To her surprise, it was Valen who spoke. "Actually, it may just be that a human is exactly what is necessary. A tenacious, strong human, who looks at things differently than the rest of us. Or," he glanced over at Marcus, "it may be that it will take several of you. There is something going on, Caia Rowan, but we do not know what it is. Not yet, at least."
She evaluated his expression, trying to see if he was telling the truth, but she couldn't pick up on anything.
"Have you talked to the Dragon Council yet?" she asked, throwing her last card on the table.
The Dragon Council was the ruling body for the most powerful race of shifters. They also settled large-scale disputes between the other races as well, along with providing knowledge and wisdom to those who asked on rare occasion.
"We have," Marcus said, though his tone told her not to take any hope from that.
"And?" she pressed.
"You must remember, Caia, that dragons do not operate the same as others. Even we," he gestured at his brother and him, "seem young and impetuous to them, and yet we are both in our third century of life."
She fought to remain in control as he revealed his age to her. It was one thing for her to read that certain shifters lived extremely extended lives. It was another entirely to have one admit it with such confidence that she knew it in her core to be true.
The things they must have seen …
Marcus was still talking, she realized after a moment. "This little hiccup and slowed rate of discovery is nothing to them. In fact, many of them will likely sleep through it," he said, stressing just how long-lived the dragons were. "If it were to begin to stretch into multiple decades or a century, then they would begin to take notice. I often find the days blurring by myself, so it does not surprise me that they have no interest or worry over what is going on at this time."
Caia felt the finality of that last sentence hit her like a ton of bricks. What Marcus was saying was that whatever was messing with them they would have to deal with on their own.
"The only reason that I do notice it, however, is because I spend so much time around you humans in the operations of this company. If I were to hang around with my own kind, or dragons, I would likely have a much similar mindset. When dragons hang around each other, they tend to become even slower to act. It is only because I don't that I have a different perspective." His eyes bore into hers at that last sentence, but he didn't say anything more.
Caia's eyes narrowed. Marcus was trying to tell her something without outright saying it. She knew he interacted with humans regularly. That wasn't knowledge, and she wasn't asking him for more information. She was asking him to ask the dragons. Dragons. That had to be what he was getting at. Something about them. The Council always stayed together, and they almost never met with humans either. In fact, the vast majority of dragons, like Marcus had said, all stuck with each other.
Except for one, she realized with a start.
Ferrovax.
He lived in the Valley, and to her knowledge, had lived there amongst humans for a long, long time. Marcus was telling her that she should go talk to him, because he might have a different perspective on things. Actually, Caia corrected herself, he's very carefully not telling you to go talk to him. But why wasn't he saying it outright? There was a reason for that, she realized, which she hoped might become clear when she talked to Ferro.
"I understand," she said aloud. "I'll keep working on the case then, and see if I can't find anything more."
"Very good," Marcus replied.
"I'll report back when I find something," she said, and left the office behind, her mind whirling.
Gabriel was waiting for her. The moment the door shut, he closed the space between them until he was no more than a few inches from her.
"I want you," he said, his voice thick with desire as he leaned in to kiss her neck.
"What are you doing?" she hissed, reluctantly pushing him away. His lips felt like fire on her neck, a delicious burning bliss that she yearned for more of. "You're going to get us both fired!"
He looked around. "There's nobody in here, and there's no cameras. Come on, just one kiss," he pushed.
She fought back a smile, looking up at him as she bit her lip. Glancing past him, she confirmed that there were indeed no people in the room, and then she hooked her arms around his neck and pulled him to her.
Their lips met furiously as passion exploded between them. Gabriel lifted her up on to her desk, scattering some paperwork as their arms became entangled with each other.
"Okay. Stop," she said urgently, pulling back, her breathing already labored from the brief outburst. Her lungs rising and falling with the increased effort, she slid off the desk and put a few feet between the two of them.
His eyes hungered for more as she looked up into them, and a part of Caia yearned to be able to indulge him. But she had to keep her head straight. Something was going on, and Gabriel needed to know.
"What is it?" he said, his eyes all of a sudden piercing and inquisitive. He must have seen something in her expression that told him something serious was going on.
"First," she said with a smile, "thank you for that." She winked. "Secondly," her face turned grim. "Whatever is going on has Marcus and Valen worried."
That got Gabriel's attention.
"Valen was there?"
She nodded. "They've already been to talk to the Dragon Council too."
Gabriel's eyebrows hit the roof. "Without our prodding they went to them?" He swallowed hard. "That's not good at all. What did the Council say?"
Caia shook her head. "Nothing. Apparently they aren't worried enough. A few months of things being odd isn't enough for them to be concerned."
Gabriel nodded. He had more experience with shifters, so it came as no surprise that he instinctually knew why that might be.
"But Marcus hinted that perhaps we should go talk to Ferro."
"He hinted?" Gabriel looked confused.
"You look so cute when you're lost," she said, leaning forward and planting her lips on his very quickly. "We're going back into town today. If my hunch is right, Marcus can't talk to us for some reason, but Ferro may be able to."
"The Tongue & Flame?" he asked, confirming their destination.
"Exactly," she confirmed.
"Okay, let me grab my stuff and I'll meet you outside."
He leaned forward, gave her another kiss, and then before she could react, reached around and gave her rear a full-handed grab. "See you in a bit, beautiful," he whispered in her ear, and before she could react, he was gone.
Caia stared after him for several minutes, doing nothing but smiling.
He sure makes it easy to fall in love with him, doesn't he?
Caia's eyes flew open. She had never used that particular word to describe their relationship before, and her brain's subconscious use of it had caught her completely off guard. Did she love Gabriel?
Just as importantly, did he love her? She loved spending time with him, but that was different from actually being in love with him. That was a lesson she had learned when she was younger, and a difference she had been sure to understand in her relationships since.
But with Gabriel it was different. He was strong and confident, unafraid of the world and yet at the exact same time, completely unashamed to show her his true self and the side that he hid from the world. He had opened up to her completely and totally, without hesitation, telling her about his childhood and the things he had seen and done since. Not once had he hesitated, afraid of her judgment. Instead, he had trusted her outright from the start, and as a result their relationship had blossomed at an incredible pace.
Clearly it had grown faster than she was aware of if part of her already thought she was falling in love with him. Not that he was a bad choice, she thought with a smirk. He certainly kept things … interesting.
Her phone buzzed. She took a look at it.
Raph and Uri just got back from a dual pickup. I should really help them with the paperwork and delivery. Can we meet at T&F for 5? <3
Caia smiled. He was also a good man, always wanting to help out his comrades, and that was something she deeply respected. After texting him back, she decided that perhaps now would be a good time to do some of her own paperwork.
Glancing at the stacks of it on her own desk, she sighed. Not her preferred way to spend the afternoon.
***
"Holy hell," she breathed as her SUV wound down the S-shaped driveway that led from the main road to the gravel parking lot out in front of the Tongue & Flame. This was her first time seeing the bar since it had been destroyed, and although she had only passed by it once before, never having actually entered it, the evidence of destruction and repair was clear. Several parts of the two walls she could see looked brand new, and the deck out front was still under construction. Or re-construction, she supposed.
Part of her didn't even want to go inside. If the outside had needed this much work, she wondered if the inside was even still functional. But the "Open" sign was on, which meant that Ferro was at least there, though she wondered just how busy he was these days.