Tangled Innocence (7 page)

Jace’s eyes went wide, and he paled, his body visibly
shaking. “Oh shit. Oh
shit
, Dante.”

Dante went straight to his mate and cupped his face,
lowering him down so they were eye-to-eye. “Breathe. It’ll be okay. It’s just a
summons.” There was no such thing as
just
a summons
, and both of them knew that. The lie, though, would calm them
both down. “Not an execution order. I haven’t done anything wrong.”

Technically.

He’d helped each of his friends through their own battles
with the other realms, something that was not forbidden, but it was frowned
upon for a dragon. Dragons were supposed to be the supernaturals that stayed
out of the business of others, as it was their way.

The Conclave, however, was something far worse than any
council.

They were the council above all other councils, one that not
even all supernaturals knew existed. Some would call them the gods that created
the realms themselves since the masses didn’t know the true breadth of the
Conclave’s powers, but Dante knew differently.

The Conclave was made up of two of each realm and only the
councils, Mediators, and a select few, like him, were even privy to its
existence. Its role, or so it claimed, was to provide a balance between the
realms and ensure the species councils acted within their realms accordingly.

Considering what Dante had seen within some of the realms
like the leprechauns, djinn, and even the hell realm with Lucifer himself, he
wasn’t quite sure what
accordingly
meant. Those who held a Conclave seat were far older than Dante and worked
slow. They took each measure into consideration and decided something after
each outcome was investigated and thought of to the point of death in most
cases.

Dante had never cared for the Conclave—though he would never
say that out loud. Each member gained new power as they rose into the ranks.
The power was not only political within the realm’s council, but something that
was within their blood and would be an actual
power
. They’d become stronger, faster, and learned a new skill that
Dante still couldn’t figure out. It was something that happened within the
Conclave once they were magically tied in.

He had no recourse for that.

He also had no idea why they would summon
him
. It might have been because he’d
helped his friends, but he wasn’t sure.

“Dante,” Jace finally said, his voice ragged, the fear in
the air so thick Dante could taste it. “Why would they summon you? It doesn’t
make any sense.”

“I know. That’s why I hope it’s for something small.”
Or maybe just to say hello
. A dragon
could dream.

“You don’t think it’s about your parents, do you? Or your
brother and sister?”

Dante gave a quick shake of his head then grimaced. “I haven’t
seen them in over a hundred years, and even then, it was by pure accident. I
don’t think they’d do anything to warrant the Conclave’s attention.”

Jace merely raised a brow, and Dante conceded the point.

“Fine. Knowing my mother, she
might
do something so idiotic and barbaric it could warrant their
attention, but I don’t know why they’d summon
me
for it.”

“You are the reasonable one of the family. And a royal. They
might want your help.”

They were reaching at straws, and they both knew it. “The
only way we’re going to find out is for me to go. Which I need to do now since
I’ve held back long enough. I wanted to wait for you to get back to the human
realm from your mission first.”

Jace’s eyes widened. “How long have you been sitting on that
summons?”

“Not long,” he lied.

“Dante.”

“Three weeks.”

Four, but who was counting?

“Dante. I can smell your lie and feel it in our bond. Stop
protecting me.”

Dante ran a hand through his hair then leaned into Jace’s
hold. “Fine. A month. Today actually. So it’s good timing. I need to go now,
and I’d rather not wake up Nadie.”

Jace narrowed his eyes. “What did you
just
promise her?”

Dante growled, another tendril of smoke escaping his
nostril. “I tried waking her to tell her and you an hour ago, but she’s out
cold. She expelled a lot of energy, and I don’t want to tell her without her
being at full strength. I’m not keeping it from her. I just need to go. Now.”

“I’m going to tell her where you are then,” Jace warned, and
Dante relaxed. “Which is what you wanted all along.”

Dante opened his mouth to speak then shook his head. “No,
that wasn’t what I wanted. I’m strong enough to fight my own battles, but I
don’t want to worry her. I also promised her I wouldn’t keep things from her.”

Jace kissed him hard, leaving him breathless and surprising
him. “Be safe. You got that? You need to come back here and be our third
because we just found this, and I’m not about to let you go. I will tell her.
We can at least use this as something positive.” He gave a shaky smile. “This
way we can talk about things and find a path that is just us.”

“You both need that. Nadie and I need it as well. You and I
too.”

Jace grinned. “We will get all of that. We have time. Damn
it. We better have time because the Conclave can’t have you.”

Dante closed his eyes. “I’ll come back to you, Jace.”

“And I’m telling Nadie
exactly
where you are and what the Conclave is. It’s her right to know since I’m a
Mediator.”

Dante let out a breath then wrapped his arms around Jace.
“Good. Be safe, my bear, and keep our mate safe as well.”

Jace gripped the back of his head and brought him in for a
kiss. “Come back to us.”

The sun beat down on Dante’s face, and the wind brushed
through his hair as he walked to the clearing he’d told Nadie and Jace about
the day before. Had it really been only a day since he’d shown his mates his
house and welcomed them into his life and home.

He paused. No, he hadn’t shown Nadie his house.

Well, shit.

They’d made love, and then, their bodies spent, all three
had passed out in a pile on his bed. Dante pinched the bridge of his nose,
knowing he needed to be a better suitor if he was going to deserve Nadie’s love
and bond.

Yes, he might have the bond, and he thought he might have
her love, though it was still too early to tell, but he surely didn’t deserve
it right now. Nadie was human, or at least had been raised as such. She
deserved something more than what she was getting. He would just have to make
sure she got it.

Hopefully, Jace would show her around or at least find his
own way around the house. Dante had left the bear in the kitchen, declining his
offer to accompany him to at least the clearing. Dante had wanted to ensure
Nadie’s safety and peace of mind by having Jace there. Though there might not
be an actual reason for the safety concerns, Dante was old enough to have made
enemies that might want to hurt his newly bonded mates, and he wasn’t taking
chances with their lives.

Jace would be able to take care of her, even though he
didn’t know what he would be protecting her from.

When he got back, he would see to courting the woman he
should have been courting all along. He knew now Nadie was stronger than he’d
given her credit for. The blood running through her veins was a testament to
that. He should have told her why he was staying away instead of hurting her.

The dragon would have to grovel.

First, he’d have to meet with the Conclave. He and Jace
hadn’t said it, but they both knew that this meeting could take time that
neither of them wanted to lose. The Conclave worked slow and could take him
away from Nadie and Jace far longer than he wanted.

He should have woken Nadie or at least tried harder to when
he could have. Yes, she had been drained and had passed out from her change,
but he should have said goodbye.

He’d been too afraid of the words, and now it was too late.

For all the strength within his body, he still wasn’t strong
enough to do what was good for him and his life.

He ran a hand through his hair that he’d left flowing down
his back. There was no use putting it up when he was about to shift to his
dragon. The Conclave met as their respective species, meaning since he was a
dragon he came as a dragon. Those that were dual natured and didn’t have a
dominant paranormal—like the children of two different paranormals—would come
as the one the Conclave desired.

Though most of those who shifted had to take off their
clothes in order to turn into their other form, dragons were different. They
could bring their clothes with them during their shift because it was part of
their magic. Anything that the dragon considered its personal realm would shift
and disappear along with the human. Though they couldn’t hide sentient beings
so even if his dragon though of his mates as its own, it couldn’t hide them
away. Once the dragon shifted back to human, they would magically bring back
the clothes.

Elders still weren’t exactly sure where the clothes went,
other than it was a magic older than the idea of dragons themselves, so it was
a common acceptance that it just…did. Also, unlike with some shifters, it
didn’t hurt Dante to shift.

Dante closed his eyes and thought of his dragon. Warmth and
a sweet sensation danced over his skin. He knew if he opened his eyes he’d see
a bright flash of light and others would see the human no more.

In its place stood a black and blue dragon larger than most
houses. There were many variations of dragons, just like there were many
variations of people. Some looked like the Far East versions depicted in human
writings while he and his family looked more like the dragons in Western lore.
He might have different color scales than his family, but the overall shape was
similar. His scales glistened under the light, and he stretched out his talons,
getting ready for the flight that was to come.

He swished his tail and bowed his head. He loved his dragon
form, though his family thought differently. He just happened to love his human
form with equal measure. That was not to be tolerated within his blood line.

Hence, why Dante, like always, was a little different.

He lowered his snout to the envelope he’d placed in the
center of the clearing and blew a small tendril of smoke over it. The writing
on the front swirled, and he let out a stream of fire, igniting the words. His
name on the front burned, and then, in the blink of an eye, he found himself in
the foyer of an immense building he’d never entered in all his life.

He had heard of the Conclave and knew what to do with the
summons, but he’d never been there before.

He prayed he would be allowed to leave.

He prayed he’d never have to come again.

The building was a large ornate structure with intricate
carvings that depicted various paranormals. If he were to look around the
entire thing, he guessed that every paranormal in existence would be
represented. The ceiling was a gold-painted dome that, oddly enough, didn’t
look ostentatious. It merely suited the grandness of the building.

Dante took a deep breath through his nose, trying to scent
where he was but came up empty. He’d been to every realm there was and knew their
scents. Even if the overall layers would change, the basic principles of each
realm would remain the same, meaning Dante would be able to recognize it no
matter what.

Since he couldn’t distinguish the scent, that meant he was
in a realm he’d never been in before.

Astonishing.

Not that he wanted to spend any more time here than
necessary. Oh no, he wanted to go back to Nadie and Jace as soon as he could.

Preferably now.

He inhaled again and caught the barest of scents of the
others in the building. He had a feeling once he was let through the large
doors—large enough to let him and his entire wingspan through—he’d be able to
scent the entirety of the Conclave. There must have been a type of dampening
spell on the actual room where they met.

Dante wasn’t even sure if the Conclave was made up of
supernaturals who never left this realm or if they were actually supernaturals
who lived within their own realms with their own hidden identities.

For all he thought he knew, he really didn’t know much.

“Dante Bell, do enter.” A disembodied voice echoed through
the foyer, and Dante steeled himself. He would not act like a new shifter and
show any form of fear or even awe at what he saw.

After all, he was old enough that not much surprised him.

The large doors opened of their own accord, and Dante
stepped through them with his head held high. They might have summoned him, but
he’d be damned if he’d let them know he had something to lose.

That was the first step in protecting those you cared
about—not letting others know they were your weakness.

“I see you’ve finally answered the summons,” a djinn said
from his chair.

The room was so immense that he wasn’t sure he’d be able to
see everyone without his keen eyesight. From what he knew, there were around
five hundred different paranormals. At least. That meant there were over a
thousand leaders in this room, sitting two by two, their chairs and seating
areas looking more like opera boxes than anything else. The boxes, for lack of
a better word, rose up to the ceiling where the others could look down at Dante
standing in the center of the room.

As a dragon, he was the largest of paranormal creatures, yet
right then, he’d never felt so insignificant. So small.

“I’ve come as requested,” he said, his voice low, bland. He
didn’t want to show them any inkling of where his thoughts might lie. He knew
they were powerful, but he didn’t know
how
powerful they were.

He’d like to be able to live to see Nadie and Jace again.

“You could have been quicker,” a merman said from his small
pool within his box, his fin carelessly swishing water on the floor in front of
Dante.

From the look on the merman’s face, maybe it wasn’t so
careless as much as it was deliberate. He hated politics and mind games, and
he’d just wandered into the Olympic version of lies and blind truths.

“I arrived as directed,” Dante said, his tone as bland as he
could make it. He could swallow that merman in one gulp and use his fin to pick
the bones from his teeth, but he’d hold back.

For now.

“Do you know why you’ve been summoned?” One of the two
dragon Conclave members asked him.

This one was older than the other if the slight dullness of
his scales were any indication. Dragons were practically immortal they were so
long-lived, but even the eldest of dragons changed over time. If this dragon
had been spending most of its time indoors within the Conclave, it made sense
the dragon would begin to fade, to dull.

Dragons needed the air on their scales and under their wings
as much as angels like Shade and Ambrose.

Dante faced the older dragon, Alexander—yes, that was his
name. It had been a millennium since he’d seen the old one, but he’d never
forget the power that radiated from the dragon.

“I don’t know the reason you’ve sent for me, only that I was
to come. One doesn’t ignore the Conclave.”

Murmurs of agreement filled the room, but Dante ignored most
of them, trying to at least get a sense of who was there and if he needed to
find a way to flee. There would be no fighting for him, not when he was this
outnumbered. He would fight until his last breath, but he wouldn’t win. Not
here. Not now.

He still didn’t know if the Conclave was friend or foe;
however, Dante wasn’t sure it mattered. They were far more powerful than he
was, and even a friend in that position wouldn’t sit comfortable with him.

Dante had been correct in assuming they had more power than
he, but he’d been wrong in one clear sense. At least two of the members of the
conclave were far, far younger than he. One of the wizards and a fae were less
than a thousand years old. No, they weren’t young men or as young as Jace even,
but they weren’t as old as the others in the Conclave. If he had to guess, he
figured that some of the Conclave’s ranks were beginning to shift.

A small tendril of fear slid up his spine.

This would not be good.

“You should be aware the Conclave has been following you for
quite some time,” Alexander said, his voice low and steady, as if he had all
the time in the world to get to his point.

Dante frowned and lowered his snout. “Following?” He hadn’t
felt a presence following him, and he was damned good at spotting anyone
looking for him.

The other dragon waved a claw and rolled his eyes. The
younger dragon by his side snorted, an annoyed expression his face.

“We’ve known of you. You know of us because of your Royal
House, yet you would have been on our radar regardless because of the sin you
committed against the demon realm.”

Dante held back a growl.

He’d made one mistake that he
still
didn’t believe was a mistake, and it had haunted him for
almost three hundred years.

He didn’t say anything as there didn’t seem to be any use.
The other dragon would make his point eventually. Dante just hoped it would be
before he rolled over and died.

“You killed the demon Conclave member to save a friend of
yours, do you remember?”

The room silenced, and Dante raised his head high. It wasn’t
as if what he’d done was a secret to anyone in this room. He’d killed a member
of their Conclave. Of course they would know. They’d been the ones who had
given him his sentence—even if he’d never actually met them.

“Yes. He was killing a woman I considered to be under my
protection.” He wouldn’t lie. There was no use. The kill had been justified. It
didn’t matter that the demon had held higher power than Dante in the grand
scheme of things.

“You were banished from the entire hell realm because of
it.”

“I would do it again.”

Again, no use in lying.

Murmurs filled the room again, this time some sounding on
his side—including the two younger members.

Good.

“You saved the Goodwin bear and killed the demon,” the
wizard interrupted. “And now, by a twist of fate, that bear is the paternal
grandmother of your new mate.”

Dante clenched his jaw.

“Levi, you’re ruining my fun by jumping in,” Alexander.

“You would have taken too long to get there,” the fae added.

“Tristan, don’t help,” Levi mumbled, and Dante held back a
grin.

Under other circumstances he might have wanted to get to
know Tristan and Levi. Right now, though, he wanted to leave and go back to
Jace and Nadie. That didn’t look like it would happen any time soon.

“You were banned from hell because you killed the demon
conclave member,” Alexander repeated. “You saved your mate’s grandmother before
your mate was even born. Such a twist of fate should not be ignored.”

“Nor will it,” one of the demons put it.

Dante wanted to ignore it. He wanted nothing to do with it.
Jace’s family knew what happened, and that’s how he’d met Jace. He’d come back
to the bear’s den after being away for a long while and found his mate within
the family that had taken him in. He’d save Jace’s grandmother again and kill
the demon just like he’d done before, but that didn’t mean he wanted to be part
of whatever plans the Conclave had for him.

“What is it you want?” he asked, fed up with their slow
pace.

“I’m retiring,” Alexander said, and Dante held his breath.