Noah cracked open his eyes and searched for the owners of the auras. Intense colors usually showed someone with a purpose. The first belonged to a young woman. Her eyes were locked on a young man. It was clear she was trying to work up the courage to talk to him. That, he could ignore. The second was from a pair of men deep in what seemed like a passionate conversation. It was probably some business deal going down, but there was no harm in checking.
Glancing around, he found what he was looking for—an Eternity agent watching him. This was a very common thing at these parties. It was, after all, his job to search for threats. He almost never intervened in them, however. Nodding to the security guard, he glanced at the men in question. It wasn’t hard to point out the pair. The men’s passionate conversation was growing rather heated. The agent nodded and went off to defuse the situation before it exploded.
Drawing in a soothing breath, Noah closed his eyes and searched the room again. He couldn’t afford to miss anything important. A soft aura of green washed up along his side, drawing his attention. Opening his eyes, Noah looked at the man who had settled against the column next to him. A smile curled the corner of Noah’s mouth as he recognized the man. “Hello, Laurence.”
“Finding anything interesting?” Laurence asked as he looked down into his glass of sparkling apple juice.
Noah straightened up as a full smile graced his lips. Laurence was Noah’s partner in crime. Daniel usually always paired them together when they were sent out on missions. Laurence was taller than Noah by nearly a full head, and that was saying something since Noah was every bit of six feet tall. Laurence was also built like a tree—stout and round, but without an ounce of fat on him. Noah, on the other hand, was long and lean with broad shoulders. During their very first mission together, they had come to an agreement. Noah would stay out of the actual action and chuck spells from the sidelines while Laurence pummeled the crap out of whatever Noah took down. It was an arrangement that had worked well for both of them over the years.
“Nothing too interesting.”
Laurence made a disappointed noise in his throat. “Well, you had better not stand here for too much longer. You looked like you were ready to fall asleep.” There was a touch of humor in the warning. “You don’t want that getting back to the boss.”
Noah chuckled and stood up fully. “You’re right.” He released the spell and blinked the last traces of it away. “Heaven forbid Daniel think I was napping on the job.” Amusement colored his words.
One unlucky soul had been caught falling asleep at an event like this before, and the poor man was still out guarding an empty flagpole. And would be for the foreseeable future.
“Would you like to walk?”
Laurence laughed and stood up. “Gladly.” The pair turned and made their way through the guests. “It looks like it’s going to be a nice, quiet party.” He sighed in disappointment.
“Looks like it,” Noah said with a chuckle. Laurence was a good man, but he liked action. His dragon was huge and liked to be right in the middle of any fight he could find. That trait carried over into his human form.
“Oh well.” Laurence let out a snicker. “At least the king will have a nice, quiet birthday. Unlike the last event.”
A grimace stole across Noah’s face. That had been a total fiasco. Somehow, someone had gotten in to Baron Estivis’s ball and kidnapped the king’s sister right under all of their noses. Thankfully, Noah had been off that day. Those poor men had been sent back to basic training. And the instructors were not being easy on them.
Magic tingled up Noah’s spine, and he stopped in his tracks. Something powerful had just crossed the barrier spell.
Noticing Noah’s sudden attention shift, Laurence stopped and looked around. “Something’s up?”
“Maybe.” Noah turned and made his way across the room to the doorway. He wasn’t sure where the other mages were, but something powerful was coming.
“Finally.” Laurence grinned as he set his drink down on one of the waiters’ trays as they passed. “So what is it?” The man cracked his knuckles.
“Not sure,” Noah said as he pushed his awareness out, feeling for the power. There was a low hum of energy around him, but there was definitely something outside.
He and Laurence had just made it to the foyer when the double doors opened and a woman stepped in. She was the most gorgeous creature Noah had ever seen. Long locks of raven-black hair spilled over her shoulders and fluttered down over her ample chest. Though there was plenty of material in the black satin dress she wore, it was cut so it left nothing to the imagination, hugging her body in a way that made Noah’s fingers twitch to touch it. The long skirt of the dress pooled on the floor around her, but there was a split in it that went clear to her hip. Her dark eyes landed on the pair of men and stuck there. The sway in her walk sent unexpected shivers of desire through Noah. He shook his head, trying to clear the sudden array of X-rated images that swarmed his brain.
A hand came down on Noah’s shoulder, stopping him in his tracks.
“Get her out of here,” Laurence hissed.
Noah looked up at his companion. “Why?” he asked, unsure what to do. He had never known Laurence to balk at any task, but here he was, scared by a woman. And the look in his wide eyes was definitely fright.
“That’s Raven Nightingale,” Laurence whispered. His eyes were trained on the approaching woman.
Noah nodded and looked back at Raven. The name was familiar to him. She was a powerful dragon mage. She was also one of the oldest dragons known to exist. But that was no reason to fear her. Noah had always heard she was a very pleasant person. The hand on his shoulder tightened to a painful degree.
“She’s fertile.”
Panic rose in Noah. Any female dragon in their fertile period could cause problems. An old dragon was even worse. When they hit their fertile period, they could drive an entire room full of male dragons into a brooding. And here they were—an old, fertile female dragon in a room full of males. No wonder Laurence was freaking out.
“Yes,” Noah said and stepped out from under the hand on his shoulder. He needed to stop her before she got into that room, and Laurence was not going to be of any help.
“At any cost!” Laurence hissed.
Noah didn’t see his friend turn and race off, but there was no doubt that the man was on his way to find Daniel. Drawing himself to his full height, Noah pulled on a friendly smile and walked up to meet Raven. He could feel her eyes burning into him as he approached. “Good evening, my lady,” he said as he barred her path into the gala.
She stopped in front of him. Her eyes traced his frame. “Are you Eternity?” She cocked her head, considering him.
“Yes.” There was no reason for him to hide his identity from her.
Raven drew in a long breath, smelling the air. “Are you human?”
“Yes.”
There was a long pause as she considered him. “Are you… single?”
Thrown by the question, Noah stared at her for a second before his brain kicked into gear. “Yes?” he said, confused. Why does she want to know if I’m single?
She paused for a moment longer before making some decision. “You’ll do.” Reaching out, she grabbed Noah by the belt at the front of his pants and started pulling him towards the door.