Meaning it had been a very long time since he’d given a damn about land and villages of beings he no longer knew. With an inward sigh, Steele tried not to look as annoyed as he felt.
Bleu continued. “Byou, the Noble Drakon, in Theo’s absence has almost all powers that the emperor would have if he were there. However, Shola has been communicating regularly with Byou and his first in command to develop a more inclusive government structure on the realm.”
Reece raised a hand and spoke before being acknowledged, which was true to form for this Drakon. “Why’re we asking for their cooperation? Historically all inhabitants of the Far Realm obey the throne. Isn’t that why all hell broke loose when Hoan possessed Torrance?”
Theo’s brow lifted at Reese’s casual mention of his father who had ultimately given his life to save the realm from Hoan’s demonic hold. Of course, it would have helped if Torrance hadn’t been duped by his wife and then possessed by the demonic.
Steele didn’t miss the slow movement of Shola’s hand as her arm extended and her fingers rested on Theo’s arm. The Drakon’s mate was helping him rule. Just as Torrance’s wife had done before she’d gone batshit crazy. Again, Steele was forced to keep himself from frowning, this time by clenching his fists. There was no reason to believe that Shola would be anything like Theo’s mother, and really it wasn’t any of Steele’s business. But it was no secret Steele didn’t believe in the Drakon Selection process, which proclaimed each beast would know its true and perfect mate long before the man did. Nor did he ever plan to let his beast do the selecting for him.
“All countries go through change,” Shola said, her voice more heavily tinged with an African accent than either his or Magnum’s had ever been. Perhaps because they weren’t born in Mobo, just relocated there when Torrance’s possessed rule endangered their clan.
“Some take worse turns than others, like the Far Realm, but it may all have been in preparation for something better, like in Mobo. We’re rebuilding structures there too,” Shola told them.
“But that’s only necessary in Mobo because we just learned how many Drakon have been hiding out in that region for so long,” Reese countered.
“Yeah, and we also learned there’s a vampire army buried under the town of Mobo. I’d say that warrants restructuring how the preternatural are dealt with in that region.” Ziva and Shola had grown close in the months since the demigoddess had come to be with them. She’d also taken a special interest in that vampire army because of her personal connection to Warrick, the vamp who had created the two vamps Steele had been keeping an eye out for in the city.
“Nobody’s raising a vampire army from the dead,” Reese stated evenly. “Not on our watch.”
“But we’re not in Nigeria or the Congo where there’s also some graves of the undead,” Aiken, the pretty-boy Drakon, said. “It makes sense that we’re developing a network so that our Drakon Legion can communicate with others across the Human Realm.”
“Exactly,” Theo added. “The new government structure on the Far Realm will spread out to new networks of allegiance across all realms. We’ll be reaching out to clans that we thought were lost to us hundreds of years ago to figure out their locations, and Isla’s going to start a running locator system so that it’ll be easier to contact any Drakons whenever we need.”
Steele didn’t provide any input on the subject because after listening to Shola speak, his thoughts had circled back to Ravyn and that damned dagger.
“Now on to new business,” Theo began just when Steele hoped he was about to tell them they could leave. “We have several new clients that need to be assigned. Steele, I have one in particular I want you to handle.”
Of course he did. Steele cleared his throat to keep from commenting and looked down to Theo and his cool blue eyes. Staff at the Legion was broken up into groups, with Magnum handling the personal security clients such as celebrities, dignitaries and politicians, and Steele leading the division of home and business security systems. Theo worked specifically with preternatural security. The other Drakon were pulled into whichever jobs the division supervisors required.
By the time new clients were assigned and a status was given on all current cases, an hour had passed.
“That’s it for now,” Theo said finally. “But I’ll remind everyone to keep your communicators on and your eyes open. We all know the business with the Royal Blood isn’t over. Even if they’re not planning a direct strike against us, we’re still bound to protect whoever they choose to go after, since we’re the ones that pissed them off.”
Steele could care less that the vamps were pissed and he was ready to strike the moment they resurfaced. He stood as soon as Theo gave the nod that the meeting was over. He needed to find Ravyn and explain everything he’d learned about that dagger. Then he needed to take that dagger from her and bury it someplace where it could never hurt anyone again—back in King Tutankhamun’s tomb would be an excellent spot.
“Hey, what’s going on with you?” Magnum caught Steele by the arm before he had a chance to slip away.
“Nothing,” was his instant reply. “I just need to follow up on something.”
“Theo wants you to go meet with this new client as soon as possible.”
“He also said the guy wasn’t available to meet today, so I’ll call him first thing tomorrow to set up a time. It’s only a home security upgrade, I think that can wait another night.”
Magnum used a hand to push his locks back from his
