The older Drakon left and Steele and Magnum were alone.
“You can’t save her,” Magnum said solemnly.
Steele tensed. “I can and I will.”
He started to walk away but was stopped by his brother’s next words.
“She’s not Opal.”
“Get your hands off me!” Ravyn yelled and yanked free from the grasp of the woman who’d stopped her from running in the opposite direction of the mountain fortress she’d seen.
She had no idea where she was, but wherever it was, everything was larger than life. The trees seemed taller and greener. The creek seemed more like a lake, with water running faster and clearer than any she’d ever seen. The little bridge she’d run over was made of wide wood planks and had thick railings on the side to keep someone like her who was running like a maniac from toppling over and landing in the water. And the house that had been up ahead as she’d skidded to a stop at the end of that bridge was big and tall like a fortress.
Well, to be fair, it was a freakin’ mountain. Like the soaring up to the sky until its tip looked like it was actually kissing a cloud, type of big. There were curving steps and glass doors and higher up were windows that looked like they had burst from the jagged rock. If this were a picture in a book she’d have been intrigued. Up close and personal something told her it wasn’t a place she wanted to be.
And when she whirled around after pulling her arm free, it was to see another woman a few inches taller than her with the greenest eyes and spiked blonde hair.
“Stand down, Ziva,” another woman said. It was the first one who’d grabbed her before and she spoke with an accent that sounded a lot like Steele’s.
The woman called Ziva didn’t move and neither did Ravyn. She’d tucked her dagger in the back band of her jeans and had pulled the purple T-shirt she wore down to cover it while she ran. But she was ready for whatever this Ziva person might have a mind to dish out.
“I said stand down,” the other woman continued, and this time stepped up to place her hand on Ziva’s arm.
They were starkly different, the woman with the accent was shorter, more compact and controlled, while Ziva, the taller one, had a distinct edgy look in her glowing green eyes.
When Ziva finally stepped aside, the other woman came closer to Ravyn. She locked her fingers together in front of her and stared.
“I am Shola. My husband Theo and I welcome you to the Office.”
“What the hell is the Office and where is it? No, I’d rather know how I can get out of here, if you don’t mind.” Yes, she sounded rude, and in a rush, because she was. This wasn’t where she was supposed to be. And what she’d seen before and after coming here, she didn’t believe. She couldn’t believe.
“She’s hysterical. You want me to calm her down?” Ziva asked.
Shola didn’t bother to look back at Ziva, whose tone clearly said she was ready for some type of physical interaction.
“I want her to tell me what her name is and if there’s anything we can do to make her comfortable,” Shola said in answer to the question.
Even though she really wanted to get out of here, she couldn’t dismiss the fact that she liked Shola’s voice and her eyes. They didn’t glow like Ziva’s, but were brown with red flecks. Her hair, a stunning afro, looked as soft as Steele’s locks felt.
Steele.
Where the hell was he?
“My name’s Ravyn Walsh and I really don’t know how I got here. What did you call this, the Office? I know we’re not in downtown Burgess because nothing downtown looks like this.”
“We’re still in Burgess,” Shola told her. “Just about an hour outside the city limits. You can rest here. Grab a shower, lie down. Dinner’s not ready yet, but you’re welcome to join us, or you can take your meal up here in your room if you’d like.”
She was shaking her head before Shola could finish the sentence. “This isn’t my room. I’m not staying here.”
“How do you think you’re getting back home? Not the same way you arrived, that’s for sure.” Ziva moved to the side of Shola, standing with her legs partially spread as if she were ready to leap the moment someone—namely Ravyn—took a lunge toward her.
That told her Shola had some type of authority here. And that, along with her husband, they were both probably in control.
“Look, I can get a rideshare back to the city. Nobody has to take me anywhere,” she said and tried not to think of the fact that it wasn’t somebody that had brought her here, but rather something. Would these two think she was a raving lunatic if she said that?
“Nonsense. You’ll stay here tonight and we’ll figure out how you’re going to get home in the morning. I’ll get you something to slip into, you go ahead and take a long hot shower. It’ll relax you.” Shola was persistently nice. That could get annoying pretty quick.
“I don’t want to relax. I want to leave. Can you show me to the front door of this place?” Ravyn asked, because staying here just wasn’t an option.
“I sure can,” Ziva quipped and nodded toward the bedroom door.
“Stop it, Ziva. Maybe you should talk to Steele first and then you can decide whether or not you’ll be staying,” Shola offered. “But it might still be a good idea to get that hot shower, because Steele might be a while.”
“Why? Where is he?
