Chapter Nine
Sam’s hands were cold in his, and Ezra frowned. The house was chilly. That was something he rarely thought about since it didn’t matter to him. He’d have to start thinking differently now that Sam was here.
He stood and went to crank up the thermostat. He was glad Tarrant had talked him into having heat put in even though he didn’t need it for himself. He had a fireplace in the living room, but that was more for ambiance than for warmth.
“You should have told me you were cold.” He sat back down and took her hands once again.
She appeared slightly bemused. “I hadn’t really noticed. I’m always cold.”
He’d have to be extra careful in the future. “Now, about these Knights of the Dragon you mentioned earlier.” He needed to know everything she did.
What he really wanted to do was show her his collection. He could tell her where every piece came from. Not many people appreciated beach glass, shells, and odd coins, but Sam did. As an archaeologist, she saw beyond the monetary value of the object to the intrinsic value it had as a piece of history. She hadn’t even gotten to his pottery shelf. And this was only a small fraction of his collection.
But once again, the Knights intruded.
“It’s too crazy to be believed.” She dragged her fingers through her hair and sighed.
“You mentioned they’re a secret society. That they believe dragons are real.” He hated lying to Sam, pretending he didn’t know anything, but that was the best way to find out what she knew.
Sam leaned her head back against the seat of the chair and briefly closed her eyes. She still looked pale and tired. It had been less than twenty-four hours since she’d been shot and he’d dragged her home. Yes, it was only a graze, but the adrenaline dump and the blood loss, plus the ride back here in an open dinghy, all added up and took their toll. Add on top of it their lovemaking, and it was no wonder Sam was tired.
“We can talk about this later.” Tarrant would kill him for not interrogating Sam, but he couldn’t make himself do it. It just felt wrong.
She shook her head and opened her eyes. “No. I can’t stay here much longer. As I told you earlier, these people have a very long reach. They seem to have people everywhere, in law enforcement and in government. Rich people, powerful people.” She drew her feet up onto the edge of the chair and wrapped her arms around her knees.
“How did you find out about them? Was it because of the book your friend discovered?” That didn’t seem like enough to send her down this path.
“No.” She turned and stared out the window at the sea. The wind was brisk today, creating whitecaps on the waves. The water wasn’t blue. No, it was stormy gray. It was a hum in his blood, calling to him. But even the lure of the sea couldn’t drag him away from Sam.
“I was approached after Brian’s funeral by a man named Gervais Rames.” She gave a small laugh. “I thought he was out of his mind when he claimed a secret society had killed Brian. I mean, who in their right mind would believe such a thing?”
She looked so small and fragile curled up in the big leather chair. He knew she was strong, had a backbone of steel, or she wouldn’t have accomplished what she had. But he was bigger and stronger and longed to shelter her from harm.
He reached out, scooped her into his arms, and settled back in his chair with her on his lap. “You do that a lot,” she informed him.
He shrugged, totally unrepentant. “I like you here.” The fact that she didn’t argue told him just how worn out she truly was. “What did this Gervais Rames want?”
She leaned her head on his shoulder. “He told me about the Knights and what they did. I mean, the idea of drinking dragon blood when the creatures don’t even exist is really out there. He told me how they killed people like Brian all the time in their quest for power and eternal life.” She tipped back her head and peered up at him. “I gotta tell you, I almost called the cops right then and there. I mean, there’s no such thing as dragons and eternal life. That’s all fantasy. Right?”
“Right,” Ezra agreed. No need to upset her by informing her she was sitting in the arms of a water drakon who’d lived for thousands of years. And by the way, if she drank his blood on a regular basis, she’d be cured of any disease and live indefinitely. Nope, best to keep his mouth shut. His dragon grumbled inside him but didn’t give him too much grief.
“But the fact remains that these people think it’s real. It’s like the alchemists centuries ago trying to turn base metal into gold. People do kill in the pursuit of arcane and forbidden knowledge. I’ve made it my life’s work to study such things. I know what different cultures have done since the dawn of time, the atrocities they’ve committed in pursuit of their cause.”
Ezra was well aware of the lengths humans would go to in order to try to live forever or appease their gods, whichever ones they happened to be worshipping at the time in history.
“So you believe the society is real, but not the creatures they’re searching for?”
“Exactly.”
“So how did this Rames know about them?”
She rubbed her hands up and down her arms. Ezra reached out and snagged her coffee. She gave him a grateful smile and took a large swallow. “Thanks.”
“Rames?” he reminded her, eager to finish this conversation so she could rest.
“This is where the story takes an even crazier turn.”
He flashed a quick grin. “I think I’m past being surprised.”
“It seems that Rames was part of another secret society, only this one works to oppose the Knights of the Dragon. Their mandate is to protect all dragons. They call themselves the Dragon Guard.”
He’d told her he was past being surprised, but he’d lied. She’d managed to totally stun him.
…
Sam knew she’d finally shocked Ezra. He’d been surprisingly calm about the whole secret society thing up until now. She guessed it had just taken one step too far into crazy land, even for a man as level-headed as Ezra.
He was staring at her like she’d finally lost her mind. She knew where he was coming from. She’d thought the same thing a year ago. “I’m not lying, and I’m not crazy.” She felt it important to point both those things out.
“The Dragon Guard?”
She nodded. Why he seemed more stunned by the news about them and not the Knights of the Dragon, she had no idea. “Rames told me they’d existed as long as the Knights had, formed to oppose them. They’re all about protecting the innocent and saving dragons where they can.”
“Where is this Rames now?”
“I don’t know.” This is where things got dicey. “He disappeared not long after he introduced himself and gave me the information on the Knights. Said he had a lead on some book and would be working toward getting it away from them.”
“What book?” Ezra radiated an intensity that was downright scary. She tried to push out of his arms, but he simply tightened his hold. He wasn’t hurting her, but she wasn’t getting away unless he let her. She’d never met a man as strong as Ezra. And she had a feeling he wasn’t even exerting himself.
“I don’t know. He never said.”
“Think, Sam. This could be important.” Ezra lifted her, positioning her so she was facing him, her thighs resting on the outside of his. It was a very intimate position. Of course, she couldn’t really complain considering how intimate they’d been earlier. Somehow, this was different. It was one thing to be naked and having sex, quite another to be emotionally vulnerable, and that’s how she felt.
“Ah.” She rubbed her head and tried to remember the couple of conversations she’d had with Rames. “I only spoke with him at the funeral and twice after, once in person and once over the phone.”
Ezra swore.
“What?”
“Phone records. If Rames called you, the Knights could access your phone records.”
She was surprised Ezra had thought of that. She hadn’t at the time. “He slipped me a phone at the funeral. It was one of those prepaid ones. I dumped it after he was out of contact for a couple of months. By then I was too scared to keep it any longer.”
Ezra rubbed his big hands up and down her spine. “Think, Sam. Did he say anything else?”
“Why do you want to know?” she demanded. Her exhaustion was making her way too complacent, and that wasn’t like her. She was usually the one asking the questions and digging for answers. This was beginning to feel more like an interrogation than a conversation.
Why was he focusing on the book and not the Knights of the Dragon? Suspicion was an ugly thing, but it began to rise inside her. What did she really know about Ezra, other than the fact he’d probably saved her life?
His gaze narrowed. “Because it’s important to know as much about your enemy as you can.”
It sounded like he spoke from experience, and that piqued her interest. He was also right. And at this point, he already knew most of it. She might as well tell him the rest. She closed her eyes, since having Ezra so close was distracting. She went over their conversations in her head. “At Brian’s funeral, he gave me a brief overview of the Knights and insisted I take the phone. I called him a week later, once I realized the book Brian told me he’d found was missing and the police had all but filed his case away.” That had been a rough time in her life.
“We agreed to meet, and he told me about the Knights and the Dragon Guard and what they did. I didn’t believe half of what he told me. Honestly, I was convinced he was out of his mind.”
“Understandable.” Ezra kept up the even pressure, his touch warming and stealing some of the tension from her body.
“He told me about a woman named Karina Azarov. Said she was the one who put out the hit on Brian. That it was her people who’d retrieved the book he’d found.” She opened her eyes and peered up at Ezra. “The woman’s a socialite and a prominent businesswoman. I researched her. She’s a member of the board on a large pharmaceutical company and other businesses as well.”
The whole idea of the Knights was crazy, but she kept up her explanation. “I saw pictures of her in newspaper articles. She’s a beautiful woman, always dressed impeccably, and always attending charity functions. It’s hard to picture her ordering a murder.”
“I can imagine.” Ezra let her take her time and order her thoughts. She was grateful for that.
“Rames gave me some links to check out online. There were references to the Knights of the Dragon out there in modern times. That made his story about them killing Brian more believable, especially since the book he’d discovered was missing.”
Sam was getting warmer. Being near Ezra and having him touch her was driving away the chill. She wanted to melt against him and sleep. She hadn’t slept well the past year. Her eyelids grew heavy and started to close. But she needed to get the whole story out.
She shifted upright. “Temple. He mentioned something about someone named Temple.”
Ezra was as still as a statue, every muscle in his body taut. “You say this Rames was trying to get a book away from this Temple person.”
“Yeah.” She stifled a yawn. She needed more coffee if she was going to stay awake.
“And that was the last you heard from Rames? How long ago was that?”
“Ah, let me think. At least six months. No, closer to eight.” She studied the intense expression on Ezra’s face. “Why? Why does that matter?”
…
Ezra’s brothers wouldn’t believe it. If he was understanding her correctly, the person who managed to infiltrate the Knights, steal a valuable book, and hide it in the midst of Herman Temple’s vast library was Gervais Rames. That was the same book Darius and Sarah had found and destroyed.
Was this a coincidence or something more sinister? He wanted to believe Sam, he truly did, but her story was almost too perfect. “How did you get to be on board the Integrity?”
Sam reached out and retrieved her coffee mug. She drank and then made a face. “Cold.” She set it back down.
“Sam?” Impatience was eating at him.
“I researched Karina Azarov and discovered she liked to fund expeditions, so I applied to her foundation for a grant. I was turned down for the grant but was contacted about a position on the Integrity. I knew if Rames was telling the truth, the Knights would know about me.
“The whole thing sounds like something out of a movie. Certainly nothing any sane, normal person would participate in.” She sighed and rubbed her forehead. “My plan was if I found anything pertaining to the Knights, I’d steal or destroy it. It was the only justice I could get for Brian.”
Ezra’s blood ran cold at the thought of Sam in the midst of those vipers. There was no loyalty among the Knights. “So you’re what? Part of this Dragon Guard?”
She shrugged. “I guess, even though Rames was the only person I had contact with.”
“I need to make a call.” Tarrant would be able to discover if such a society existed. He might have seen references to it before and passed it over since it sounded like some role-playing group.
She fisted her hands in the front of his shirt. “You can’t. The more people who know about this, the more chance of the Knights finding out. That would put you in danger.”
There was no faking the sincerity flowing from Sam. Ezra was a creature of instinct, relying both on the intellect of his human side and the primal instincts of his dragon side, and both were screaming that Sam was telling him the truth. No matter how farfetched and convenient her story was.
“Don’t worry. My friend can get to places without leaving a trace.”
“How is that possible?” She looked skeptical, and rightfully so.
Ezra grinned as he stood and set Sam on her feet. “He’s the best hacker in the world. Just ask him.”
“I hope you’re right.” She looked more resigned and sad than scared. “Or we’re all dead.”
“Come with me.” He grabbed both their mugs and headed to the kitchen. He noticed Sam glance longingly at his bookshelves as she followed him. “You can explore later if you’d like.”
She bit her lower lip. “I need to see the book I took from the Integrity. It might be able to tell us something. I can read different languages, ancient ones.”
He poured the cold coffee down the sink and poured fresh into their mugs. “And it might be dangerous.” Especially to him if it contained any kind of information on how to trap a drakon. He pushed her mug toward her.
His phone rang. His business line. That rarely happened as he had competent people in place to handle things for him. “I have to take this.” He plucked the phone out of its charger on the counter. “Yeah.”
“Hey, boss, it’s Kent.” Kent Osmond was the manager of Easton Salvage and one of his top divers. “Hate to call you at home, but we’ve got a big job.”
Ezra started to smile. “The Integrity.”
Kent went silent for a second. “You really do know everything, don’t you?” Ezra chuckled at the longstanding joke. Kent liked to complain that Ezra knew everything when it came to salvaging, the weather, even the history of artifacts they stumbled across. Of course, he’d never told them it was because he’d lived four thousand years and was part dragon.
“Not everything, just most things,” he shot back his usual answer. “When do you start?”
“I’ve got the first team heading out in the Easton.” The Peter Easton was the official name of his salvage ship, but they all called it the Easton. “I’m taking one of the speedboats out later. I had a few things to take care of here.”
“Who is our contact?”
Kent shuffled some papers in the background. “Aaron Dexter. He’s the representative for Ms. Azarov, who owns the Integrity.”
“Aaron Dexter.” Beside him, Sam froze. The hunted expression on her face tore at his heart. “Get started. I’ll be out later tonight or tomorrow morning at the latest to check in with you.”
“Will do.”
Ezra ended the call and tossed the phone aside. Sam backed away from him. “Are you working for Aaron?”
Ezra nodded. “I run one of the best salvage companies around. It’s not surprising they called on us to see if we can refloat their vessel. And if not, salvage what we can.”
“Right.” She clung to the counter and nodded. “You told me that.” Her green eyes were blazing in her pale face. “You need to turn them down. Let them hire someone else.”
“Why?” Why would she want to keep him away from the ship? Was there something else on board, something she hadn’t told him about?
“Why?” She looked at him like he was a total idiot. “Haven’t you listened to anything I’ve been telling you? The Knights are dangerous. You do not want to be on their radar. What happens if one of your crew stumbles across another artifact?”
“We give it to the owner of the Integrity.”
Sam shook her head. “If they believe for one second your people might talk about what they’ve found, they’ll kill them. Just like they did Brian.”
“I can handle things to make sure that doesn’t happen.” He was already planning a late-night foray to the original sunken vessel to check things out. If there was anything else to be found, he’d make sure he uncovered it first.
“You can handle things, can you?” She stalked around the counter, hands on her hips. “Just like Brian could handle things.” She drilled her index finger into his chest. “Just like Gervais Rames could handle things. Just like I could handle things.” With each statement, she drove her finger a little deeper. “I’m trying to keep you out of this.”
He pulled her hand away and wrapped his arms around her and held her close when she stumbled against him. “I’m already involved.” Then he kissed her.