Magnum’s look was full of more sorrow than understanding, but Steele ignored it. He didn’t want to rehash the past with his brother, not when he had a chance to make a better decision now.
“I want to hear Isla’s report as soon as possible,” Theo said. “Bleu, you find out about every being that’s strong enough to control an army of mummies. Magnum and Reese, head back to the hotel to see what you can find.”
“Ziva and I will stay here,” Shola said, her gaze settling on Steele. “For Ravyn.”
He didn’t like how Shola was looking at him. Like she knew the turmoil going on between him and his beast, the battle between that damned Drakon Selection process and his will to remain in the emotion-free/hurt-free zone.
“I’ll take care of Ravyn,” he said through clenched teeth. “She’s my responsibility.”
He walked out of the room at that point, not looking back and not giving a damn what anyone was thinking or saying about him. This was his job, he’d been born to do it and none of them could stop him.
Chapter Ten
“Dammit!” Ravyn screamed as she sent the lamp flying into one of the three side-by-side windows in the room. It only bounced back, the base going in one direction and the plaid-print shade going in another. The light bulb stayed intact, which didn’t really matter because the woman named Shola had flipped on a set of switches when they’d walked into the room, draping the space in a soft gold light.
Ravyn paced across the room for what felt like the billionth time, dragging her hand through the one side of her hair.
“I gotta get out of here,” she spat and turned to pace in the other direction.
Pausing, she looked at the door again. It was locked, the knob, a small black iron one, wouldn’t even move when she tried to turn it. There were no bolts that she could see and no keyholes, so how had they locked it? Probably some sort of electric mechanism. That was just great.
The windows were a no-go too. She had no idea what they were made of, some super Plexiglas, maybe, but they were unbreakable. She’d tossed a chair, used a coat stand from the corner and then the lamp that was now in two pieces, with no luck at all. There was no other way out. No vent that she could fool herself into thinking she could shimmy through, no window in the bathroom, no way to maybe use the dagger to pick the door open.
With a heavy sigh she looked down at the dagger.
“Why aren’t you glowing now? Or floating over to break through that window?” Stopping her movement to drop down on the bed, she shook her head. “Because you’re an idiot, that’s why.”
The feeling she’d felt back at that hotel, and the glow from the dagger, the way she’d floated through the air and the dagger had done the same thing. For those few moments Ravyn had started to believe. She’d begun to think that maybe there was something to otherworldly powers or things that weren’t easily explained. Because she’d never felt as powerful as she had in those minutes. Not even that night when she’d leapt from that roof. Even though, now that she was thinking about it, maybe that was connected to the dagger, as well.
“Nonsense. That dirty old dagger isn’t cursed, nor is it giving you any powers. It’s just a relic, and one that’s brought us a lot of money.”
That thought made her smile. There was so much she wanted to buy for Safeside, so many things she wanted to do for the people there. If she could get out of this mountain jail first.
“Who are these people? And what was that thing?”
Her questions—which by the way were just as odd as every day had been since she’d stolen that dagger—halted when she heard the clicking sound at the door.
She jumped off the bed, grabbing the dagger she’d tossed on it when she realized it wasn’t going to work, then lifted her shirt to stuff it into the waistband of her jeans. The door opened seconds after the click and Steele walked in slowly. Ravyn was across the room, jumping into his arms before he had a chance to close the door all the way.
“Whoa,” he said and wrapped one arm around her waist, holding her to him as he pushed the door shut.
“Where’ve you been? What happened? There was all this dust and these people attacking us and then I was here. How’d you get here? How did you get out of your room?”
He’d begun walking with her in his arms, staring down at her with those deep brown eyes. When he set her down, her feet touched the floor again and she looked down in question. She hadn’t realized she’d actually jumped up into his arms and now she felt slightly embarrassed by that fact. Each time she was around him, she did things she didn’t normally do and while she kept telling herself it meant nothing, she was starting to rethink that too.
“You’re fine. Just relax. There’s nothing to worry about.” He spoke calmly while she felt anything but.
“Well, that’s not entirely true. I don’t know where I am or why I’ve been locked in a room and I have no idea what the hell that thing was outside that brought me here.”
He lifted a hand to smooth down her hair, using the other one to run over the side of her head with the low-cut hair. His touch was of course warmer there and sent a soothing bolt of heat throughout her body.
“Where are we?” she asked, deciding to narrow it down to one question at a time.
“We’re at a place called the Office. It’s where I work.”
“I thought you worked
