Page 36 of Dragon's Code

“Who?”

“My ex, he was in here. How the hell did he get in?”

“What do you know about him?”

She gapes at me like I’ve asked a question she doesn’t understand. “What do I know about him?” Her voice is a little shrill.

I decide not to ask anymore questions and stay still. She’s in the middle of a panic attack. She’s had them a lot over the years and I’ve figured out how best to help her through them when I’m around. She runs through all the horrible scenarios in her head, thinking about all the ways she’s unsafe and all the ways she can put up walls and more safety measures.

Athena paces the length of the room, glancing at all the cameras. She stops at the foot of the bed a couple of feet from me. “How could he possibly know where I am?” she breathes before she continues pacing. “What am I going to do?”

“Athena, you’re not alone.”

She turns around to face me as if she just remembered I’m in the room.

I give her a minute to let the information she’s just learned and saw for herself settle in. I know she’s panicking right now. It’s all over her demeanor. She keeps looking at the door like she expects him to burst in at any minute. Her eyes are glossy with tears. Her hands are trembling.

“Athena, stay with me. I’m not going to let anything happen to you. He’s not going to touch you. On the off chance he does, I’m going to rip his arms off.”

She blinks at me again. “Why is he doing this?”

I take a step toward her, wanting to pull her into my arms, but she’s like a trapped animal, she’s more likely to bite and scratch if I do. “I don’t know. I’m going to figure it out though. I need you to tell me all you know about this guy.”

Athena glances around the room again. “We met at the coffee house I like to go to. He said he’d never been there before that day. He writes code for a living, though I don’t know what kind or who he works for. He wasn’t open about it, so I just assumed he worked in the private sector and had a confidentiality clause. I respect that sort of privacy. We dated for a few months. We went on dates. We never went back to his place, it was always mine. I didn’t mind because then everything around me was comfortable, but I guess it was a red flag.”

“Why did you break up with him?” Everything inside of me hates that she dated this guy.

Of course, she has the right to date whoever she wants to, but I don’t like it, and I hope I get to hit the guy at least once.

“He never said much about himself. He never wanted to go to his place. He kept asking me weird questions. He wanted to know more about my hacking skills. He also wanted to meet the people in my life. It was weird. It was like he was waiting to see if something happened. I got tired of the vague answers and I realized we weren’t really getting close and I didn’t feel any chemistry or anything like I did in the beginning. It was like it was all an act, and he got worse and worse at faking it.” The distress in her voice increases my anger.

I consider her words carefully and think about everything we know so far.

“I have some more information for you.”

“Information?” She shakes her head like she doesn’t understand.

“Take a deep breath, Athena.”

She closes her eyes and takes in a deep breath. She holds it and then lets it out. Then she does it again, until I see her shoulder ease, her jaw goes a little slack, her lips parting, and her fists unclenching at her sides. She takes a few more deep breaths and then lets her breathing return to normal. When she opens her eyes, they’re less dilated and wild.

“How did I invite this into my life again?” she asks in a weak, sad voice.

I shake my head. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You opened up to an opportunity. Just because he ended up wrong, isn’t a reflection on you.”

“Isn’t it though?”

“My goddess, please don’t be so hard on yourself.”

She shifts on the bed. Another moment passes. “What information do you have?”

“With dragons comes a clan witch.”

Her brows raise. “A clan witch. Does that mean?”

“Every generation a witch is born to two dragons. She’ll serve as the witch to the clan she was born to. She doesn’t have the abilities to shapeshift or anything like that, but they come with magic. They’re able to create spells and potions. Anyway, the Tourmaline Clan Witch, Syrena and the Amazonite Clan Witch, Penelope, who is here at the hotel, have been tracking potential dragon human mates. Seven of them they’ve found, were already murdered. They’ve found a few alive, they’re taking them somewhere safe.”

“Why were they murdered? Because they’re dragon mates?”

---