His smile flashed the twin dimples she used to love. “Here and now.” One hand on the wall flexed impressive muscles as he struggled to stand.
Janie took a step back. Huge. He’d gotten so big. Why couldn’t she have gotten taller, darn it? “Did you stop visiting me because of our age difference?” Only way to get the truth was to ask the question.
He leaned against the rock, head back, gaze on her under half-closed lids. “No.”
“Then why?” She’d needed him. No matter how old he was.
“Doesn’t matter. We can’t be friends who jump into each other’s dreams. It isn’t safe.”
That wasn’t an explanation. Who the heck was he? “Are you part shifter?” What kind of animal lurked inside her old friend?
“Forget about me, Janie. I’m on the front line, and no way am I going to see my next birthday. You’re almost grown up—face reality.”
The condescension in the “almost grown up” statement had her gritting her teeth. “Didn’t figure you for such a quitter, Zane.” Instant satisfaction welled up in her as his eyes sparked fire. “Apparently you just got your butt kicked. Need some help from the vampires?”
His fangs flashed. “I am a vampire.”
Tingles rippled through her skin. “You’re not with the Realm.”
The deadly points retracted. “Not all vampires are with the Realm.”
A true statement, to be sure. But there was something more. “What else, Zane?”
He lowered his chin while his shoulders went back. “You made my childhood bearable, Janie, and I thank you. But this is the last time we’re ever going to talk.”
For just a moment, she saw the boy she’d loved. Her only friend for those scary years when she’d first learned of the Kurjans. “You need me more than I need you.” The statement surprised her, but instinct had her whispering the truth.
His smile brought back more good times. “Take care of yourself, Belle.”
With a sweep of his arm, the dream disappeared.
She awoke, sitting up in bed, her hand going to the necklace. Never talk again? That was what he thought. Throwing on sweats, she tied her hair in a band and ran through the underground fortress to Dage’s control room.
Knocking, she waited for the door to smoothly slide open. Memories assailed her—she’d always visited her uncle in underground rooms like this, and he’d always let her in. Not once had he denied her entrance to a room most of the world didn’t know existed.
Stepping lightly, she maneuvered around a counter of computers that often had several people typing away. Today, it was empty. She continued on to where her uncle sat in his leather chair, sketching in a notebook. His thick black hair was tied at his nape and he wore dark sparring clothes. Many people feared the king of the vampires, yet the massive vampire had always been her soft spot to land. A kindred spirit. “Uncle Dage?”
He turned his head, a forced smile on his face. She’d known him almost her entire life, and she knew his real smile. He’d often gifted her with it. “Have a vision, sweetheart?”
“No. The universe is too unsettled for visions.” Such odd words to string together and ones she wouldn’t share with many people. But Dage understood. She peered at a partially sketched drawing of Aunt Emma working in the lab. “Pretty.”
“Yes. Very pretty.” Dage glanced at the paper and sighed. “I just came from a meeting aboveground and thought I’d get some perspective down here.”
“By drawing Emma’s face?” Janie grinned.
Dage exhaled. “Old habits die hard. I’ve spent three centuries drawing her face, and I found the exercise relaxes me. Even now.”
Sweet, and it made sense. Janie cleared her throat. “I’ve been trying real hard to see what happens with Jordan, but nothing is clear.”
“I’m with you. I’ve got nothing.” Dage leaned to the side and lifted a thick leather chair as if furniture weighed nothing, setting it next to his. “What’s going on?”
She exhaled softly, putting on her most beguiling expression. Being the only human toddler around a bunch of dangerous vampires, she’d quickly learned how to charm them. “It’s time you started trusting me, Uncle Dage.”
His dimples flashed. Good. His real smile. “I do trust you. Stop manipulating me.”
She rolled her eyes and gave a small laugh. “Okay. For years you’ve kept the truth about Zane away from me, and I know you checked him out. Tell me the truth.”
The king turned his head to the side, pinning her with a shrewd gaze.
She held it, not turning away. Few people existed who could meet the king in a staring contest. Finally, Janie lifted an eyebrow in a show of boredom.
Dage threw back his head and laughed, deep and hard. “I give up.” Reaching for a keyboard, he punched in keys and a screen appeared in the quartz wall. Two seconds later, twelve-year-old Zane filled the space.
Janie gasped. Warmth and an odd hurt centered in her chest. “Zane.” He smiled into the shot, green eyes light, hair dark and long. Young and innocent, and seemingly happy. Before the sad and angry glint entered his eyes.
“Zane Kyllwood.” Dage clicked a few more keys and an immense man with Zane’s eyes came up on the screen. “Here’s his father, Dane.”
Zane looked just like his daddy from the dark hair to the sharp jaw and large frame. They both had tough faces and kind eyes. “Where is he?”
Dage exhaled. “Dane led a faction of vampires in eastern Australia that didn’t belong to the Realm. All former soldiers, all former assassins, they created a coalition and lived off the grid, not giving us any trouble, but protecting their own.” Another click of the keys and a smoldering, demolished town came into view. “They were attacked by either Kurjans, rogue shifters, or demons about ten years ago, and I believed no one survived.”
“Zane survived. I told you that when he came to me ten years ago and said he was moving to live with his mother’s people.”
“I know, and I’ve searched high and wide for him. But whoever his mother is, there’s no trace of her.”
“I wonder if he’s a shifter.” Janie pursed her lips. “I’ve always known he was more than pure vampire.”
Dage nodded. “His father was a vampire with a vampire father and shifter mother—wolf shifter. I traced the lineage back and he’s related to feline and multi shifters as well—on his paternal grandmother’s side. Of course, there are vampires all the way back on his father’s side.”
It was so weird that vampires only made male babies, no matter who they mated with. “So maybe his mama is a shifter and they’re living with a shifter clan off the grid.” Fate whispered in Janie’s ear that she needed to find her old friend and now. “I saw him in a dream this morning. He was wounded in battle, so you need to find information on all battles occurring yesterday.”
Dage nodded. “I’ll try. But after ten years of keeping my ear to the ground regarding your dream friend, I’ve not once found his mother or her people. Don’t hold your breath, little one.”
“I won’t.” She’d find Zane through dreams, if necessary. “You’re dressed for sparring, Uncle Dage.”
Her uncle nodded, a hard light cutting through his eyes. “Yes. We’re training with Jordan today—wish me luck.”
Something told her Jordan would need the luck.