Page 74 of Blood and Bone

“I think there’s more than a chance,” Severin said, frowning deeply. “I’d say it’s a near certainty. We should take you back to our cave but I’m afraid it’s just too dangerous for you. Perhaps we should part ways here.”

Eoghan looked around. The road where they stood was a narrow two-lane mountain road. “How far away would you say we are from a telephone?”

“There’s one in a hiker’s trail cabin not far from here,” Invictus said. “The rangers maintain them and make sure their operational. Come with us. We’ll take you right to it. From there, you can tell the rangers you got lost up here and they’ll come up and get you.”

“What do you think we should tell them?” Ari asked, falling into step, and walking between him and the dragons. “They’re going to get one look at my clothes and ask how in the hell they burned up and somehow missed my skin entirely.”

“That’s a really good question,” Eoghan said, chuckling.

Ari smirked at him. “Fuck it. I’m just gonna tell them I like wearing burnt clothes. I’m trying to start a trend.”

Eoghan burst into laughter right along with the dragons.

Ten minutes later, they were standing in the hiker’s cabin waiting on the rangers who’d told them they’d be there shortly. Fortunately for Ari, someone had left a large overcoat in the cabin. He took off his jacket and put on the coat, effectively hiding any trace of burnt areas.

“We should go before they arrive,” Invictus said. “A burnt coat is one thing, but a couple of dragons might be hard to explain.”

Eoghan grinned and held out his hand. “Thank you for agreeing to help. We’ll talk to our chief and get back in touch with you as soon as we can talk to King John and arrange a meeting with him. Would that be okay?”

“Yes,” Severin said, taking his hand.

“We’ll be in touch,” Ari said. “I know you hate your phones, but answer your damned email, okay?”

Severin and Invictus both smiled, nodding shyly. “Will do,” Invictus said. With that, he and Severin turned and walked out of the cabin. Eoghan and Ari followed them out onto the porch and stopped there to watch the huge beasts shift. Where Severin and Invictus had stood as naked men moments ago, the two huge, iridescent dragons now stood. When they turned and looked at them with glowing orange eyes, both ducked their heads as if nodding before taking to flight. Eoghan lifted his hand to block out the sun, watching as the massive dragons disappeared over the trees moments later.

Once the rangers got them to their Charger, they started the drive back to L.A., stopping only to pick up their duffel bags and to make a call to the chief from their burner. She was pleased they’d made contact with Severin and Invictus and happy as heck that the dragons had agreed to help with John Townsend’s situation. When she heard about what had happened when the dragon had attacked Invictus, and Ari had been burned, then healed, she’d told them that she’d handle setting up the meeting with the vampire. And insisted that they take the weekend off while she made the arrangements with the dragons and John.

Eoghan had detected more than a little exhaustion in her voice. They both seemed to realize that they’d have to push John Townsend’s case down the road a little while longer. They all wanted it over and done with but approaching Tillis Bradshaw and his evil minions had to be done right, even if it meant him adding to his ranks. There was nothing that could be done about that.

Besides, they had to figure out a way to smoke out their Agency mole at the same time, or everything was going to fall apart. Eoghan had heard the sincere concern in the chief’s questions when they’d described the way Invictus and Severin’s enemy shifters had attacked Invictus, causing Ari’s subsequent plunge to earth. When the whole story had come out, she’d apologized profusely for putting their lives at risk without knowing Invictus and Severin’s history or the fact that they had dangerous enemies.

As Ari dropped off to sleep, unable to stay awake for the last two hours of the drive, Eoghan rehashed the entire trip from the Riversong Wilkins case, to the Powmays, to Gael and his family. When he thought of the way he and Ari had jumped into the car and raced out of the gas station being chased by Bob the cephalopod, he laughed silently to himself.

Hands down, though, Beauregard Champayne and his foot fetish had been the highlight of the trip. Eoghan had never run across an honest to God toe sucker and frankly, it hadn’t exactly ever been on his bucket list. He grinned to himself as Ari came around, sitting up and stretching just as he was pulling up to the curb in front of the house. He glanced at his disheveled partner, noting the drool running down one side of his mouth. He pointed at it and snorted as Ari blinked, wiping the drool away, and squinting at the dashboard clock. It was just a few minutes past midnight. He glanced around.

“We’re home?”

“Yes, we’re home,” Eoghan said, leaning back on the headrest and glancing up at the roof liner. “And I’m so exhausted, I’m sure I’ll sleep like the dead.” When a hand landed on his thigh, he rolled his head to look at him.

“Why didn’t you wake me up? I told you I wanted to help drive home. I promised myself I’d help out.”

Eoghan cracked a smile. “It’s okay, babe. After what you went through on this trip, I thought driving and letting you sleep was the least I could do.” He reached for Ari’s hand, wrapping his fingers around his. Ari squeezed back. “I almost lost you.”

Ari leaned in and kissed him then, pushing his fingers through the hair at the back of his head and holding him in place. Eoghan kissed him back, absolutely sure by now that he’d fallen too far to ever come back. It wasn’t like he wanted to anyway. When Ari finally pulled away and Eoghan opened his eyes, he could see the love shining in his partner’s eyes. It was as clear as it could be. He opened his mouth to tell him he loved him when he heard a shriek followed by a scream of what could only be peals of laughter. He looked toward Al and Ted’s house, noting that the sound had come from an open window. Since his house was in the back, he knew the window belonged to their bedroom. When another peal of high-pitched laughter sounded, he grinned and turned toward Ari.

“It sounds like Al and Ted have a guest,” he told him.

“That’s not them?”

“No,” Eoghan said. “Trust me. I’ve lived here a long time. Neither of them laughs like that.”

“We should probably go see then,” Ari said, reaching for the car’s door handle.

Eoghan grabbed his arm. “Are you crazy? That’s theirbedroom. What if they’re…you know…entertaining a—”

“Hooker?”

“What?” Eoghan asked, grinning at him.