“Yes, you were. Now, let me work. I am trying to find out how this is happening and what I can do to get around it.”
“Work fas…”
“Hold your tongue, Lad,”the Dragon King warned.“I am doing this for Vanessa. If it wasn’t for her, I would be taking a nap and leaving you and your ill-mannered antics to come up with your own solution. So, be thankful I adore that woman and her Polar Bear Princess.”
“Dom…”
“Stop. Bothering. Me.”And with that, the Dragon King slammed the mental shields that separated his consciousness from Cyrus’s into place with a Magically resounding thud.
“No!” Cyrus shook his head. “This cannot be happening. How is this…?”
“How about instead of asking questions you know we don’t have the answers to, you tell me what’s going on?” Luke calmly suggested, leaning back against an especially large boulder, he crossed his right ankle over his left and shoved his hands in the front pockets of his jeans.
Eyes flying to the Black Bear’s, Cyrus thought about screaming, but decided to try to be civil even as he was losing his ever-loving mind. “As I said before, I don’t know.”
“You don’t know?” Opening his eyes wide and tilting his head to the side, the Black Bear added, “Really?”
“Yes, really.” Cy shoved the words through gritted teeth. “Why would I lie?”
“Now, I’m not sayin’ you’re lyin’. I’m askin’ if you’re keepin’ things to yourself.
“I can assure you that I do not know what is happening.”
“But you know who’s doing all this?”
Running his hand through his hair, Cyrus ground out through gritted teeth, “If you ask me who’s on first base, I swear to the Heavens I’m gonna set your tail on fire?”
“Who’s on first base?” Luke growled. Taking a step forward, he jabbed his finger into the air between them. “Is the guy you thought was dead a first baseman?”
“Oh. My. Goddess.” Pulling his hand out of her hair before he snatched himself bald, Cyrus ended up clenching both fists at his side, inhaling deeply, and counting to three all the while glaring into the blue eyes of the big Black Bear Shifter.
“You know this is karma for messin’ with the poor lad on the trip up here, right?”Dom chuckled.”
“Aren’t you supposed to be findin’ our Mate?”
“Aren’t you supposed to be…?”
Ignoring the Dragon King with whom he shared his soul, Cy was just barely holding onto the last fraying thread of his temper as he slowly replied, “No. The asshole who I thought was dead but obviously isn’t, who I am 99.9% sure just took Vanessa from that fuckin’ cave, has nothing to do with baseball.”
“Then why did you…?”
Holding up his hand and continuing to speak as if Luke hadn’t said a word, he went on, “I was trying to be funny. Trying to ease the tension.” Throwing his hands in the air in mock surrender, he hurried on, “I’m sorry.” Clearing his throat, he finally got to the explanation. “Aamon. Aamon Blackwood is the asshole I’m talking about.”
“The only son of the Old Man Blackwood?” Luke looked concerned. Pointing at his head, he added, “Got red hair and a nasty attitude?”
“You know him?”
“Hell, yeah, everybody on the mountain knows the Blackwood Wolves.” Shaking his head, the Black Bear’s stancerelaxed, but his expression grew more pensive. “But we give ‘em a wide berth. They are bad fuckin’ news.”
“Yeah, no shit.”
“How do you know Aamon? Why did you think he was dead? And why would he kidnap your Mate?”
“To be honest, I didn’t know he was dead. I was just hoping.” Cyrus exhaled. “Okay, here goes.” His fingers were once again brushing through his shoulder-length hair. “Aamon Blackwood is the main reason I wanted Nessy to stop tryin’ to help everyone.”
“Oh, shit! Spill, Dude. Tell me everything.”
Not sure if the Black Bear wanted the information to help him or for the gossip, Cyrus had nothing better to do than be pissed off that Aamon had gotten the upper hand, so he started, “About two months after Nessy and I started dating, Aamon turned up in Holly Bush.”
