Page 100 of Dragon Charmed

“Me too, Megs.”

Eric walked into the room.

“Anything from Marcus?” Ben said.

“No. He and the guards stayed behind at the abandoned building, but they haven’t found anyone.” Eric turned to Tessa. “Do you feel up to telling us what happened?”

Tessa nodded. As she told them the story, Ben couldn’t stay still. He paced and forced his dragon down more than once, especially when she talked about the fight and being drugged. Megan wrapped her arm around Tessa’s shoulder, and other than gasps and curses from the group as the story unfolded, they kept quiet. And the ridiculous kept coming. Witches and Templars, and Mia White in the middle of it all?

When she stopped talking, no one spoke at first. They all seemed to be in shock. Hell, he had no idea what to say.

“How…what…I…” Megan said.

Tessa smiled. “Exactly. I feel like I’m Alice, who fell down the rabbit hole into Templarland.”

Sienna and Megan chuckled, which Ben knew had been Tessa’s intent. She was breaking the tension with humor, taking care of others when she was the one who needed to be looked after. But the joke also served to push them away as well. To hide her vulnerability.

He wanted to gather her up again in his arms, but Sienna had already sat on Tessa’s other side as if she and Megan were comforting and shielding her at the same time.

“Talking to Nadia was like talking to the Mad Hatter. I thought maybe she had figured out who I was, but she kept calling me Sydney. She acted like I was in on some secret. Like I should have known the answers to the questions I was asking. And then Mia showed up.”

Megan shook her head. “I can’t believe it.”

“I know, Megs. She had the cross tattoo, but something was really off with the whole thing. She kept acting like she was on team Templar, but I think she is some kind of double agent. She’s part of the Templars, but she’s trying to stop them.”

“She made you jump out a window!” Megan said.

“Yeah, but she waited until Ben was close enough to catch me.”

“Wasn’t that considerate of her,” Sienna grumbled.

Tessa looked up at Ben. “She seemed really angry about seeing you at the gallery alive. Like it was a betrayal or something. And when I told her you lost your memory, which is why you had been missing so long, she was surprised but tried to hide it.”

“How did she see us? Was she at the gallery?” Ben said.

“I don’t think so. You told me that you saw my abduction on Connor’s cameras. Maybe Mia had tapped into that somehow and watched as well. How did you find me?”

“Carl from the sheriff’s office was able to track Nadia’s cell phone to a two-mile radius, but we didn’t know for sure where you were. Eric and I were driving around and found the abandoned buildings but the gates were locked, so we took to the air to find you.”

“So the paragraph from the scroll is right. Templars exist,” Megan said.

“Yeah. Mia said they never went away, but things have changed now so they are out in the open.”

“Because we’re trying to break the curse,” Eric said.

“Yeah. That’s my take. She wasn’t exactly forthcoming with much information. My gut tells me she gave Ben John’s contact information.”

Ben’s dragon rumbled. “And I don’t remember anything! If I did, you wouldn’t have risked yourself. I need to find a way to get my memories back so we can figure out what’s going on with Mia and the Templars.”

“I’m sorry. I asked Nadia if she could reverse the memory spell and she said no,” Tessa said. “Maybe if we could have captured her, she could have figured out something.”

Ben took a step toward her, and Sienna moved out of the way so that he could sit next to Tessa. “You have nothing to apologize for. I’m sorry this happened to you.”

Ben caught movement to the right and saw a frowning Lily in the doorway. “Little bit. What are you doing up?”

Tessa sat up and held out her hands to her, and Lily rushed over and climbed into her lap. Tessa flinched, which meant she was hurting, and he wondered how much longer Ian would be.

“I’m okay, sweetheart. Your hug is the best medicine.”