Chapter 26 Dante
Human workplaces were always noisy, but this one was louder than usual.
From across the street, leaning casually against the hood of my Maserati, I watched the front doors of Harbor City News Network—Seraphine’s workplace—like a wolf waiting for a rabbit to poke its head out.
But she never appeared.
She wasn’t in the building.
Good.
She shouldn’t be here today.
Not after what that bastard Brantley did.
Lucian stood beside me, sipping a coffee like this was some afternoon gossip session and not surveillance on a man I intended to ruin.
“Tell me again why we’re babysitting your little journalist?” he asked.
“We’re not babysitting her,” I said, eyes never leaving the door. “We’re making sure she listened.”
“Right,” Lucian drawled. “Because humans are soooo great at listening.”
I ignored him.
A moment later, the glass doors burst open.
Brantley stumbled out—red-faced, furious, swearing like a man who’d been stripped of all his power and dignity at once. Which, judging by the three cardboard boxes in his arms and the two security guards escorting him, was exactly the case.
He looked… pathetic.
Sweaty. Disheveled. Spitting every curse word he could think of.
“Get your hands off me! I know the mayor! I’ll have your jobs, all of you! You can’t fire me—I’m irreplaceable!”
One of the guards muttered, “Sir, please proceed to your vehicle.”
“This isn’t legal! This is discrimination! This is harassment! I’m suing—SUING—this entire damn building!”
He kicked a trash can. Missed. Nearly fell.
Lucian choked on his coffee, laughing. “Wow. I almost feel bad for him.”
“I don’t.”
“That was sarcasm, Dante.”
“I still don’t.”
Brantley kept flailing his way across the sidewalk, dropping a box, scrambling to pick it up, yelling about conspiracies and corruption and “fat ungrateful interns who should be grateful I gave them work.”
My jaw clenched.
Lucian saw the twitch in my temple. “Careful. You’re heating up.”
I didn’t look away from Brantley. “He deserves worse.”
“I agree, but maybe not in front of twelve witnesses and a Ring camera.”
Brantley finally reached his car. Fumbled with his keys. Screamed something about suing the entire corporate chain. Claimed to have political connections. Threatened to “burn this place to the ground.”
He sped off, tires screeching.
Lucian watched him disappear down the road. “Well, that’s one problem handled.”
“No,” I said quietly. “That’s the smallest problem.”
Lucian’s smirk faded. “Because the woman in the photos is who I think she is.”
“Yes.”
“You going to say it out loud?”
I exhaled slowly, eyes still fixed on the spot where Brantley had disappeared.
“Renee,” I said. “Kael’s consort.”
Lucian swore under his breath. “And she’s tied to Seraphine’s missing women.”
I nodded.
“And you didn’t tell Seraphine.”
“No.”
“Because?”
“She’s too innocent.”
Too soft.
Too human—well, mostly.
And I wasn’t going to drag her into this war until I understood why Kael’s woman was hunting in my territory.
Lucian cocked his head. “Innocent, huh? Cute.”
I shot him a glare.
“What?” he laughed. “You’re acting like a man who wants to wrap her in bubble wrap and hide her in your penthouse.”
“She doesn’t need protection,” I said. “She needs time.”
“Time for what?”
I hesitated.
The truth burned in my throat hotter than any dragonfire.
But I said it anyway.
“I’m surprised you haven’t felt it yet,” I said.
Lucian blinked. “Felt what?”
“Seraphine,” I said slowly, “is dragonborn.”
Lucian choked. Actually choked. “I’m sorry—what?”
“You heard me.”
“Dante— I scanned her background. There’s nothing. No signs. No ancestral flags. No energy spikes. Nothing.”
“She’s dormant,” I said. “But she’s dragonborn.”
Lucian stared at me like I’d announced I was pregnant. “Explain. Right now.”
I dragged a hand through my hair.
“Last night,” I said, “in the bathroom—when I held her…”
Lucian leaned forward, captivated. “Yes?”
“My body was burning.”
Lucian nodded. “It usually does when you’re furious. Or when you’re five seconds away from killing someone.”
“You misunderstand,” I said. “My body was burning at full heat.”
Lucian’s face paled.
“Full heat” wasn’t normal anger.
Full heat was dragon-rage.
The kind that melts steel.
The kind that can kill a human by touch.
“I should have burned her,” I said, voice low. “Anyone else would’ve blistered. Or screamed. Or passed out.”
Lucian whispered, “Like that one guy at the docks that one time—”
“Don’t.”
He smirked. “What? I’m pretty sure his eyebrows are still missing.”
“Lucian.”
He held up his hands. “Fine. Serious now. So… she didn’t react?”
“No,” I said. “Not even a flinch.”
“So she’s immune to dragonfire.”
“Yes.”
“Which means she’s dragonborn.”
“Yes.”
Lucian let out a long, slow breath.
“Well,” he said, “that explains why you’re acting like someone stole your favorite toy.”
I glared.
He waved a hand dismissively. “Relax. I’m not judging. Actually—no, I am judging. You’re feral about her.”
I didn’t disagree.
Lucian leaned his elbows on the hood of the car. “So… what’s the plan, Fire King?”
I watched the empty street, feeling the heat simmer beneath my skin.
“Kael knows something,” I said. “And Renee is involved. And I’m going to figure out why he’s taking women from my territory.”
Lucian hummed. “You think Seraphine’s connected to this?”
“She’s connected to something,” I said. “And if Kael is targeting dragonborn bloodlines…”
Lucian stiffened. “Then she’s in danger.”
“Yes.”
A beat of silence.
“You’re going to tell her eventually, right?”
“When she’s ready.”
“And when’s that?”
“When I say so.”
Lucian laughed. “Classic Dante. Dictator of Feelings.”
I ignored him.
“Lucian.”
“Yes?”
“Run a deeper search on Renee. And cross-check her movements with Kael’s last three months. He’s hiding something.”
“I already started.”
“And Lucian—”
“Yeah?”
“Don’t touch Seraphine’s name in the database. Not yet. If Kael or Vaelen scans the grid, I don’t want them noticing any interest.”
He nodded. “Protecting her digital footprint. Got it.”
I pulled my gaze from the building at last.
Brantley was gone.
Seraphine was safe.
For now.
Lucian sipped the rest of his coffee. “So… you going to finally tell her she’s dragonborn?”
I smirked. “Not today.”
“Why not?”
“Because,” I said as I climbed into the car, “I enjoy watching her cluelessly threaten dragons.”
Lucian snorted. “You’re sick.”
“Probably.”
He slid into the passenger seat. “But seriously… this girl? She’s going to ruin you.”
“She’s going to change everything.”
Lucian looked at me sharply. “You mean that.”
“Yes.”
He leaned back, long whistle escaping. “Damn. The Fire King has fallen.”
I didn’t deny it.
Instead, I checked my phone.
No messages from her.
Yet.
But she would come to me.
She always would.
And when Kael finally made his move?
I’d burn the whole city before I let him touch her.