Ancient Magic (Dragon's Gift: The Huntress #1)(21)

“Yes.” He turned onto a narrow lane that climbed upward. The car bumped over potholes and rocks. “Just down this road. That’s another reason I chose to borrow Mack’s boat. Conveniently located.”

We pulled up to the house a moment later.

“I see you like the simple things,” I said as I gazed at the enormous structure. It was all sleek glass and stone, modern, yet it blended with the landscape beautifully.

“It’s all right,” Aidan said as he climbed out.

He opened my door before I’d even touched it, because I was too busy staring at the house. When I climbed out, my dragon sense tingled. Somewhere far underground, there were treasures. The ones that I’d left behind during my temple raid yesterday.

“Is your house on a cliff?”

“Yes.”

Made sense. I’d entered the temple through a gap in a cliff. That’s why it had been so easy for him to feel the magical disturbance when the demon had gone nuts on me. He’d been right on top of me.

I needed to be better about my recon, it seemed.

“Come on,” he said. “Let’s get some dinner.”

“Yes, please.” This guy knew the way to my heart. I followed him into the foyer. Lights turned on as soon as he walked in the front door, illuminating a simple but beautiful foyer. The ceiling soared overhead, and a modern glass chandelier shed gleaming light on the wood floor. Maybe if I didn’t put all my money into the holy trinity of boots, jackets, and weapons, I could live in a place a bit closer to this.

Nah. I liked my set-up.

“Pick any bedroom upstairs and get cleaned up. I’ll get dinner on.”

I waved a hand down my bloody front. Most of it wasn’t even mine. “What? You don’t like me like this?”

His gaze met mine, and there was more than humor in his eyes. Heat. “I’ll take you however I can get you.”

I swallowed hard. Oh, man. He was bringing out the big guns. Desire coiled within me. Though it was stupid, I wanted to take him up on it.

“I’m going to get that shower.” I turned and ran up the stairs.

His low laugh echoed from below. It pissed me off and turned me on at the same time.

Idiot.

But I didn’t know if I was talking about him or me.





CHAPTER SIX





When I finished with my shower—which took longer than expected because the freaking thing had eight shower heads, and I’d had to try every one—I called Nix on my comms charm.

“Well, Cass? What happened?” Her voice came through clearly.

“I didn’t get the scroll. But I have a bead on its location. We’ll get it tomorrow.”

“Good.” The relief was clear in her voice. “Because Dr. Garriso didn’t know much. He said the scroll has been lost for at least three hundred years. When it was first stolen, the Order of the Magica and the Shifter Council sent out a search party. But they never found it. No one has heard about it since. It just disappeared.”

“Weird.”

“Yeah. I spoke to Del. She’s almost done in Nicaragua. When I asked her about the Scroll of Truth, she didn’t know anything either.”

“No surprise. If she’d known there was a threat to us, she’d have told us.”

“Yeah. Just figured I’d try. You never know what she’s read about.”

True. When she wasn’t beheading demons, she was big into books. It was why she was our Seeker. Most of the treasures I hunted were written about in ancient scrolls and texts. They provided the information I needed to find them.

“How’s everything else?” Nix asked.

“What else?”

“Uh, you’re hanging out with a super-hot, super-powerful, super-rich dude—who we all like, by the way—and you can’t think of what else I might be asking about?”

“Oh, yeah, that.” I blew out a breath. “I mean, he’s cool and all.”

“Cool? Yeah, he’s cool. I met him. Tell me something I don’t know. Something good.”

“Well, he’s healed me twice. And he’s funny.” I thought back. Being with him made me happy. I barely knew the guy, but I was getting butterflies over him. Yet I was also afraid of his ability to sense what I was. It was whiplashy. I needed to get my head on straight.

“But he wants me to find this scroll,” I said. “Which, I’ll remind you, could totally spill our secret. And all that power you say he’s got…well, yeah. He’s got it, all right. He turned into a griffon today.”

“A griffon? Whoa.”

“Yeah. With that kind of power, it’s easier for him to sense other supernaturals’ power. Even if I don’t want to use mine, I’m scared that if I hang out with him long enough, I’ll be in a situation where I’m forced to use it and I’ll reveal myself.”

Nix sighed. When she spoke, her voice was grim. “Yeah. That’s serious.”

“Deadly.”

“All right, well a girl can hope. I’d like you to get a life, you know. Date, meet a guy, all that.”

“Uh, like you do?” We kept to ourselves because of our secret and our work. Connor and Claire didn’t know we were FireSouls, and they were our only real friends. With survival and running our business being our priority, dating hadn’t been on our agenda much.