Appreciating the calming words and gentle touch, Gordy took a water and wiped his overheated brow, then continued. “Father came in screaming for me and threatened my life. I don’t know or why Maxine did what she did. Maybe it was because she was so incensed about the children he was pimping out, or because she wanted to take the threat off of me. I’ll never know.”
“What did she do?” The dragon asked so softly, Gordy almost didn’t hear him.
Sniffling and wiping yet another tear, Gordy answered. “She told father he had no business with me that she was the one that took the book and found the flash drive. She told him she knew everything. When he demanded it be returned, she told him to fuck off. She would be dead before he ever got his hands on that fucking list that she was sending it to the FBI. The second she said she was going to see him in prison, I heard my father saying how she would never get the chance and… and then…” Gordy felt the soft rubbery wing rubbing up and down in a soothing motion, but remembering Maxine’s death hurt too much for him not to cry harder as he stammered out, “…and then a gu-gun shot and a lou… loud thud. Father ca-called someone he called someone a “cl-cleaner” and said there was a me-mess that nee… needed taken care of in… in his home and… and for them to ge-get there qui… quickly.”
Gunner’s maharishi—he really needed a name because it was annoying to think that anyone could go through life without one—handed him a tissue. Blowing his nose he took the second offered to him and wiped his eyes, then took another deep breath before continuing. “When I heard my father leave I made my way out of the drawer. I shifted and went to Maxine. She was still alive and I told her I’d get help. She… She stopped me and told me to get the phone and put it next to her mouth. I didn’t know why she wanted the phone, but I did what she told me to do. She said, ‘I Maxine Walters swear on the gods themselves that Thomas Walters shot and killed me…’ She went on to say the date and time and reason why. She then told me to get the drive and run. She said to get the information to the FBI and to hurry before my father returned. I didn’t want to go… I wanted… she wouldn’t let me… she wouldn’t let me call for help.”
“It wasn’t your fault, cuddle pup. It was your father’s fault. Maxine did what she did because she loved you and wanted you safe. She saved your life as any parent would… and don’t argue with me about her not being a parent to you. You said yourself that she was the one that took care of you from a tiny child into adulthood. No, she didn’t give birth to you, but she raised you, cared for you, and loved you just as any proper parent would. You don’t have to be blood to be family.” The dragon stated firmly.
Smiling, Gordy softly said, “I know, and yes she was my mother in my heart, even if not by blood. I just hate that she had to die for nothing.”
“What do you mean?” Gunner asked, standing up from his seat.
“The second I went into my room I found my father there. He was tossing things all over my room. He snarled at me that I had better return what I had taken. He didn’t care what Maxine said, she had lied. I don’t know how he knew… I mean…”
“He’s a shifter, Gordy, like you. He smelled the lie. I bet you can smell when someone lies too. You just have to be taught how to do it, but I bet you have an instinct on when someone isn’t being completely honest with you, don’t you?” Gunner asked with a smirk.
Gordy nodded, “Yeah, but I had no idea it was because I shift. When I feel that way normally it’s because I start smelling a moldy kind of scent. It’s nasty and makes me back up.”
“That is the smell of a lie for you. Every shifter has a way to scent out a lie, and that’s yours. What happened after that? Did you run then?”
Shaking his head, Gordy said, “Not at first. I was still trying to wrap my head around everything that had happened. My father was screaming and he pulled out his gun and aimed it at me demanding I return the flash drive to him. Gummy Bear… my dog… jumped out from under the bed and bit his ankle. When my father went to shoot him, I freaked out and jumped on my father. We fell and he hit the corner of my dresser. I didn’t know if he was dead or alive at the time. All I knew was I needed out of there and fast. I grabbed a backpack I had used during my boarding school years, tossed in my personal papers I’d need, along with some clothes, grabbed Gummy and ran. I went to the nearest bank and pulled out what cash I could at one time and ran.”
“To the FBI?” Gunner asked.
Shaking his head, Gordy said, “No, because one of the names on that list was the head of that department. I didn’t know who I could trust right then. I did some digging and contacted a guy I knew in boarding school. He was a lawyer. He gave me the name Clem Mitchel and an email address. I contacted him and sent him a copy of the list and the audio I had on my phone. He said he had a safe place for me to go and to stay under the radar until he contacted me. Pit was the one to come and pick me up.”
“What did Clem do with the information you sent him?” Gunner asked, wiping his face with his shirt, showing off his well-toned abs, effectively distracting Gordy’s unsettling thoughts.
“He had my father arrested. However, the charges were dropped when the evidence mysteriously disappeared. What the person didn’t consider was that I still hold the original documentation. Clem told me to keep it safe and do nothing to bring attention to myself while he investigated who could have taken the information. I reminded him about the head of his department and he said it couldn’t have been him, because he was also arrested at the time, and that meant they had a mole in the department.”
“Those fuckers really have a problem with dirty fucking agents.” Gunner snarled. “I need to have a big talk with Stone.”
Gunner turned to his dragon, asking, “Is that air conditioner even working? It’s hot as fuck in here. Does anyone else find it hot as hell in this house?” Gunner asked.
Gordy replied, “Yes. I just figured it was a Texas thing and didn’t want to complain.”
“Do you think Cobra forgot to turn the blasted thing on when he came inside?” Gunner stated, turning to look at him and his dragon.
Shaking his head, the maharishi said, “The heat is beginning, Gunner. I too am growing hotter by the second.”
Gordy started to pant as a wave of heat rolled through his body from the tips of his toes to the top of his head. “Oh! Oh! Oh! What in the hell is going on?”
“Dragon heat.” Gunner panted, as he was going through his own panting and huffing.
“What do we do? How do we make it stop?” Gordy panted, pulling at his shirt collar.
Gunner ripped his shirt over his head, rasping out, “Sex… we… we have to bond.”
