Page 10

I snorted. Escort, my ass.

“Sir,” she spoke into the phone. “We found her. She assures us that she is unharmed.” She paused. “She came back to her car. She’s cooperating.” She glanced at me, as though to make sure I hadn’t bolted.

She answered a few more questions, then handed her phone to me.

I grimaced as I put it to my ear. This was the part I’d been dreading—facing him myself.

“Hey,” I said quietly, not sure what else I could say.

“Hey,” he repeated back, his tone icy. “Some foreign… diplomats are arriving in town today. We’re assembling a task force to combat the rogue dragon threat. We’re arranging a meeting this afternoon, and I’d like you to attend.”

“Um, sure,” I said, still waiting for the other shoe to drop. I couldn’t believe that he would just let the issue of me disappearing for the night drop without a word.

“Caleb and Christian need to be there, too, since I assume they’ll want to be involved.”

I assumed the same. As much as the two of them couldn’t stand the druids, they wouldn’t be able to resist the chance to join a task force that would have the legal right to take out some dragons. I knew I couldn’t.

“I’ll let them know,” I said.

There was a long pause on the other end. “Thank you.” Another long pause. “And could you… please return to the casino posthaste. I’ve set up a secure room for our son, and I’d like you to approve it.”

That surprised me, but I agreed to it readily enough.

My approval… What a strange way to word it. Dom had never needed anyone’s approval for anything.

My security detail at least let me drive myself back to Dom’s casino, though of course they tailed me. I didn’t even give them a hard time, driving straight there.

I parked valet, and three of the druids made it to the door before I did, holding it open for me.

Two others grabbed the bags out of my car, following me with them.

“We’ll put your bags away for you, ma’am,” one of the male druids told me.

Caleb had said he’d earned me a week of silence from Torst, and I tended to trust him about something that important.

“They’ll need to be locked up tight,” I decided aloud. “No one should have access to them but me.” I figured that covered all the bases and bought me some time.

“We’ll put them in a safe in your suite,” he assured me.

My suite? I wondered about it but figured I’d save that question for Dom since it was a bit embarrassing that I didn’t know where I was staying.

Was it his suite of rooms or had I been assigned my own?

I shook off the musings. Time enough for that later. “What are your official orders concerning me?” I asked the female druid.

“To assist you, if needed, and to protect you, if necessary,” she answered quickly.

I rolled my eyes. Those duties were bogus, but she wasn’t the one to take it up with. It wasn’t her fault she’d been assigned as my babysitter.

I opened my mouth to ask her where to go, when the very air around us changed. I shivered, every hair on my body rising as a surge of power made its way to us.

I had no doubts about just who was approaching.

We passed through two sets of doors before we were in the casino. The normal sounds of slots clinking and music seemed drowned out, as though the man approaching had overwhelmed every sense with his overpowering presence.

I met the druid woman’s gaze. “Is it always like this now? His power never calms down? He feels like a walking powder keg, and I can’t even see him yet.”

She looked puzzled by that. “He is the Arch,” she said, as though that should explain it. I’d met an Arch or two, and the position most definitely did not explain it. I would have bet my life on the fact that there wasn’t a druid alive more powerful than Dom, and that power just seemed to be growing.