Page 31 of Dark Dragon’s Wolf

Mayah narrowed her eyes. “Tristan, why don’t you see what he’s got under those wrappings, while I stay here, poised to rip him apart if he tries anything?”

Zakerek sighed. “I’m not doing anything. Why does everyone always think I’m up to something nefarious?”

“Because you usually are.”

Tristan manifested his wolf claws and tore away part of the wrapping around the object. He started laughing.

Mayah frowned. “What is it?”

Tristan shook his head, still laughing. “It’s a pool table. A nice one, by the looks of it.” He frowned at Zakerek. “An expensive one.”

Zakerek shrugged. “Emon never said I couldn’t have a pool table.”

Mayah sighed. “Where the hell are you going to put it? It’s huge.”

“My man cave.” Zakerek said that like it should be obvious.

Tristan pulled the wrappings back even further, exposing a large flat box. “That’s gonna be a tricked-out man cave,” he said. “He’s got a 60-inch flatscreen TV on here too.”

Mayah shook her head. “So you’re going to sit all alone in your man cave, watching porn on the big screen, and brooding in between solitary pool games?”

Zakerek said, “Brooding is a time-honored dragon pastime. Are you going to tell Emon or not?”

“I haven’t decided,” Mayah said. “I have other things on my mind.”

Zakerek studied her suspiciously. “So can I still have the pool table?”

Mayah blew out a sigh. “Go ahead,” she said, waving her hand towards the castle. “But if Emon burns it to ashes when he gets the bill, don’t blame me.”

She and Tristan watched as Zakerek continued on his way up to the castle, the pool table floating along in front of him. He must be using a levitation spell.

Tristan was still laughing. “He’s a fucking asshole, but the dude has chutzpah, I’ll give him that,” he said. “He kind of reminds me of Xander. Hell, maybe I’ll go down to his man cave and shoot pool with him sometime. If I can find it.”

Mayah stared after Zakerek. “Maybe you should. I think he’s lonely.” The idea of Zakerek alone in his man cave with all his toys made her a little sad. “But in the meantime, I think I need to get some sleep. We have research to do tomorrow.”

Tristan came up behind her and slid his arms around her waist. “I guess you’re really tired,” he said. “You probably want to go to sleep right away.”

She leaned back against him. “Well, maybe not right away…”

Chapter 14

Their research was pretty much a bust, even after Mayah found a spell that would allow Tristan to read Draken.

There was nothing to show that any Al-Maddeiri dragons besides Kira, Emon and Mayah had survived the slaughter of their clan.

Mayah put a call through to Kira on the communication device. Emon had given their sister one that worked between dimensions, so they could talk whenever they wanted to.

She told Kira everything that had happened, and how they’d hit a dead end in their research. “I remembered you told me that when you were looking for us, Ashley Silver went with you through the spirit world to try to reach us.”

Ashley was a Draken princess of the House of Akkabi—and also a country singer, currently on tour with her band of raven shifters. She was mated to a Silverlake wolf, Israel Jonas.

Mayah went on, “I was hoping you would do that with me. You know. Go with me. And see if we can find my ghosts.”

She always felt a little awkward talking to Kira. They hadn’t grown up together—Mayah and Emon had been taken by Ragnor when their clan was destroyed, and Kira had been rescued by Markus.

Mayah and Emon had thought she was dead, along with their parents, until she showed up over a year ago to rescue them from Ragnor. All flashing knives and unbound magic, with Flynn at her side—the most legendary shifter on Earth. And an army to back them up.

She also didn’t have a super-approachable personality, even though she tried to be nice.