Dragon Knight (The Collegium Book 3) Read Online Free Page B

dressed swiftly in the guardians’ de facto uniform: tough hiking gear with hidden pockets, sturdy boots and no discernable style. After the suits he’d been wearing for nearly a year now, confined as he was by his burned out magic to desk jobs, wearing the outdoor gear had a bitter edge.
    Was he playing dress up?
    He shook his head sharply. No. This was who he was, magic or no magic. He was a guardian. He wouldn’t let anyone, not even his own frustration, take his identity from him.
    He walked into the living area.
    Gina still sat on the sofa. She was staring at the floor, her face in this moment when she thought herself unobserved had a pensive expression. Unhappy thoughts absorbed her.
    “I’m ready,” he said. An overnight bag dangled from his left, non-dominant hand.
    She glanced up, jolted from her preoccupation, her expression unguarded. She scanned him.
    He felt her gaze. It skimmed from his wet hair, touched his mouth, encompassed his shoulders and chest, lingered, went lower, and returned. His body hardened.
    “Okay.” She jumped up, heading for the door.
    Irresistibly, his gaze went to her hips. High heels did things to a woman’s body. He wrenched his gaze up, beat her to the door, and opened it. Then locked it behind them.
    For an instant, he hesitated.
    He could be wrong. She could be spinning him a successful con. But she exhibited none of the signs of a liar—and she was Asey’s niece.
    Lewis shook his head in disbelief. Life was crazy. Here he was, off to meet a dragon. If that happened to be true, if there really was a dragon…then apparently he’d be learning alien magic.
    It couldn’t be true; yet he couldn’t bring himself to believe that Gina was conning him or delusional.
    As the elevator doors opened, he clasped her hand. After a moment of startled rigidity, her fingers curled around his. His hold tightened. She had started this game, but he would finish it. One way or another.
    The sidewalk was crowded, but not yet dense with people as it would be when the workday ended. He’d chosen his apartment for its location near the Collegium, but also because it was midway between the Collegium and the official, Collegium-registered New York portal. He was curious if that was the portal Gina intended to use or if she knew of New York’s other, unregistered portal. He’d only learned of it a month ago.
    Portals were the entrance to the in-between. Through them, a person could travel in mere seconds to emerge on the other side of the world. Of course, that efficient, safe travel required a porter to hand you into the in-between and off to another porter who’d haul you out at your destination portal.
    Porters owned their portals and could draw on the magic of them. They were also unique among magic users in that they could navigate the chaos of the in-between. Not all porters secured their own portal. Generally portals were handed down in a family. Those porters without a portal tended to roam the in-between, sometimes offering their services, at a steep price, to retrieve people who’d strayed.
    On a personal level, Lewis didn’t like the official New York porter, Paul O’Halloran, but the man had always served the Collegium well. Paul owned the small apartment building built over his portal. He let the efficiency apartments on a twenty four hour basis and made a killing. A lot of those who used the portal to reach New York had crises to handle, crises that they were desperate to bring to the Collegium’s attention, and being too busy to care where they stayed, they took the first accommodation available to them. In effect, Paul took advantage of them.
    Paul had black hair too long and in need of a wash, bulging eyes and a weight problem. His eyes bulged even more than normal when he saw Lewis holding Gina’s hand. A whistle of incredulity started and was cut off when he caught Lewis’s glare.
    “Emmaline booked me a return trip to Cape Cod.” Gina was an elegant, feminine incongruity