She turned away to go to the window. A light sprinkling of snow drifted through the sun’s rays. The sound of his feet shuffling against carpet signaled his approach. He stopped short of touching her, but she could feel his warmth against her back. When he spoke again his voice was soothing, reminding her of the man she only knew in the darkest hour of night.
“I want to help you, Alara. Please allow me to.”
His words cut her anger like a blade through silk. Here, with just the two of them, it didn’t feel like a play for power. She wanted to relax back into his chest, listen to his heartbeat.
“Okay.” She felt his excited flinch behind her. Her gaze stayed at the window. “But your troops are under my command. I want those reptiles to understand who’s in charge around here.
* * * *
Pierson Grathers’ plane landed in Longyearbyen. A snowmobile waited nearby to transport him to the zodiac, which would deliver him to the Dendric One. Despite the black overcoat dwarfing his frame, he shivered at the cold. John Karon would pay for forcing him to oversee subject collection this closely.
By the time he stood on deck, the sun hung low in the sky. The arctic air chilled him to the bone. What he wouldn’t give to be back in his cozy laboratory in Washington, DC. Karon led him up the narrow metal labyrinth to the bridge. From this lookout, Pierson saw for miles around, gray-blue water dotted with white icebergs and barren drifts of land covered in snow. That mere could survive in this wasteland gave testament to the adaptability of their species.
Turning abruptly away from the window, he pinned his attention on Karon.
“Do you know why I’m here?”
The other man squirmed and didn’t meet his glance. “No, Pierson, I have no idea.”
“We only have a few days to collect subjects. I was hoping for twenty at least, maybe as many as fifty. Instead you have how many below?”
“Seven.” Karon thrust his chin forward in a stubborn display.
“Do you have any idea how little I can prove with such a small sample size? I can’t isolate the gene that causes mere-ism with only seven subjects! A full inquiry would require at least a thousand.”
Karon cut in. “Didn’t you get samples from the Key Sirena mere?” The captain’s words sounded like a challenge.
“Not that you would understand, Captain Karon, but that group had so much interbreeding with the dragon population it made the findings un-interpretable. Perhaps if I had a larger sample of pure-bred mere from this area I could better suss out which mutations led to which shape-shifting ability. But seven subjects? There’s no way to identify a trend.”
Karon lowered his head, though the doctor couldn’t make out his expression. Pierson plowed forward. “Which is why you are going to head out there right now and catch me more mere.”
A satisfied smile formed as he watched Karon’s face grow defiant, then complacent. “All right. I’ll take the team right now. Would you like to come, see the process?”
Pierson refused to rise to Karon’s dare. No way would he leave the warmth of the ship to go dry-suit diving in below-freezing waters.
“No thank you, captain. I would like to start what work I can on the few subjects I have so far.”
Karon jerked at Pierson’s words, but the doctor just smiled. No captain liked losing control of his ship, but the latent vampire had invited this. Pierson watched as Karon started pulling tanks across the deck and sorting through dive equipment. “Oh, and, Captain, I’m going to need to run some tests on that succubus. I didn’t expect to still have access to her, but since she’s still available it would be a waste to not take advantage.”
The captain closed the door behind him a moment later, leaving Pierson to decipher why Karon’s hands shook.
* * * *
Alara’s head hung over the reports on her desk. Her men and the dragons had re-documented the site of every kidnapping, the paths each victim had taken to and from school each day. They’d interviewed all the parents, friends, teachers, classmates. They’d found nothing. At least today no more children had disappeared…yet.
A knock on the door pulled Alara out of her frantic reading. She called out for the visitor to enter and then groaned when her least favorite brother slumped into the seat in front of her. Florian was the oldest, eighty-four to her sixty-two. He looked little older than her in human years, early thirties to her mid-twenties. Their parents had borne children late in life, both of them almost two-hundred by the time Alara was born.
His hair held none of the gold hues of hers, instead it flowed around his shoulders in a grayish-white.
“Hello, Sister. I hope your investigation is going well.” He said it in a bored drawl that assured Alara he cared none for the victims or their families.
Alara didn’t have the energy to argue with him today. “It’s going as well as could be expected. Why are you here, Florian?”
He smiled that same smile he used when lying to their father. “I’d like to discuss with you the dragons’ involvement on the island.”
She could tell he was jerking her chain. “What is there to discuss? My men are doing the best they can. Kai offered to bring in more help. I accepted. End of story.” She motioned to the door, hoping the jerk would take the hint and leave.
“Aren’t you concerned about them just showing up, taking over your investigation? Your forces?”
The question sounded innocent, but it pinched Alara where she was most vulnerable. If part of her agreed with Florian, she would never let him know it. “I trust that General Nasu is only acting out of good will.”
Florian’s face squished into a sympathetic expression. “I understand why you may feel beholden to him, Sister. But you must admit that this is a drastic change in Murrough Island’s policies in a very short period of time.”
Alara grimaced at his hint about her and Kai’s relationship, but tried to focus on the second part of her brother’s statement. “There’s been no change in policy. We are just accepting assistance from a foreign government during a time of national emergency. Human nations do it all the time.”
Her brother sat back in his seat, raising his hands in agreement. “Perhaps you’re correct, Sister. Maybe they will just go on their merry way once they have found the missing girls. Maybe they won’t expect anything in return. But I find it hard to believe.”
Alara raised her chin. She may not trust the dragons, but she trusted Kai. “I’m sure they will expect more traction from us on trade agreements and whatnot, but that was likely to occur anyway. General Kai’s visit was meant to build bridges, after all.” She repeated her fathers’ words, wishing she believed them.
Her brother shook his head slowly from side to side. “I worry about the triton, Alara. Too many years of battles, too many injuries, old age. If the dragons did make a play for power, I don’t know if he’d be the right one to lead Murrough to victory.”
The princess chewed at the inside of her cheek. Unfortunately, Florian had a point.
Chapter 10
Kai paced the docks, watching one patrol return to harbor and the next one ready to leave. He checked the log in his hands again and again. The discrepancies between the original data Alara gave him and what he’d seen in the field were staggering. The princess had lied. Perhaps not about her men’s training or her abilities as a leader, but she’d certainly lied about how many mere labored under her command. Far worse, she had led him to provide the Council Chair with incorrect information.
She made him appear a fool.
It didn’t help that she’d turned him away last night. Kai had meant to respect her wishes, had only hoped to see her for a few minutes, to talk. But Alara had huffed in exasperated. As if he was nothing more than her plaything!
Kai stomped through mushy, well-trodden snow back to the Glass House. His boots splashed mud and ice over the wide hallways on the way to his room. Before he changed his mind, he drew up his report and faxed his findings to Woodard. Alara had been correct about one thing, he would return to his life after he left Murrough Island. When he did, Kai’s record would not show inconsistencies and falsehoods.
His strides beat across his rug till the weave threatened to wear thin. He’d made the right decision to tell Woodard the truth, of that he was certain, but sending the fax failed to sooth his annoyance. Without his conscious direction, his feet carried him to Alara’s room, where he resumed his pacing, this time on the poured concrete floor of the hallway.
Her voice rang out. “I can hear you, Kai. Are you coming in?”
He stepped into her chamber for the first time since that night they shared. The thick rug under his feet reminded him of her body laid out for him. The scent of their mating still clung to the air. He closed his eyes, allowing it to permeate his brain and his anger to glow brighter against the onslaught of memory.
She sat at the small desk by her bed. Her full lips twisted into that smirk he’d grown to both love and hate. “Stop sniffing my room, you perv, and tell me why you’re here. I’m tired. My island is in the midst of a major emergency. And
someone
invited a battalion of damn dragons here.”
He gritted his teeth, willing himself calm and more distanced. “My troops are here for the protection of your people, Princess Alara. I would think you would show some gratitude.”
She stood only a foot before him and observed. Her brow knit in confusion. “What the hell is your problem tonight, Kai?” She reached out a hand and stroked his arm.
He flinched away, unwilling to give into the temptation to return her touch. “My problem, Princess, is that not only did you provide me with false information, but you…you used your feminine whiles to assure I didn’t question you.” He tried to keep his voice steady and cold but heard an unintentional tremor of feeling.
She didn’t deny it. Instead she looked to the side and nibbled her cheek. Despite his anger, he wanted nothing more that to kiss those puckered lips. “I’m sorry I mislead you. I was shorthanded for troops, and I had no desire to share that information with the Dragon Council.” Her eyes met his, simmering in an annoyance to rival a dragon’s. “But I would think you would understand why I did it.”
She turned from him and he had to admit he understood her motivation. That didn’t negate her other, far more serious, lie. “Yes, Alara, I understand why you lied about the size of your forces. What I don’t understand is how you could have used physical intimacy to gain my trust.”
Her pale arms crossed her chest, shutting him out. “That’s not why I slept with you.” She paused. “I wouldn’t have done that.”
He moved closer, so close that a deep breath would bring his chests to touch the outside of her arm. “Then why did you? I didn’t betray any interest in you. I gave no indication that it would be a worthwhile experience or that I would return any feelings! So why did you do it?”
She flinched at each question like he was striking her, but she didn’t move away. Instead she squared her shoulders. “I don’t owe you a godsdamned explanation, dragon, and I didn’t see you complaining. So we hooked up—it meant nothing. Just get over it already.”
* * * *
Kai’s body swelled. Alara watched as his limbs burst from his clothes like dough overfilling a bowl. A moment later, a forty-foot dragon coiled before her, his nostrils flaring with each of his heavy breaths. She held her ground as he growled and snarled. His enormous head thrust inches away from her face. His nostrils flared, sending damp bursts of air across her skin. When a particularly large droplet landed on her nose, she wiped it off with a disgusted grunt.
He growled louder this time, apparently under the misconception he could scare her.
“I thought dragons could talk in reptile form. Why the Godzilla routine?”
On a mighty huff, Kai’s dragon form shrank a bit. He turned his head away from her and stalked as far as he could across the room, which was not very far given his size. His circuit wound once around. Then he curled over himself like a cat, resting his head on his hind quarters. His body took up most of her rug.