Dragons Crown (Elder Enterprises Book 2) (5 page)

              Katie watched as Chiles eyed him with suspicion. “That is exactly what I was told. How do you know about it?”

              “Shit,” Paul grumbled.

              It looked to Katie as if Paul was having an internal fight. Katie reached over and gave his hand a squeeze. He looked up at her and in that moment, something changed. His whole demeanor relaxed.

              “We need the damn book again,” he said with a look of despair. “It talks about this place. How to get to it.”

              Chiles stood, knocking over his chair. “Why would the fucking dragons have a book detailing something about my history?” he grumbled. Katie could feel the anger seething out of him. Could feel heat lashing against her skin. The color drained from both Mark and Paul’s faces.

              “Rational thought would tell me that we have it for one simple reason,” Katie started. “You admitted yourself that there is very few of you, so there is no way you could make sure that the information was passed on. So someone made the decision to leave it with a race they trusted. That they knew would protect the information. Someone you could count on to help you.”

              She watched as her words sank in. The heat still lashed out every now and then but it was slowing. Finally, Chiles nodded his head in agreement. “Fine then. You will take me to see this book.”

              “Not until you vow that you will not turn against us at any point.” Katie knew it was risky making him do this but she wasn’t going to put herself or her people in danger.

              Katie’s heart sped up. When had she started thinking about them as her people? She wasn’t sure but nothing had ever sound more true in her life. She was where she belonged, no matter how stressful and different it was from her old life. Fate had finally given her everything she had ever asked for. Sure, it was in a very strange way, but strange was better than nothing.

              “Fine. I vow my loyalty to the dragons,” Chiles snapped. “Now, can we stop being so fucking loquacious and go get this book?”

              Heat started whipping out again, hitting Katie’s skin in lashes. She nodded her head. “Mark, call your father. I want the book out when we get there.”

              “Do you think he will simply do it without questions?” Mark asked in a shaky voice.

              “He will if he does not wish to piss off his Queen.” Katie stood and turned toward Elder Enterprises. Without looking back to see if anyone was following, she headed that way.

Chapter 6

The elevator made a dinging sound right before the doors slid open to the top floor of the Elder building. Sweat beaded on Paul’s forehead. The last time he was here had been for the reading of the prophecy. The thought of that night still made him cringe. He could still feel the heat. Felt the flames licking his skin. It didn’t help that there was a Phoenix standing right behind him either. With every second that passed, he could feel Chiles’ anger growing.

When they had been at the café, and Paul felt his heat for the first time, he had been thrown right back into that same dark abyss. He had glanced over to see that Mark had felt it, too. Everything was starting to make sense, but it also left so many unanswered questions, too.

After a deep breath, Paul stepped off the elevator and followed Katie into the conference room. She headed straight for the podium, but he fell back and waited by the table. He didn’t want to be anywhere near that damn thing. He watched as Katie climbed the stairs and then stood there staring. After a few moments, she knocked the podium to the ground.

Fabian came running into the room then. “Where is it?” Katie growled at him, sending goosebumps along even his arms.

“It has been put up. I cannot retrieve it without permission from the Elders.” He clasped his hands in front of him, a sign that Paul had learned over the years that showed he was nervous.
Good
, Paul thought.

“So the queen comes in here wanting the book and you tell her no?” Mark asked.

“I have no choice. It now takes the blood of three Elders to unlock its case. A new protections measure since Paul stole it. Showed us how much we can not trust our own people,” he snapped back.

There was a small part of Paul that felt bad for what he had done. But seeing the irritation on his mate’s face washed it all away. Katie descended the stairs slowly, eyes locked on Fabian. The corners of her lips curved up into a vicious grin. Shoulders back. Head up.

“Blood of three, you say? That shouldn’t be an issue.” She raised her voice then. “You will not tell anyone you told us this information. You will go home and wait for us to call you. Don’t speak to anyone on your way out. Do you understand me?” Fabian’s eyes glazed over and he nodded before turning around and leaving.

Paul couldn’t help but be proud that Katie had called on her Alpha powers willingly. It was a step in the right direction to her controlling them.

“What the fuck was that about?” Chiles asked.

“That would be my mate learning to control her powers. She has many so I would not cross her if I were you.” Paul gave Katie a wink when she blushed.

“Good to know,” he replied with a half laugh.

The tension that had built up in the room started to dissipate so Paul walked over and put his arms around Katie. He just stood there, holding her close, breathing her in. He hated being here right now, but holding her was helping.

“So is anyone going to explain to me what all this mess is over a damn book?” Chiles asked, looking at each of them.

“We will, but not here,” Mark said and started to head for the elevator again. “How about my place?” he asked over his shoulder.

“Yes,” Katie said with enthusiasm. “I want to see your dragon collection.”

Paul laughed as Mark grumbled under his breath but continued to leave. Everyone followed.

***

A few hours later, they all sat around Mark’s dinning room table. They had explained everything to Chiles, from Paul taking the book to the prophecy being read. Paul even divulged what had happened that night. Katie had held his hand and pushed him when he needed it. He wasn’t sure why he felt that it needed to be shared now but every instinct he had was screaming it.

“So now we are stuck right back where we started. No book. More questions than answers. And us fighting against the Elders.” Paul shook his head. “Where do we go from here?”

“I have the solution to getting the book,” Katie said as she stood to pace the room. Paul’s eyes were pulled to her round, plump ass as she moved away from him. A slight groan escaped his lips as her ass swayed side to side.

“All we need is to find two more Elders, collect a little blood, and then we have the book. But from there is where you have to take over.” She turned to glare at Paul when he mumbled an agreement.

“Paul, I think she wants you to stop ogling her ass,” Mark said with a slight laugh.

Paul clenched his jaw to keep from snapping at Mark. The irrational anger washed over him, pulling him deeper down the rabbit hole. He felt a need to protect Katie. But from what? He looked around the room, everyone was looking at him. Their lips were moving but he couldn’t hear them. A feeling of being watched had him standing and walking to the windows.

He scanned the area but didn’t see anyone, so he closed the blinds and the curtains before moving to the next one. Once he was sure no one could see into the apartment, he started searching for cameras.

“Paul!” Katie yelled, stopping him in his tracks. “What the hell is going on?”

“Someone is watching us. I can feel them, I just can’t figure out how they are doing it.”

They both gave him a look as if he were crazy, and maybe he was, but that wasn’t a risk he was going to take with his mate. If he was wrong and no one was watching them then oh well. No big deal. But if he was right, he had to figure out how to get Katie out of here.

Paul switched over to using Dragonish, “Do you have an escape route out of here?” He turned to look at Mark, knowing that Katie couldn’t understand what they were saying.

“I do,” he replied with a frown. “Do you really think it’s necessary? I don’t feel anyone, Paul.”

“Katie isn’t the only one that is evolving,” he snapped. “My one purpose in life is to protect her. So maybe for once you need to listen to me.”

The need to get Katie out of there was growing. The hairs on the back of his neck stood as goosebumps rippled down his arms. Time was running out. Paul turned to Mark. “Now!” he barked.

Mark and Katie shared a quick glance. Katie nodded her head at him right before he pushed past them and headed for the back room. “You better be right about this, Paul,” Mark grumbled. He took a deep breath before opening the door. Paul knew what room this was. It held Mark’s collection of dragons. He had wanted to savor the look on Katie’s face as she stepped in and got her first look.

The walls were lined with floor to ceiling bookshelves. Upon each shelf were dragon figurines of all sizes and colors. A dragon mural had been painted on the ceiling and in the center of the room stood a six-foot tall, pure gold dragon with it’s wings spread wide. Paul knew that to the left of the door there was a switch that would make the dragon spin slowly.

“Why are we in here?” Paul grumbled. As much as he wanted to tease his brother again, the feeling of impending doom was growing. His skin was itching with the feeling now. Paul was starting to worry that if they didn’t move soon then his dragon would force a shift change and then fly out of here with Katie.

“What better place to put in an escape route than my favorite room? Any dragon would think that I couldn’t put one in here without risking my collection, but I did.” Mark’s smile grew as he looked around the room. He quickly walked over and plucked a small keychain up off the shelf and pocketed it.

“What the bloody fuck is this?” Chiles asked as he entered the room. Mark’s smile disappeared as he looked over at the towering man.

“Just let it go, dude. You wouldn’t understand. Hell, my brother has the same driving forces making him buy Mustangs and even he doesn’t understand.” Mark shook his head as he clenched his fists at his side.

Paul knew that he should apologize to his brother but not right now. They needed to be moving, not standing here gaping over his brother’s silly obsession. “Can we move?” Paul bit out. He was starting to get sick from fighting with his own instincts. With each passing moment he was slowly losing the battle.

Mark nodded his head and went over to a shelf on the far wall and gently pushed figures out of his way. He then removed a small panel from the wall and turned a knob.

The giant dragon in the center of the room started to slide to the side, revealing a small tunnel. They would have to go down one at a time, using up valuable time.

“Mark, you go first, followed by Chiles and then Katie. I will follow everyone.” Paul stood tense, waiting for someone to argue. He was relieved when they all nodded in agreement and did as he told them.

Right before Paul slipped through the slim opening, he reached over and grabbed a figurine. It had been one that their mother had bought for Mark. Paul didn’t know why but he felt it deep in his core that at any moment this would all be gone. He felt the need to save this one for his brother. Because as much as he teased Mark, Paul knew he couldn’t fight his instinct to hoard these things. So if his brother was about to lose it all then Paul was going to make sure he could at least have this one.

Paul quickly pulled off his shirt and wrapped the fragile dragon within it, then hurried to catch up with everyone.

As Paul approached the group from behind, his anxiety spiked. “Run,” he screamed. No one bothered to argued, they just took off, weaving through the slim brick tunnel and finally down through the sewage tunnels below the street.

Even with the stink, no one said a thing. They looked back every few steps, giving Paul a questioning glance. Paul just shook his head and they pushed forward. When they were a good bit away and were about to climb the ladder up to the street, everything around them shook. Paul pulled Katie back against him, doing his best to protect her from whatever was going on.

***

Katie’s hands trembled as she pushed away from Paul. As much as his arms wrapped around her made her feel safe, she needed to know what had happened. Paul had been on edge over something. At first she had thought he had been overreacting. Being possessive since Chiles had been there. Then she began getting a little tingle. Felt the need to run. To get away from Mark’s apartment.

She wished that she would have had more time to admire Mark’s collection of dragons and had hoped that she would have another chance again, but now she got the feeling that would never happen.

Without thinking, Katie headed straight for the ladder and began to climb it. She was three steps up with she was wrenched back by her waist. She let out a soft squeal before turning to glare up at Paul.

“Let the boys go up first, love. We don’t know what happened yet or who could be out there. It’s best if we let them go check it out.” Katie sighed. She didn’t like the idea of sitting back and waiting but nodded in agreement and watched as Mark and Chiles climbed the ladder and disappeared.

“Why aren’t you wearing your shirt?” she asked to pass time. She had been wondering why he had taken off since he had caught up to them.

“I will explain in a bit. For now, I just need to hold you. I need to know you are safe.” He pulled her back up against him and held her tight.

Time seemed to crawl by. It felt like hours as they stood there holding each other, waiting for the boys to get back. Katie was starting to worry that something had happened to them. She knew Paul felt the same way, even if he would never admit it. He was tense. His heart raced in his chest.

Katie was about to voice her concerns when Mark came back down the ladder, followed closely by Chiles. Katie and Paul rushed over to meet them.

“So what happened?” Katie asked franticly. She wasn’t sure she really wanted to know the answer. Her gut twisted as she waited for their reply.

After a few moments, Mark shook his head. “It’s all gone.”

“What’s gone?” Paul asked from behind Katie.

Mark fell to his knees in front of them. His hands covered his face as sobs began to escape him.

“The whole building,” Chiles said with sorrow in his voice. “The one with Mark’s apartment. It was all just gone. We tried to help save those stuck under the rubble but we couldn’t. I believe we are the only ones to survive.”

Katie thought of the young family that they had shared the elevator with. The little girl with rosy red cheeks had brought a smile to her face. She collapsed to the ground next to Mark. These people were dead because of her. If it hadn’t been for Paul, they could have been buried right beside everyone else.

Her breaths became rapid. Her heart sped up and tears spilled down her cheeks. Her fears were coming true. She had put these people in danger. She had killed innocent kids. She didn’t want this. Didn’t want to be a queen. To have a target on her back. For others to lose everything because of who she was.

Without thinking, Katie stood and raced away. She only had a small head start, but she would use it to her advantage.