thought we’d found everyone.”
They might have lived for thousands of years, but once they’d found one another, they’d simply given up the search. Sure, over the years they’d come in contact with others of their kind. Tarrant actively tried to find drakons, wanting to be able to reach out to them if he felt it necessary. But they’d never gone looking for another blood brother. He didn’t know if that made them stupid or simply complacent. Not that it mattered. The results were the same.
“You didn’t factor in the fact he could fly.”
Ezra closed his eyes. To think he might have another brother out there on his own—maybe even more than one—made his soul ache. They all knew what it was like to be alone. “Drakons are solitary creatures by nature, but having family helps anchor us.”
“You were all children and you’d been through a trauma. It’s amazing to me that you found one another at all.”
He knew she was right, but that didn’t stop the sick feeling deep in his stomach. “I’ll have to talk to the others. But it’s time for you to sleep now.”
…
“No, it’s time for me to love you.” She whisked the shirt over her head and tossed it aside. The sun shining through the window warmed the space. It was chilly outside, but here in Ezra’s bedroom it was cozy. This was a safe place for the two of them.
Talking about his past had been difficult for Ezra, but he’d done it. For her. Nothing could change his past or erase what he’d been through, but his future would be different. She would see to it.
“What are you doing?”
She placed her hands on Ezra’s bare chest and traced the contours of his abs. “If you have to ask, I must not be doing it correctly,” she teasingly repeated what he’d said another time they’d made love.
He ran his hand over her hip. “You’re not doing a damn thing wrong, but you’ve been through a lot. You have to be tired.”
She was, but her need to comfort Ezra, to love him, overrode everything, even the need to rest. “Touch me.” She needed his hands on her.
“Baby, you never need to ask.” His voice deepened, his amazing turquoise eyes darkened. He stroked upward, caressing her sides.
She moaned. His hands felt so good, so right whenever and wherever he touched her. She wanted to make love to him, but more than that, she wanted him to know he was loved.
He was hers for the foreseeable future.
But what about when she started to age and he didn’t? She ignored the doubts that slipped into her mind. She wouldn’t start looking toward the end when they were just beginning.
“What is it?” he asked.
She didn’t want to talk about her stupid fears and insecurities. “It’s nothing.” To distract him, she stroked her fingers over his chest.
“You know I love it when you touch me.” Her heart skipped a beat when he said the “L” word. “But, Sam, don’t pretend there isn’t something bothering you.” He trailed his fingers over the side of her face. She turned toward his warmth.
“It’s stupid,” she muttered. She really didn’t want to talk about it.
Ezra shook his head. “It’s not stupid if it’s upsetting you.”
So much for being a femme fatale, able to seduce a man whenever she wanted. She was stark naked on his lap, and he wanted to talk.
“Are we in a relationship? Are we exclusive? Permanent?” Boy, that came out sounding needy. “I just need to know where I stand,” she clarified. “Should I be getting ready to leave, or am I staying?”
Ezra jerked back as though she’d hit him. He stared at her for so long she began to fidget beneath his intense scrutiny.
“I’m sorry.”
Sam closed her eyes and promised herself she wouldn’t cry. She’d always believed she wouldn’t be here for long, although she’d begun to change her mind, to hope. She should have known better. “That’s okay,” she began, but he cut her off.
“No, it isn’t.” He framed her face between his big hands. “Look at me.” She didn’t want to. She wanted to crawl into a closet somewhere and have a good, long cry. She finally looked up at him.
His eyes practically glowed. So did his tattoo. He pulsed with a tangible energy, and she could feel the fine hairs on her body standing on end.
“I’m sorry you had to ask me that. You are my everything.” He shook his head. “If you try to leave, if you wanted to leave, I’m not sure I could let you.” He ran his thumb over her bottom lip. “Are we in a relationship? Most definitely. Are we exclusive? Absolutely. Are we permanent?” He leaned closer, caught her bottom lip between his teeth, and gave a gentle tug. “Forever.”
She shuddered and felt a tear slip from the corner of her eye. He caught it on his tongue. “Salty. I love salty.”
She surprised herself by laughing. So many emotions were battering her right now.
“I shed drakon tears for you.” They both glanced at the small fortune in gems piled on the nightstand. “They’re the equivalent of a human wedding ring, only more binding. A drakon will only shed tears in the most extreme of circumstances, and only for love.”
She sucked in a breath, not sure she was hearing him right. “You love me?” She groaned and buried her face in her hands. “Ignore me, please.”
He chuckled. “That’s one thing I won’t do. You love me.” He peeled her hands away so he could see her. “You told me so.”
“I do.” There was no one like him.
“And I love you.” He placed one of her hands over his heart. “Forever.”
“I’m human. I’ll get old, and you’ll still be young and hot.” That startled a laugh from him. She smacked his chest. “That’s not funny.” She sighed. “You’re right. I need to focus on the positive. We have forty or fifty good years to look forward to. Maybe more. Hey, I’ll be a cougar in a few years, and you can be my boy toy.”
He started to choke. “Boy toy?” he sputtered.
She shrugged. “That’s what everyone will think.” She winked at him. “I’m fine with that.”
“Sam,” he began.
“No. I’m done talking.” Fatigue was starting to wear on her, and she wanted to make love with him before she fell asleep. She kissed him, pushing all else aside but their lovemaking. It was tender and sweet and filled with passion.
When they’d both found release, he collapsed to the side, dragging her with him and curling his big body around her. Sunshine filled the room, but she knew that wouldn’t keep her awake. She was beyond exhausted. She was also strangely content.
It didn’t matter that the Knights of the Dragon would never stop looking for her. She had Ezra. Any risk was worth it to be with him. She’d had a price on her head before he’d met her. That she’d found him and he loved her was more than she’d ever expected.
A low rumbling sound rose from deep in his chest. She snuggled closer and closed her eyes. She smiled when she felt the comforter being thrown over them. That was Ezra, always thoughtful, always thinking about her.
“Sleep,” he murmured. “We’ll talk more later. But know this. You’re never leaving me. Not while I have blood in my body.”
She knew there was some significance to what he was telling her but she was too fatigued to make sense of it. Later. She’d think later.
He kissed the top of her head and they snuggled together as the sun bathed the room in a soft glow.
…
Talking with the authorities always gave Karina a headache. “No, I had no idea anyone was missing from the crew. Aaron Dexter was in charge of the operation and he assured me everyone was fine. Obviously, he lied to me. Now not only is he missing, but you’re telling me the archaeologist I hired is also nowhere to be found.”
Karina was nothing more than an innocent victim. At least as far as the police were concerned. Having them show up at her home to question her was something else she could blame Dexter for. If he wasn’t already dead, he soon would be.
“Is there anything else I can do for you?” She kept her tone light when she really wanted to scream. “I don’t know any more than I already told you. I funded the expedition to explore the wreck of the Reliant, but the research vessel sank. As far as I know, they suspect a whale rammed the boat, puncturing holes in the bow.”
“It was insured?” the detective asked.
“Of course it was. Everything I own is insured. It’s also a great nuisance to have to buy and outfit another research vessel.”
“But you plan to?”
“Of course.” She wanted to be ready in the event there was another artifact to be salvaged somewhere in the world. She glanced at her watch. “If that’s all, I have another engagement.”
“We appreciate your cooperation.” The detective stood, as did his partner. Karina remained seated. “Thank you for your time,” he added.
“Whatever I can do to help. I hope the authorities find both Doctor Bellamy and Mr. Dexter. I have questions for them both.”
The men turned and walked away. Birch, who’d been standing just inside the office, walked them to the front door. Karina was up and pacing by the time he returned.
“I want to know if Dexter is dead or alive.” She paused and smoothed down her Channel suit. Classic clothing never went out of style.
“We’ve got a man on the coast guard vessel. We’ll know as soon as they know anything.”
“Good.” Karina paused by the window, but she barely noticed the view of the city. “If Dexter isn’t dead, I want him questioned before he’s disposed of. He might have tried to fake his own death. We don’t know what he found. He might have been lying about what Doctor Bellamy discovered among the artifacts of the Reliant. Bottom line is we can’t trust anything Dexter told us.”
“Agreed. What about Bellamy?” Birch asked.
“I suspect she’s dead. Dexter probably killed her. He either stole the artifact from her or it was already lost. Either way, we watch the area for the next few months, we also watch the other Knights, especially Temple, in case he’s gotten his hands on whatever it was they found.”
“You’re writing off the Integrity?”
“Yes. The insurance adjuster says it’ll cost a small fortune to refloat her, and all the high-tech equipment on board will have to be replaced regardless.”
“Have you contacted that local company, Easton Salvage?”
“Not yet,” she told him. “I haven’t had time. Call them. I want any artifacts they can find on board the Integrity, just to be safe. After that, she’s theirs to salvage.”
“I’ll take care of it.” Birch left her alone, closing the door to her study behind him.
All her plans had been upended. It was time to make new ones.