A Drakkon on their team? One who radiated sincerity and emotion like a lighthouse beacon? Who had enough raw powerto tear down the building but also enough heart to mourn a lost crush?
Her instincts pinged with bright, eager excitement.
A Drakkon.
A potential teammate.
And maybe…someone who desperately needed a purpose, and a place.
Zara felt a smile tug at her lips before she could stop it.
“You are?” Hektor rumbled, glancing around like a startled dragon shoved into a boutique. “What is this place?”
“A very special place,” Eros replied, his grin both mischievous and angelic. Zara had seen that smile enough times to know it meant trouble, or recruitment. Possibly both. “If you come work for us, you’ll be able to travel, do good in the world. Find purpose. Women love that.”
Hektor blinked. “They do?”
“Of course,” Eros said breezily. “And if you put yourself out there, who knows, maybe you’ll meet the one.” He looped his arm through the Drakkon’s massive, scaled elbow as if it were nothing. “What do you say?”
“I guess…”
“Great!” And with that, Eros dragged an utterly bewildered Hektor toward what remained of the doorway. “I’ll tell you more about what we’re doing here.…”
Zara watched them disappear down the hall, Hektor ducking to avoid the smoking, broken frame.
Perseus let out a long breath. “Of course, Eros just recruited the guy who tried to kill him.”
Medusa shrugged. “Hey, a Drakkon would be a great addition to the team. Aside from breathing fire, they’re strong and intimidating.” She turned to Zara. “What do you think?”
“Wh-what?” Zara jerked, as if waking from a trance. She hadn’t realized she’d been staring after Hektor, or that her pulse had been doing something annoyingly floaty. “Um, yeah.”
Her cheeks warmed, and she stumbled over her words. “Sure…I should, uh, go and see if Hek—er, L-Lord Eros needs me.”
She didn’t wait for their responses.
Instead, she hurried out the door, hoping no one had noticed how flustered she suddenly was.
Chapter 2
Hektor
For Drakkons, the pursuit of wealth came above all else. When creatures and monsters began to settle into Vale Crossing after their exodus from the Upperworld, the Drakkons took their time looking for a place where they could establish themselves.
They searched far and wide until they found a mountain range in the far west, declaring it to be their new home and calling it Drakkoria. The rocky formations made an ideal abode for their kind, but the mountains also contained something extremely valuable—gold. The tough rocks hid veins of gold in high concentrations, which, by chance could only be mined by blasting it with high heat. A most fortunate coincidence because one of the Drakkon’s natural abilities was to spew out fire from their mouths and direct at their enemies, something that had been useful when they fought in the war against the Titans as they pulled Zeus’s chariots. When they won, as a reward, the king of the gods freed them from their servitude and gave them bipedal, human-like bodies while retaining their tough, diamond-like hide.
Over the centuries, the Drakkons used this gold to barter for services and goods, and eventually they became one of the richest groups in Vale Crossing. They also developed a love of wealth, and so amassing their hoard became a status symbol for Drakkons, sitting on literal piles of gold in their well-protected dens deep in their mountain stronghold.
Yes, Drakkons loved their gold, but there was only one thing even more valuable than all the riches in the world: a mate. Unfortunately, there were no female Drakkons in existence nor could they produce any female offspring, and so they had to procreate with other creatures and human women. A mate was considered far more valuable than any treasure, as they were much harder to come by for Drakkons.
Which is why Hektor rushed to the capital city of Alindale when he heard that Eros was in town. The god of desire and love, after all, was the reason Hektor would never find his greatest treasure and would be alone forever. It was his arrow that turned Eleanora’s affections toward another.
“You have cost us our mates!” Hektor had snarled.
He and the other Drakkons whose females had been struck by Eros’s arrows had hunted down the god, tracking him to the highest peaks of the mountains around Drakkoria. They surrounded him, ready to confront him and demand he reverse the effects of his magic.
The god merely laughed, silvery blue eyes ablaze with contempt. “So what? I was just having a little fun. Can’t you guys take a joke?”
It all happened in a blur. Half a dozen or so Drakkons leaped on the god. Eros didn’t expect the attack and he didn’t have time to escape, so he hit the ground as the Drakkons piled on him. Fists and claws and tails flew. Hektor didn’t manage to get a hit in, but somehow in the fray, Eros somehow managedto extricate himself from the mob. None of the others noticed him crawling away, but Hektor did.
