Luck of the Dragon

lieutenant’s black glasses fogged near the nose band.

Alec stepped forward until Darius was forced to step back. “Are you questioning me?”

Darius took a deep breath. “No, Jer’ol.”

“What I do is my concern.” He scanned the group. Only Leo met his stare with a level one of his own. “This had better be important.”

“There’s trouble with the Siberians.” Leo spoke with a steady timbre.

“What’s happened?”

“They have a new leader. They claim he is the rightful king of the dragons. He will issue a blood challenge to you for control of the dragons and the casino.”

This was why Darius was so upset. The Siberians would have been a part of Darius’s larger Russian fold. Although the dragons were united at the casino sanctuary, their ancient bloodlines and familial alliances still ran deep. There would be many dragons with mixed feelings over a challenge from the Siberians.

Anger, intensified by Lucy wanting to leave him, shook his frame. His dragon form could barely be restrained in his human skin. He wanted to squash all aggravations, annihilate all threats, and get back to his mate. Alec closed his eyes and concentrated on being rational. Human logic would serve him better than a bloodbath. Too many dragons’ lives and futures were at stake.

“Does this leader have a name?” Alec asked.

“No, they want an in-person meeting for you two to talk face-to-face.” Darius’s tone was frustrated.

“Did you already let them in?” Alec knew the answer by the way everyone but Leo dropped their gazes.

“It seemed unwise to let twenty angry dragons run amok with the tourists,” Leo said.

“Where did you put them?”

“In the unfinished tower.”

“All right, I’ll talk with them. Leo, you’ll serve as my second. Ask Tyren to be my third.”

Darius puffed up his chest. “You doubt me?”

“No, brother.” Alec clapped his lieutenant on the shoulder. “This will be difficult for you because of your family ties. Go back to the surveillance center. I need your eyes there.”

Darius’s shoulders deflated, and he walked stiffly to the elevators. Jane followed.

“What do you think?” Alec asked Leo.

“You have tried to kill Ambrogino twice now and failed. It doesn’t matter if you’ve found your mate if you’re dead.”

…

In the mani pedi section of the spa, Lucy wiggled her gorgeous polished toes in her rhinestone flip-flops. She had chosen a shiny silver polish. The silver would go with everything, and everybody in town had red toes. Why not be different? The polish was likely to be with her until it grew out, anyway.

Returning to the Cathedral Spa had seemed an acceptable time-killer until she could say goodbye to Alec and try to explain about backing out of her contract. It was bad business to break her contract, but considering the exhibit was going to be robbed thanks to her, charging for an appraisal hardly seemed fair.

Lucy’s heart clenched. It would hurt to leave Alec, and judging by his reaction this morning, he would not take it well that she was running off to another hemisphere. She had wanted to enjoy her one night with Alec, but if Alec ever found out about her part in the scheme, it would make her betrayal twice—no, a hundred times worse. Leave it to her to find her Prince Charming when she was on the run. Tears threatened, but she pushed them back.

Lucy glanced at Lilly Belle, who had continued to serve as her hulking casino hostess of sorts. She stood next to the exit to the spa, looking bored.

Although Gino and Joey had Alec’s thumbprint for the inside of the exhibit, she would not get the new keycard for them. That alone might tank their plans, and then maybe Joey would leave with her. It was her only option, and considering how she felt about Alec, she couldn’t, wouldn’t, steal from him again.

She had to hold out, no matter how much Joey whined.

“Miss, your left hand, please.” The nail technician, like the other saints in the spa, wore light green medical scrubs.

Lucy dutifully gave the woman her hand. “Can I get those white-tipped things on the end?”

“Acrylics, miss?” At Lucy’s confused look, the woman elaborated. “You want fake nails?”

“Oh no, not fakes.” Fakes would take maintenance. “Can you just polish them that way?”

“Certainly.” The woman left to change out her supplies.

Lucy took a deep breath and prepared to turn on her phone. She had not thought of Joey or her phone the whole evening. But now, she needed to know what was going on. The phone screen lit up and beeped. There were forty-three missed calls from Joey. Apprehension swelled in her chest. She pressed the text message screen. There were ten text messages from him. She opened one: BUY ICE, GETTING THIRSTY.

The phone again beeped in her hand, making her jump. It was a new text message from Joey: CALL ME, NOW :)

Lucy looked around. Lilly Belle didn’t seem to be paying attention, and she was otherwise alone. She dialed Joey’s number, and he picked up immediately.

“Lucy, where have you been?” Joey sounded mad, not worried.

“I had a date.”

“A date!” Joey’s voice was tight with anger. “Whatever. The bag of ice you got us before melted. We need a new bag of ice for our party tonight.”

“Tonight? Your party is tonight?”

“You can bring it to our suite—”

“No.” Lucy let her newfound resolve round out the word. “I’m not getting it. I’ve got tickets for us to Brazil.” She kept her voice low. “Let’s get out of here today, take a vacation. I’ll pay for everything.”

“What’s the matter with you?” Joey inhaled with the drawn-in force of an infant preparing to scream. “I’ve got a party to throw!”

“That is ridiculous. Listen to yourself.” Lucy felt his disapproval radiate from the phone. “I am not getting a new bag of ice.”

“Fine.” Joey hung up in her ear.

Lucy turned off her phone and dropped it into her bag. Her hands trembled in her lap. The nail tech returned and picked up her left hand. It shook as the tech de-cuticled her nails.

“You hungry, miss?” The tech asked, misreading her upset.

“No. I’m fine.” Lucy flexed her fingers to stop the shaking. Everything would be fine. Joey would realize that the jewel exhibit score was impossible without a keycard, and then he would leave with her.

The nail technician applied white polish to her nail tips with practiced strokes.

What if Joey still wouldn’t leave with her? She couldn’t go to South America without him. How would she know if he was in trouble? The question snapped her eyes wide open. Her newly exfoliated skin stretched tight across her cheekbones.

Damn. Damn. Damn.

This was all a deep pile of crap, which was sure to smell nothing like eucalyptus steam. Lucy’s muscles tensed around her neck, and the tension spread malignantly down her spine to her lower back. She sat forward. The nail tech was finishing up her left hand with pink polish.

“How much longer?” Lucy asked.

“Almost done. But then you need to dry.”

The woman picked up her right hand and looked at her with wide eyes. “Madre de Dios!” Her strong hand gripped Lucy’s fingers tight. Her face went pale, as if she had seen the Blessed Virgin Mary. “El marque del Jer’ol.”

“What?” Lucy tried to pull her right hand free, but the tech held it fast.

Lilly Belle jogged across the room and grabbed Lucy’s right hand from the tech. She said something in a foreign language, and the tiny woman fled. “When did you get this?”

Again, Lucy tried to yank her hand free, but the Viking woman was too strong. “Can I have my hand back?”