Page 69 of Blood and Bone

Eoghan finally dropped the fur to the couch and stood, walking over to them. “Would you like to tell us whathappened just now?” he asked. “Why have you brought us here?”

“Did you see our enemies flying in the sky above the parking lot where we met?” Severin asked.

Ari exchanged a glance with Eoghan and when he nodded, turned back to the dragons. “We saw them. They’re not part of your clan I take it.”

Severin shook his head, frowning deeply.

“They are enemies,” Invictus replied. “They followed us, intending on killing us and you would have been caught right in the middle of it. Let’s just say, they would have burned you alive had we left you there.”

A shudder went through Ari as he dragged his eyes away from the dragons and looked at his man. Eoghan was also frowning, but he could see the visible surprise on his face.

“They’re part of a different clan then?” Eoghan asked.

“Yes,” Severin replied. “They wish to steal what we have, which is why they keep watch on us.”

Ari glanced around the great, stone hall, noting the twenty-foot ceilings as well as the way the firelight was reflected against the tiniest, bright crystals which seemed to be imbedded in the black stone. He wondered what had formed the crystals. Perhaps they’d developed inside the cave when the volcano last erupted? He had no idea.

“No offense but what do you have that’s so special?” Eoghan asked. “What do your enemies want?”

The two dragons exchanged a long glance, and Ari watched them closely, wondering whether they could communicate telepathically, the way vampires did. When they turned back, Invictus gestured for them.

“Follow us,” Severin said, walking to the wall opposite the cave entrance. He flipped a switch, and fluorescent lights dimly lit the space beyond. “We’ll show you.”

He and Invictus headed out of the room, disappearing into the gloom as Ari questioned how they had electricity. He decided they had to have some sort of generator. He’d seen a refrigerator in the kitchen, so that only made sense.

“Let’s go,” Eoghan said, following in their wake as Ari joined him. The dragons strode down the corridor ten feet ahead. Here too, the ceiling was very high, though, the walls of the tunnel were only about eight to ten feet wide. The stone here also glittered with bright crystals. Surprisingly, the temperature down here wasn’t cold nor was it warm. Ari was very glad he wasn’t walking on some sort of bridge over an orange river of molten lava rock as he would have expected in a volcano. He laughed at the folly of the thought but in truth, he was always fascinated with pictures of Hawaiian volcanos whenever the TV showed an eruption. Then again, Mount Shasta was a dormant volcano, so he shouldn’t have expected rivers of lava. He decided he’d been watching way too much of the Travel Channel as he silently chided himself for being a total idiot.

After going about a hundred yards, the dragons stopped and turned to them. “This is what our enemies want,” Severin said, reaching out and flipping a switch. A large light bulb, just inside another cavernous space buzzed to life. A split second later another beyond that lit followed by another and another and another brightening a huge space that was the most spectacular thing Ari had ever seen in his life. Eoghan gasped beside him as a great, green room was revealed in all its glory. Floors, ceilings, and walls were all covered with semi-sparkling otherworldly green stones of varying and breathtaking shades. They formed intricate mosaic patterns of every design imaginable. Long, low couches of a pale green shade filled a space in the middle of the room which was more stunning than Ari could have ever imagined.

“Is this jade?” Eoghan asked, walking over to a wall and reaching out to touch the stone imbedded into its surface.

“Yes,” Invictus said.

“I didn’t think jade was sparkly like that,” said Ari.

“Hongshan jade is. It has metal streaks or specks in it.”

“This is what your enemies want to steal from you?” Eoghan asked. When he turned back to them, he looked quite awestruck.

“Yes.”

“So, hang on just a second,” Ari said as what he was looking at finally sank into his consciousness. “This is why you wanted the jade you get from the Tahoe shifter clan?”

“Yes,” Severin replied. “This is why I wanted it. Inside this mountain cave I’ve recreated the beauty of our ancient palaces.”

“So, you don’t eat it?”

Severin snorted, cracking a huge grin for the first time since they’d seen him. The man was simply stunning. His eyes flashed with the familiar circle which indicated he was a shifter. Still, seeing the orange color was freaky.

“We don’t eat it,” Severin said, shaking his head. He held out his hands, turning a slow circle in the room and then beckoning them to come deeper into it. “Like I said, this space is adorned with jade the same way our ancestors decorated palaces for millennia.”

“I see,” Eoghan said, “but I’m still confused about something.” He pointed back and forth between the two of them. “It was my understanding that you were from different clans but you seem to be sharing this cave, living here together. Am I wrong?”

The two dragons looked at each other before Invictus spoke. “We are from different clans. My home is nearby but our enemies drove me off my lands more than a decade ago. Isought refuge with Severin, and he has granted me shelter. I’ve helped him festoon this room.”

“What about the rest of your people?” Ari asked. “The rest of your clan?”

“Unfortunately, they’re all dead,” Invictus replied, a thickness in his voice that Ari hadn’t heard before. “My mate, my offspring, everyone I loved…all dead.”

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