Page 7 of Keeper of All

Chapter Three

Ekon

“Why can’t I go?” Todd demanded, hands going to slim hips, his foot tapping impatiently on the carpet as he stared up at one of his mates, Lucas. He was more opinionated than Kijina, who sat on one of the many sofas with the four girls painting his toes and fingernails in glittery pink.

“We can’t all go”—Lucas held up his hand when Todd’s lips parted, his expression suggesting he was about to argue—“and don’t say your kraken doesn’t need us to protect it. My love, our dragons won’t tolerate the distance. Be reasonable. Allow Ekon to collect the data you want. He can take one of those new scanners you’ve made.” His tone turned cajoling, and Ekon could see Todd wavering. There’d been a lot of discussion about the records between Todd and his mates. Todd was keen to bring them all to the house, just his mates thought that would be asking for trouble, so they were compromising—kind of. Ekon was the answer when he wanted to go for his own personal reasons.

“The girls would miss you terribly, I would, and so will Lucas,” murmured Kijina softly, giving Todd a beguiling smile that made Ekon even more conscious of his single, unmated status.

The sound of teeth grinding together came with a head bob before Todd swung to look at Ekon. “Is that alright with you?”

Ekon hid his thoughts and inclined his head in agreement. “I’ll do whatever you need me to. I don’t have a problem with searching for what you need.” How long that would take was anyone’s guess. Ekon pinched the bridge of his nose recalling exactly had big the bunker was. “You could give me the years of birth, and that could cut down the time I’ll need to search. If memory serves me right, they were dated files. Did you figure out if the dates were of birth or when the species was discovered?”

“Good idea, I can send you a message with that info. And the information unfortunately wasn’t clear on what method they were using either with the numbered coding. With our birth dates, it might unlock that answer.” Todd looked thoughtful as he pinched his lower lip. He cast a belligerent glare at his mates and scowled. “It would be so much better if I was there too!”

Ekon bit the inside of his cheek at the two unrepentant dragons watching their mate.

“Ekon is more than capable of finding what you need,” Lucas pointed out from the seat he’d taken near Kijina, arm slung over the back of the sofa, fingers brushing Kijina’s shoulder.

Todd threw up his hands and stomped to the door, glancing back over his shoulder at Ekon. “Then I want as many files scanned as possible!”

Ekon would do his best and agreed.

“Come on, I’ll show you what I’ve been working on.”

Quickly following Todd, dragon laughter floated out the door behind him.

Todd just shook his head, heading up the stairs with Ekon close behind him moving silently.

In Todd’s workroom, Ekon once more put his hands in his pockets recalling how Todd didn’t like folks touching.

Todd went to a large stack of shelves filled with gadgets that Ekon was clueless over their use. “This little beauty is a handheld scanner and uploads anything you scan it over in a split second directly into my supercomputer,” Todd explained, heading over to the other side of the room where he had several computer towers, some with wires hanging out as if not finished. “See… as soon as I run it over a piece of paper it uploads straight to my computer.”

He fiddled with his keyboard, and the vast wall-mounted monitor, as big as any flat screen TV that Ekon had seen in a hotel, flicked to life. There was the information off the paper.

“Fuck, that is fast. No delay at all.” He met Todd’s grin with one of his own. “How will that work in the bunker? Place, as you found, has magic protecting and blocks the satellites from finding it. Could it block the signal from your scanner. I’m assuming it needs Wi-Fi to get it to work?”

Todd pushed up his glasses with his index finger after the exuberant head shake. “Been working with the signature magic on the files themselves. My kraken had some ideas about using its frequency to see if it would allow me to piggyback mine off it.”

“Holy fuck, you’re magically sending the images to your computer!” he exclaimed in a squeaky voice that was better suited to a pig.

“Sort of, I’m combining my magic signature with that of the magical being who is protecting the bunker. It’s potent stuff.”

“Magical being? How do you know that?” Ekon questioned, intrigued.

“Because what’s on the files is strong, and that’s from the briefest of touches. It’s most certainly a magical being, fae even.” Todd’s excitement was palpable as he offered the scanner and a file to Ekon.

For a reason he couldn’t explain, Ekon was reluctant to touch the file. So he went to the table holding the computer, asking, “How many files do you want me to scan?”

Ekon had up to now pretended he hadn’t gotten deflated since discovering that Todd didn’t have his file. He did his best to not get worked up about why his file wasn’t with the other assassins he was caged with. As they knew he had already decided to return to the bunker, helping Todd was no hardship. Even if it meant scanning thousands of documents.

Todd bore a sheepish grin as he shrugged. “As many as you can do without your arm hurting with a repetitive strain injury.”

Chuckling at the absurdity of such a thing, Ekon made no promises. “I’ll see how it goes.” He hadn’t forgotten how long the corridor was or how many paper files were stored in that place. Or how damp and dank the place was. He’d gotten a little spoiled over the last few years staying in swanky hotels with room service.

Todd clapped him on the shoulder. “Great, when are you planning to go?”

He’d been back for three days, and neither Todd nor Marvin were of any real help which meant staying longer with how he felt wasn’t an option. “If the plane is available, then I’ll leave today.”