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***
He’d been right in thinking they’d be separated. The moment they stepped out of the guest room, they’d been taken down two different corridors, losing sight of each other within seconds. He didn’t even get to say goodbye to her.
This wasn’t goodbye.
He had to believe it wasn’t.
The one thing that was a blessing was that Nikolai had opted for—or been ordered to—take him into a waiting car rather than Anna. She shouldn’t have to be anywhere near the dickwad. Zeke was of a mind to headbutt the other dragon for good measure, damned be the consequences.
Nikolai held the car door open for him, expecting him to get inside first.
Zeke paused for a moment, searching the other’s face for a trace of any of the humanity that he had once seen on him. There was none. Zeke wasn’t entirely taken aback by it, he’d never felt like Nikolai was being completely earnest, or completely himself around him. But he hadn’t anticipated the complete lack of heart in the other, hadn’t sensed it, hadn’t ever suspected it.
They’d gotten along fine when they spent time together in their teens. Better than fine. Zeke had never felt used or as though they weren’t on the same level. Then again, he’d also been too happy to trust anyone who acted trustworthily. And Nikolai was clearly an expert at that, if he’d gotten Anna to ever say yes to dinner, much less proceed with establishing a relationship with him.
Zeke slid onto the leather tan seat of the Mercedes, Nikolai following soon after, pulling the door shut.
“Drive,” he said.
The driver complied.
There was a drawn-out silence, Zeke thinking it was probably for the best. Better to keep his mouth shut than go digging where Anna wasn’t ready for him to dig. It wouldn’t do any good, would it?
And still, biting his tongue didn’t quite work for him, and so he said, “I didn’t invite you, you know that, right?”
“Sure, I know that,” Nikolai said with a smile. “I must’ve been on some list somewhere?”
“Yeah, something like that,” Zeke said.
Silence again. Zeke had more thoughts to voice, but before he could Nikolai offered, “That was quite the show you put on last night.”
Zeke stared at Nikolai, at his rising eyebrows, his cocksure smile.
And then Zeke punched Nikolai in his ugly, smug face.
So hard it broke his upper lip, Nikolai crying out, hands going to the spot to immediately apply pressure. It wasn’t the first time he’d gotten punched. Good.
“What the hell?” Nikolai exclaimed. “Can’t you take a compliment?”
“Shut the fuck up,” Zeke growled, turning his eyes out the window, watching the world blur as it rushed by.
All he could think was that it should’ve been Anna who threw the punch.
He had a feeling she needed it even more than he had.
Nikolai did as asked and shut the fuck up for the remainder of the journey, bringing out a pristine white handkerchief and spotting it red with his blood. Zeke kept his smile down, but only barely.
Zeke knew where they were going.
To the place where they were meeting Pietr and Semyon. Once the convoy of vehicles were all lined up, they would proceed to the location that was playing host to the delivery of the by-now borderline mythical Incendiary.
It was all a bit of necessary theatre, Zeke knew, and yet he couldn’t keep his heart from picking up its pace once the car pulled into the enormous parking lot of the city’s power plant. The building loomed like a massive boulder in the morning mist, the parking lot full of cars at all hours. It was a perfect place for the convergence since any tailing cars would be easily spotted.
Nobody left their vehicles.
They had already touched base on how many vehicles would be included, along with their make and markings. Nothing would be left to chance.
It had better not be, Zeke thought.
