Dragon Heartstring (6 page)

S
pire Maiden was
the first nightclub designed to appeal to both Morgons and humans here in Gladium. Hell, I doubted there was any club anywhere else in another province that was quite like it. Of course, it was the project of Lorian Nightwing, Sorcha’s husband and mate. The two had teamed up to create a beautiful feat of architecture and design that was comfortable for both species.

The interior was open fully to the night sky several stories up so that Morgons could move freely by flight from one floor to another. But rather than a stairwell flush against the walls, there was a glass elevator right next to the dancefloor. Genius, really. The elevator was obviously only for humans, but was put in as a centerpiece, not an afterthought, keeping them part of the party as they ventured from one floor to the next.

Tonight, the lights were dimmed, but it was still well-lit in the interior, and the buzzing of overlapping voices filled the room rather than blaring house music. There was a band setting up. A Morgon stood on stage tuning his guitar. Another one worked with amplifiers and walked over to ask him something. Both Silverbacks were similar in build with long blond hair.

“Welcome, brother.” Jessen waltzed up to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek. “Glad you could make it.”

“Of course. I wouldn’t miss one of your charity events.”

Jessen seemed to fill her time organizing fundraisers more than anything else these days.

“Well, this is going to be a fun one. Not the same old boring thing. We’ve got a band and great atmosphere.”

“I like the same old boring thing.”

She hooked an arm through mine and guided me into the crowd where servers carried silver trays of wine and hors d’oeuvres.

“You know you could’ve dressed down a bit.”

“I came straight from the office.”

“Demetrius. You were at the office till just now?”

I made no reply.

She rolled her eyes with a sigh. “You’re going to die young if you keep up this stressful pace.”

“I enjoy work,” I said as she stopped a server and lifted two glasses of red wine before handing one to me.

“Well, tonight, try to take your business cap off and enjoy the party.”

Across the room at the bar, Lucius stood talking to his cousin, Paxon.

“I will.”

“I’ll catch up to you later,” she said before welcoming someone new.

I made my way through the crowd, draining the glass of wine before I reached him. Lucius faced me as I approached, his midnight black wings opening slightly.

“Cade,” he said with a nod. “You remember my cousin, Paxon.”

“Yes. Hello.”

The man with identical wings standing at his side tipped his drink to me.

“Would you like something stronger?” asked Lucius. “You look like you could use it.”

“Hell yes.”

Lucius held up two fingers to the bartender who promptly delivered two glasses of the amber liquor, Brevette, a fine import from Primus. Lucius handed over a glass. I wasted no time and knocked back a gulp that burned sweetly down my throat. As I hoped, it took the edge off my nerves with the news I had to deliver. Reminding him of the day I stood on the side of that arrogant bastard, Aron Grayson, was not something I wanted to do. But it was inevitable. I had to be sure my sister and nephew were kept safe.

I glanced at Paxon, wishing he would go away. Lucius seemed to know exactly what was going on in my head because he said, “Paxon, why don’t you give us a minute.”

His cousin studied me for a second longer, then gave a nod and headed over to his wife, Ella, who was one of Jessen’s best friends.

“All right, Cade. I’ve waited long enough. Tell me what’s on your mind.”

I gulped down the rest of the Brevette and slid the empty tumbler onto the bar. “I had an interesting visit this morning.”

“Oh?”

“From Aron Grayson.”

The man’s eyes flared an otherworldly blue, and his pupils narrowed into serpentine slits. An electric current lit the air and raised the hairs on my arms. I knew enough from my sister to understand this happened to Morgons when their dragon rose to the surface. For Lucius, all it took was the mention of Grayson.

“What the fuck did he want?” His vocals were more growl than words.

“Lucius, I need you to keep calm and not lose it over this.”

“I’m calm.”

“Like hell,” I said, waving at the bartender and then pointing to my glass. “Promise me you’ll listen before you react irrationally.”

I think something popped in his jaw as he breathed in a deep lungful of air. He scanned the room. I followed his gaze to Jessen. Slowly, his eyes dimmed to a more human color, and the energy snapping in the air dialed down from deadly to just dangerous.

The bartender filled my glass, glanced at Lucius, then filled his to the brim. I tossed a bill on the bar. Drinks were covered with the donation to the hospital to attend the event, but that poor guy might be working overtime tonight. Especially after I finished this conversation with Lucius.

“I’m listening,” he said, taking a gulp of his Brevette. “Now tell me why he visited you.”

“My sister will hate me for this…”

“Go on.”

“Did Jessen tell you she plans to speak at the parliament hearing on the ban of the Volt gun?”

Lucius’s frown deepened. He tracked Jessen across the room as she welcomed new guests and played hostess.

“No. She hadn’t mentioned it to me.”

“The only reason I tell you is because of Grayson. He wanted to know if she planned to speak out about her injury.”

“And what does he plan to do if she does?”

“Look, he didn’t threaten her directly.”

“If he did, I’d cut his balls off with a rusty, dull blade and stuff them down his throat.”

“I’m sure that would go over well with the Gladium Precinct.”

He scoffed and leaned on the bar. “Cade. If I wanted to kill him, he’d already be a dead man.”

“Well, let’s not take that route just yet.”

He darted another glance at me. “What did you mean by ‘directly’? Did he
indirectly
threaten her?”

“The only threat he made for certain was against Shakara Icewing.”

“Did he now? Well, best let her know so she can inform her father.” He nodded across the room.

“She’s here?”

“Right over there.”

A flair of heat washed over me. Shakara sat at a bar-top table near the dance floor. A blond guy, a human, was laughing with her about something. He looked familiar. Inhaling a deep breath, I turned back to Lucius to catch a ghost of a smile flitting across his face.

“I’ll tell her. But Lucius, do me a favor. Get some of your Nightwing Security men to watch Jessen and Julian. Everywhere they go.” I combed a hand through my hair in nervous agitation, breaking my usually perfect composure. The idea of harm coming to Jessen or Julian shook me to the core. “Just to be on the safe side.”

“You think he’s stupid enough to attack my mate or my son?” The growl had returned to his voice.

“No, I don’t. But I can’t be sure. I don’t know him anymore. And the man he is now is twisted. Even more so than before. I’d like to ask another favor as well.”

“Go on.”

“Would you assign a man or two to trail Shakara until the hearing is over?”

Lucius examined me as if he were trying to divine my thoughts. “And what’s your relationship with Shakara?”

Damn Morgons. Always so pushy and forward.

“She’s one of my sister’s best friends who’s been threatened by a business associate who is known for dealing dirty. If there is anything I can do to prevent harm coming to her, then I’ll do it.”

“Because she’s Jessen’s friend, of course.”

“Of course.” And while my mind had been entertaining much more intimate thoughts of Shakara, I sure as hell wasn’t admitting that to my brother-in-law. “I’ve done enough damage with the mistakes of my past. If I can be of help in this, then I will.”

“All right, Cade. I’ll assign someone to track her. But you’d better tell her. Morgon women don’t like any sort of deception.”

“Neither do human women.”

Lucius lifted his glass. “True.”

I clinked mine to his and swallowed another sip, the burn lessening.

I found Shakara again over the crowd. While I felt triumphant that Lucius was doing exactly as I’d hoped, somehow I thought I was still falling short for her. “I’ll let her know.”

“You do that.” He swirled his glass of liquor in a small circle. “Speaking of deception, you might want to stop deceiving yourself.”

“Excuse me?”

“You’re not looking out for her because she’s your sister’s friend.”

“No?”

“No. When you admit the true reason to yourself, some of that anxiety you’ve got building up inside will go away.”

“How would you know about any anxiety I might have?”

“I’m a Morgon, Cade. I can sense the change in your heartrate, your agitation in your nervous movements, particularly when her name came up. It means something. And I’m fairly certain you know what that something is.”

“Good evening, Nightwing.”

I ignored his smirk, set my empty glass back on the bar, and pushed through the growing crowd toward the dance floor area.

When I drew closer to Shakara’s table, I recognized the guy with her as a friend of Jessen’s from college. He leaned toward her with one arm braced on the table and his hand on her tall chair back. I swallowed the jealousy stirring in my gut. Damn Lucius and his Morgon senses. I knew exactly what that something was. Shakara entranced me like no other woman. And yes, she was Morgon. My father had taught me that, though we did business deals with them, they were not like us. And we were certainly never to mingle as friends or, heaven forbid, lovers. When my sister chose to marry Lucius, she was officially cut off by my father. And while I understood wholeheartedly that Jessen had made a good decision in marrying Nightwing and that Morgons were no different than us in the ways that mattered, it was still difficult to swallow the idea that I might be falling under Shakara’s spell.

I stepped up to the table with as much of a smile as I could muster. “Hello, Shakara.”

“Oh. Hi. I didn’t know you’d be here.”

“Likewise.”

“Jed, this is Demetrius Cade.”

“Oh, yeah,” he said with a friendly smile and reached out to shake my hand. “You’re Jessen’s brother.”

Shaking his hand, I replied, “Yes. That’s right.”

“Well, I’d better get up on stage. We’ll be starting soon. Good to see you, Shakara,” he said with a squeeze of her arm before he sauntered across the dance floor and leapt up onto the stage.

“Sorry,” I said. “Did I interrupt something?”

“With Jed? No.” She laughed. “We’re just friends.”

“Good,” I couldn’t help but say.

“Though I did have a crush on him once.”

My gut wrenched. I glanced up at the pretty boy fooling around with his bandmates. I shook my head. “No. He doesn’t suit you.”

“You don’t think so? Why not?”

I shrugged, swiveling my attention to her. She wore another V-neck, this time a white, airy halter dress that tied at the neck and had pearl buttons lining the front. I imagined unbuttoning the entire line all the way down to her naval so I could get a better look at her lovely complexion.

“Demetrius?”

“Why not, you ask? Well, for one, he seems to be more of a kid. Not serious enough for you.”

“You think I need someone more serious?”

“Definitely.”

“Hmm. I rather like to laugh.”

I could think of no appropriate reply. Her attention was drawn to the stage again as Jessen stepped up to the microphone.

“Welcome, everyone! First, I’d like to thank all of you for your support of the Gladium Children’s Hospital. Your attendance alone will help provide equipment and resources the hospital needs to care for our sick youth. We have also set up a silent auction on the second floor if you will please peruse the items there and make a bid. Remember, all proceeds go to the Children’s Hospital. And other than that, thank you for coming and enjoy your night. We have the band Elysium about to kick things off for us.”

Applause welcomed the sudden burst of music as the drummer and two guitarists, all Silverbacks and all blond, lit up the club with a steady beat. They appeared to be brothers. If Jed had wings, I’d say all of them were. Jed started crooning a sultry melody about two lovers under the moonlight.

“Would you like to dance?” asked Shakara.

“I’m not much of a dancer.” I wished that I was so I had a reason to pull her into my arms.

“That’s too bad.” She stood as if to leave, either for the bar or another drink or simply to get away from me.

I searched for something quick to say to keep her close for a while. “Would you join me at the silent auction?”

She glanced at the stage then back at me with a shrug. “Sure.”

I stood beside her and placed a hand on her back where the dress was open all the way down and her skin was bare. Her wings tightened at my touch, the bottom of the one on my side brushing my arm. Guiding her to the elevator, I allowed myself the pleasure of sliding my fingers across her satin skin and down her spine. She stiffened, but didn’t flinch away. Rather, she leaned closer into the crook of my arm, an unexpected but delightful reaction. There was hope yet.