Zanaikeyros - Son of Dragons (Pantheon of Dragons #1)(14)

Levi chuckled, vanished from view, and returned with a pair of oversized black silk pajamas and a plain white tee. “Sorry,” he murmured. “Best I could do.”

Zane took the clothes and donned them with appreciation, and then he finally stepped down from the porch. “Thanks for the backup,” he said to no one in particular. The yard was already clean. Axe must have incinerated everything he saw, right down to ash, because all that remained were several inky spots where bugs had once been, and a couple of piles of cinders where the bodies had once lain.

“You good?” Axe asked, following Zane from the porch into the yard. He chuckled as Zane squatted down to strap his steel-toed boots beneath the silken black pajamas. “Nice combo.”

“Ha. Ha,” Zane mocked, flipping Axe the bird. “I’m glad you’re getting some humor out of all this.”

Levi smiled broadly then, meeting the other males on the grass and tilting his head to the side to gaze longingly at Zane’s derriere. “I dunno, brother; the way you were bent over on that porch”—he drew a slim hourglass circle with his hands in the air—“for a second there, I thought, damn, Levi. I know he’s not exactly a woman, but what the hey. Maybe you should just go ahead and—”

Zane’s feral, baritone snarl cut him off midsentence. “Very funny, Levi.”

Levi’s deep, melodious chuckle filled the chilly air. “Seriously, though, I hate when they unleash those beetles.”

“Must’ve been an ancient,” Axe said. “Not many demons have that kind of power.”

A companionable silence settled amongst them, until finally, Zane cleared his throat. “Make sure Lord Ethyron knows that his business was handled,” he said, meeting his brothers’ eyes, each one in turn.

“You’re not coming back with us?” Axe asked.

“Nope,” Zane said. “Can’t just yet.”

“Why?” Levi asked.

Zane bit his lower lip and decided to just go for it. “I made contact with my dragyra. Earlier.”

Axe narrowed his sapphire eyes and raised his thick upper lip in a scowl. “Come again?”

“You heard me,” Zane said. “In the parking lot, at the mall.”

“You sure?” Levi asked.

“Oh yeah,” Zane insisted. “I passed her on a staircase, and her pretty hazel eyes turned glowing sapphire in an instant. I had to do a double-take. Then later, when I made her acquaintance once again in the garage, when I touched her, my amulet heated up.” He grasped the sacred talisman encircling his neck with his fist, and he lifted it from his chest, knowing that both lair-mates would immediately see the dark maroon scar where the amulet had burned his flesh. “She’s mine, all right.”

“Whew!” Axe whistled low, beneath his breath. “So…” He hesitated, as if searching for just the right words. “So, you’re bringing her back, tonight? To the lair?”

“Nah.” Zane shook his head. “No idea how I’m gonna play this yet.” He shrugged. “But I am gonna find out where she lives, make sure I leave a compulsion to stay put, wait for me, while I figure it out.”

Levi ran his left hand through his thick golden-brown hair. “Zanaikeyros…”

The formal address brought Zane up short. “Yeah?” He gave his brother his full attention.

“What do you need?” The male’s even, sonorous voice was heavy with resolve. “Whatever it is, just name it.”

Zane nodded in a show of appreciation. “No idea, yet,” he answered truthfully, and then he turned to place a light hand on Levi’s shoulder. “By the way, how’s Caleb?”

Levi frowned. “Lord Ethyron made his point,” he said sharply, careful to bite back the full extent of his disdain.

Zane looked away.

There was no upside in speaking critically about the dragon lords, not any of them. They were their fathers. They were their gods. And they kept the sacred amulets imbued with life force. In other words, to speak against the Dragons was akin to defying one’s own soul. All Zane knew was that Calebrios would heal—or not—in time. Meanwhile, Zane had ten days—really, nine, now—to claim his mate, try to break through her resistance, and get her to the sacred temple as an offering to The Pantheon. Not counting what was left of this night, he had nine more days to solidify a connection with the only female he would ever have a chance to mate in an eternal lifetime. “So I’ll catch you later,” he said, eyeing each of his brothers in turn.

Levi nodded, understanding without the need for a further exchange of words.

Axe crossed his arms over his chest and held Zane’s vulnerable glare with a matching stare of both intensity and color—they all had sapphire eyes. While they may have been born with irises the shade of their pupils, those irises changed the day they were consecrated to their permanent lairs, the moment they were pledged to Lord Saphyrius. Axe then swept his gaze across the yard, indicating the earlier battle with the subtle gesture. “Be careful,” he intoned, reminding Zane of the constant need for vigilance. “You never know where the real danger is going to come from.”

Zane inclined his head in formal acknowledgment of Axeviathon’s words, and then, without pause or preamble, he vanished from the yard.