We’d followed a pack of guards who were searching door by door through the neighborhood. Up until now we hadn’t seen claw nor scale of the Moonscale Dragon Flight’s leader.
“I’ll go,” I said.
“He knows me and—”
“No, he knows you and thinks you have something to do with it.”
“And you’re the cat who is attacking people and stealing their body parts,” Nic spat.
“Mate, let me do this,” I growled.
“Is this about the third courting gift thing?” Nic asked.
“No, this is about I’d rather have you alive and me dead than the other way around.”
“I’m not that sort of omega. I’m a dragon,” Nic shook his head.
“I’m very aware of that but they’re probably looking for you too. They don’t know what I look like. They’re looking for you and a giant cat. I’m not currently giant cat shaped.”
He opened his mouth to retort but I leapt from the roof and landed flat against Clarence’s back. He fell flat to the ground, his fingers shifting to claws as they slammed into the street. He grunted and the guards fell all over me, trying to hold me down while I kicked and bit and held onto Clarence with both arms. If Nic was smart, he’d use this time to get to his mother and since he was my mate, he had to be clever, right?
“Stop it!” Clarence bellowed after about sixty seconds of trying to buck me off. “STOP IT!”
The guards stopped mid-action as if not believing their ears.
“If he was an assassin he’d have done something by now except hug me like he wanted a fuck,” Clarence swore.
“I don’t want to fuck,” I said, not loosening my grip on him.
“Good, because my mate doesn’t share,” Clarence said. “Beal, I’m guessing?”
How did he know my name? How did he know anything?
“The gateway guards were kind enough to assure me that you didn’t eat Nic. They were pretty sure you two had true-mate responded. I wasn’t sure I’d see either of you any time soon. I was trying to get this worked out before Nic came back. He doesn’t need to know his mother was the one who left all that stuff for him to find.”
“What?” I blinked but didn’t volunteer any information.
“Yeah. She left a letter saying that she took Jon’s paw and the beaver’s tail but then decided it wasn’t enough because it didn’t get enough of a point across. So, she took their heads and was going to carve out the heart of a hyena named Tops.”
“What did you do with her?” I asked.
“I’m not having this conversation while your half-naked ass is hugging me,” he growled. “I’m finished with this whole scene. Body parts. Killer mums. You practically humping me in broad daylight and getting the guards all riled up.”
“I’m not letting you up until you say you’ll leave her alone.”
“What do you think we’re going to do to her?” Clarence asked, trying to push his way up but the magic inside me was heavier than whatever was under his scales and I wasn’t budging.
“She’s a murderer and you—”
“Shut up,” Clarence said. “Shut up and get up! I will not tell you again! I’m trying to be civil because you’re Nic’s mate but I’m running out of patience.”
“I ran out of that a long time ago,” I said.
“We have their text messages. We know what they were up to. She’s a cancer patient in remission. Do you really think we want her to have to do all this herself? We’re not totally bloody useless, you know.”
I let out a deep breath and let Clarence up. He smelled like he was telling the truth as he righted his clothes and smoothed down his dark hair.
“Clarence!” someone shouted from up the street. “She’s got him and gone. She took the heart! The neighbor’s video surveillance picked up fucking Sharon Claudis creeping around back. I don’t think she hurt her. I think she watched her murder that hyena. I can’t figure out how either of them left but his house is empty except for his corpse sans the heart.”
