Sailing Deep (15 page)

              Reggie meant well, but Blake had no intention of avoiding Arulean’s mate. The opposite, in fact, he planned on spying on her.

Dylan came back late that night to find Blake sitting on the couch, an array of electrical equipment laid across the coffee table along with his laptop. “What’s this?” He asked, staring at the mess.

              Blake smiled up at him. “Hey, love.” He gestured for Dylan to join him on the couch. He did so without protest, sitting close enough that their thighs were pressed together. “How was patrol duty? Anything interesting?”

              “Nothing interesting.” Dylan leaned into him, wrapping his arms around Blake’s waist and resting his chin on his shoulder as Blake continued to mess with his equipment. He had an array of cameras and microphones, all small, discrete, and perfect for listening in on the Alpha and his mate. Blake was taking stock of what he had available. “Some of the paths we drafted haven’t been used in ages. It’ll take weeks before the paths are worn down enough to be easily passable. Anything interesting with your day?” He asked with an expectant tone. He knew without asking that something interesting had indeed happened.

              “I’ve already sent word to your team, or rather, I sent them a warning. This next full moon is going to be eventful.”

              That caught Dylan’s attention. “What did you find out?” His voice got the hard edge to it that Blake was starting to associate with business. It was his military voice, and it was cute. Like everything else about him.

              “Turns out,” He said casually as he worked on a small camera with an equally small screwdriver. “Our dear Alpha, Arulean Black, has a mate.”

              “A mate?” Dylan sounded just as surprised as he had felt.

              “Indeed. According to Reggie, she is an abrasive and strong-willed female dragon shifter by the name of Lyphnia Scarlet. As far as Reggie knows, they only get together four times a year, during the blood moon.”

              “Why didn’t you tell me?” Dylan accused.

              “Because I just found out. I hadn’t heard about it either. Apparently during the last blood moon, Arulean went to her pack. Which apparently resides somewhere in the frozen backcountry of Russia.” Blake paused his work to glance sideways at Dylan. “Don’t worry, love, I’m not keeping anything from you.” He kissed the man’s nose before going back to work, chuckling at his grunt of protest. “She’s coming here during the next full moon, and I think we should be prepared to gather some intel. I’m not sure yet if it’ll be worth our time, but if another dragon shifter is amassing a huge pack, we might need to know about it. Especially since Reggie assures me that she’s an ambitious, conniving, human-hating bitch. His words, not mine.”

              “That’s what I’d do.”

              “So would your superiors.” He chuckled. “They were quick to respond this time. We have orders to gather as much intel on this woman as possible, as well as her intentions.”

              “So the same thing we’re doing with Arulean.”

              “Yes, but I’m starting to believe that Arulean doesn’t pose a threat. Of course,” Blake continued quickly, cutting off Dylan’s protest. “I will continue to monitor him until we know for sure, but in my line of work, I’ve come to trust my gut more than what my bosses tell me. And my gut tells me that Arulean does not pose a threat to national security. Now this Lyphnia … well, we’ll see about that one.”

              “Hmm …” Dylan hummed. He was already deep in thought. Blake let him have a moment to digest everything before he continued.

              “There’s more.”

              Dylan lifted his head. “More?”

              “Lucy will by coming by tomorrow to get your measurements.”

              “Why?” He asked suspiciously.

              “For your tux.”

              “Blake,” Dylan said flatly.

              Blake turned his head to look at him, batting his eyes innocently, though his smile was anything but. “Yes, dear?”

              “Stop dancing around the subject.” Dylan glared at him.

              Blake chuckled before setting his work down and pulling his laptop toward him. “Fair enough. Arulean always throws a party for Lyphnia on the night before the full moon. She expects it, apparently. Don’t worry if you hadn’t heard anything about it. I hadn’t either. It’s supposedly just something people know about. Everyone takes it as an opportunity to dress up nicely, eat fancy food, and get drunk before shifting. And everyone likes to show their loyalties to Arulean to make him look worthy in front of his mate. She’s not very popular around here. As far as I can tell, they don’t even like saying her name. They just say ‘her.’ But it’s a fancy party, tuxes and gowns and the like. I’ve got you covered, so don’t worry about it.”

              He pulled up a blueprint of the castle. It was incredibly detailed. He had pulled it from the compound’s database.

              “You have blueprints?”

              “Of course.”

              “Why haven’t you sent them to us?” Dylan asked, accusing.

              “All in due time, my love. Now pay attention.” He zoomed in on the great hall. It was rarely used except for formal occasions. A large, spacious room with vaulted ceilings, a second story balcony lining one sid
e
with alcoves, and multiple doors leading out to the balcony and patio that lined the windowed side. “This is where the party will be. The dragon shifters like to mingle, or rather, Arulean likes to mingle and Lyphnia follows him. When they’re not mingling, however, they sit here.” He pointed to the dais at the opposite end of the room from the large double doors. “Reggie says there’s two thrones there. They’re mostly traditional, but Lyphnia insists on them being there. She’ll sit there for large portions of the night, and Arulean will stand nearby. I’m going to put a camera somewhere around here,” He pointed to the back wall. “I’m also going to put a camera here,” He zoomed out and zoomed in on another layer of the blueprints: Arulean’s study.

              He looked at Dylan in time to see his eyes widen. He watched him with amusement and satisfaction. “How … how are you going to pull that off?”

              Blake shrugged nonchalantly. “It’s my job. You,” He kissed the man’s lips. Dylan immediately relaxed, melting against him, much to Blake’s satisfaction. He broke the kiss and pressed their foreheads together. “Are the SEAL. I’m the mole. This is all part of my job.” He was genuinely pleased by Dylan’s look of impressed awe.

              “What about sound?” He asked suddenly. “How will we hear what they’re saying?”

              “That’s easy,” Blake grinned. “I’m going to bug their outfits.”

              Dylan gaped at him. “How …?”

              Blake gave him a wink before turning away. “You just let me worry about that. You just need to worry about looking handsome and being my arm candy the night of the party.”

The night of the party approached quicker than Blake would have liked, but he managed to get all his preparations in place.

              Working in surveillance had its perks. He picked out the cameras that viewed the great hall and spent several hours memorizing where they were pointed and the edges of their vision. There weren’t enough blind spots in the surveillance feed for him to place a camera where he wanted it. So while Reggie went to the bathroom, he made a show of rummaging through the papers on his desk. The show was for the camera in the surveillance room. While he did so, he carefully hit the buttons necessary to move one of the cameras in the great hall. When Reggie came back and settled back in his chair, he eyed the camera’s screen out of the corner of his eye, making sure it had moved far enough to the side to give him plenty of blind spots. It had. Smiling to himself, he went back to his game of Tetris.

              When he left the room late that night, he dragged Dylan along with him. Dylan as a Navy SEAL was also trained in stealth and surveillance. He had faith in the man. Plus, if they were spotted, Blake could use Dylan as an excuse. He could always play the lovers card and make apologies for sneaking around to have sex in various rooms of the castle. It was a better crime than setting up hidden cameras. 

              They managed to set up the camera without incident and leave without detection. Dylan was immensely curious and watched with critical eyes. Blake found it adorable and amusing. As they left, he made sure that to the surveillance cameras, they looked like nothing more than a couple that had gone for a late-night walk. To add to this charade, he paused in an empty hallway to push Dylan against the wall and kiss him breathless.

              Getting the cameras into Arulean’s rooms was a little harder, and required a bit more acting, but they managed to pull it off. Dylan was nervous for his part in it, but Blake assured him that all would go well. He just had to trust him. Blake made their excuse to enter Arulean’s study one night when he knew the man had no appointments. Blake knew this by hacking into the system to get a peek at his schedule. He made a big deal about wanting Arulean to finally meet Dylan. An excuse that was believable for anyone who knew him. Blake had made it part of his character at the Shadow Pack to be spontaneous and have little care for decorum and tactical manners. After all, he had barged in on the Alpha in order to get permission to free Dylan from the holding cells. Why shouldn’t he do the same to introduce them?

              Arulean wasn’t mad. If anything, the dragon shifter was amused. Blake prided himself on his ability to read people, and he could see the slight upturn at the corner of the man’s lips and the slight tilt of his head. His dark eyes glinted and crinkled at the edges with internal laughter. Blake made a show of introducing them, and Dylan was honest in his nervousness to meet the man. After all, they had gone to great lengths to keep him out of the dragon’s eyes, to better keep him anonymous. But this gave them the perfect opportunity that they needed to get into Arulean’s office to place the camera.

              While the two of them chatted, Arulean asking Dylan about his thoughts on the pack so far and his job as a member of the shadow guard, Blake idly paced the room. It wasn’t an odd thing for him to do. He had also made it part of his character to be curious and touchy with things. And so he did, looking at books on the dragon’s bookshelves and picking up and settling down knick knacks. He kept an ear on the conversation happening across the room, occasionally calling out comments to make Dylan glare or blush. It also drew attention to himself, making himself seem less suspicious.

              He was all too aware of the dragon shifter’s attention. He knew the man had sharp eyes and a sharper mind. He was hard to fool. But Blake was also confident in his abilities and his slight of hand. He pulled the small dot sized camera from his sleeve and quickly stuck it to one of the knick knacks on one of the shelves and set it down so it would have a view of Arulean’s desk. He continued his movement around the room, occasionally asking the man about some of the things he found. It was really a stunning collection of old artifacts and items. None of them seemed to be of particular importance, but they were things Arulean had collected over the centuries, and each one had a story from his past.

              It was an overall enjoyable visit. The Alpha was an intimidating man with an otherworldly presence, but Blake did enjoy talking with him. By the time they left, even Dylan was looking more relaxed.

              “Did you get it done?” Dylan asked when they were back in their room.

              “Of course, I did. Have a little faith.” He said, taking hold of Dylan’s chin and tilting his head up for a kiss. Dylan leaned against him, wrapping his arms loosely around his waist. Their kiss deepened and very quickly became heated. Dylan pushed him against the wall, hands scrambling at his belt. He wasted no time tugging his pants down far enough to free his hardening erection. Giving Blake a coy smile that sent shivers of anticipation down his spine, Dylan went to his knees and took him into his mouth. He sucked him off before heading to bed where Blake returned the favor.

              Getting a bug on Arulean was easier than he led Dylan to believe. He used the same method he had used several times before during infiltration missions. The party would be a fancy, black-tie event. It happened only twice a year. Arulean, though he didn’t always look it, was as vain as the dragon myths would lead one to believe. He ordered a new tuxedo for every event. Lucy, dear sweet Lucy, was the shifter who got the privilege of ordering the tux, and her best friend, Linda, was the tailor who fit it to Arulean’s measurements.

              Blake insisted on a double date with Lucy and Marcus, and on which, he brought up the party. It wasn’t hard. All he had to do was ask about Dylan’s tux. Lucy loved to talk about her job, so it was easy to slowly maneuver the conversation to her greatest customer: the Alpha himself. Blake showed keen interest since he had heard that the man always had the greatest and most spectacular suits crafted for himself. Lucy, eating up the enthusiasm, insisted that she show him.

              While Blake humored Lucy as she showed him the details of the outfit, Dylan kept Marcus busy. Dylan had a good idea of what Blake was planning, and since neither Dylan nor Marcus had any interest in clothing, they stood back and chatted about shadow guard business. So the only one Blake had to fool was Lucy, and that would be easy.