Chapter Nine
The beast let her down gently, unfurling its massive wing until she rolled off and came up on her knees on the grassy ground.
Walk away.
It wasn’t trying to listen to his directives, which wasn’t unusual after the shift had occurred. Steele’s relationship with his beast—the dragon that was now at its full length and breadth standing regally in the center of the open area specifically designed for them at the Office—had been rocky these past few weeks.
Walk away.
Because she shouldn’t be here. She was a human and she probably didn’t believe in curses or anything preternatural. Even if she did believe, she still didn’t belong here and she definitely didn’t need to be face-to-face with his beast. The beast that didn’t move.
It wanted to be near her, now and always. No matter how much Steele pushed against that notion.
“What the hell are you? How did I get here? Where is here?”
Her questions were coming fast as she moved to stand and then backed up. Both hands at her sides, and he saw the way she gripped the dagger, ready to use it if need be.
He wanted to answer her, to tell her to calm down and let him explain, but how the hell did someone explain that they were born a Drakon, a magical dragon from the Far Realm—a place she’d probably never heard of before?
The beast wanted to explain something else. Its body filling completely with something deeper than simple recognition. There was a connection, it swirled around the beast’s body and mind, holding it in a trance as it continued to stand there, unmoving. It had selected her to be his. Steele cringed with the thought.
When the beast still didn’t move, Ravyn pulled the dagger free.
“I’m dreaming. I’ve got to be dreaming,” she was saying even as she backed farther away.
The beast took a step toward her, ready to act, to claim, and she dropped the bravado, turning and running as fast as she could. She wouldn’t go far. The open area stretched for about twenty acres. Beyond that area was thickly forested, the greenery serving as a life-sized fence. Through a path in the forest was a creek and beyond that creek was the mountain where the Office had been built. At the Office were his fellow Drakons, the ones who no doubt knew he was here and in this form.
Steele forced the shift, ignoring the action the beast had been about to take, pressing with every bit of the strength which remained stored in his human form. He bullied the beast, asserting his leadership over his preternatural form until he was standing with his bare feet in the grass, his naked ass tingling as the breeze blew.
“What the hell are you doing?”
Crap! If there were anybody Steele didn’t need to see in this moment, it was Reese.
“What does it look like I’m doing?” Answering a question with a question wasn’t usually his style, but neither was flying in and not landing a little closer to the forest so he could easily make his way to his suite and his clothes.
Reese stood with his legs slightly parted, arms folded over his muscled chest. “It looks like you’re about to start freezing your balls off since the temps dropped significantly after sunset.”
Steele didn’t bother to look down, there was no need to verify what Reese was saying. “I’m going to my room.”
“And then you’re gonna explain why you brought that human here?”
“There’s nothing to explain,” he said and turned to walk away. But that wasn’t happening anytime soon as Magnum, Theo and Bleu walked toward him.
Fuck!
“There’s a lot to explain. And you’d better make it quick before I lose the last bit of patience I have with you and the secrecy you’ve been displaying for the past few weeks.” Theo was angry, his piercing sapphire-blue Drakon eyes glowing as he glowered at Steele.
“Can I at least get dressed first?”
Theo took a step toward him. “No! You can start talking. I want answers right now, Steele. How could you be so stupid? Why would you bring a human here?”
“For the same reason you did!” Steele countered, taking a step toward Theo. “Remember that? You brought Shola here to keep her safe. Well, I just did the same for Ravyn.”
Theo’s fists closed at his sides. “You had no right.”
“And neither did you! Exposure wasn’t supposed to be a thing, remember? That was your rule, until you thought it was fine to break it.” Steele wasn’t backing down. He knew he should just offer Theo an explanation, but he couldn’t. There was too much swirling around inside of him at the moment to figure out why.
Magnum stepped between Steele and Theo, looking his brother straight in the eye. “Steele, who is she, man? Why’d you shift and come here with her?”
There were so many answers he could provide or he could’ve just pushed past all of them and went to his suite to get dressed, before going to search for Ravyn.
“She’s from my dream.” The words came softly and Steele knew it was too late to take them back.
Magnum held his gaze, seeing something Steele knew none of the other Drakon would see.
“Let’s get back to the house. Shola is with the woman now, so she’s safe. You can get dressed and we’ll meet in the conference room.” Bleu was always the voice of reason. Or rather, his rich gravelly voice was that of the oldest Drakon Watcher that Steele had ever known.
“Yeah, I’m tired of staring at your ass,” Reese quipped and jogged past him, heading toward the mountain.
“Ten minutes, Steele. That’s all you get.” Theo said the words and turned to walk away.
Bleu looked at Steele. “You will have to answer to him.”
“He doesn’t control me,” Steele countered.
“There you are wrong. This isn’t about control.
