Hot Blooded (31 page)

Ryder hooked up her camera to the laptop and began to scroll through the pictures. “There are pictures of Dreagan from the skies. You can even get a glimpse of Laith in dragon form.”

Iona's stomach fell to her feet. How was she ever going to convince them she hadn't taken the pictures now? And how were the pictures taken if she wasn't the one snapping the button?

“They're fuzzy,” Gwynn pointed out.

Evie tilted her head. “And not level.”

Ryder leaned back and looked at Iona. “No' the types of pictures Iona takes.”

She held her breath as Con leaned over Ryder to look closer at the pictures. He finally straightened and sighed. “Nay. Those were no' taken by Iona.”

Her knees grew so weak from relief that she almost crumpled to the floor. She wanted to celebrate, but the crisis was far from over. Though things surely couldn't get any worse.

Ryder continued to scroll through the pictures. He let out a curse that had every eye turning to him. “There's a shot of the doorway.”

The doorway Iona was supposed to protect.

The doorway that was to remain secret.

The doorway that was an unrestricted way onto Dreagan.

Things had gotten infinitely worse.

 

CHAPTER
THIRTY-FIVE

Laith couldn't stop staring at the picture of the hidden doorway. It wasn't a particularly clear snap of the spot, but there was no denying it was atop the waterfall. Suddenly the picture disappeared, as did the others Ryder had downloaded. Laith could only watch as Ryder, Gwynn, and Evie frantically punched the keyboard to halt whatever was happening.

Laith glanced at Iona to see her face go pale. At least they knew she wasn't the one taking the photos. He hadn't doubted her, but Con certainly had.

“Fuck!” Ryder shouted and slammed his hands on the table, rattling the computers. He shoved his chair back and raked a hand through his short blond hair as he stood and paced.

Con's voice was calm, belying the fury shining through his black gaze, as he asked, “What happened?”

“Someone erased the pictures,” Gwynn said, her head shaking as she stared at the blank screen.

Evie was still rapidly entering code. Her fingers moved so quickly that it was difficult to tell what she was typing. On the screen it looked like gibberish to Laith. Apparently it was something brilliant because Ryder stopped pacing and stood behind her chair. Both Gwynn and Ryder were staring at Evie's computer screen raptly.

Evie punched the enter key hard and sat back with a smile. “I couldn't stop them from taking the pictures, but I was able to put in a virus on the tail end of the last picture that will track where the photos are being uploaded next.”

“Quick thinking,” Ryder told Evie with a grin.

They all watched as the screen on Evie's computer flashed and pulled up a map of the world in black. A bright green line appeared in Scotland and then zigzagged at a rapid rate all over the world countless times.

“Well, that didna get us much,” Warrick said.

Gwynn made a sound at the back of her throat. “Whoever this guy is, he's damn good. He's making it very difficult to track him. Nigh impossible for some people.”

“But not us,” Evie said as she flexed her fingers. “Ready?”

Ryder returned to his chair and pulled up another screen. “Count me in.”

Laith didn't break their concentration to ask what they were doing as the three began typing. To his surprise, Iona came to stand beside him. She held out a mug of coffee to him. He'd rather have a bottle of whisky, but the coffee would do for the time being. Laith wrapped his arm around Iona's shoulders after he took the coffee. As she laid her head on his shoulder, he saw Con look at them out of the corner of his eye.

“I almost had them,” Gwynn said with a loud sigh. She banged her hands on the keyboard in frustration.

Evie stopped typing as well. “My virus won't be detected, but it could continue to bounce off servers for days.”

“Until then, we have something else to look at,” Ryder said as he reached for the camera.

Laith felt Iona stiffen and decided to take her outside so she couldn't see them tampering with the camera. She didn't fight him when he walked her out the back door and sat her in one of the chairs.

“The past few days have been … indescribable.” She wrapped her hands around her mug of coffee and looked into the distance. “I feel as if everything is out of my control.”

“It is,” Con said as he walked out onto the deck and closed the door behind him. “That's how most feel at any given time. I hope you doona think too badly of me for what I said earlier.”

It wasn't an apology. Laith couldn't remember Con ever apologizing for anything, but it was the closest he had ever come.

Iona nudged the chair next to her with her foot and motioned to it with her hand. “Of course not. The weight of all of this must rest heavily upon you.”

“It does,” Con said as he sat. “It does on all the Kings' shoulders.”

Laith remained by Iona's chair, his hand on her shoulder with her hair tickling the back of his hand. “I can no' help but feel that all of this was orchestrated.”

“Obviously,” Con said as he laced his fingers over his bare stomach.

Laith shook his head. “Nay. I mean from the time Iona got the job with the Commune to now.”

“That means my bosses are part of this,” Iona said, disbelief deepening her words. She set her mug on the table and looked up at Laith. “You asked about my bosses because you were suspicious. I should've been as well.”

Con turned his head to Iona. “You had no reason to. They took advantage of you, but now we need to know everything you know. We need every contact you have, every e-mail.”

“You'll have it. I don't like being used.”

Laith fisted his other hand. “I doona take kindly to it either. They killed John. Who's to say they willna do the same to Iona now that they have the pictures and know where the doorway is located?”

Iona hated the anxiety that statement caused her. She wasn't alone anymore, though. There was Hayden and Isla and the rest of the Warriors and Druids.

Then there was Laith.

She couldn't begin to describe how it felt to have him near, to know that he would look out for her. Iona prided herself on being self-sufficient and capable of handling any situation, but nothing could have prepared her for magic, dragons, and immortality.

There was a war waging around Iona that was just getting started, but there was nothing in her years of experience that she could pull from to handle what she was experiencing and feeling. All she could do was cling to the ones who offered her safety. Namely, Laith.

“What would happen if there wasn't an heir to take over this land?” Iona asked.

A vein in Con's temple throbbed. “It would go to someone else, probably one of our enemies.”

Iona reached up and covered Laith's hand that rested on her shoulder. “Then I guess it's a good thing I texted my attorney earlier to have Hayden named as my heir in case something happened to me. It should've been his anyway, right?”

“Aye, it was meant to be his,” Con said with a half-smile.

Laith squeezed her shoulder. “That was clever of you.”

“I'm a clever woman,” she said with a smile as she looked up into Laith's gunmetal eyes.

How she loved the way his dark blond hair fell across his forehead. His locks were windblown, wild. Much like she felt. Perhaps it had something to do with her ride upon the back of a Dragon King. Whatever it was, Iona could feel that something was different about her.

Her heart accelerated when Laith's gaze lowered to her mouth and his fingers tightened slightly at her neck. Her lips parted as she hungered for his kiss. Just before Laith bent to kiss her, Con rose to his feet. Iona ducked her head, embarrassed that she had forgotten Con was even there. That's what Laith did to her. He made her disregard everyone and everything.

“Y'all are going to want to see this,” Gwynn said after she threw open the back door.

Iona jumped up, her hand entwined with Laith's, and followed Con inside. She moaned in despair when she saw her beloved camera in pieces on the table.

“I can put it back together,” Ryder assured her.

Laith winked at her. “I promised her a new one anyway.”

“What did you find?” Con asked.

Ryder smoothed a hand over his mouth. “A new camera might be the best thing. What I found isna good. It seems someone attached a device that allows them to no' only upload any and all of Iona's pictures of their choosing, but to operate the camera themselves.”

“That can't be right,” Iona said in bewilderment. “I'd have known. I mean, that technology isn't even feasible.”

Ryder held up the microchip as proof. “It's no' just feasible, lass, but workable.”

“That's not all,” Evie said, her expression as grim as her voice. “I dug through the software on the camera, and the chip was implanted when the camera was manufactured. It received an update once a year until three weeks ago when the software was upgraded twice in a fortnight.”

Iona was thankful she had ahold of Laith. Otherwise she wasn't sure she could have remained standing. Was there any part of her life that hadn't been tampered with? “Right before my father was killed. The Commune gave me the camera, and that means … the Commune murdered him.”

“We'll get revenge,” Laith promised.

The room began to spin. She held his hand tighter, but still it didn't calm her racing heart. But Iona knew what would. She looked up into his eyes.

Laith was a rock, solid and sturdy. He gave her security and shelter in the tempest that continued to erupt around her. She couldn't believe that fate had delivered him in the worst sort of circumstances, but she was never more grateful than in that moment.

Gwynn lifted her hand to get everyone's attention. “Iona, I'm sorry, but I searched your laptop. I had a notion there might be something on it, and I was right.”

“What now?” Iona asked no one in particular and took a deep breath as she looked to Gwynn.

Gwynn shot her a remorseful look. “There is spyware on your computer. I've dismantled it, but I don't know how long it'll take them to realize that.”

“What did they see?” Warrick asked worriedly.

Gwynn shrugged helplessly. “Everything. They read every e-mail, saw every site she visited on the Internet.”

“That's my private computer,” Iona said weakly. “How did they get to it?”

With a stroke of a key, Gwynn pulled up the virus. “It was attached to every e-mail coming from the Commune's assistant. So if you read e-mails on your phone or another computer, they would have access.”

“My mobile,” Iona said and rushed to her purse. She pulled it from her purse, but it was yanked out of her hands by Laith who tossed it to the floor and stomped on it.

He shot her a crooked smile. “I owe you a new mobile as well.”

Iona looked around the room. “Was nothing of my life private? Did they have their fingers in everything?”

Warrick crossed his arms over his chest and frowned. “It appears so.”

Con walked to the back of the couch and braced his hands on it. “What was on your mobile, Iona?”

“Contacts, text and phone messages.”

“Anything important?” Laith asked.

She started to shake her head, then stopped. “I texted Thomas MacBane the addendum to my will.”

“I'm on it,” Warrick said as he hurried out of the house.

Iona pulled out a chair at the table and sank into it. “This is a nightmare. I thought I had all this freedom to do whatever I wanted while having amazing assignments and getting paid an obscene amount of money to do what I love. I'd have taken the pictures whether I was paid or not.”

“You know the truth now.” Laith jerked his chin to the camera and computer. “Are you sure they can no' hear or see us?”

Ryder waved his hands over the parts. “I've taken care of the camera, and you smashed the mobile.”

“The spyware and camera have been properly disabled on the laptop,” Gwynn said.

Evie nodded. “Twice over.”

“Then for the time being Iona is free of their watch,” Laith said.

Con raised a blond brow. “Your point?”

“Now's the perfect time to gather all the intel on the Commune that she has.”

Iona shook off her woe-is-me attitude and scooted a chair closer to Gwynn as she sat down. “Go into my e-mail. Everything will be in a file labeled Commune. Inside that file are separate files for each assignment.”

A minute later and Gwynn let out a soft whistle. “There are hundreds of e-mails.”

“I keep everything,” Iona replied with a scrunch of her face.

Evie leaned over Gwynn's other side to look. “I'll connect the two computers and start looking through the e-mails with you.”

Iona's heart pounded in her ears like a drum. Her life was being dismantled one piece at a time. What was she going to be when it was all said and done?

Laith squatted beside her and cupped her face in his hands. “Look at me. Look into my eyes. What do you see?”

“You,” she said. “I see you.”

“Remember that, Iona Campbell,” he whispered before he kissed her.

 

CHAPTER
THIRTY-SIX

Fury raged through him. The Dragon Kings had meddled again, but it didn't matter. He had what he needed. The infamous doorway onto Dreagan land.

It had been a myth whispered about in dark corners, though none of those doing the whispering had any notion of what they spoke about.

But he did.

The moment mutterings reached him about a place where no magic could touch, he knew.

He looked at his chessboard and moved his rook sideways four spaces. His pieces were continuing to move, even as the Dragon Kings thought they were gaining an advantage.