Title: Emergence – Chapters 25-28
Author: Jilly James
Betas: Elsa Kallan and Naelany
Emergence Main Page

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Chapter Twenty-five

Blair guided Vin and Richard to the place he’d last seen the other Wyvern. What he’d perceived as pools along the path, weren’t really water, although that’s very much what they looked like. He’d tried touching several and they felt solid, but nothing had happened with his touch.

When they were at the exact spot he’d seen the other Wyvern, he touched the pool and it wavered, soon showing an image of the four Wyverns in David’s backyard. “Somehow I think we have to use this one.”

Richard considered for several seconds. “Focus on someone else. Someone you know.”

Blair really didn’t like this. It felt like spying. But he concentrated on Daniel. Nothing happened for the longest time, then an image appeared of Daniel sitting at a cluttered desk, pouring over an artifact of some kind. Daniel suddenly cocked his head and started looking around and Blair had a feeling Daniel knew he was being watched.

He released the image and sat back. “Should I try the other Wyvern now? If he’s in the UK, it’ll be late there, he might be asleep.”

“Give it a try,” Richard prompted.

Blair concentrated and the pool flickered, but nothing else happened.

“Vin, why don’t you put your hands on Blair’s shoulders? We do seem to aid each other by physical contact. I do wish Tony had come with us.”

Adamantly, Blair shook his head. “I don’t want to see us start to use Tony as a crutch. I think he’s going to have a lot on his shoulders as it is. But if I didn’t think we could do this, I’d have insisted he come.” Blair glanced up at Richard. “I have every confidence that you’ll help us figure this out.”

Richard flushed a bit, but nodded his thanks. “Go on then, the two of you in physical contact.”

Vin put his hands on Blair’s shoulders. Blair really liked Vin… his energy was so calm and peaceful. Blair thought of himself as pretty Zen, but his energy seemed much more bouncy than Vin’s.

When he focused again on the Wyvern he’d met, he almost slipped into a meditative state. Suddenly the image came into focus of the man they were looking for, asleep in a moderately sized room with minimal furnishing.

Not sure what prompted him, he touched the image and murmured, “As your Shaman, I summon you to me.”

The Wyvern appeared standing, blinking blearily and looking around. “I’d think I was dreaming, but I know this place too well.” His eyes fixed on Blair, his demeanor resigned and unhappy. “Why did you call me here?”

Blair smiled sadly. “We’re trying to find you. We are pretty sure you’re not being kept in Sewell’s main home, so we need more information. But first, I’d like your name.”

The man stared at him for several long seconds. “Colin Bettany. Are you really going to try to find me?”

Jim had been adamant that Blair not tell Colin any of their plans, but Blair wanted to reassure the man in some way. “We’re trying. We’d hoped we’d be able to find more information about your location.”

“He moves me periodically… every year or so, I believe. I used to scry for my location, but I confess that I gave up long ago. I’m sorry I didn’t tell you more when we met. Since Anthony DiNozzo began emerging, he’s been obsessed with getting him. I was spending almost every waking moment here.”

“It’s okay… we’re all just trying to muddle our way through. What did you mean by scry?” Blair queried.

“It’s probably not the right term, but when I read fantasy stories as a kid about seers using a crystal ball… well, this is different but feels kind of like that. So in my head, I started referring to this as scrying.”

“Hmm. How do I look for you?”

“Just focus on pulling back… I don’t know how to describe it. Kind of like zooming out. Until you see what you want to see.”

It took Blair a long time to get the hang of pulling back and then moving closer to pick out the details he needed. He could understand why hours of this would be exhausting. Colin looked so much better this time, probably because he’d been banned from the spirit realm for many days and was no longer exhausting himself at the whim of a corrupt Alpha.

Eventually they were able to determine he was being held in an old manor house near Burntisland, which was near Edinburgh where the Sewell ancestral home was located.

Exhausted and nearly breathless, Blair and Vin both sat down and tried to regain their bearings. He noticed his hold on the spirit plane was a little weaker due to fatigue. He turned to Colin. “Was he cruel to you after I banned you?”

Colin immediately flushed and had a look of shame. “He was very angry, but I confess that I blamed Mr. DiNozzo.”

Blair was puzzled. “What do you mean?”

“I didn’t want to tell him that you were aware of him, or that you’d banned me. I was afraid he’d kill me immediately. So I said that the minute DiNozzo mated with Gibbs that I’d lost my connection to the spirit realm and hadn’t been able to return. His obsession with DiNozzo grew after that. I didn’t mean to put him in more danger, I just couldn’t think of anything else to say.” Colin seemed desperate, and Blair got up and reached out to clasp his hands.

“Don’t be upset. That was actually very clever of you and I know Tony won’t be angry. We’re taking every precaution with his safety, so you don’t need to feel bad.”

With seeming reluctance, Colin nodded his head. “Just tell him I wasn’t trying to see him harmed.”

Blair nodded. “Do you need to tell us anything else? I feel my hold is getting tenuous and I need to return.” Colin shook his head and Blair impulsively gave him a hug. “We’re coming for you.” Blair released Colin to his sleep.

Taking a deep breath, he turned to his companions, who seemed equally affected, though Vin was a little harder to read. “Okay, let’s find Tony and get back.” Blair started to concentrate on Tony, to move to his location, but abruptly felt his hold on the spirit realm break. His eyes popped open and he was back in Rossi’s yard.

Vin and Richard both also opened their eyes, and the three lifted their heads and looked around. Tony wasn’t moving and was clearly still in the spirit realm. The three shifted back to human form almost simultaneously. Richard was okay, but Vin wobbled and Blair collapsed to sit on the ground. He was so tired.

Their three Alphas were on them almost instantly. Jim pulled Blair to his feet. “Are you okay, Chief? What happened?”

Blair patted at his mate’s strong shoulders. “I’m fine, big guy. Just tired. Hard work.”

Jethro was suddenly there. “What about Tony?”

“I’m not sure, Jethro. He split from us to talk to Precious. He said he’d meet us back here.”

Jethro didn’t look happy, but crossed to stand by his mate, stroking the pearly-scaled snout.

Chris and Jim hustled Vin and Blair inside. Blair had wanted to stay out with Tony, but he was dead on his feet. “Jim, how long were we gone?”

“Over two hours, Blair. I was getting worried.” Jim headed for the living room. “Should I be taking you back to our hotel?”

“No. Just let me sit for a bit. We got Colin’s location, and his name obviously.” He noticed Abby was hovering nearby, looking worried. “Abby, his name is Colin Bettany, can you look for any information on him? Also, look for any Sewell properties in Burntisland, Scotland.”

She saluted sharply. “On it. Penny arrived while you guys were spirit surfing, so between the two of us, we’ll have everything on this ASAP.”

He looked at Jim. “Where are Richard and Vin?”

“Richard seemed okay, so he’s still outside. Chris took Vin upstairs; he was almost as wiped as you. I really wish you’d rest a bit, Chief.”

“How about I lie on the couch for a bit and we see what happens?” Blair wound up lying with his head in Jim’s lap. His brain was spinning wildly, but he unexpectedly succumbed to the pull of sleep.

~*~

Gibbs was getting really worried. The duration of the spirit walk was the first worry, but now Tony hadn’t come back with the others. He stood stroking the pearly white scales and wished he could go where Tony was. He was starting to really dislike how much Tony had to handle on his own.

Rossi appeared at his shoulder. “He’s going to be fine.”

“I know,” Gibbs replied steadily. “Tony is always fine. I’d like him to be doing good though. Great even.”

“He’ll get there. You want to be alone, or get your mind off it and I’ll fill you in on what we’re planning? See if your famous gut gives any twinges.”

“Fill me in.” Gibbs listened as Rossi talked, but kept his eyes on his mate, stroking the smooth warm scales. One part of the plan gave him pause. “Everything was fine, except Team Ember. I think that’s a bad call. We should assemble our own strike team of people we trust to extract the Wyvern.”

Team Ember was an all dragon squad, twelve Betas and one Alpha, staffed by the US and England, and attached to the U.N. for peace keeping missions. But the Council had leeway to use their services if need be, as dragons reported to the council as well.

“That would definitely create more logistical headaches. You think this corruption has spread to Ember?” Rossi asked, with a look of consternation.

Gibbs shook his head. “Not necessarily. But all he needs to have is a contact in the U.N. or a dozen other places to get the movements of Ember. It’s a risk and we don’t want to alert him.”

“Hmm. Let me talk to Chris and possibly get Jim to call Jack. We’ve got people we trust at the Bureau and NCIS, but I think we need people with military or strong tactical experience, maybe S.W.A.T.”

Gibbs nodded. “I think Chris’ team are primarily ex-military, but even if they’re not, no offense, but I’d rather ATF for a tactical mission than FBI.”

Rossi snorted. “None taken. Most of our recruits come straight from college, most of ATF come from the military. Completely different mindset.”

“You mentioned you want to get Sewell near the dragon center outside of London. What’s the lure?” Gibbs asked, clarifying one stage of the plan.

“Yesterday morning, Jeremy issued a formal reprimand against the son for his behavior and, pending a review board, his employment contract will be terminated. As we hoped, he went to his father, who contacted Jeremy to complain. Jeremy invited the father to attend the review board, and Sewell accepted. The review board is set for Monday, so we have the weekend to iron out the kinks in the plan. If we can’t get everything and everyone in place by Monday, Jeremy simply attends the review board to avoid suspicion and we implement another plan to get Sewell.”

“Let’s hope plan A works. It seems best to get him away from major cities and hopefully away from his Betas and subordinate Alphas. Then we can call in Team Ember to help with the mop up. Jeremy’s going to need help evaluating every dragon Sewell’s worked with over there. And I’ll need to be back here dealing with the mess in Florida, make sure this cluster fuck doesn’t get worse.” Gibbs considered for a second. “You went to see Horatio yesterday. How’d that go?”

“He was pretty furious about the whole situation. I think he’d like to deal with a couple Alphas right away, but we all agreed it’s best to wait for the Sewell situation to be handled first. He’s going to stay there and work on continuing to compile information. He may reach out to our techs for help if needed. He was torn about coming with us or staying, but ultimately decided to avoid any suspicion and stay in Miami. He said to tell you that if you disagreed, he’d join us here.”

“No…” Gibbs thought for a second. “I think he’s right. Horatio is on their radar because he got the Alpha Prime position that Mario Acevedo wanted, and we’re pretty sure Mario is in Sewell’s pocket.” Gibbs was just about to ask another question about Florida when his mate twitched, and his awareness of Tony came rushing back.

Gibbs knees nearly buckled. Tony felt emotionally wrung out. Nothing Tony had been through thus far felt like this and he didn’t know how to interpret it. Then Tony was standing in front of him looking pale and shaken.

Tony reached out, grabbing on to Gibbs. “I need to…” Tony’s voice was raspy, but it seemed he didn’t know how to articulate what he needed.

“Come on.” Gibbs registered everyone’s concern, but his only priority was Tony. He got him upstairs and out of his cold weather gear, then seated him on the bed. He hunkered down in front of his mate, gently rubbing along Tony’s thighs. “What’s going on, Tony? Tell me what you need?”

“So much… I can show you. Part of it now. The whole thing would be too much.” Shaking hands reached out to caress Gibbs’ temples, stroking over the scales tenderly. “I’ll touch here, and you touch my wrists, I need you to want to share your mind with me. I can show you things…”

Normally Gibbs would balk at sharing his mind, but he trusted Tony, and he desperately wanted to know what had him in this wrung out state. He clasped Tony’s wrists, focusing on seeing whatever Tony wanted him to see.

Tony’s fingers pressed gently against his temples. “I’m just going to show you the last part… the rest I’ll reveal to you later.”

For a long time nothing happened, then abruptly he was seeing a not-quite man, and It was talking to Tony about Wyvern reproduction, and Gibbs was confused by where this was going. But by the end, he fully understood. Tony’s fingers fell away just as he was seeing spirit-Tony fold in on himself.

“Oh, Tony… Come here.” He pulled his emotionally-wrecked mate into his arms and wound up sitting on the floor with his mate half in his lap. He held Tony for a long time, just giving him support and letting him be.

Eventually, Tony stirred a little. “I know it’s still a little early, but can I just go to bed?”

“Yes. I’ll bring you something to eat.”

“No.” Before Gibbs could protest, Tony continued. “It won’t kill me to skip a meal, and I’m not hungry.”

“You barely ate lunch, Tony.”

Tony shook his head against Gibbs’ shoulder. “Please, Jethro. I just want to sleep.”

He felt himself relenting. “Okay. I’ll let everyone know we won’t be back down tonight.” Reluctantly, Gibbs left, finding a lot of concerned people downstairs. He let everyone know Tony was okay, just tired and would fill people in tomorrow.

Ten minutes later, he was able to join Tony in bed. Tony immediately wrapped around him. “You don’t have to go to bed now, you know.”

“Don’t be an idiot, Tony. Go to sleep.” He stroked a hand up and down his mate’s spine scales, wondering what else had happened tonight with Precious.

Intense arousal penetrated his sleep and he wakened just as Tony was sliding down on his cock. Groaning, he reached for his mate’s hips. “Jesus, Tony.”

Warm lips teased his jaw as the body above him undulated slowly. “Want you.”

The Alpha in him wanted to flip his mate over and pound into him, but he ignored the dragon’s impulse, and let his mate have control. Tony sat back up, sinking down hard, wringing a groan out of Gibbs.

His acute dragon eyesight allowed him to see well in the dark, and he found his mate to be incredibly beautiful, muscles straining as he moved sinuously. The bands of pearly white against Tony’s tan skin were breathtaking.

Gibbs let his hands slide down to Tony’s thighs, fingers teasing at the bands there. Tony gasped and writhed. He knew from experience that next to the throat scales, the thighs were most sensitive, even more so than the scales on his cock. He teased the scales mercilessly, loving every sound escaping from Tony’s throat.

Eventually, Tony began moving faster, the slow dance at an end in his desire for climax. Watching his mate as he surrendered to orgasm was almost enough to bring Gibbs over as well.

Tony collapsed against his chest, breathing erratic. Gibbs gripped the smooth hips firmly and flipped them over, thrusting hard into his mate’s pliant body. Tony gasped and arched against him. Gibbs’ lips sought out the sensitive throat scales, betting himself he could have Tony coming again in fifteen minutes.

~*~

Tony woke feeling truly rested and utterly relaxed. It was Saturday and he was in a much better place than he’d been just a week ago. His face seemed to be pressed into a hip and agile fingers were stroking slowly through his hair. Either he had scooted down the bed, or his mate was sitting up. Since his feet weren’t hanging off the bed, he figured it was the latter.

“Awake long?” he asked, voice sleep-raspy.

“About half an hour,” Jethro replied, teasing the top of Tony’s spine scales. “What do you want to do today?”

Tony blinked and pulled away so he could sit up. “I have a choice?”

Jethro looked at him a little sadly. “Of course you have a choice.”

“I just meant, isn’t there something that needs to be done?”

“No. You might want to get current on what’s going on with the plan, but if you want to check out of this for the weekend, we can do that.”

Tony looked at his hands, feeling a warmth spreading in his chest. “Thanks, Jethro.” He turned so he was sitting next to Jethro, leaning against the headboard. “I’d like to at least know what’s going on and talk with everyone, and then figure out what to do. But when this is over, I so want you alone for a week.”

Jethro wrapped an arm around Tony’s shoulders, pulling him closer. “There is nothing I’d like more than that.”

Tony glanced around for the clock. It was a little after 0800. His eyebrows shot up. “I’m not surprised I slept that long, but since when do you sleep in?”

“Someone wore me out in the middle of the night.” Jethro smirked at him. “You feel better today.”

Tony got what his mate was trying to say and nodded. He wasn’t wholly comfortable with the subject, but this was Jethro. “I do. I think I’ve tried a lot to not care about parental approval, but, um, that meant a lot to me.” He fidgeted a bit. Even though he trusted Jethro completely, he didn’t want to go further down this path right now. He’d had his emotions tossed in a blender the last week, and he just wanted to be normal for a while.

Jethro seemed to get that he didn’t want to talk about it. “Is whatever else that happened last night something we need to deal with?”

“There’s nothing to deal with for the moment, but I’m going to be pretty mentally wrapped up in it for a while. I’d like you to know so you’re not wondering why I’m distracted sometimes, but it’s not urgent.”

“But it can wait for a bit?”

“Yep.”

“Good. You hungry?”

“God yes.” Tony was starving.

Jethro patted him on the hip. “Come on… get showered and we’ll get something to eat, then we can start filling you in on the plan. No doubt there have been updates since I talked to Rossi last night.”

Downstairs, they found everyone on a call with Jack using the satellite equipment Jack had provided. Seemed crazy early for Jack and Daniel, but Tony shrugged it off and went for breakfast, knowing he’d get briefed later. Belatedly, he realized that Jeremy and Richard weren’t here yet.

Abby and Garcia were in the kitchen making something. Both looked groggy. Abby was wearing her black and purple dragon PJs, and she had apparently gotten Garcia a set in pink and red. It was like dragon Valentine’s day. Tony shuddered.

“You okay?” Tony inquired of the sleepy women.

Looking suddenly more alert, Abby bounded over to him for a big hug. “We were up late and slept with our babies.” Tony thought that sounded really weird but didn’t say anything. “Are you okay, Tony?” Abby asked, sounding concerned and a touch hesitant.

He nodded. “I’ll tell you about it later. Has everyone eaten yet?”

Abby shook her head. “Everyone’s been on the phone for an hour.”

“Hn. Well, looks like Penelope is too asleep to know that the eggs are burned.” He shooed both of them away from the kitchen. “Sit. Talk. Sleep. Whatever. I’ll make breakfast.” He glanced at Jethro who was at the other side of the island, giving Abby a hug. “You think they’ll be done soon?”

Jethro cocked his head, listening. “Yeah. A few minutes maybe.”

“’Kay. I’ll cook,” Tony was somewhat familiar with the layout but poked into cabinets and the fridge to decide what to make. The refrigerator was practically bursting at the seams.

“Want help?” his mate offered.

“Nope,” Tony replied popping the ‘p.’ “I’m very territorial about the kitchen, so it’s best to leave me be.” He’d done okay with Rossi, but all he’d been doing was making the pasta.

Jethro’s lips quirked. “That an advisory, Tony?”

Tony paused and glared at his mate. “Does it need to be?”

“No.” Jethro held up his hands. “Be as autocratic as you like.”

He decided to make omelets. Fair amount of prep, but then he could cook up to four at once. Abby chattered at him while he worked, Garcia seemed to be in a coma, Jethro didn’t say or do anything, but he felt content.

Tony was just starting the actual cooking when everyone came in from the living room. Lots of conversation started, a fair amount directed at Tony. He waved a spatula threateningly. “No one talk to me! Busy here. Write down what you want in your omelet and hush.”

Abby seemed happy to bounce around taking orders, then deliver the food. Jeremy and Richard arrived while he was cooking. The table couldn’t handle everyone, so four people were on barstools at the island. By the time he came to the table with his own food and a huge bowl of fried potatoes for everyone, the first few were finished with their omelets. He squeezed in between Jethro and Abby.

Rossi leaned his elbows on the table. “I know a short order cook when I see one.”

Tony nodded. “First year of college.”

“Thought you had a trust fund for college?” Abby asked, looking perplexed.

Hesitating a bit, Tony nodded. Normally he’d find a way to deflect, but he decided to just be honest. “Yeah. My maternal grandfather set up two trusts for me. One specifically for school. My father was trustee after mom died, and was trying to block my access because he’d disinherited me. He had no legal grounds, but the red tape kept things tied up for a year. Had to work that year to pay for a lawyer.”

Abby’s mouth was hanging open and he deliberately didn’t pay attention to anyone else, though he could feel his mate’s simmering anger, and other turbulent emotions in the room. “How did you pay for school?”

Tony couldn’t stop the laugh. “Abbs, I had a full ride to OSU.”

“Oh.” She looked a little chagrined. “Jeez, Tony, how come I never knew you were so good at football?”

Laughing again, Tony tweaked a pigtail. “Basketball, too. Final Four twice.”

Abby blinked. “Is that good?”

Half the table started laughing, and Tony broke away from his food to give Abby a one-armed hug. “Never change,” he whispered kissing her temple.

But she pouted at him. “I should have known this.” She leaned around Tony to look at Jethro. “Did you know?”

“Yes,” he replied without inflection, and Tony was a little surprised that Jethro knew anything about his sports days.

Huffing a little, Abby leaned back in her chair, arms crossed over her chest. “I can’t believe your father disinherited you. I thought you were joking when you told me that. And to try to mess up your chances at college?” Her eyes narrowed. “If I ever meet him I’ll kill him with an olive fork!”

Tony was startled into a laugh. “That would take a long time.”

“Exactly!” She nodded decisively. “And I’ll leave no forensic evidence.”

“Eat your omelet and stop contemplating bloody mayhem.” He steered the conversation away from anything related to his past, but after a couple minutes, the spotlight was back on him.

Blair leaned forward a bit to see Tony clearly. “What happened with Precious, Tony?”

Spencer nodded. “We were concerned… you felt really odd when you came back.”

Tony could tell Jethro was about to redirect the conversation again, but he shook his head. “It’s okay, might as well answer.” He set down his fork, appetite waning. “Apparently when a dragon is spiritually fully mature, they go to the spirit plane and do something that results in spirit dragon offspring. I didn’t get the how, just the end result. Those are the spirit dragons we summon to be our spirit guides.”

Blair was staring open mouthed, then snapped it shut. “Whoa. I guess that makes sense. They have to come from somewhere. That’s intense.”

Abby started to say something, but Tony held up a hand. “There’s more. Precious only ever had one physical child and one spiritual child. According to Precious, the Paddingtons can directly be traced to that child, and I’m the first Wyvern in the family line.” Jeremy was making an odd strangled noise, but Tony ignored it. “And the one spirit dragon he, uh, created was my spirit guide.”

Tony refused to let anything show on his face, but the number of empaths in the room made him want to squirm. He was still really affected by what had happened last night and he didn’t need anyone probing at that.

Abby bounced in her seat. “You have a dragon daddy! That’s incredible. And–”

“I’m dreadfully sorry to interrupt, Abigail,” Jeremy began. “Anthony, did you say Paddington? Any relationship to Jeffery Paddington?”

Tony turned around to look at Jeremy, who was seated at the bar. “Yes. My mother’s oldest brother. Met him once when I was a kid, but don’t know him.”

“You’re aware he’s the Earl of Devon?”

Pretty blank about where this was going, Tony nodded.

Jeremy and Richard exchanged a look. “The Earl has left two messages in the last week asking to speak to me personally. Things have been rather busy and I have yet to return his call. I find it unlikely to be a coincidence that he’s phoning now.”

Tony turned back to the table and poked at his omelet. “And another relative pops out of the woodwork. Joy.”

Abby poked him with an elbow. “Wasn’t Paddington the uncle that died?”

“Clive. Middle brother.” Tony really didn’t want to talk about it anymore.

Jethro took control of the conversation and steered it away from Tony and onto the plans for England. They rehashed the progress made for Tony’s benefit.

Chris took point to get them up to speed with the morning events. “Talked to Jack… First, they released the would-be kidnappers to the local LEOs. They’ll stick ‘em with a weapons charge and conspiracy. Didn’t get anything else out of them. No luck tracking the backers.

“As for the situation in the UK, the rest of my team is going to meet up with four of Jack’s Betas and head to DC today, Vin and I will join them and fly tonight to Scotland. Jeremy has worked out the logistical support on that end, and we’ll be the strike team to extract Bettany. JD’s not emerged yet, but he’s going along to handle tech, comms and the like. Gives us a little over a day to work out an insertion plan.”

Tony thought bringing a bunch of US agents and military to conduct a tactical mission on Scottish soil sounded like a bureaucratic nightmare. Thank god that was Jeremy’s problem. Tony looked to Abby. “What did you find out about Bettany?”

“Colin Bettany, 41, disappeared fifteen years ago this past December sixth from his home near Cornwall, worked as a sous chef. Was referred by his family doctor to the dragon center when he was reported to supposedly have pre-scales. Never arrived at the clinic, the clinic never had any record of a referral, never heard from again. Cold case.”

Nodding, Tony finished chewing a bit of potato before asking, “When is everyone else headed east?”

Blair took over the discussion. “Jeremy, Richard, Jim and I are going to England tomorrow morning, commercial flight, ostensibly for council meetings and Sewell III’s review board on Monday afternoon.”

Next Hotch took the reins. “The plan is for the rest of us to leave later tomorrow on Jim’s plane, and we’ll head straight to Jeremy’s home, another planning session, meet the other dragons Jeremy is pulling in, then head to the center where the review board will be held.”

Richard got his attention, and he turned around. “We’re discreetly moving as many as possible away from the center. The plan is to deal with Sewell the elder the moment he arrives on the grounds, and keep it away from the buildings if possible.”

Tony nodded. Blair had briefed him on the nature of dragon centers. All dragon centers were on fairly large pieces of land, with enough clear space to support at least twenty shifted dragons comfortably. The London Center could support quite a bit more than that. It was preferred for all emergences to happen in a center if possible so the newly emerged dragon could receive support, training, and have ample room to shift.

“Did you find a house that Sewell owns in whatever town that was?”

Abby shook her head. “But Sewell’s official mate, a Beta, her family owns a house there.”

Rapidly assimilating all the information and letting it roll around in his brain, Tony said, “So, other than planning, we basically have today and early tomorrow free? Because I’d really like to go to my apartment and get some clothes.”

There was a lot of hesitance on the faces around the table and Tony sighed. “Okay. I guess I’ll do laundry.” He tried to smile, though it fell a little flat. “Speaking of my place, had there been a robbery? Because the photo the would-be kidnappers had was only in two places.”

Hotch nodded. “Connelly reported there was evidence of a break-in. They clearly went through your things, but the place wasn’t trashed. They did leave behind cameras and audio surveillance. They’ve all been removed, the place processed and then sealed. Abby has the photographs of the crime scene, and we’d like to know if you see anything obviously missing.”

Feeling ill, Tony nodded. He’d been refusing to get obsessed about his apartment, because there had been nothing he could do about it. But now, he felt the invasion keenly and wanted to have a royal fit about it. Which made him think of Ducky and the promised temper tantrum.

His lips quirked a bit. “How’s Ducky doing?”

Abby replied. “Oh, he’s good. Been a little fretful about you and Gibbs, wants to see you, but he’s been really busy at work and his mom isn’t doing so hot.”

Tony nodded, making mental note to see Ducky shortly after they returned from England. “Hey Abbs, while we’re gone, would you arrange for movers to pack my place? Take it…” he glanced at Jethro. “Your place?”

Jethro gave him a funny look, but nodded. He’d have to figure out what that was about later. Abby just nodded enthusiastically.

Tony turned back around to Jeremy, “Are you sure we can get into England without anyone finding out and alerting Sewell?”

Jeremy looked uncertain. “It’s a risk. You’re very much in the news, even in England, and since I came here personally, it’s even more carefully noted. The customs agents should be discreet, but it’s impossible to know for certain.”

Hating what he was about to suggest, Tony offered, “Maybe a cover? I could call my uncle back, see what he wants. You could let it slip to the press that I may be coming to see him? All depends upon what he wants, I suppose.”

Jethro tensed beside him, but didn’t say anything. Jeremy nodded cautiously. “Could be helpful. Perhaps we can slip to the media that you’re coming for a meeting with him on Tuesday or Wednesday, so Sewell the elder doesn’t try to cancel attending the review board in hopes of intercepting you.”

Tony nodded. “If we do this, I suppose I’m obligated to actually meet with him.” He felt like pouting.

Several people chuckled and Abby gave him a hug then bullied him into finishing his breakfast. There was more idle discussion, and Tony half paid attention. After everything was cleaned up, he decided to go ahead and make the call.

They’d been using the equipment Jack had set up for most calls, so at least they didn’t have to worry about them being intercepted on this end. Tony spent a ridiculous amount of time trying to get past his uncle’s assistant. The man refused to listen, continually asking how he got Lord Devon’s private number.

Finally, Jeremy took the phone. “This is Jeremy Turner, head of the Dragon Council, Lord Devon has left two personal messages for me to phone at my earliest convenience. I assumed, perhaps erroneously, that the call was in regards to his nephew, Anthony DiNozzo, who emerged as an Omega this past week here in the United States. Now, if Lord Devon has no wish to speak to me or his nephew, we are happy to terminate the call.”

Jeremy was listening for several seconds before, he said, “Yes. I’ll be happy to hold.” After another pause, it was clear he had Jeffery on the line. They exchanged an absurd amount of pleasantries before he got to the meat of it. “When I received your message, I rather thought it likely that you were calling in regards to your nephew, so I suggested he give you a call directly.” There was another pause. “No, he’s sitting right in front of me, ready to speak with you.” After a quicker goodbye, the phone was handed off to Tony.

Tony took a steadying breath before taking the phone. “Hello… you know, I’m not sure what to call you.”

Cultured tones came over the line. “I’d like to think I’m your Uncle Jeffery.”

“Hmm. Well, I haven’t seen you in three decades, so I wasn’t certain if we were acknowledging familial connection.”

There was a short sigh. “I think we have much we need to discuss, Anthony. Not the least of which is your father, and the role he played in how things have been handled between our families.”

Tony was a little stumped by that. “Has he been in touch with you?”

“Yes, he has left messages of late. I’m very much afraid your mother told him something she should not have.”

This really wasn’t the way Tony thought this conversation would go. “I’m really not following.”

“You are aware that for the purposes of the trust stipulations that you are considered married now that you’ve mated to a dragon?”

Tony frowned. “I hadn’t put much thought into that. Since I wasn’t married, it’s been in a mental box labelled, ‘deal with when I’m forty’.”

“I… there were reasons my father put those stipulations on your inheritance, Anthony.”

“I’m sure they have something to do with my father. Look, I haven’t spoken to my father since I was in college,” Tony retorted, fighting back a feeling of exasperation.

“Surrounding the events of your trusts?”

“Yes. He occasionally sent me some completely inappropriate gift for Christmas, I assumed it was actually the work of the current Mrs. DiNozzo, but we haven’t spoken in twenty years. However, he’s sent several emails since the events of last week.”

“Anthony,” there was a pause, then, “there are many things I need to tell you, and there’s paperwork that must be addressed. It’s difficult for me to get away right now, but maybe in a couple weeks?”

“Well, Jethro, my mate, wants us to get out of DC for a while. It’s a bit of a circus around here. We’ve been trying to decide where to go. We could stop through London if you could give me some idea what this is about.”

“It would be most convenient if you could, though I hate to intrude on what must be your honeymoon.”

“Well, we can do it this way, or we can try to coordinate schedules in a few weeks.”

There was silence for a few seconds. “What day would you imagine you’d be available?”

“Wednesday.”

“I’ll clear some time in the afternoon. If I could have an email where I can have my assistant send the information? And perhaps I could take the two of you to dinner?”

Tony wasn’t sure how to respond to that. He rattled off his email, then added, “Dinner will probably work. Um, I really would like some idea of what’s going on.”

“I would like to explain some family things to you, but there are some specific trust provisions related to any Omegas who emerge in our family. I think you need to be aware of it soonest.”

Tony was floored. What in the world could that be about? “Ah, okay. That’s odd. Just wy- uh, Omegas?”

“Yes. It’s quite specific.”

They made brief farewells, then hung up. “You get that?” he asked Jethro.

Brows furrowed, his mate nodded. “Yeah. Any idea?”

Tony shook his head. “As far as I knew, we had no dragon blood, so it’s weird there would be any special actions for a dragon emergence.”

Richard sat across from Tony on the couch. “It’s not that odd. Many old families entrusted tales of dragons to special members of the family, believing the dragons would return one day. Once the dragons came back, some of these family made legal accommodation for any dragons in the family. The only thing odd is that the Paddingtons specified it be for Wyverns only.”

“Gah! This is crazy.” He looked at Jethro. “What are you thinking? Is he involved in this shit with Sewell?”

Jethro considered for a few seconds. “He doesn’t set off my gut. None of it.”

“Well, fine… we have a cover now to go to England.” He got to his feet. “I’m sure there’s a million things we need to do, but I’m playing hooky for a little while.” He felt a movie was in order.

Jethro followed him up the stairs, closing the door to their room. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah. Um, yeah. I think so. Mostly confused.”

“Before you start playing hooky, you want to fill me in on the rest of your chat with Precious? In case I need to factor any of that into our plans?”

Tony barked out a surprised laugh. “Dear god, I hope you don’t let it factor in at all.”

Jethro cocked his head to the side in confusion.

Tony waved him off. “Let’s sit and I’ll show you. And while you process, I’ll watch a movie.”

Glaring a little, his mate retorted, “I don’t process.”

“Sure. Whatever you say.” They sat facing each other and repeated the steps to mentally connect. Then Tony started the memory from the beginning. Because it was happening in their minds, the memory went much faster than the original conversation.

When it was over, Jethro looked utterly stunned, which was not an expression he thought of as natural on his mate. Finally, he lost the pole-axed look and his lips quirked a bit. “I think I need to process.”

Tony snorted and reached for his laptop. “You do that. I’m watching a movie. We’ll have to talk it to death later.”

– – – –

Chapter Twenty-six

Sunday morning, Tony was thanking his stars for the over-packing Abby had done when she’d retrieved his clothes more than a week ago. It gave him some options when it came time to go see Lord Devon. He sighed and rubbed his forehead. That was weighing on his mind more than anything else at this point. He really wanted to know what Uncle Jeffery had to tell him.

Most of the crew were gone now. Chris and Vin had left last night, Jeremy, Richard, Jim and Blair early this morning. The last five would be headed for a private airstrip near Dulles in about two hours.

His one agenda item before going to England had been to see Ziva, but ultimately there had been no time, so he’d have to see her when he got back. Jethro had talked to Vance yesterday and told him they’d need to take leave. Vance hadn’t been thrilled, but what could he do? If pressed, they could always quit.

Jethro had also given his recommendations about staffing and disciplinary action for McGee and Ziva. Both were getting formal reprimands in their file. It wouldn’t have a lot of effect on McGee, provided he didn’t do it again. Still, it was a permanent black mark. It wasn’t clear yet about Ziva. Vance planned to pull her in from leave but revoke her field agent status until she had full evaluations, including another psych eval. She’d be working a desk for the time being, which she’d no doubt find a way to blame on Tony.

Vance seemed to take promoting Connelly seriously, and would likely move Weaver up to MCRT and leave McGee on his team. It wasn’t clear if Weaver would accept McGee as SFA, considering the recent issues. Only time would tell.

Jethro was downstairs doing whatever it was that his Alpha did. Although, things were a bit unusual in that Jethro hadn’t asked anything about the alien stuff except for a, “Do you really believe this?” To which Tony had replied, “What’s your gut say?” Scintillating conversation it was not. Jethro was definitely processing.

“I’m gonna miss you,” a female voice whispered sadly.

He turned to find Abby slouched against the doorframe. He sat on the edge of the bed and held out an arm. “C’mere, Abby-girl.”

She nearly tackled him, and they finally sorted themselves lying on the bed with her head resting on his shoulder. “I don’t think you’re coming back to NCIS, Tony,” she murmured.

He winced a little. “I don’t know, Abbs.” He pulled her hair out of its pigtail so he could run his fingers through the long strands.

“Feels good,” she whispered, cuddling closer.

“Are you married to forensics, Abbs?”

“What do you mean?”

“Everyone has been really impressed with you. I know LJ had intended to talk to you about it, but everything has been kind of crazy. I think Jeremy wants you to come work for the Council.”

Abby got very still. “Are you serious? Doing what?”

“I dunno. I think one thing mentioned was a top-secret Wyvern genetics thing. We can’t screen for Wyverns now. I’m not sure we really want to, but it’s a possibility. Blair tells me the Council does medical research. Dragons are so disease resistant that they’re always trying to identify ways to take that to the human population. And there’s tech stuff… computers and things I really don’t understand.”

“I… I don’t know,” she replied hesitantly, her emotions wide open and very confused.

“What’s your gut say?” Tony teased.

“I was excited at first, because I really like the idea of working with dragons on dragon stuff. But forensics has been my life. And I’m not sure I’d fit in long-term with a bunch of dragons.”

“Being an agent has been my life… but sometimes things change. And as for the fitting in bit, that’s silly. Most of the Council employees are human.”

“Usually latent, though. Anyway, if I knew I’d get to work near you and Gibbs, it’d be a no-brainer. But somehow I think that’s not in the cards.”

“Abbs, you have to do what you want. I have no idea where Jethro and I are going to land.” He tweaked her nose gently. “Just think about it. There’s no urgency. I have a hunch the travel thing is going to continue for a while, but we’ll still see you.”

She squeezed him tight around the middle. “You’d better, buster! I expect to see you often. I wish I were going with you to England.” Before he could reply, she continued. “I know I’d probably be a liability, and I really do need to go back to work.”

“Liability isn’t quite the right word. You’d probably be really helpful in some areas, but we’d worry about your safety.”

“And that’s a distraction.”

“Yeah.” He played with her hair a little more. “Were you always interested in dragons?”

“Oh yeah. My dad’s latent, though there was never any chance he’d emerge. No one with a major sensory impairment has ever become a dragon. It’s sad, really. Anyway, as a kid, I thought I’d be latent, too, but I wound up dormant.”

“What kind of dragon would you want to be if you could be anything?”

“Oh, I’d want to be a purple Beta!” Abby looked up at him and grinned. “Alphas are too serious, and all that responsibility…” She blew a raspberry. “No thank you!”

Tony turned onto his side, dislodging Abby’s head, facing her. He touched the side of her neck, where he knew she wished she had scales, and sighed. “You have the heart of a dragon, Abigail Sciuto, and you’d make a great one. And I’d give that to you if I could.” He smiled a little sadly. “Thanks for everything you’ve been doing.”

She hugged him. “I love you, Tony.”

“Love you, too.” He smacked her lightly on the butt. “Now up with you, before LJ does something besides stand in the doorway, and decides to chastise me for not packing.”

Abby sat up with a grin. “Gibbs!” She bounced over and gave him a hug.

“Hey, Abbs.”

Tony turned around and gave them some privacy, tuning out their conversation and focusing on folding his shirts to minimize wrinkles.

A bit later, strong arms came around him, pulling him away from his packing. He wrapped his arms around his mate’s shoulders. “Hi.”

Jethro nibbled at his throat scales.

“That’s not fair.” Tony squirmed a little. “Seriously, don’t start something we don’t have time to finish.”

“You’re irresistible,” Jethro whispered against his skin.

And really, he didn’t think he’d ever get tired of hearing things like that from Jethro, but he had to make one last effort before he completely lost control of his senses. “Packing!” he gasped.

Jethro pulled, back, holding Tony loosely. “Thanks for talking to Abby.”

“She’s what I always imagined a sister would be like. Which, considering that she sees you as a father figure, is kinda creepy,” Tony said with a grin.

Jethro had a look like he dearly wanted to deliver a headslap.

They got back to packing, though Jethro was done way ahead of Tony. He barely made it down before it was time for an early lunch and a protracted farewell with Abby and Penelope, then it was time to head to the airport.

The flight to London was nearly eight hours and put them in at 0300 local time. Tony could seriously get used to flying on Jim’s plane! Unfortunately, he was very alert, so rest seemed improbable, but unlike commercial flights, there was potential to actually be able to sleep.

Tony spent a good deal of the flight time talking with Spencer, who seemed more settled and happy than when Tony had first met him. His affect was still a little flat, but Tony figured that was just part of his personality. The important part was that Tony could feel that Spencer was content and happy.

Since they had the time, he showed the trio how to mentally communicate with each other. Spencer was eager to try it. Rossi was agreeable, though not eager, but Hotch looked skeptical. Tony left them to their experiments, reminding himself to tell the others, then sat by Jethro, content to just be with his mate.

At Heathrow, it was pretty obvious the customs agent recognized Tony, and perhaps even recognized Spencer, as his emergence had been a mere fifteen months earlier. Jeremy would let it slip to the media first thing in the morning that Tony was in London to meet with Lord Devon, so any early leak from the customs guy should have very little impact.

Jeremy’s home, which was more like a manor, was about an hour from the airport. Tony wondered if all dragons gravitated toward larger properties… giving them a place to shift when they wanted to. One of Jeremy’s Betas was awake to let the five new arrivals in, showing them immediately to bedrooms.

Even though it was getting close to five in the morning, Tony was on east coast time and wasn’t all that tired. Besides, he had a mate who owed him for teasing his scales when they didn’t have time to do anything about it! Jethro was taking care of basic unpacking, so Tony stripped out of his clothes, and lay on his stomach, legs slightly apart, waiting for his mate to catch a clue.

A couple seconds later, there was a gasp, followed by, “Fuck, you look hot like that.” His mate’s body settled heavy on his back, knees forcing his legs further apart. “Don’t expect to get out of this position any time soon,” was whispered hotly in his ear.

Tony shivered. Oh yeah, this was perfect

Later in the morning, Jethro dragged him out of bed at 0900. “You’ll never adjust to the time change if you don’t get up. Besides, we’re meeting with Jeremy’s people in an hour.”

With ill grace, Tony grabbed his toiletry kit and headed for the shower, walking a little gingerly because of the long ride Jethro had treated him to earlier. To his surprise, his mate joined him in the shower and then proceeded to more than make up for the early wakeup. And really, if Jethro was going to make it up to him that way, he was welcome to wake Tony early every day.

After breakfast, they had a long tactical session with several dragons implicitly trusted by Jeremy. Three Betas, and two Alphas – all from MI5. The Alphas felt like they had Wyvern bonds, but Tony couldn’t do anything about that now. He made a note to talk to Jeremy about it later, wondering if this was going to be his life… bond detector.

There was also another Alpha and Wyvern, Adofo and Devrim, who were council members from Egypt. Jeremy wanted at least six Council members to approve the death order of Rupert Sewell II. The three mated pairs represented that six. The new pair Jeremy had brought in were privately brought up to speed on just about everything. It was a difficult discussion, and they were somewhat doubtful, but the neck scales sort of spoke for themselves.

Eventually the new Alpha and Wyvern agreed with the plan, insisting on being bonded at the earliest opportunity. After the operation was over, they would work on a proposal for how to handle Alpha/Wyvern bonding for the approximately 170 other pairs.

Everything about their plan to handle Sewell today was fine, except Tony was pretty unhappy with the part that required all the Wyverns to basically stay out of it.

Jethro pulled him aside. “I know you’re capable, Tony. This isn’t about that. This is about an Alpha, who is potentially going to have help from other Dr–Alphas or Betas, who could rip you to shreds if he were so inclined.”

“I don’t want to be in a bubble for the rest of my life,” Tony gritted out.

“And you won’t be. If we were at NCIS, facing a human criminal, I’d even let you take point, but Alphas are different. And from what you’ve told me, the protection is why we were chosen by the Omegas. Because physically, you’re more vulnerable. Against a human, there’d be no contest.” Tony noticed Jethro was using the more conventional terms for their kind in deference to the uninformed Drakes nearby.

Jethro continued. “And of all the Omegas who will be on site, you have the most tactical experience. All of you who are familiar with firearms will have them, but you’ll be the most heavily armed.”

“I’m surprised you’re even bringing me,” he said a little sourly

“Leaving you behind when someone is practically hunting you is not an option.” Jethro frowned at him. “Blair, Devrim, and Richard have to be there as council members. Spence sure isn’t going to be left behind alone. Plus, there’s no one I trust on my six more than you. There will be four Betas with you, and I need you in command to make sure no one comes up from behind if Sewell decides to go down fighting. Also, there might be humans there. At least Sewell the younger and his lawyer. Hopefully everyone else is gone.”

Tony reluctantly nodded. He never liked being the rear line, but he got it.

Once at the Center, tactical command was set up in the caretaker’s cottage at the edge of the property. There were two techs in front of a bank of monitors, both from MI5. One spun around to face them. “Name’s Kip. Council members are set up already and are in the Center proper. Your mics and earpieces are there. Radio silence will begin in fifteen minutes. As soon as we have confirmation of the target, we’ll signal the team in Burntisland to get control of the residence. Questions?”

Tony contemplated the two techs for a second, then glanced at the two MI5 Alphas he’d met at Jeremy’s. He nearly sighed. These two were unemerged Wyverns, and he’d bet his favorite leather jacket these two had a chosen right in the room. He imagined they were selected for this mission because of an inexplicable bond with the Alphas. Somehow he’d have to get it out to the unmated Alphas that if they had an inexplicable anything with a human, they needed to contact a center, because it was probably, in fact, explicable.

Everyone donned tactical gear, then split up to their assigned locations. Spencer and one Beta were staying in the command center. Tony moved into the main building along with the rest of the rear line.

They had to maintain radio silence as Sewell’s hearing range was unknown. Tactical chatter was absent, but the Council members had to maintain normal conversation. After a few minutes, there was a double tap on the mic that meant someone was on approach.

Tony was hoping Sewell would just give up, but he had a feeling that wasn’t likely. He was really uncomfortable in this situation – basically deaf and blind to what was happening outside.

The signal to end radio silence came over the earpiece. As Tony and his team moved out to cover the primary team, he could hear Jeremy ordering Sewell to surrender for trial for the kidnapping of an Omega.

As the large circular drive came into view, Tony immediately spotted Sewell Senior. He looked like his son only larger in stature. He had two bigger men right behind him that Tony figured were his Betas. Then there was his son, who looked a cross between freaked out and indignant. And finally an older man with a briefcase, who Tony thought was probably the lawyer.

Richard, Blair and Devrim were already falling back to join Tony. Richard was moved into a protected position as he had very little tactical experience. Blair didn’t like guns, but could use them competently, and Devrim had been in the Turkish Army before choosing a mate in the Egyptian Air Force.

The primary team was in a wide circle around the limo with guns trained on Sewell or his Betas.

“You have no proof of anything, and have no right to detain me,” Sewell growled at Jeremy.

“The Council has determined that there is adequate evidence for a trial. You will surrender, or we will take you by force,” Jeremy replied with calm authority.

Sewell’s phone started chiming, and Tony figured he was getting notified that a strike team had hit the home in Burntisland.

“Do not answer that.” Jeremy sounded quite menacing… Tony was kinda impressed.

Sewell smiled darkly. “You think your way of running the Council will see us thrive? We need to control the Omegas, Jeremy! We in every way are superior, yet you give your Omega equal position to you on the Council? This can no longer be tolerated. And others feel as I do.”

“You think enslaving an Omega is going to give you power, Rupert?” Jeremy retorted.

“You know nothing!” Sewell spat. “How long have you been trying to determine the source of your information leak? That’s the power of just one well-controlled Omega! Imagine if we put them all in their place, serving us as they are meant to?”

“You are the one operating under gross misinformation,” Jeremy replied with a shake of his head. “If you actually had a bond with an Omega, you’d never say such asinine tripe.”

Suddenly everything went to hell in a handcart. Sewell shoved his son away and shifted. A huge dark brown Drake was now half squishing the limo. The primary team fell back and four of the Alphas shifted, including Jethro. Then Sewell’s Betas shifted, followed by the rest of the primary team.

How could any human survive in that press of dragons? Tony wondered in horrified fascination.

Four of the Council Drakes charged the renegade Drakes, trying to herd them closer to the trees. Tony ordered his team to fall back further and fan out to give them room to shift if the fighting headed their way. He was dividing his attention between watching their six, and locating the humans in the hopes of extracting them.

Jethro was easy to keep an eye on as he was the only black Drake. Sewell tried to take to the sky, but Jethro brought him back down before he made it twenty feet in the air. Sewell then focused most of his attack on Jethro.

Years of training allowed Tony to remain focused, but part of him was appalled at how violent this encounter was. It felt so wrong. One of the Betas was already down and not moving. The other seemed particularly vicious, and was being herded by Jim and one of the MI5 Alphas. The Council dragons shifted in and out of the fight, clearly focused on maintaining the line, and not letting the battle get too close to the main buildings or the Wyverns.

Sewell broke away again and took flight. Jethro and Hotch together brought him down right into an enormous warehouse-sized building that Tony knew was used for emergences and gatherings. As large as the building was, it was still no match for three Alpha Drakes.

Tony realized the Council dragons had moved the fighting enough away that they could get the two humans. He ordered two of the Betas to retrieve them. The younger Sewell was fine, though seemed to be having a panic attack. The attorney was unconscious and appeared to have a broken leg. Tony radioed the command center to have paramedics ready for as soon as the fighting cleared. To be on the safe side, Tony cuffed both, not wanting to be figuratively or literally stabbed in the back.

The second Beta was finally down, immediately shifting back to human. A hurt dragon would never shift unless they were dead, but they automatically reverted to human form at death. The first Beta was still down but in dragon form and had four Drakes guarding him.

Tony was trying to see through dust and debris to get an idea what was happening with Jethro, when Kip came over the coms. “Agent DiNozzo, the other team has reported in. The site is secure, the Omega was recovered unhurt.”

Thank God. Something was going right. “Casualties or fatalities?”

“Three fatalities amongst Sewell’s men. Four surrendered with varying degree of injury. Minor injuries only amongst the Council team. Agent Larabee is requesting to speak with an Omega immediately.”

“Sending Richard Turner now,” Tony replied, making the decision quickly.

He sent two Betas to escort Richard to the command center, returning full attention to the fight between his mate and the corrupt Drake. Tony’s eyes widened in shock when Sewell, now desperate, lit the tree line on fire.

Kip radioed that they had seen the fire, and fire brigade would be two minutes out as soon as the scene was safe. The trees were away from the manor, but fire was unpredictable and Tony wanted that fire taken care of sooner rather than later. He fervently wished his mate would end this quickly.

To Tony’s eyes, Sewell suddenly vanished. Hotch backed away and Jethro flew about thirty feet with something in his foreclaw. He realized after several beats that it was Sewell. A dead Sewell. The body was dropped unceremoniously on the ground near the crushed limo.

Sewell the younger started swearing and slinging insults when he realized that his father was dead. At the same time Kip comm’d to say that fire rescue were incoming. Most of the dragons were shifting back, though a few stayed in dragon form due to injuries, or to stand guard over the downed Beta.

Tony stuck his gun in Sewell III’s face. “I’m not very happy with you, so I’d suggest you shut the fuck up before I decide to do the world a favor and pull this trigger.”

Richard suddenly came over the comm. “Blair, Tony, I need you in the command center.”

Tony really didn’t want to leave; his mate wasn’t shifting back, which meant he was injured in some way, but he was walking and had been in the air. Tony reluctantly left with Blair, dragging Devrim along for good measure, caustically telling one of the Betas to shoot Sewell if he didn’t keep quiet.

In the command center, Richard was on a headset. “Hold on. I need to talk to Blair and Tony.” He pressed a button, presumably to mute. “The Wyvern is fighting the urge to shift.” Blair immediately groaned, but Tony had to think a minute to draw the connection, since this was all new to him. If a Wyvern didn’t select a mate, they were locked in their human form until they found someone they deemed acceptable. Oh damn.

“What’s the problem?” Tony asked. “How many unmated Alphas are on site? Of the people we sent, there’s only one.”

Richard replied, “There’s two others, one from the Council, one from Scotland Yard. The issue is that we usually hold an inquiry in front of the Council for anyone involved with a corrupt dragon. That would include Bettany. Even if he’s been in captivity all this time, he was still participating.”

Tony rubbed his forehead. “Let me talk to Vin.” It only took a moment before there was a switch of people on the comms. “Vin, tell me if the guy is corrupted beyond recovery.”

There was a pause. “How is it you want me to be doin’ that?”

“You are a spirit master.” Tony was saying way more in front of these techs than he wanted to, but he consoled himself with the fact that they were Wyvs, too. “I know you’re new, but I trust your gut on this. And get Ezra’s opinion. First impulse here. Don’t overthink it.”

“Hold on, I’ll get him.” After about two minutes Vin was back. “We think he’s okay.”

“All right, I’m assuming there’ll still be an inquiry, but I think him being mated to a stable Alpha would set everyone’s mind at ease and keep him from being under a magnifying glass. Uh, I’m looking to Blair and Richard to concur, but if he can’t fight off the shift, let him choose, but Vin, no bonding and no spirit summoning until he’s back here and met with the Council. We can’t prevent mating, but I think the rest has to wait.”

Blair and Richard were both nodding agreement.

“Keep us posted, we’re mopping up here. I’m going to leave you with Richard. I need to get back out there.” He handed the headset back to Richard.

Blair and he headed back out. “That was a good call, Tony. I think Vin and Ezra were perfect to make that decision. I wonder who he’s going to choose?”

Tony had a suspicion that Denver was picking up another mated pair. “I think Josiah; although, I haven’t met the other two. I think his energy would be appealing to someone in Bettany’s situation. Have you met him?”

“Yes. And I think you’re right.” Blair looked thoughtful. “Josiah is a gentle soul. But I half wish Colin had a little time to recover before being thrust into a mating. But the dragon does what it wants to. If it is Josiah, I know he’ll be patient and help him heal. Though Josiah has never shown a desire to mate that I know of. Not sure what that’s about.”

When they rounded the corner of the building, Tony was relieved to see the fire was almost out. LJ was still in dragon form, which really had Tony concerned. Everything was being wrapped up with near military efficiency, so Tony ventured into the fray and moved up to his mate. Tony noticed a gaping bleeding wound above Jethro’s foreleg.

Tony gasped, fighting off the urge to do something really weird. Jethro’s head swung around and he met Tony’s eyes, giving Tony a big old dragon glare.

“I get that you’re hurt and can’t shift back now, but I’m staying here with you. Suck it up, Marine.” Tony rested a hand on Jethro’s scales.

Rossi appeared near his elbow in human form. “He’ll be okay. It’ll take a few hours for something like that.”

“Thanks.” Going with an impulse, he asked, “Hey, listen, do you guys ever breathe fire on each other when you’re injured?”

Rossi blinked at him. “Ah, no. Why?”

Tony shook his head. “I… I’m not sure. When I first saw LJ hurt, I wanted to shift and breathe fire on him. That sounds insane, so I didn’t, but I figure I don’t know all that much yet about dragons.” He continued to stroke the warm black scales.

Shaking his head, Rossi replied, “I’ve never heard of anything like that.”

Jethro nudged him to get his attention, then nodded.

“LJ, that’s probably not a good idea. I don’t know where that thought even came from.” He got another nudge. “What if you get hurt worse?” Another nudge followed by a glare. “No.” After a long stare-off, Tony finally threw up his hands. “You stubborn bastard.” He turned to Rossi. “Do you think this is a good idea?”

Rossi shrugged and held up his hands. “I’m not getting between you two, but I know if Spence had an impulse like that, I’d want him to try. Wyvern fire is tight and easily controlled. Worst thing, you cauterize the wound and he still has to stay in dragon form to heal. The fire won’t affect his scales at all.”

Tony sighed and waved Rossi away. “Clear ‘em out.” He waited a minute for the area around him to be clear then shifted. He head butted Jethro, annoyed that his mate was pushing this, though his instincts were really happy with the idea. Jethro nudged him back.

Reluctantly, Tony tried to breathe fire, which he’d never tried before, and couldn’t manage it.

“You’re trying too hard to control it. Just let it happen,” Rossi called out from a safe distance.

Tony closed his eyes and let his mind blank as much as possible, trying to let instinct reign. A few seconds later the fire came, right at Jethro’s foreleg. It was just like Rossi said, tight and well controlled; not nearly as destructive as Drake fire. And Jethro had no more injury. Tony stared in amazement. Was Wyvern fire healing to Drakes in general, or just their own Alpha?

Jethro shifted back and stepped up to Tony, stroking near his eye. “You never fail to surprise me.”

Jeremy appeared. “Tony, you think Omega fire is healing for all Drakes, or just your mate? Because we have others injured.”

Tony shifted, so he could talk with the others. “I’m not sure. I… think maybe it’s universal. I think the spirit merger gives us a guide to help lead us to our abilities. And I think healing Drakes might be a universal ability.”

Blair was there. “I agree. I’ve had impulses since the merger that I’ve never had before. So has Jim.”

Tony looked around and noticed four dragons who were injured. “Let’s split this up, make sure it’s not just me.”

Twenty minutes later, all the dragons were healed, except Sewell’s Beta, who they were still deciding what to do with. He could wake up and decide to fight again, and none of the Alphas wanted a Wyvern that close to a possibly corrupt dragon. Still, it was not a Tony specific skill, for which he was grateful.

The fire was out, but the firefighters were in the trees checking for hot spots. There were four Drakes staying shifted for when the Beta woke. Everything was in a holding pattern until that happened. Tony briefed the Alphas on what had happened in Burntisland.

Ten minutes later, Richard appeared, moving close to Jeremy. “He chose someone named Josiah Sanchez from the ATF team. Larabee’s men are going to be en route to London as soon as possible. We’re uncertain if the mating is going to happen immediately. If so, they’ll have to juggle that around the mop-up.”

Tony realized that the Alphas were subtly herding the Wyverns further away from the downed Beta. He rolled his eyes. Overprotective bastards.

Since they were forced to wait, Tony decided to address another issue. “Jeremy, question for you.” He realized his mic was live. Lately he’d needed to communicate unheard fair frequently, so had a small notepad in the pocket of his cargos. On it he wrote, ‘how were the techs for this mission chosen?’

Jeremy read it, then looked surprised, but wrote a response. ‘The MI5 Alphas reported that they worked with these techs closely and had complete confidence in them. Why?’

The portion of their team who was clustered around, read the notes and all glanced at Tony.

“Um, remember what I found in Colorado, practically everywhere I went?”

“Ah!” Jeremy looked enlightened, then frowned. “Oh dear. That’s poor timing. Perhaps we can deal with it tomorrow while you’re still available? I’ll ensure they can all be present here or at my home.”

Tony nodded. Like he was gonna say no.

Sewell’s Beta suddenly shifted back to human form, and even from a distance, Tony could tell he was dead, not healed.

Tony felt a little ill. The dragon had been dying by inches rather than slowly healing, and they hadn’t helped him.

Jethro’s hands were suddenly holding his face forcing him to look away. “Tony, healing him could have just started the fight again. You saw the fighting, he was vicious and wasn’t backing down. When a Drake becomes corrupt, we have to kill them.”

“I thought you were able to rehabilitate some of the Betas?”

Jethro shook his head. “Not that one, Tony. We’d have given him the opportunity, because we’re not going to rip apart an unconscious dragon, but trust me that he was fully corrupt. He’d have never taken a way out.”

Tony nodded, but turned away. He wasn’t used to this, and he didn’t want to get used to it. It really upset the Guardian in him. “Is this what we’re facing in Florida?”

“I’m hoping it’s not this bad, and it hasn’t spread down to the Betas.”

“But you think the Alphas for sure?”

“At least one, yes. More likely two,” Jethro responded, watching Tony carefully.

Needing to get away, Tony decided to check in with the techs. He wasn’t sure why the method for handling corruption bothered him so much.

Three hours later, everything was settled and they were shown a room in the center. Jeremy had asked everyone to move to the center to wrap all the details from today. It would keep all the players in one place while the Council held its hearings and inquiries. Jim, Blair, Rossi and Spence had retrieved everyone’s stuff at some point. Jack’s guys were headed straight back to Colorado, but the ATF team were due in with Bettany and three Betas who surrendered themselves for a Council review board.

Tony was going through a bag hastily packed by someone else, looking for his toiletries, when he was pulled up, turned around and held by his upper arms. Jethro was giving him a concerned look. “You need to stop.”

“I’m not doing anything!” Tony shot back.

“You’ve been frenetic the last three hours, helping everywhere, not pausing to eat or drink. You need to stop!” Jethro said with more force.

He’d kept himself busy, taking on a lot of logistics that required an insane amount of running around. Tony held himself stiffly for a long time, then felt himself giving in. “It’s been a long time since I was so affected by an op. It rattled me, and I shouldn’t be this upset!”

Jethro released Tony’s arms and instead framed his face, caressing his cheek. “Nothing you’ve experienced before could prepare you for dragons battling each other. And…” he trailed off and didn’t seem inclined to continue.

“What were you going to say?” Tony prompted.

“I think you might take it worse because of your role.”

“You mean the Guardian thing?” Tony asked.

Jethro nodded.

“That your gut?”

“Yes. Your role seems to be about dragons thriving, and I can’t imagine us fighting each other sits well with you.” There was a pause before he continued. “Blair was very affected too, more so than anyone besides you. In light of what Precious had to tell you about the three…” Jethro trailed off, letting Tony fill in the gaps.

Tony nodded. That felt right.

Jethro’s hands settled on his shoulders. “Several times today, my instincts were telling me to get you by the wrists and settle you down. I stopped myself, but this is the end. I can feel how on edge you are.”

Tony did not like the ultimatum, but he also understood where Jethro was coming from. He struggled with himself for several moments before he dropped his head on his mate’s shoulder. Frustrated and not a little worn out, he asked, “Can we just take a shower and not deal with today anymore?”

“Yeah, Tony. That’d be fine,” Jethro whispered.

A few minutes later, hot water was pouring over him, Jethro holding him from behind. Closing his eyes, he leaned back, resting against his mate and letting a bloody awful day fade away.

– – – –

Chapter Twenty-seven

Tony was just dropping off to sleep when there was a knock at the door. Though it was earlier than his normal bedtime, he was exhausted from the events of the day and did not want to deal with anything.

“Richard, he’s hit his limit for the day,” he heard Jethro say quietly.

“Gibbs, I would not normally intrude, but Mr. Bettany is in very poor shape emotionally. Several of us have been trying to settle him down, but with little success. We thought perhaps Tony would have a better chance.”

“I don’t see what Tony can do that Blair can’t,” Jethro replied, tone soft but firm.

Tony rolled out of bed, hoping Jethro was blocking any view since Tony was naked. He struggled into jeans and a plain white t-shirt.

“I was thinking of the bond Wyverns develop with him as the Guardian. It might make him feel safe,” Richard answered, sounding tired and frustrated.

Stepping up behind Jethro, Tony rubbed his mate’s shoulder. “It’s okay, LJ. I’m up.”

Jethro looked like he was going to argue, but Tony gave him a pleading look. He didn’t want to fight about this.

“I’m sorry, Tony,” Richard said. “Perhaps talking will be enough, but if not, perhaps the Guardian Bond?”

Tony could hear the capital letters in the name and wanted to groan out loud. That cheek rubbing thing had a name now?

On the first floor in one of the large common rooms, he found the ATF team as well as all the Council members, plus the FBI trio. Bettany was standing by himself on the far side of the room. Josiah was between Chris and Buck, their hands on Josiah’s shoulders. Josiah looked stony-faced, jaw clenched tight.

Tony tried to get an emotional pulse on the room, but it just made him a feel empathically dizzy. He crossed the room to stand right in front of Bettany. “Hi, Colin.” The man was thin and looked exhausted.

“Agent DiNozzo,” he said hesitantly, eyes flicking quickly to Josiah, then just as quickly away.

In an instant, Tony knew that talking wasn’t going to remedy the situation. “It’s just Tony. Listen, let’s go outside. In fact, all Wyverns outside.”

Bettany seemed uncertain, but followed him out.

Blair, who looked kind of strung out like Tony felt, sidled up to him and asked, “What are we doing, Tony?”

“I have no idea. But I’m too tired to try to rationalize my impulses, so I’m going with it and we’ll see what happens. I’m going to shift and do the Wyvern bond thingy, then I’d like the rest of you to shift and greet Colin. Have some real physical contact.”

He stepped up to Colin. “I’m going to shift… I know you’re confused, but if you’re willing, just touch me somewhere, see if you feel like joining me in your dragon form. You should be able to shift now, though I’m not sure for how long if you don’t complete your mating.”

Colin looked freaked at the mention of mating, but tentatively nodded. Tony could only wonder how he’d fought off the mating impulses thus far. His dragon had practically forced him to choose an acceptable mate when his human half clearly wasn’t ready for it. That he’d beaten back the mating drive was pretty impressive. And if Colin were never ready for a mating bond, Tony knew the other dragons would support his decision.

“Great. If you feel like shifting, just make eye contact with me for a bit and we’ll see what happens.”

Tony shifted and Colin tentatively reached out. A few seconds later, a blue Wyvern was practically nose to nose with Tony. He took note that even though Colin had a partial bond with Sewell, he had no throat scales, which made sense since Precious had said he refused to say the rest of the bonding phrases. They stared at each other for a long time, but eventually the whatever-it-was settled between them, then he was getting nearly head-butted by Bettany.

All the other Wyverns began to shift and greet Colin – and each other, because some had never met before tonight. Tony was tired, so pretty much stayed put while the Wyverns slid around each other sinuously, almost more snake-like than dragon. He did manage to put out enough energy to do the bond-thingy with Devrim.

Vin and Blair seemed to gravitate to Colin, and wound up one on each side. Tony tried to think what to do next. He shifted back and gestured for Vin and Blair at least to stay in dragon form, but the rest chose to do so as well. The back yard was full of Wyverns reflecting the moonlight like many-colored strands of pearls. “Colin, I’m going to get the mated Alphas, our Alphas, to come greet you one at a time. This way you’ll know we accept you and will protect you.”

The Alphas gave him some funny looks, and Tony was about to start shoving them in Colin’s direction, when Buck shifted and headed over. One at a time, the Alphas touched their snouts to Colin’s.

Tony told Josiah to shift and wait a little ways away, let Colin come to him.

It took a while but Bettany finally approached Josiah again, tentatively nudging his mate, then shifting back, looking and feeling steadier and less shocky. “I’m so sorry… I’ve been so freaked out by everything, and I was feeling trapped again, and–”

He broke off when Josiah shifted and stood in front of him. “It’s fine. You have nothing to apologize for, and I’ll wait for you as long as you need me to.”

Colin reached out for Josiah’s hand.

Tony turned, waving everyone into the house. Josiah could take it from here.

Jethro took his arm and guided him to the stairs, but Tony called back, “Vin, Ezra… can I talk to the two of you tomorrow?” He caught Blair’s eye. “I know you’ll be around, and I need to talk to you and Jim at some point, too.”

Blair nodded, but Jim was guiding the exhausted Shaman away at a good clip.

Jethro tugged his arm again. “Come on, Tony, anything else can wait for tomorrow.” Back in their room, they quickly stripped and climbed back into bed, Tony wrapped around Jethro.

“People are going to have to wait sometimes, Tony,” Jethro whispered. “You can’t be on call every minute.”

Stroking his mate’s chest, Tony closed his eyes. “I know, Jethro.”

“Go to sleep.” Strong fingers lightly massaged his scalp and Tony happily let the world fade away.

Sunlight seemed to pierce his eyelids, forcing him to wake. Groaning, he peered blearily around the room. He hadn’t noticed how sheer the drapes were last night. Seriously, who puts nearly sheer curtains in a room designed for a being with super-sharp eyesight? It was absurd.

He rolled over and tried to hide under the pillow. A strong arm wrapped around his waist, pulling him firmly against a warm body. The pillow was removed and Tony hissed a little at his mate. Cuddling… Good. Light… Bad.

Jethro chuckled, then dropped a kiss on the back of his neck. “It’s a little before eight. You getting up or sleeping?”

“Evil light,” Tony whined wiggling around to hide his face in his mate’s neck. “Better.” He half expected Jethro to prompt him out of bed, but nothing was said, he was just held. Okay, he could forgive the evil light.

Eventually, Tony started to feel more alert. He suddenly realized how different this was for him… waking up with someone, being held, but all week he’d been basking in it, never realizing how unusual it was. He wasn’t sure why he suddenly noticed it. “I’ve certainly gotten used to you quickly,” he commented idly.

“Meaning?”

Tony shrugged one shoulder. “On one hand, I’m not used to having people around, on the other, feel like I’ve been waking up with you forever. You’re completely integrated and it happened fast.”

“Hm. Hadn’t thought about it, but you’re right, felt natural from the first.” Jethro pulled his head back so their eyes met. “You fit me perfectly, Tony.”

The part of Tony that didn’t deal well with emotion wanted to turn to sex, but a newer part of him was content to let the emotion simmer between them. He gave Jethro a nearly-chaste kiss, murmuring, “I love you,” against his lips.

They stayed close for a long time; idle touches and gentle kisses. It never really went anywhere, and Tony was fine with that.

As the clock was ticking closer to nine, they reluctantly parted and got ready to face the day. Once downstairs, one of the Betas who worked with Tony yesterday asked that they join the Council members upstairs in the large conference room.

Tony started to go, but Jethro grabbed his arm. “Breakfast first. It’s not that urgent.”

Half an hour later, he entered to find the six Council members plus Chris and Vin. He was pretty sure this room had soundproofing, and there were sound generators running.

“Good morning, Tony, Jethro.” Richard gestured them to seats. “We were just reviewing the activity in Burntisland with Chris and Vin.”

They sat, but his eyes were on Adofo and Devrim. Something was different. Then he spotted the throat. “You bonded?”

They both nodded and even the serious Adofo managed a slight smile. He knew from last night that Devrim was peach, and Adofo was a similar shade as Rossi, deep brown with a touch of purple in it.

“Yes. Last night,” Devrim said. “And Vin was gracious enough to summon our spirit guides. It’s a wondrous thing. We are the only Alpha/Omega pair in Egypt. I am aware that life will be hectic for you for some time, but we would be grateful if you would consent to meet our Alphas at some point in the future to see if any have bonds. There is a lovely dragon center in Turkey we could summon them to.”

Tony nodded. “I don’t know when, but we’ll come. Hopefully it won’t take more than a couple months to get there.”

They both dipped their heads in thanks.

Jeremy leaned forward, arms braced on the table. “Our first order of business was to decide how to handle the situation with Mr. Bettany and Agent Sanchez. Thus far we have all agreed that the Council will place no restrictions on Mr. Bettany other than Vincent or Blair personally guiding the development of his gifts, and Blair’s ban for him on the spirit realm will stand until Blair feels he’s stable and ethically sound.”

Tony held up a hand to stop Jeremy for a second. “What happened after we went to bed?”

Blair answered, “The mating happened, and they’ve sequestered themselves. I briefly spoke to Colin this morning when I took them breakfast and encouraged him to wait on bonding until he feels ready. Vin can summon their spirit dragons whenever they want them.”

“What’s next for them?” Tony queried, wondering how they’d sort out a life together when they came from such different places and backgrounds.

Chris stepped in. “Since they’re nesting, we figure they’ll spend the week here, then Bettany has some issues to think through. His family was notified this morning that he’s alive, and are on their way.”

“You think they’ll go back to Denver?” Jethro asked.

Chris shrugged. “Not sure. I think Josiah’ll do whatever’s best for his mate, and that may mean staying here. We’d miss him if that’s what he chooses, but I’d understand.” He settled a hand on his mate’s forearm. “Our Wyverns have to come first.”

Tony nodded. “What’s the rest of your team going to do now?”

“Nate’s headed back today. Buck, Ez and JD want to spend a couple days in London before returning home,” Chris replied.

Vin nudged his mate. “And Larabee is leavin’ off that as soon as this meetin’s finished, we’re locking ourselves in a room for a few days.” He looked to the head of the table. “So we done?”

Richard chuckled. “Yes, and I do apologize for the strain this has placed on your new bond. The mating week is quite important, and I regret the imposition.”

Vin shook his head while getting to his feet and pulling Chris up. “Nothing to apologize for. Problem had ta be dealt with.”

Tony hid a smile as the two vacated the room. He’d really wanted to get a few minutes alone with Vin, but he completely understood the situation.

Blair caught Jethro and Tony’s attention. “Even though we haven’t been able to really question Colin yet, Chris’ team got some information about how Colin was kidnapped. Fifteen years ago, he and his doctor called this center, both spoke to the same man, who instructed Colin where to go and what the best route to take was, and got his vehicle information.

“Colin said he always remembered the name of the man he talked to because it was coincidentally the same name as the man who abducted him. Rupert. He was forced off the road and abducted en route,” Blair said with a grimace.

After glancing over some notes, Blair continued. “We checked council records, and Rupert Sewell III was working weekends and some afternoons at the center his last year of high school. He was working the day the doctor’s statement indicates the report was made to the center.”

Tony wished he were surprised. He wondered how long it would take them to determine the extent of the damage caused by Sewell… both junior and senior.

Jeremy took over. “The Council has little we can do in this situation other than dismissal, however, Scotland Yard feels there’s sufficient evidence to charge him with conspiracy and accessory to the kidnapping. The investigation will no doubt be lengthy, as there may be additional irregularities we find in the course of our internal inquiries.”

From there, they had a fairly long post-mortem about the events of the prior week. Tony and Jethro were also given a reference sheet regarding all the email lists and login IDs for the Council website. Jethro just handed his copy to Tony, which made Tony laugh. Tony was about to set it aside, but noticed a section about how to access the Council members’ section.

“Why is there info here about accessing the members’ areas?” he asked, brows pulled together in puzzlement.

“That’s a rather perfect segue,” Jeremy replied. “I was just about to address that. Considering your role, skills, and frankly even you temperament and leadership experience, we’d like you and Jethro to be on the Dragon Council.”

Before Tony could object, Jeremy lifted a hand to ask for more time. “Blair told me you’d likely be as reluctant as he and James, but there are several advantages. You’d have better access to Council resources, including additional security, you’d be able to act with more autonomy, and you’d have diplomatic status in most countries – within reason. There’d be some bureaucratic headaches, but I think those would be minor weighed against the benefits, and you’d be entitled to support staff as needed to handle the trivialities that come with the position.”

Tony was about to argue that it wasn’t a good idea, but Jethro lay a hand on his arm. “Tony…” Jethro hesitated, and Tony knew his mate was on board, though he was surprised as he’d never have suspected Jethro would want to join the Council. Then he got that it was for Tony’s sake. “At least for now, this is going to make what we have to do easier.”

“I’ve never gotten the sense that you were interested in rising in the ranks… you fought even taking over the east coast,” Tony protested.

“That’s true, but things have changed. We have this duty to the dragon community, and this helps us do that. Don’t shoot yourself in the foot.”

Sighing, Tony looked back to Jeremy. “Don’t you have to run this by the rest of the Council?”

Jeremy nodded. “Yes. We’d be adding a twenty-third and twenty-fourth seat on the Council, and that would need a majority vote. However, the six of us, and considering Richard and I are the heads, have the power to grant you temporary privileges until the remainder of the Council can be briefed and a vote called.”

Tony nodded. One of the things he had been able to get to in his dragon lessons was that eleven Alpha/Wyvern pairs comprised the council. Ten represented the territories, and the last slot was the head of the council. Now apparently there’d be two spots for the Guardians. He had a hunch that once Daniel’s role was revealed the council would grow to thirteen pairs.

Lunch was brought in; apparently the Center staff had been allowed to return to work. Which was a win because Tony was getting hungry!

While they were eating, Blair commented, “Tony, we spoke with the MI5 Alphas that you felt the Wyvern bond on, and they both immediately identified the two techs. I spoke with the almost-Wyverns and they really want to emerge. The sooner the better in their minds. Would you mind midwifing again?”

Tony shook his head, though he glared at Blair for the term. “I don’t mind. But let’s start sooner rather than later.”

Richard glanced at Jeremy then said, “There’s the minor concern that the building we use for emergences is flattened.”

Waving the issue away, Tony replied, “Unless they object, let’s just do it on the back lawn. Every emergence I’ve been present for has happened outdoors. Why buck the trend? Incidentally, before I forget again, Precious showed me this way Alphas and Wyverns can communicate or share thoughts. It’s kinda awkward and you wouldn’t want to do it for long, but it can come in handy.”

He used Blair and Jim for his visual aid and got them into position. Seeing the position, he realized it looked like the Alpha was holding the Wyvern’s hands to their Alpha mark. All in all, the position was a little silly. “I already showed this to the trio. Spence was enthused, the others not so much. Now, just intend to share a thought or picture or something.”

When they got the desired result, Blair was really thrilled with it, Jim looked contemplative. Once everyone got the hang of it, Tony rubbed his hands together. “Okay, I want to get on with the first emergence. Just tell me where I can find the two techs.”

Everyone got to their feet, clearly intending to follow, and Blair said, “Oh, no. We’re coming with. I want to see this.”

They did the first one and another peach Wyvern emerged. While the new mates were wrestling on the back lawn, Devrim stepped up beside Tony. “You are a remarkable gift to all dragons, Anthony DiNozzo.”

Tony felt himself flushing. “I think someday this won’t be so dependent upon me. Others will be able to do,” he waved to the new pair, “whatever this is. I don’t fully have a sense of it yet, but it’ll happen.”

Devrim nodded, but speared Tony with an intense look. “And that would be a great blessing, but we’ll still be honored that you are among us.”

“Thank you,” Tony finally conceded, trying to get out of the conversation gracefully.

It was about an hour before they could do the second one, Kip if Tony recalled the name correctly, and he was alarmed to see a lavender dragon. With a sense of guilt, Tony realized they had forgotten about the other two lavender Wyverns who probably desperately needed bonding.

As soon as he could, Tony shifted back and returned to the others. “I forgot that we needed to get the lavender dragons bonded. Spencer said there are two others?”

Blair nodded, but laid a reassuring hand on Tony’s arm. “First, neither have seven or nine bands, so they aren’t in as desperate a situation. But Spencer and I have been taking care of keeping that moving. The wheels are in motion. After discussion with Devrim this morning, we decided to focus on getting the spirit-gifted Wyverns up to speed first, so they can take care of the bondings. We’ve called an emergency meeting for this weekend here in London for the most powerful of the blue Wyverns. Excluding the new one in Colorado, who will be handled directly by Vin.”

Tony let out a relieved breath.

“Tony, please don’t feel like you have to keep track of every detail. You don’t have to make sure everything is okay. You’d go crazy.”

Tony sighed. Something was driving him to keep on top of things. And he needed to get ahead of whatever that urge was. “Listen, are you practicing your skills?” Tony asked vaguely, hoping Blair got the hint of what he meant.

Looking faintly perplexed, Blair nodded. “Yes, every night and sometimes in the morning and whenever I can fit it in. I’m pretty stable now, even though it’s only been a few days.”

“Stable enough to try it with others? Maybe Jim and Jethro?”

Blair’s brows shot up, but he was no dummy and got what Tony was hinting at. “Why don’t we try it, and see? If it doesn’t work, maybe try it shifted? We can give it a shot. Maybe soon… before I need to summon spirit guides for our new pairs.”

There were some questions about what they were up to, and Blair spun a story about meditation and it strengthening a bond and it was kind of dizzying really. He left Blair to it, promising to catch up with them in Jim and Blair’s room in half an hour.

He left Jethro talking with Adofo after extracting a promise to meet for some meditation exercises. Jethro had given him an odd look, but agreed readily enough.

Tony was on a mission to find Ezra if he could. He asked around and was directed to a sunroom on the second floor. Ezra was there with Buck, half in his mate’s lap, kissing deeply.

Tony immediately retreated, but before he could get more than a couple steps down the hall, he heard Buck call out, “Come on back, Tony.”

He opened the door cautiously. “I really didn’t mean to interrupt you.”

Buck waved him in. “If we weren’t prepared to put up with interruptions, we’d’a stayed in our room. Pull up a chair. Ez said you wanted to talk to him and Vin. Should I be looking for the other troublemaker?”

“I am not an instigator of trouble!” Ezra retorted hotly, for which Buck gave him a rather heavy kiss. It struck Tony that even though they seemed oddly matched on the surface, they were so complete together. It was also a little weird to see the normally so composed Ezra so mussed and casual. He was even wearing jeans. Designer jeans, but still a garment made of actual denim.

Once Buck was focused on him again, Tony waved off the question. “Vin hauled Chris off to their room earlier, and I think the metaphorical ‘Do Not Disturb’ is out. I’ll catch up with him later. I just wanted to check in with Ezra before time runs away.”

Buck scooted Ezra’s legs off his lap and got to his feet. “I’ll leave you two alone to chat. Ez, I’ll be in our room when you’re done.”

“Buck, you don’t have to leave… it’s not secret.” Tony tried to halt his departure.

“No worries, Tony. You two have a good talk.”

Tony frowned after Buck, then turned back to Ezra. “It’s not a matter of state secrets. I just wanted to check in with you. See how you’re doing.” When Ezra didn’t reply, Tony prompted, “So, tell me how you’re doing.”

An elegant brow arched up. “I am well, Mister-” He broke off at Tony’s scowl. “As you wish… Anthony it is.”

Tony could live with Anthony. “I need a little more… are you happy, are you glad you did it, do you need anything? Can I help?”

Ezra looked a little flustered. “I am pleased with my circumstances. Buck is… I really haven’t the words.”

Nodding, Tony tentatively added, “I’m still struggling with the fallout of how this is going to change my life. Especially my status as an agent. I’ve been concerned about you on that front.”

Color came to Ezra’s cheeks and he looked down. Tony could feel him wrestling with his emotions. “It is difficult,” he finally said. “However, I am grateful to be able to remain with my current teammates, and Buck’s presence in my life is more than adequate incentive to conquer any hardships.”

Tony didn’t press any further. “I was thinking that perhaps if I’m in your neck of the woods, or you’re anywhere near mine, we should just have a standing plan to have dinner.”

Ezra looked perplexed. “Is there a difficulty I should be cognizant of?”

Feeling a little sad for Ezra, Tony shook his head. “No, Ezra, I just like you. You know… friends? You can say no. It’s okay.”

Ezra flushed again and looked at his hands. After a moment, he met Tony’s gaze. “I would find that most agreeable.”

Getting to his feet, he offered Ezra his hand to shake. “You have my number and email. Keep in touch, yeah?”

Nodding, Ezra shook his hand firmly, then got up and headed for the door, no doubt to track down his mate and finish what they’d been up to before Tony interrupted. He hesitated at the door and murmured, “Thank you, Tony.”

When he was gone, Tony grinned. Ezra had dropped the formality. Score!

He headed for Jim and Blair’s room, but was stopped several times along the way. He extricated himself from each conversation quickly, but still managed to be the last to arrive.

The bedroom was fairly large, with a king sized bed and two arm chairs. Jethro was in one chair, Jim and Blair seated on the bed. The white noise generator was on already.

“What’s going on, Tony?” Jim asked.

“Just a little chat and some meditation,” Tony said evasively. Tony wasn’t sure how they’d handle the logistics of meditating together, but Blair was perfectly willing to jump in.

Blair immediately moved into a half lotus on the carpet. “Let’s all sit on the floor, and be sure we’re touching. I think I need to be touching Tony directly to have enough oomph to make this work. Then Jim on my other side.”

Jethro and Jim looked less than thrilled, but seated themselves on the floor. They didn’t even demur when they had to hold hands. Jethro was so getting a blow job later for being a good sport about this.

Blair did some basic meditation instruction for the Alphas, but their history in Special Forces had taught them both a lot of discipline of mind and they were easily able to maintain focus.

After a while, Tony was starting to wonder if this would work, but suddenly he felt a shift. He opened his eyes and they were there. Jim and Jethro were looking around curiously since they’d never seen the spirit plane before. Tony wondered if the grassy clearing they always arrived in had any significance. And it was kind of weird… blue grass and blue trees and just blue.

Blair sat on the ground and held out a hand for Tony. “I think I’ll be able to stay established longer if I’m in contact with you.” As soon as Tony was seated beside him and touching, he said, “Wow. Your connection is really stable. I can see why you’re able to remain once you’re here. We really need to work on getting you here on your own. And I’m not sure, but I think being here with my Alpha is making my hold in this plane stronger.”

Jim was still standing, arms crossed over his chest, pretty much focused solely on Tony. “What’s going on? I assume this was all to make sure we could have a fully private conversation.”

Jethro actually sat down and peered at Tony. “I have a hunch I know what this is about. But I’m still processing, Tony.” He could see how much it pained his mate to say that, even if it was half in jest. Jethro Gibbs did not process.

Tony sighed. “I know. And we should probably talk about it more first, but they’re making lots of plans and I feel strongly they need to account for this as they’re making decisions. I’m not sure why, but we need to get this out of the way.”

Looking resigned, Jethro nodded his acceptance.

Tony looked up at Jim. “I’m gonna get a crick. Sit. Besides, when I get this out, your knees would probably buckle. We wouldn’t want you to seem unmanly.” Jim frowned at him a bit, but sat. “Okay, the night I talked to Precious and the whole thing about my spirit dragon came up, there was a much bigger discussion that happened first. I feel strongly that we need to sit on the info awhile, but you need to be factoring it into your plans.”

He started by explaining the growing sense that there was something about Wyverns that was not clear to him, since every gift the dragons had seemed to go back to the Wyvs. Even Alphas existed because of Wyverns. He carefully laid out Precious’ responses to his question… About Yveria, their history, their pact with the Drakes, the whole deal.

There was a very long pause. Blair was round-eyed, staring at Tony. Jim was stony-faced. Jethro just looked resigned.

Finally, Blair managed. “Holy shit. Is this real? We’re aliens?”

“Like Precious said, not us exactly. Our ancestors were here a long time, I think we’re pretty much residents by now, and some of the gifts of our ancestors were either lost or are blocked because of the mixing with humans.”

Jim was looking at Jethro. “You buying this?”

“I really wish I could say no, but my gut says it’s true. The abilities Wyverns have is like nothing else ever in our history, and the gifts Drakes have only apply to Alphas, and those apparently came from the Wyverns. It makes too much sense, and I have no idea what to do about it.”

Jim turned to Tony again. “Why is it so important that we know about this and not the others?”

“Well, Precious was pretty specific that it was too soon for the wider dragon community to process this, and I shouldn’t tell anyone until the six of us had decided what to do.”

“Who’re five and six?” Blair asked, frowning in confusion.

“Daniel and Jack. Jethro and I are Guardians. You are the Shaman, spiritual leader, and Jim is something called the Sentinel, which I don’t fully understand – it popped into my head yesterday and I hear it in my head with capital letter, it’s somehow more than just the watchmen we talked about previously. Daniel is the Master of the Gate, and apparently there’s some irony in that I don’t get yet. Jack is the Shield. Again, I see it in capital letters. These are apparently ancient roles that always existed.”

“You’re leaving an important bit out, Tony,” Jethro admonished.

Tony sighed. “I really don’t think this has modern-day application, LJ.”

Blair squeezed his hand a bit. “Just tell us, man. We need to get it all out there. And I’m gonna need to do some serious processing of my own!”

Not sure he could get the words out without sounding like an idiot, Tony took a few breaths first. “Okay… Precious said the three Wyverns made up some kind of ruling triad, and together with their Drakes were the dragon leaders.” There was just no way to say that without sounding ridiculous.

Blair just blinked at him. Tony was pretty sure Jim had been turned to actual stone.

“Anyway,” he continued. “At some point, we need to get together with Daniel and Jack. The three Wyverns once together will form some sort of bond that will extend to our Alphas, and then the path should be revealed. I swear, this stuff downloads into my head in just those words! It makes me feel like I’m on daytime television.”

Jethro gave him a sympathetic look, but didn’t say anything.

“Oh! I forgot!” Tony suddenly remembered something important.

Jim groaned and dropped his head into his hand. “Jesus, Tony, have some mercy. I can’t take any more.”

Blair seemed to unfreeze at that and blew a raspberry at his Alpha. “Suck it up, big guy. What’d you forget, Tony?”

“Whatever it is Jack and Daniel are doing in that mountain, has fuck all to do with radar telemetry. It has something to do with aliens. According to Precious anyway. Apparently they are not going to be even a little surprised by the fact that aliens exist and have been to Earth. Are on Earth? Whatever.”

Blair’s mouth opened and closed several times, finally he managed an intelligible, “Huh.”

Jim was rubbing his forehead. “So what are we going to do now?”

Seeming to get back with the program, Blair replied, “Tony was absolutely right that we need to take this into account, because I’d like to meet with Daniel sooner rather than later.” When Jethro and Jim both stiffened, he admonished them. “Stop it. We can’t avoid this, and it’s better to get this bond thing settled and make choices based on all the information, rather than whatever we’re doing now.”

Blair thought for a second. “I’ll need to figure out how to adjust the schedule for the next couple of weeks. I’m thinking we can go next week, after the meeting this weekend with the senior blue Wyverns…” he trailed off, lost in his own thoughts.

Jethro leaned forward a bit, entering the conversation. “We need to not talk about this out loud except in the most vague terms. Use your marks, or do the spirit thing, but we can’t let this get out.”

Jim nodded and Blair was a couple seconds behind with his agreement.

Blair looked thoughtful. “Should we be talking to Precious about this?”

Tony shrugged. “We could. If either of us calls, Precious’ll answer. But It’s pretty fixed on the idea that we need to find our own way.”

Jim was shaking his head. “No more revelations today, Chief.”

Blair nodded his assent to hold off talking to Precious. He looked at Tony. “What do you think this bond will do?”

Tony shrugged. “I’m not fully certain, but I’ve had the sense that you should be able to do several of the things that only I’ve been able to do so far… like sensing the pre-bonds, and facilitating the Wyvern emergence. Maybe the bond between the three of us will settle that? But I don’t know for sure.”

“Any idea how it will affect the Alphas?” Blair asked, clearly mulling things over.

“Really not certain, I’m only sure that it will.”

– – – –

Chapter Twenty-eight

“Tell me about your family.”

At Jethro’s softly spoken query, Tony looked up from his book. They’d decided to take the morning to themselves before going to meet Uncle Jeffery in the afternoon, and had been lazing about the room, just being close. “Anything in particular?”

Though relaxed and reclining against the headboard, Jethro was looking at him intently. “Start with something easy.”

After tossing his book away, Tony turned so he was lying perpendicular to his mate, resting his head on Jethro’s lap. He knew Jethro had read his file, but figured he’d start off just like he’d asked… easy stuff. “Both sides of my family come from money. My father is the younger of two sons, older brother Vincenzo, parents were both from Italy. Mom was the youngest of three, two older brothers, Clive and Jeffery. As you know, Jeffery is the nineteenth Lord Devon. The former Paddington patriarch, Jasper, died about eight years ago.

“I’ve had minimal contact with both sides of the family. Uncle Clive was the closest to me. He made a lot of effort to keep up with me until some time in my college years.” Tony glanced away from Jethro’s too-intent gaze for a few seconds. “One day he stopped returning my calls. No idea why.”

Agile fingers carded through his hair. “This the uncle who died last year?”

“Mm hm. That whole thing last year… I never actually thought he was going to leave me anything. It was just… I dunno.”

Jethro smirked. “Something to wind Tim and Ziva up with?”

Tony chuckled. “Yeah… throw things in the mix and see what shakes out, I guess. When my father tried to break my trust funds because I’d been legally disinherited, Uncle Clive was the one who paid the retainer so I could get a lawyer, and then I worked to pay the rest.”

“You said funds, plural, what did you mean by that?”

“My grandfather, Jasper Paddington, set up two trusts for me when I was born. An education trust of $300,000, which I found out later my father had used a big chunk of to pay for me to go to RIMA. With all the money my parents had, I’m not sure why he needed to use my college trust, but I guess that’s not important anymore. I didn’t need the money for college, and provided I actually got a college degree, anything left was mine. Even after paying for boarding school, the fund had been invested well, so there was plenty of money, and it wasn’t very important to me anyway.”

Jethro tugged his hair a little to get his attention. “Why’s that? You deliberately make it seem like it is important.”

Tony shrugged, feeling a little uncomfortable. “I like nice things, Jethro, I’d be lying if I said otherwise. But money never got me what I wanted. We were ridiculously wealthy, but I never had a family. The housekeeper put me to bed at night, and the people I was closest to in the world were the chauffeur, the cook, and the gardener. Money felt lonely to me.

“By the time I was in college, I was pretty angry with my father, so I wasn’t about to let him steal from me. Since the trusts were set up by my maternal grandfather, and they actually had stipulations that my father couldn’t touch them, he had no legal right to any of it.”

“Your grandfather didn’t help?” Jethro asked without any censure.

Tony gave a one-shouldered shrug. “I didn’t know him well, so I went to Uncle Clive. He wanted to just give me the money, but I insisted on signing an IOU. After my father lost in mediation, I tried to send Uncle Clive the money, but he refused. Repeatedly. Said I’d never have to repay that money. Then one day he stopped returning my calls.”

He hesitated for a few seconds. “He’s the only member of my family who ever saw me play. He was in the States and stayed two extra days to catch a football game. When he stopped returning my calls, I got kinda pissed and never tried to repay the loan again.

“His son, Crispian, who’s kind of a prick, called in the debt when Uncle Clive died.” Tony rolled his eyes. “So there’s two people in my family who I don’t know what I did to piss off.”

“So what’s the second trust?”

“The second was a general trust fund but it had a marital and age condition on it. I could have it when I was thirty, provided I was married; or if I remained single, I would inherit when I turned forty.”

“What are we talking about?” Jethro’s fingers in Tony’s hair were slow and steady, nearly hypnotic.

“The trusts were established when I was born, there’s about $125,000 left in the college trust, even after all my expensive clothes purchases. My inheritance trust started with a million thirty-eight years ago, and it’s about three million now.”

Jethro’s brows shot up and his fingers stilled briefly. “That’s a lot of money, Tony.”

Tony shook his head a bit. “Not to my family it’s not. I’d planned to get another car when I inherited, sort of celebrate, but didn’t plan for anything else to change. I loved my job, was happy with my apartment. I know from long experience that money never gets me what I really want.”

He sat up and faced Jethro. “For nine years, you’re what I most wanted. Well… I always wanted to be a good agent.” Tony grinned. “And in third place is the Ferrari.”

Jethro tugged Tony closer until Tony was straddling his Alpha’s lap, then nuzzled at sensitive throat scales.

“You’re evil, I say,” Tony gasped out. “But I’m really digging Evil Jethro.”

Jethro chuckled, the vibrations tingly against Tony’s throat.

“Why the family questions?”

Strong calloused hands framed his face and icy blue eyes met Tony’s. “Everything about you matters to me. I want to know whatever you want to tell me, but we’re seeing your uncle today and my gut says it’s going to be something major. And probably related to money.”

Tony sighed. “Damn. I don’t need any more major in my life right now.” He rested his forehead against Jethro’s. “You know I want to know about you, too, right? I’ve always wanted to know about you. I just didn’t think…” he trailed off, not sure how to articulate the thought.

“Didn’t think you could ask?” A thumb trailed over Tony’s cheekbone. “Before you emerged, I resisted you getting too close to me, Tony. I had to. But now, there’s nothing I have to hide from you.”

Oddly affected, Tony could only manage to whisper, “Thank you.”

“I knew about the smaller one from your background check. Why isn’t the other in your file? A major asset like that… NCIS has to know about it.”

Tony shrugged. “Actually, NCIS does know. I didn’t want it getting around that I had a big trust fund, because the razzing about that would go on for an age. And I know the things we put on our confidential HR paperwork get around. So I talked to Morrow about it, and he personally put it in the confidential portion of my file so it didn’t have to go through personnel.”

“Clever,” Jethro murmured, suddenly more occupied with Tony’s throat scales than anything that was being said.

Tony found himself flipped on his back, his mate settled firmly between his thighs, lips taken in a bruising kiss. Thank God for lazy Wednesday mornings, Tony thought before Jethro’s lips, tongue and hands robbed him of all capacity to reason.

They made it downstairs in time for a late lunch. Notably absent were Blair and Jim. After the revelations of the previous night, he figured they were doing their share of processing. Vin and Chris still hadn’t put in an appearance, which made him smirk a little. Richard had reported that Josiah and Colin were taking all their meals in their room and only coming out to spend time shifted in the most private corner of the property.

Jeremy showed up part way through lunch with four Betas in-tow who had been part of the team to take down Sewell. Tony was unthrilled to find out they were his protection detail for the day.

“Is this really necessary?” Tony asked, not liking this trend.

“Yes!” answered half the room.

Before Tony could climb down someone’s throat, Richard took a seat next to him and patted him on the arm. “We’re still wrapping up the Sewell debacle, and we don’t know if there are more problems lurking around the corner. Additionally, the media are slavering to get an interview with you. We’re getting calls constantly, and they know you’re meeting with Lord Devon this week, so his offices will likely have reporters present.”

Tony wanted to argue, but he easily recognized the futility of the situation, especially with that implacable look on his mate’s face.

“Additionally,” Richard continued, “we have managed to keep the news of the throat scales out of the press thus far. So if you could keep them covered for the moment?”

Nodding, Tony thought that was fine. He didn’t need any more media attention. “Though I hope we’re going to get going on that, and let someone else take center stage when the media circus happens?”

Richard nodded. “Yes, we want to notify the mated pairs first, then we’ll issue a carefully worded press release. That will happen over the next few days.”

Still feeling a little annoyed, he returned to his lunch. Afterward, he spent some time in the sunroom with Rossi and Reid, who were headed back to DC that night. Hotch was apparently in their room, working to untangle some issue that had come up recently. He thanked them both for putting their lives on hold to help with everything.

“You’re welcome, kiddo,” Rossi replied. “I don’t know if you’ve had time for this to sink in, but dragons come first. It’s a shift that we all feel when we emerge. No matter how dedicated we may be to our jobs, the Wing comes before anything except our own mate.”

Tony pondered that for a few minutes. He considered the last week, and noticed he’d barely thought twice about his cases or NCIS, other than the worry about losing his job. But he’d been perfectly willing to jump feet first into the dragon issues despite the constant urge to just be alone with his mate.

“I hadn’t really noticed,” he mused out loud. “Everything has been happening so fast, it’s been one thing after the other.”

“My best advice is to give yourself some time to adjust. When things settle down, come for dinner,” Rossi ordered with good humor.

Tony laughed. “Everything can be solved with pasta?”

“It’s a universal truth. And you owe me cavatelli this time.”

Readily agreeing, Tony wrapped up the conversation, then headed back to his room. Jethro also arrived just as Tony was approaching, talking into his cell. “I’m getting him, Abbs, just be patient.” The phone was handed over as they entered the room. “You forgot to call yesterday.”

Wincing, Tony grabbed the phone. He’d talked to Abby briefly on Monday after the op, and promised to call back yesterday. Oops.

“Hey, Abby.”

She chattered a mile a minute at him, chastising him, catching him up on various things, and generally sounding like Abby, but he knew something was off.

“Abbs, what’s going on?”

“Nothing, Tony,” she said quickly. Too damn quickly.

And now he was sure there was something wrong. “Abby,” he said in a warning tone, noticing that Jethro’s head was cocked in his listening pose.

“It’s nothing, really. There’s a flu going around, and I’m not feeling so hot.”

“Really? That’s your cover? I seriously need to give you lessons on misdirection, young lady. Now spill.”

She sighed. “There really is a flu going around. But there’s… it doesn’t matter for now. It’ll totally keep. We can talk about it when you get back. When are you coming back? Gibbs wasn’t sure.”

Jethro grabbed the phone. “Abbs. Tell Tony whatever it is. Now!”

Tony retrieved the phone, whispering, “I can handle it,” to his mate. “All right, tell me what’s up.”

There was silence for a few seconds. “Ziva’s back at work.”

“Okaaay. Is that a problem?”

“Not exactly. I just may have done something I shouldn’t have.”

Tony closed his eyes. “Just tell me, Abby.”

“I banned her from the lab,” Abby said in a rush.

“Huh?”

“She’s been all pod-Ziva since she got back. And she was saying things that were rubbing me the wrong way, and I finally told her she wasn’t welcome back in my lab until she got her head on straight. Everything’s hinky and I don’t like it!”

“Let me guess, she was taking jabs at me?” Tony sighed. “Abby, you don’t have to get in the middle of this.”

“Don’t be an idiot, Tony!” Abby snapped. “There’s no middle in this. If it’s the job, she has no reason to be down here. She’s working a desk up in CI/CT, so she has no need for forensics. And if she’s coming around here for social reasons, then I have every right to tell her to get out if she’s running down someone I consider a brother. I’m on your side, you’ll just have to suck it up.”

Tony fought a smile. “Yes, ma’am.”

“And when you get back, we’ll be having a long chat about how things got so out of control. Don’t even think of trying to wriggle out of it.”

He winced a little, not looking forward to that conversation. They talked for a few minutes before Jethro was gesturing to the time, it was almost 1430 and they had to go. He quickly wrapped with Abby, promising to call soon and let her know when they’d be back. Jethro reminded him to change to cover his throat scales, so he put on a black turtleneck with a grey sport coat.

Jeremy had arranged a limo for them and their four escorts, plus a driver. Tony knew everyone from various points over the last few days, but he just put the names together as they were getting in the car.

“Oh come on,” he said on a laugh. “Edwin, Embry, Eric and Everett? I refuse to believe that’s a coincidence.”

Jethro snorted in amusement.

Everett responded, “Seems unlikely. Richard has a quirky sense of humor.”

“I’m calling you the E-boys.”

Edwin groaned. “Please don’t. Sounds like an American boy band.”

“Well, Eric does have the hair for it,” Tony teased.

Everyone was in pretty good spirits, and the conversation helped keep Tony’s mind off the nerves he felt at the upcoming meeting with his uncle.

It was over an hour drive into central London to the headquarters of Paddington Ltd., near the London Stock Exchange. There were several reporters camped out, presumably waiting for Tony and Jethro. His four escorts were prepared to get them through quickly, but Tony wasn’t sure if they should rush through.

“What are you thinking, Tony?” Jethro asked, gesturing for the E-boys to wait.

Tony gave a one-shouldered shrug. “I feel like we should make nice for some reason.”

Jethro cocked a brow in surprise. “As long as it’s you making nice.”

Laughing, Tony nodded his agreement. “I’d never ask you to be the anti-Gibbs.” Getting out, Tony took a few questions from the reporters, deflecting more than he answered, then extricated them politely before Jethro undid their good press karma.

Inside, his uncle’s office was unsurprisingly on the top floor. Just the reception area of the outer office was larger than the MCRT bullpen. The E-boys were left on comfy couches with a full British tea service as Tony and Jethro were escorted into the main ‘office’. It was probably the size of Tony’s whole apartment, with dark wood paneling, expensive art and dark brown leather furniture. The mahogany desk and furnishings were a head-on collision with an old-money cliché.

Unexpectedly, there was another man present, he was probably in his seventies, and seemed oddly familiar to Tony.

He greeted his uncle and introduced Jethro. The fourth man was introduced as Paulo DiNozzo, the Patriarch of the DiNozzo family from the Tuscan region of Italy, and was a distant cousin to Tony. Tony’s brows shot up in surprise, feeling confused and guarded about the new development.

Uncle Jeffery made a placating gesture. “Please, sit. I do apologize for the press. We took great care to safeguard this meeting, but word has been out since Monday.” He gestured to Paulo. “Unsure where your dragon blood comes from, I contacted your cousin, wondering if it were your DiNozzo ancestry, but it seems they have much the same blood status as our family.

“I then wondered if there were any entailments in the DiNozzo family as there are with the Paddingtons. As it happens, there are, so I invited him to join us. I find it interesting that neither family has known dragon blood, so our situations are strikingly similar in this matter.”

Tony glanced at Jethro, and murmured. “You okay with this so far?”

Looking tense, Jethro nodded, saying for the whole room, “But I’d like an explanation soon. There’s been one kidnapping attempt, and I don’t care for the unexpected these days. So if we could cut to the chase?”

Jeffery frowned, looking concerned. “I’m saddened to hear that Tony has been in danger, if I had known, I would have forewarned you that Paulo would be present. Please forgive me.”

Jethro nodded shortly, but was clearly impatient with the situation.

“As for why you’re here. Tony, there’s a little family history in this. First, do you happen to know which side of your family the dragon blood comes from? Since neither the Paddingtons nor DiNozzos are known carriers of the dragon gene, it’s a bit of a mystery.”

Tony glanced at Jethro, then cautiously decided to offer the carefully crafted story prepared for this question. “The Council has reason to believe that the test for dragon blood won’t catch whatever it is that creates an Omega. Some Omegas have a weak dragon gene, but we think that’s not relevant. Because of some circumstances I can’t disclose at this time, the belief is that the Omega gene comes from both sides of my family.”

Jeffery and Paulo shared a brief look, then his uncle continued with his tale. “When Omegas permanently shifted into human form, they obviously mixed with humans immediately, and they began to relay the tale of the dragons to carefully selected family members. These were very secret tales, as anyone thought to have been a dragon or descended from dragons would likely have been killed.

“A child or two in every generation was entrusted with the history of the dragons and told to find the next person to pass it to, and so on for generation upon generation. These children in our family were referred to as the dragon keepers. When the dragons emerged after the fall of the Roman Empire, that oral tradition was shared more broadly in the families as a matter of great pride.

“In our family there was something additional the keepers were responsible for, other than just the history of the dragons. There was a scroll, written in a language that, frankly, no one can read. The scroll was passed down through the keepers. Every generation that handed down that scroll was told it was for the white dragon that would one day come to our family.” Jeffery looked at him searchingly. “If the news reports are correct, I believe you are a white Omega?”

Feeling stunned, Tony pulled up his sleeve, revealing the white scales. An ancestor had left him a note?

Jeffery nodded. “The scroll is yours, regardless of anything else we discuss here today. We’ll need to retrieve it from the bank, and a trustee will need to verify the color of your scales and have you sign some papers.”

Tony nodded a bit woodenly, not sure what to make of the situation. Jethro was focused intently on everything being said, but there weren’t any odd emotions coming across the bond.

“But to the main matter that concerns Paulo and myself,” Jeffery continued. “The first Earl of Devon had been one in the very long line of keepers of the scroll. Along with the story and the scroll was a request from our dragon ancestor that the family properly care for all Omegas emerged from our line, but specifically the white Omega.”

Jeffery was watching Tony closely, seemingly looking for something, but Tony was too flummoxed to know how to respond.

After a moment, Jeffery said, “In the spirit of that ancient petition, the Earl set up two funds, which eventually became trusts, one to care for any Omegas in the line, and one specifically for the white Omega. These trusts have changed shape and character over time, and have always been invested carefully.”

His uncle paused and Tony detected some glimmers of sadness from him. “I confess, when the blood tests became available and it was said that the Paddingtons had no dragon blood, my father was rather heartbroken. He’d always believed the white dragon would appear in our family, and in his lifetime. He wanted to break the trusts, but ultimately, before he died, he decided to have faith in our ancestors and kept them intact.”

Jeffery paused and exchanged a quick glance with Paulo, then said, “With your emergence, you are now entitled to both trusts. One is yours entirely, and the other is yours, but the intent is for it to be for the benefit of any Omegas that should emerge in the Paddington line. But the language in how that trust was set up is specific that the first Omega in the line would have sole discretion in how the trust was managed. That is one of the main reasons I needed to speak with you. And I believe Paulo has a very similar tale to tell you.”

Tony blinked, utterly befuddled. It was almost too much to absorb that ancestors he’d never known about or heard of had been taking actions that would be for his benefit.

Paulo nodded, and when he spoke, his Italian accent was quite thick, though his English was very sound. “Our tale is almost eerily similar. Except there is no scroll, and there is no stipulation on the color of the Omega, just that the trust go to the first Omega to emerge in the family. Like the Paddingtons, the blood tests almost sent me to court to try to have the trust broken, but I too decided to have faith in those who had gone before.”

“What are we talking about here?” Tony asked guardedly.

Expression serious, Paulo replied, “The DiNozzo trust, as it stands today, is 182 million euros.”

Tony blinked. “What? That’s… what?”

Paulo simply nodded. “You must realize that these trusts have existed since before there were actual banking establishments. The families held these monies as sacred, and hundreds of years of saving… it has great benefits. Though most of the gains have happened since the advent of modern banking and investing. The DiNozzo fortune, which was already substantial, was hugely enhanced during the dotcom boom. We invested early and removed ourselves before the… what’s the expression? The bubble burst?”

Tony nodded kind of dazedly. “But that’s like 250 million dollars. You can’t just give that to me!” He was aware of his mate’s solid presence beside him, and a steadying hand resting on his leg, but otherwise Jethro wasn’t interfering.

Paulo started to reply, but Jeffery held up a hand. “There’s more to consider. The generic Omega trust from the Paddingtons sits at approximately 96 million pounds. At today’s exchange that’s near 156 million US dollars. The trust particularly for you, the white Omega, is 234 million pounds, which is approximately 381 million US dollars. All told, between the two families, you are entitled to over three-quarters of a billion dollars. We would very much like to know how you’d like to proceed.”

Tony shook his head, hands held up in front of him to ward the crazies away. “This is insane. What the hell am I going to do with that much money? It’s nuts.”

For some reason Jeffery looked relieved, but said, “May I make a suggestion?”

“Please, because I can’t think clearly right now.”

“The 380-odd million is yours, Tony. You were somehow foretold and I believe the trust of our ancestors should be honored. For the remaining nearly 400 million, might I suggest you establish a new trust? Use it to support the dragon community in some way, make provisions perhaps for future dragons in the family, but it would take half off your shoulders.”

He was sure that was a great suggestion, but his heart was racing and he couldn’t really process. “But what am I going to do with 380 million dollars? Even if I turned into a lunatic, I’d never touch even the annual interest and dividends on that much money!”

Before anyone could say anything, and before Tony could have a complete panic attack, Jethro got to his feet and pulled Tony up. “We’ll be back.”

Tony was vaguely aware of murmuring then a door closing, then hands around his wrists and everything was calm again. “I hate that you can do that,” he said, slumping back against what he realized was a bathroom door. His mate had had to do that way too much lately. Made him feel like a drama queen. “But I sort of love it, too. It’s like dragon Xanax.”

Jethro had dragged them into his Uncle’s very nicely appointed private washroom. He was guided over to an antique chaise lounge – and really, who didn’t need one of those next to the tub? – then Jethro was sitting next to him, arm around his waist.

Tony took a deep breath and tried to keep calm. “All evidence to the contrary, but I’d say I’m normally pretty emotionally stable.”

Jethro snorted. “You’ve had a lot of knocks lately, Tony, cut yourself some slack. Now, let’s talk about this.”

Tony felt the panic nearly start to rise up again, but Jethro’s hands were back at his wrists, then guiding him to touch the Alpha Mark. “Oh,” he managed intelligently.

A moment later, he felt the connection between them hum to life.

–This is insane!– Tony immediately mentally blurted out. When Jethro flinched, Tony focused on quieting his thoughts. –Sorry, didn’t mean to yell.–

–Tell me what you need.– Jethro stared at him intently.

–I don’t know.– Tony huffed a little. –I need to think about this. It’s all completely nuts.–

–Precious clearly had a hand in this, Tony. At least the money from your mother’s family. I think you’re going to need it for something.–

Tony frowned a little. Though they’d said a lot of families had done things of this nature, the money especially for the white dragon did smack of involvement by Precious. –Maybe. But what could I possibly need nearly 400 million dollars for?–

Jethro gave him a look. –Maybe you need the principal so you can fund something on the annual interest. I don’t know; I’m not a gold Wyvern. Though it wouldn’t surprise me to find out that something involving aliens was going to wind up being expensive.– Even the tone of thought was caustic.

Tony felt his lips quirking up.

–But you don’t have to decide now, you just have to get through this conversation with your uncle.–

Tony groaned out loud. –And dinner. We agreed to dinner.– He wanted to rub his forehead, or actually pull out some of his own hair, but with his fingers needed for communication, all his nervous twitches were denied him. –I’m fine, Jethro. We’ll get through this. I have a feeling this isn’t over yet.–

Jethro pulled Tony’s hands away from his temples, briefly dropping a quick kiss on the inside of one wrist. “You ready to go back?”

Taking a deep breath, Tony nodded. They returned to the office, finding his Uncle there alone. “If you’re agreeable, Paulo will join us for dinner, in the interim, I’ve asked for some time alone with you to discuss some other issues.”

Tony nodded, internally hoping whatever was coming wouldn’t be a bigger shock.

“I’d like to discuss your parents, if that would be acceptable?”

After exchanging a look with Jethro, Tony reluctantly asked, “Is it important?”

Jeffery sighed. “It’s not critical, but I believe there are some things you should know.”

With great reluctance, he acceded, feeling concern coming from his mate.

“Let me start by saying that my father, brother and myself were all very protective of Claire. She was the baby sister, and perhaps no man had a chance of being good enough for her.” Jeffery paused and Tony could feel that his uncle was trying to keep a tight rein on his emotions. “We all believed that your father was a poor choice, and that led to a rift between her and the rest of the family. I am saddened that we all allowed our anger to affect you, who were innocent in the whole thing.”

Tony stared at his hands for several beats. “Just tell me what you need to tell me. You don’t have to mince words. I’m not close to my father, we were never close, even when I was a kid. You’re not going to upset me by telling me he was a shitty husband.” He met his uncle’s gaze head on. “So I’d rather just hear it than tap dance around it.”

Jeffery was quiet for a moment. “What do you know about your father’s background?”

Surprised by the question, Tony replied, “Actually not as much as you might think. We weren’t close before mom died, and I almost never saw him after her death. I know he was born in New York City, he’s second generation American, hails from a wealthy family.” Tony shrugged. “I don’t know what you’re looking for here… he’s a Sagittarius, he gets married like some people change their shirt, calls me ‘Junior’ even though he knows I hate it.”

Nodding, Jeffery added, “He’s also very charming. And he charmed my little sister for her money.”

Frowning, Tony cocked his head in confusion. “I’m not following. I don’t doubt that money was a draw, but you say it like he needed it. The DiNozzos are a wealthy family. Not as wealthy as the Paddingtons, but wealthy by any objective standard.”

“Yes, but your father burned through his inheritance by the time he was twenty-six. He met Claire while he still had the appearance of wealth, but there was nothing of substance left. My sister’s inheritance was over fifty million pounds. In that day, it was an obscene fortune.”

Jeffery took a measured breath. “She was twenty-one, beautiful and charming, but a touch shy. She was attending Cambridge when she met your father. He seemed a good match for her on the surface, but I never felt easy about their relationship. My father and I had him investigated, but by the time we had what we felt was proof that he was only interested in her fortune and social connections, she was fully enamored and wouldn’t listen to reason.”

Tony and Jethro listened in silence.

There was a long pause before Jeffery continued. “By the time she died, we hadn’t seen or spoken to her in several years. My father never stopped trying to convince her to leave him and come home. She left everything to your father, expecting he would provide for you.”

“But he had me formally disinherited instead,” Tony said wryly.

“Yes. What your grandfather set up for you in trust was so minimal compared to what is usually allotted for a Paddington child, and that was unfair to you and directly reflective of how angry my father was with your father.” Jeffery had no expression, but Tony sensed remorse tinged with guilt.

“So why the age restrictions on my primary trust?” Tony asked, never understanding why he’d been penalized in that way.

“Because Anthony DiNozzo Senior was a wastrel, and my father wanted to see you hopefully come into your own as a man before you had access to even a moderate amount of money. But regardless of why, you were not your father, and the family should have been there for you.”

Tony felt utterly raw from the revelations. He pushed any emotions down. Jethro’s strong warm fingers on his leg helped keep him grounded. He had a sudden epiphany. “He’s broke again isn’t he?”

Jeffery nodded. “Yes. In fact, by the time you were ready for college, he had whittled your mother’s inheritance down by ninety percent. Which, I believe, is why he tried to block your trusts.”

“Jesus.” Tony rubbed his forehead. The amount of money his mother had in the sixties was beyond wealthy. How could his father have wasted so much?

“He was broke before you were thirty and has married for money several times since your mother died,” Jeffery continued on with the recitation of facts as he knew them. “Since you’d be entitled to your primary trust in a couple years, which has tripled in value over nearly four decades, I believe you would have heard from your father in some way very soon, regardless of your emergence.”

“Yeah. Already have.” Tony left off the part about his father’s interactions with Sewell. “You think he knew about these dragon trusts?”

“It’s possible. Likely even. Your mother knew, though she never knew the amounts, and there’s no reason to suppose she didn’t tell him. The official keeper in the family was Clive, and the duty passed to me when he died.”

“Well, if you’re worried about it, I can assure you I’m not giving my father money,” Tony offered, wondering if that was part of Jeffery’s concern.

Jeffery waved a hand. “Your money is yours to do with as you please, it’s not my place to tell you what to do. I just wanted you to be aware.”

Tony nodded, resigned. “Anything else?”

“There are a couple things, though none quite so weighty.” After a brief pause, his uncle said, “I want you to know that we asked for custody of you after your mother died, and were denied. In fact, your father kept us away from you entirely, though Clive could be quite sneaky when it suited him.”

Astonished, Tony wasn’t quite sure what to make of the fact that his grandfather and uncles had tried to get custody of him.

“Also, and this is a matter of some embarrassment to me personally… I want you to know that I love my nephew Crispian dearly, but the actions he took around that promissory note from you were not what my brother wanted.”

Distracted by the other revelations, Tony just waved it away. “I signed the IOU, it’s on me.”

“No, Tony. Your uncle was outraged that your father was blocking your education trust, and wanted to give you that money. We thought it a good sign that you desired to repay the money, but Clive was adamant that you never actually do so. Crispian is being a bit of an arse on the whole subject.” Tony could feel no small amount of exasperation coming from his uncle.

“I should also tell you that Clive had felt hopeful, though it was a rather morbid hope, at the fracture in your relationship with your father.” There was another glimmer of discomfort coming from Jeffery. “Shortly after the issue with the trust and the promissory note, Crispian had told Clive that you and your father were reconciling. I’m not sure entirely what motivated that falsehood from him, likely he feared Clive would put you in his will. I imagine the disappointment of that news is why Clive held onto that note.”

And likely why his uncle stopped taking his calls. Though annoyed by his cousin’s shenanigans, Tony just wanted the whole issue put to bed. “Let’s just forget it. It’s done. I’d rather figure out what’s next.”

Jeffery nodded, though looked like he thought it wasn’t done at all and his emotional tone was very unsettled. “The first thing I’d recommend is that you retain an independent solicitor. As soon as I heard about your emergence, I had the paperwork readied for the generic trust, and when I heard about your color, I had the others prepared. Your hand will no doubt drop off with the number of signatures that will be required to turn over the trust to you. You should have legal counsel before you start that hand-numbing process,” he said with a bit of wry humor.

Tony shook his head. “Let’s set up a first meeting with the bloody lawyers, then figure out the rest of those details. We can’t stay in England too long, so if this is going to drag on, we’ll have to come back, though if possible, I’d definitely like to get the scroll before we return to the US.”

“Of course. Perhaps Mr. Turner can recommend a solicitor for you and we can meet again on Friday?”

After getting an affirmative nod from Jethro, Tony agreed. He sent a quick text to Richard that he needed an attorney specializing in trusts and inheritance issues ASAP. Also he wanted to speak to him and Jeremy, Jim and Blair. That night if possible.

Despite Tony’s desire not to get into the nitty gritty right away, they pretty much did that for a bit before Jeffery changed the subject back to Tony’s mother. “Tony, if you don’t wish to answer, I’d understand, but would you tell me your recollections of your mother?”

Tony froze. There was pretty much nothing good he could tell his uncle.

As if sensing Tony’s unease, his uncle said, “I’d just like the truth. I have some sense of it, but I’d like to hear it.”

“I… I loved my mother, but I wasn’t really very close to her. For as long as I could remember, she was drinking heavily,” Tony began, carefully monitoring Jeffery for reaction to the news.

Jeffery looked pained, but nodded.

“I wonder sometimes if she even knew what to do with a child. She saw me more as a doll, I think.” He broke off, mind skipping over the events of his childhood. “But sometimes she’d find me in the afternoon on a Thursday and take me to the movies. Those are my best memories of her.” He felt like he needed to offer up something good.

Glancing away, Jeffery cleared his throat. “My grandfather used to surprise Claire with a trip to the cinema on the odd Thursday. It was the day of the week he could leave the office early. He was insanely fond of her.”

Tony didn’t really know what to say to that. Had his mother been trying to connect with him in some way? Or was she just carrying on a family tradition?

Expression going blank, Jeffery asked, “Do you know if she was intoxicated when the accident happened?”

Tony nearly flinched, unable to block the sudden rise of memories. He really didn’t want to talk about that, but he understood that Jeffery had been cut off from a sister he loved and wanted to know what had happened to her. Jethro grabbed his hand and flashed him a look of concern.

“She was,” Tony managed to get out.

“Were you with her?” Jeffery asked cautiously as if he were afraid of the answer, and despite the man’s calm demeanor, Tony could feel the sucking cesspool of grief his Uncle was feeling.

“I was.” Tony hesitated a moment, pushing hard against the emotions the horrible memories were bringing to the surface. “She wasn’t wearing a seatbelt…” he trailed off, not sure what to say. “If it helps, it was fast.”

Abruptly, Jeffery got to his feet. “If you’ll excuse me, I’ll check on the dinner arrangements.”

Tony couldn’t focus on Jeffery any longer, and was busy wrestling his emotions back under control when he registered his mate was hunkered down in front of him, watching him carefully.

“I’m about to cancel the rest of this thing,” Jethro said seriously.

“Jethro, it’s okay.”

“No, it’s really not.”

“I’m okay,” Tony insisted. Tony desperately didn’t want to talk about his mother any more. Anything was preferable.

“I’m very tempted to head slap you,” Jethro said in an oddly gentle tone.

He found himself smiling practically against his will. “Speaking of that… I’ve noticed you’ve stopped. Even when I get totally manic and on a tangent, or say something wildly inappropriate.”

“I’m your partner, not your boss. Besides, if I want your attention, I have a better way of achieving that goal.” A finger stroked over Tony’s throat scales, causing him to shiver.

Startled into a laugh, and insanely grateful for the subject change, Tony could only reply, “And again I say you’re evil!” His good humor was a lot forced, but Tony was comfortable pretending to be okay.

Jethro gave him a slow thorough kiss that went a long way to helping Tony actually be okay. At least, for the moment.

When Tony was able to breathe properly again, he jokingly murmured, “And I’m all about the evil.”

Sitting next to him again, Jethro wrapped an arm around Tony’s shoulders. “If one more bomb is dropped tonight, it’s done. And your parents are off limits.”

“You know I’m a big boy… capable of taking care of myself. Can even manage to tie my own shoes.” But inside Tony was secretly pleased. No matter what occurred, Jethro made sure Tony knew he was first, and that had never happened to Tony before. It was weird and unexpected and totally addictive.

– – – –

Chapters 21-24  |  Emergence Page  |  Chapters 29-32