“Yeah.”
“Well, he wasn’t the only person I met. Before I went to Africa, I stopped at the home of a warlock who’d managed to remain hidden from the Custodians for years, a lot like Kai did. He made this for me.”
I wrinkled my nose, looking up at Kingston. “How did you find him?”
“Money,” he said simply.
Yeah, that sounds about right. With the right amount of money, it seemed like almost nothing was impossible.
“So…” I cocked my head at him, handing him back the phone. It seemed to take him a lot of restraint to resist snatching it from my grip. “Let me get this straight. You got turned into a freaking dragon shifter, and the first thing you did, even before visiting a shaman to try to reverse it, was have someone make you a magical cell phone. Why?”
He met my gaze, determination and a hint of deep sadness reflecting in his dark green eyes.
“My family’s business was my whole life, Piper. I knew that after what had happened to me, my looking around in strange places trying to get myself turned back could draw unwanted attention, and that I might end up somewhere—unpleasant. I had this made so that I could maintain my position in my family’s company no matter what.” He sighed. “That has turned out to be less successful than I’d hoped, although I’ve at least been able to maintain some connection to the business back home. But… it’s possible it could have other uses as well.”
I stared at him, finally grasping what he was getting at. Why he’d chosen to show me his most coveted piece of treasure.
“This isn’t just a lifeline for you to your business,” I said, my voice hardly more than a whisper. “This could be our key to getting home.”
Chapter Eleven
I sent out a beacon as Kingston and I dressed, a subtle sort of “come hither” to the rest of my men. I didn’t want to make it too strong. If I sent out a full-blast distress signal, they’d come running so fast I probably wouldn’t even have my shirt on yet when they arrived.
And having them meet me in Kingston’s tiny room would be awkward, especially since the whole room screamed of what’d just happened in here. Not that I was shy about having sex, and not that I thought any of them would be shocked. But it was the first time the aristocratic, proud man and I had crossed this line—just the two of us coming together, sealing our bond one-on-one—and I wanted to preserve the memory of this moment.
I made the vibe stronger as Kingston and I made our way to our little secret perch over the library.
We met Xero and Jayce in the hall outside the library. They were talking and laughing, and Jayce lit up when he saw us coming.
“Piper! Oh, God, you should have seen it. I’m sitting there with my roommate—you remember Giorgio, right? Anyway, we’re just sitting there talking when I get slammed with this feeling like I have to go meet you, so I get up to leave, and he’s all like, ‘where are you going?’ and I’m like, ‘my girl needs me.’ He’s all, ‘how do you know?’ and I’m like, ‘it’s my super power.’ He started yelling at me, but now he’s off researching hellhounds, so I guess that’s good?”
I shook my head and laughed. “Sorry. If it wasn’t important, I wouldn’t have called.”
“I’ve never been happier not to have a roommate,” Kingston said, wrinkling his nose.
“Same here, man.” Xero looked mildly horrified. “That’s too much.”
“That’s why I scared my roommate away.” Kai’s smug voice came from behind me.
I turned to face him, happy that he’d actually responded to the call I’d put out, but he shot me down with a look of warning.
Okay, still persona non grata with Kai. Fine.
“Come on.” I shook myself, wrenching my gaze away from the cranky vampire. “Kingston has something to show you guys.”
They all followed me into the library, and we made our way as quietly as possible to the corner of the stacks where the entrance to our private room was hidden. So far, nobody had seen us go up or come down from there except for Hannah, and I wanted to keep it that way.
But the universe apparently had other ideas, because Sonja and one of her friends—the little blonde one—were sitting on a couch in the isolated corner as we walked up.
Damn it. Really?
I paused, then turned around. There was another way to get to the secret room. We could go the long way—the route we’d taken after Sonja had trapped us behind the wall several weeks ago.
“Stop.” Her piercing voice ran
g out in the quiet library as she sprang to her feet. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?”
“Just over to Nunya,” I said innocently.