“Don’t growl at me. It’s not like I’m the one leaving you presents. Don’t leave town, Nic. I don’t know how you’re wrapped up in this, but I know you are.”
Chapter Six
Beal
Moonscale Memorial Hospital
I stepped out of Clarence Moonscale’s way as he and one of his uniformed guards walked by. Neither of them glanced at me twice. I wore yellow scrubs and smelled like a coconut from the spray I snatched out of one of the real nurses’ cars. I didn’t take anything else and tossed the spray can back in once I was finished. I left one of the weird paper moneys with a twenty on it on the seat. I was pretty sure that would cover it. She’d parked behind a big, black pickup truck which gave me the perfect spot to spray myself down and change without being seen from the hospital’s front entrance.
Tops was next on my list. The final on my courting list unless someone else wanted to go after my mate. He was a dragon, but he was sparkly and precious. No one was going to push him around anymore. I waited until the raccoon law-knower left and offered to walk Nic back to his room where his mother awaited him now that the tail had been gathered up and the room scrubbed from top to bottom until it was sterile again.
Nic, my beautiful Nic, with his startling blue eyes still marked on the corners by crimson scales glanced at the medic called Arrow.
“It’s probably for the best,” Arrow nodded. “Clarence won’t be back any time soon but she’s probably more worried than is healthy.”
“Do you have a hair tie or a rubber or something?” Nic asked the medic, and I savored every word that tumbled over his kissable lips.
Maybe this was a mistake. I needed to be close to him. I needed to find out where Tops was. So many things needed to fall into place before I could give Nic his third courting gift but being this close to him made it difficult to think straight.
Arrow patted his pockets, but I pulled one out and handed it to him. It wouldn’t smell like me because it wasn’t mine. Two were left in the pockets of the yellow scrubs I snatched from the closet. Nic turned his grateful smile on me and for a second, I thought I might die right then and there.
“Do you need some help?” I managed to keep my voice neutral long enough to choke out the question.
“Let him,” Arrow nodded to Nic. “You tore your hand up when you ripped out the IV.”
Nic frowned down at the big ugly purple bruise on the back of his hand. The edges were already receding, but guilt still licked up my spine. Perhaps, I should’ve left Chard’s tail on the nightstand or even in the armchair that sat in the corner of the room. He’d calm down once he understood what it was and that it was from me. That it was my way of keeping him safe and proving to him that I’d always protect him.
His hair was even softer than it looked. He leaned his head back and I combed through it with my fingers, gently parting a tangle here and there that formed during his flight from the hospital room. Then I gathered his copious locks up and pulled them all together in a low ponytail before securing it with the hair tie. He murmured his thanks as he stood up. He gave Arrow a look I couldn’t quite read and for a second, I wondered if Arrow’s head would make a good third courtship gift. I wouldn’t. He was fond of the medic, and the man didn’t put him in any danger. It was just the opposite. The man worked hard to make sure Clarence couldn’t interrogate him unfairly.
I offered Nic my arm and goosebumps rose on my back when he took it. I walked slowly as we left the room, trying todraw out every second of his soft, warm flesh against mine and still the walk wasn’t nearly long enough. Too soon we made it back to the hospital room and his mother snatched him from my arms and pulled him to her bosom as if he were a kitten lost in the woods for days. She’d be a good grandmother when the time came.
“What did Clarence do to you?” she crooned and held his face in her hands while she searched his eyes.
“He thinks I did it!”
I opened my mouth and shut it again. The overgrown lizard would shut up when he figured out, I cleaned up his city for him. I wouldn’t have to do his job if he paid more attention.
“Do you guys know anyone named Tops?” I asked, shutting the door.
The dragoness pushed her son behind her and raised her fists as if she were ready to fight me.
“Calm down, lady, please,” I whispered, holding up both hands so that she could see I was unarmed. “Everyone out there keeps talking about him. He’s the one thing connecting the cheetah and the beaver. If you ask me he has something to do with whatever’s going on. I just wanted to give you a head’s up since Clarence clearly isn’t looking in the right places.”
“I’ll hang that bloody hyena by his balls and use him as a fucking piñata,” the dragoness growled.
Nic’s scent turned to panic, and I took a deep breath, trying to keep my cat from following suit. There couldn’t be that many hyenas in London. He’d have to be easy to find. I’d bring back his hide as my third gift to Nic. Hell, maybe I’d bring his balls back for my mother-in-law.
“She knows more than she’s letting on,”my cat said, and I raked my eyes up and down her to discern what I was missing that he had pinpointed.
“You know him then?” I asked.
“He’s fucking useless,” she swore.
“Mum!” Nic said, trying to grab her arm but she shrugged it away and stormed out of the room.
Nic looked at the empty door like a child abandoned by his favorite person in the world. My cat reared up ready to chase the dragoness down and do his best to drag her scaley ass back in here, but I couldn’t leave Nic alone. Not yet. Instead, I stepped in front of him and met his gaze. His scent filled my lungs, making it hard to think but he needed comfort. Slowly, I reached out and cradled his face in my hands. He blinked at me, surprised, but then leaned into my warmth as if he’d done it a thousand times before. His sparkling blue eyes searched my face and his mouth opened up as if he were trying to bypass my pheromone blocker spray.
“You’re not from here,” he whispered. “Your aura is too different.”
