Chapter Six
Ezra had meant to reassure Sam, not scare her. From the look of horror on her face, he hadn’t done such a great job. Maybe blurting out that he had no trouble killing anyone who came for her was a mistake, but he wouldn’t take it back. He would protect her, no matter what it took.
Tarrant would call him crazy. After all, she could be a member of the Knights. Just because she was running from some of them didn’t mean she wasn’t working for another faction.
And that was another thing. His brothers needed to be updated. He was surprised Tarrant hadn’t already called, demanding to know what was going on.
“Why don’t you get a shower?” She had to be feeling less than fresh after everything she’d been through. Her skin and hair would still have residue from the salt water. “I’ll whip up some breakfast while you’re gone.”
She yanked the colorful throw more tightly around her. “Fine. But when I come down, we’re going to talk, and you’re going to give me some answers.” She spun around and stalked toward the stairs. Ezra watched her all the way.
“And you’re going to give me some answers, too,” he muttered under his breath. The beast inside him growled, not liking the fact that Sam was leaving. He’d never been possessive over a woman before. It was unsettling.
As soon as she was out of sight, he grabbed his cell phone and called his brother. Tarrant answered on the first ring. “Where the hell have you been? I’ve been calling for hours.”
He’d meant to leave the phone on. Obviously, he hadn’t. No wonder he hadn’t heard from his brother. “I had the phone turned off. You know I’m not fond of all that ringing.”
Tarrant growled at him. Ezra couldn’t help but grin. “All that ringing? Only three of us have your number.”
“And telemarketers,” Ezra reminded him. “Those people can find you anywhere. No number is safe from them.”
Tarrant made a rather rude and anatomically impossible suggestion. Ezra held the phone away from his ear and chuckled. “Listen, I’m going to put you on speaker, and I don’t have a lot of time.”
His brother was all business. “What happened? What do you need?”
It was a reminder that his brother was there for him, no matter what. They all were. The bond the four of them shared was unbreakable. “I need to know everything there is to know about a Samuel Bellamy.” He could hear computer keys clicking in the background as Tarrant worked. Ezra began to measure out pancake mix for the batter, then decided he should start the bacon frying first.
“There are dozens of people with that name. Can you narrow it down for me? Any idea what this guy does for a living? And where did you meet him? Was he on the Integrity?”
Ezra sliced open the package of bacon and began to lay strips out in the pans he’d set out. “First of all, Samuel is a woman. And secondly, she was escaping the Integrity in a dinghy when I first saw her.”
“What the hell happened, Ezra? No more beating around the bush. Tell me everything.”
Keeping one ear out for Sam, Ezra told his brother about watching the fight between Sam and the man aboard the Integrity, her getting shot, Ezra sinking the ship, and then bringing Sam back with him.
All the bacon was cooked, and he was starting on the pancakes by the time he was finished recounting the tale.
“Fuck. You should have called me immediately.”
“Sorry.” He was, but he couldn’t have done anything differently. “I had to tend to Sam and sink the dinghy so there’d be no trace to lead anyone here.”
The clicking of computer keys hadn’t stopped while they were talking. No one on the planet could access information like Tarrant could.
“Okay, here’s what I can tell you. Samuel Bellamy is twenty-nine years old. Both her parents are dead, and she had no siblings and no other immediate family.”
Ezra wanted to ask if there was a man in her life, but he figured that would make Tarrant lose his mind with worry. Best to ask her himself.
“She’s an archaeologist. Has lectured at several universities.” Tarrant paused. “This is interesting.”
“What?” Ezra poured batter onto the hot skillets and began making pancakes.
“She had a mentor who was killed in a home invasion about a year ago. She was the one to discover the body.”
The thoughts of Sam finding the body of her mentor made his heart ache. Sam seemed to be truly alone in the world.
“Do you know if the Knights found anything in the wreckage? Was there anything there we need to be concerned with?”
Ezra scooped six pancakes onto a plate and began to cook the next batch. Once he had them sizzling, he stuck the plate in the warm oven alongside the platter of bacon.
“That’s the thing. Sam was trying to get off the ship with a book.”
This time, Tarrant’s cursing was extra inventive. It was also in several languages. “Have you lost your mind,” his brother demanded. “You know how dangerous books belonging to the Knights of the Dragon can be.”
“It’s secured. I put it in that safe you insisted I needed.”
“That’s something.”
“I’ve got to go.”
“I’m worried, Ezra. You sound way too involved. You should have left the woman with the rest of the crew of the Integrity.”
Ezra tried not to be angry with his brother. Tarrant didn’t understand. “We’ll talk more later. Get me everything you can about the crew of the Integrity and what’s happening with it.”
“I’ll call you back as soon as I can.” Tarrant hung up on him, but Ezra didn’t take it personally.
He glanced toward the base of the stairs to find Sam standing there with a look of horror on her face. “What have you done?” she whispered.
…
A shower had perked Sam up considerably. It had been awkward and a bit painful to bathe, but well worth it. Just that small amount of activity had exhausted her. What she really needed was some food and about eight solid hours of sleep. But what she needed most was answers.
With none of her own grooming products on hand, she’d been forced to use Ezra’s. Unfortunately, that didn’t run to conditioner and control serum for curly hair. Still, being clean made up for the wild profusion of curls that bounced around her shoulders. She’d even raided Ezra’s closet and dug up a clean flannel shirt, socks, and a pair of sweatpants to go with them. The pants were much too big, but the drawstring kept them up, and she cuffed the legs. The sleeves of the shirt needed to be rolled back several times. She looked ridiculous, but she was warm, clean, and covered. That was all that mattered.
She really needed to find out what Ezra had done with the rest of her clothes. Maybe they hadn’t been salvageable.
She started down the stairs, once again clinging to the banister for support. When she heard male voices, she slowed and listened intently. Ezra was talking to someone. And they were talking about the Integrity and her.
“What have you done?” she asked when he turned to face her. He tossed aside the phone and started toward her. She held up a hand, surprised when he actually stopped. “You’ve put both of us in danger.”
“How much of the conversation did you hear?” he asked.
“Enough to know you told someone about the Integrity. Whoever you were talking with was probably right. You should have left me there.” Then he wouldn’t be in danger. Then something even scarier occurred to her. “How did you know it was the Integrity? I didn’t tell you the name of the boat.”
She had to get out of here now. Who exactly was Ezra Easton? How did he know about the Integrity?
“I have to leave. Now.” She turned toward the front door and stopped short. She was on an island with no way off.
Strong arms wrapped around her from behind and Ezra’s warmth surrounded her. “First of all, it wasn’t hard to find out the name of the ship you were on. My friend is good at finding out information, and there are only so many ships out on the water nearby. When you narrow it down to those involved in a wreck, it’s a very short list.”
His explanation did make sense. She had no idea if anyone from the Integrity had contacted the coast guard. If they had, it might have even made the news.
He scooped her right off her feet as though she weighed nothing at all. “Come and have something to eat and we’ll talk.” She fought the urge to rest her head against his shoulder. She wanted to burrow close and never leave.
Ezra set her on one of the stools next to the large peninsula separating the kitchen from the dining area. She rubbed her hand against her forehead, ignoring the throbbing in her arm and the pain in her head. “You have no idea what you’ve done. The people who will be looking for me have more power than you can imagine.” She had to make Ezra understand. “They have tentacles everywhere.”
“Why do you work for them?” As though he had no worries in the world, he removed some golden-brown pancakes from a pan and poured in the last of the batter.
God, she ached everywhere but forced herself to concentrate. “I don’t. Or I did, but not really.” She sighed. “It’s hard to explain.”
“Try me.” He obviously knew his way around a kitchen. He had plates of food warming in the oven, pancakes bubbling away on the stove, and now he was cracking eggs into a large bowl. When he had a full dozen, he picked up a fork and whisked them quickly. His movements were economical and oddly graceful for such a large man.
“I’m an archaeologist.” For some reason, she didn’t want to lie to him. “I was onboard the Integrity to handle the salvage from the shipwreck that was being excavated.”
“What were you looking for?”
She leaned her elbows on the counter and propped her chin on her hands. “That’s the thing. Even my employer didn’t know what we should be looking for, only that there was something rumored to be valuable on the vessel when it went down.”
“Gold?” The way he asked made her think he already knew the answer to that question.
“No, not that kind of treasure.”
“Ah.” He opened the oven and scooped the last of the pancakes onto the warm plate before shutting the oven door. The delicious aromas made her stomach growl.
“What do you mean by that?” she demanded.
He divided the eggs between the two skillets, pulled a container of orange juice out of the refrigerator and poured two large glassfuls, then handed one to her. She took it and drank deeply.
“Do you have any coffee?” She’d kill for a mug.
“After. You need to hydrate first. You lost a fair amount of blood.” He retrieved a bottle of water and set it beside her before tending to the eggs. “Back to the treasure. I take it the book was what they were looking for.”
This is where things got tricky. “I’m not entirely sure.”
Ezra faced her, spatula in hand, and a look of disbelief stamped on his face. “You’re not entirely sure?” He set the spatula down and stalked toward her, his turquoise eyes snapping with temper. “You risked your life. You were shot for the thing, and you’re not sure?”
Sam sighed and shook her head. “All I know is that whatever is in that book is powerful.” She took the plunge, knowing he’d either believe her or not. Maybe if he thought she was off her rocker, he’d be glad to be rid of her. She ignored the tiny part of her that mourned the thought of leaving him. “There’s like a hum in my blood when I’m around certain items.”
He stood there staring at her until she motioned to the stove. “Your eggs are burning.”
…
Ezra didn’t know whether to shake Sam or kiss her senseless. How could he be expected to think straight when she was sitting there looking adorably mussed in another of his too-large shirts with her red curly hair bouncing around her shoulders?
As a man, he was drawn to her on many levels. Physically, it went without saying. There was a vibrancy about Sam that made him want to be near her. He wanted to strip the clothes from her body and spend hours mapping every hollow and curve. He wanted to kiss and stroke her soft skin until she begged him to do more.
But it was her eyes that really tugged at him. They were green pools of emotion. Whoever Sam was and whatever she’d done, she was not very good at hiding what she was feeling. And if that were the case, why had the Knights hired her?
He grabbed the pan off the stove and turned off the heat. It was time to eat. “What do you mean there’s a hum in your blood?” He found it interesting that Darius’s Sarah had a talent for psychometry, most specifically for books. Tarrant’s Valeriya had a sixth sense for danger, always knowing when it was near.
Now Sam was telling him she had an unusual ability as well. Was that what attracted the other side of his nature, his dragon side? Definitely something he needed to share with his brothers. If the Knights ever discovered this weakness, they’d exploit it to the max, using it to trap an unwary drakon.
They couldn’t let that happen.
Sam shrugged. “I can’t really explain it. I can always find objects of a certain nature if I’m near them.”
He set the platter of pancakes and the pan of bacon on the counter. He picked his words carefully as he got down plates and dug out cutlery. “What kind of objects?”
Sam tucked her hair behind her ears, but the curls didn’t stay there longer than a few seconds. “The kind most other archaeologists aren’t really interested in. I find things linked with myth and legend. Many of my colleagues consider such things inconsequential, but I believe myths and legends have a basis in reality if we search long enough.”
Ezra piled food on Sam’s plate and then heaped even more on his own. He’d just taken his first forkful of eggs, when she added, “Take dragons, for example.”
He choked and began to cough. Sam jumped off her stool, hurried to his side, and began to pat him on the back. His eyes watered, but he cleared his throat. “Dragons?” How much did she know about him? Could she sense he was different?
When he waved her away, she slid back onto her stool and had a sip of juice. She was blushing, both her cheeks a soft shade of pink. “I know it sounds crazy. I’m not saying there are dragons. I’m just saying they probably had a basis in fact. My theory is ancient man stumbled across the bones of a winged dinosaur and thought it belonged to a living creature.”
“A dragon.”
She nodded. “Exactly. I find artifacts relating to such things—pottery, tablets, scrolls, jewelry.” She gave him a pointed look. “Books.”
“Just dragons?” Was that why he’d been so drawn to her?
She shook her head, and he was briefly mesmerized by her bouncing curls. They were like fire in the morning sunlight. “No, all myths and legends—phoenix, dragons, unicorns, the kraken, mermaids, and a bunch you probably never heard of. What people fear, what they revere, that really speaks to the heart of who they were and what drove them in their daily lives.”
She frowned at her pancakes. “Do you have any syrup or butter?”
He went to the refrigerator and retrieved the butter. “No syrup. Sorry.” He wasn’t overly fond of sweet things, although Sam was sweet, and he had a feeling he could easily become addicted to her if he wasn’t careful.
“So you found this book,” he prompted.
Sam sighed. “I really shouldn’t be telling you this. The people I work for are nasty. My boss belongs to a secret society.” She paused and leaned forward, as if imparting a great secret. “The Knights of the Dragon.”
“Dragons again?”
“Scoff if you want.” She picked up her knife and spread some butter over the pancakes before cutting a piece. “But they believe it, and that’s what makes them dangerous.”
He couldn’t picture Sam being involved with the Knights. “So why are you working with them?”
She carefully set her fork down on the side of her plate and swallowed her mouthful of food. “I know I can’t stop them. They’re too large a group. Too powerful. I’m just an archaeologist.” Her gaze sharpened, and he caught the edge of old pain reflecting in them. “They killed a dear friend of mine about a year ago.”
That had to be the mentor Tarrant had mentioned. “Why?”
“He was so excited. He’d discovered an old book from the eighteen hundreds about an arcane society, one that believed dragons were real. He wanted me to come by so he could show it to me.”
Ezra had a sinking feeling he knew how this story was going to end.
“When I arrived and he didn’t answer the door, I got worried and used the key I had. He was lying on the floor. At first, I thought he’d had a heart attack or maybe gotten dizzy and fallen. Then I saw the blood on his chest. He’d been shot in the heart.”
Ezra shoved aside his plate and reached for Sam. He felt utterly helpless when her voice broke on a sob. “The police investigation pegged it a home invasion gone wrong. I looked for the book, the one he’d told me about, but it was gone.”
There was more to the story. Ezra needed to know how she’d gone from her mentor’s death to discovering the Knights. But that would come later. Right now the only thing that mattered was comforting Sam.
…
Karina Azarov sat at her desk and viewed the video footage that Birch had brought up on his laptop. “Is this the best they can do?” she demanded.
“Unfortunately, it is. It was dark and there’s only about fifteen seconds of footage. If we had more, we might have been able to get something out of it.” Birch hit the play button without her having to ask and she watched it again.
“It’s big.” She leaned forward. “It could be a whale.”
“It most likely is.” Birch closed the cover and tucked the laptop under his arm. “It’s big and fast. There were whales sighted in the area earlier that day.”
“So it’s nothing more than bad luck.” Karina sat back and rubbed her forehead. “Why doesn’t that surprise me? Nothing has been going the way it should these past weeks.”
“The best we can do is salvage what’s left of the Integrity and send another vessel to keep excavating the Reliant. We need to know if there’s anything else of value in the wreckage. Dr. Bellamy is missing. We don’t know if she’s dead or alive, if she had the artifact on her, or if it’s lost.”
“You’re right.” She straightened in her chair and picked up her phone to make some calls. “You deal with Dexter. Let him know I won’t tolerate any more failures. His only job is to find out what happened to Sam Bellamy and to recover anything she might have found. Tell him he has a week. After that, I’ll send someone else to do the job.”
Birch nodded and left, not surprised by her ultimatum. After all, he was the one who’d taught her how best to deal with the people in her employ. Results were rewarded. Failures were dealt with swiftly and brutally.