Would his mate want more children?
Duron wasn’t sure how those things worked. And clearly Beaumont had his children with a female. Something Duron would never be, and Beaumont had been emphatic about how pleased he was with that.
Yet, after Marvin’s little surprise, and yeah, he’d kind of figured there was something happening with Marvin. Only he’d assumed when he’d said nothing about the pregnancy that Marvin wanted to keep it to himself. Turns out that wasn’t the case at all. Duron worked on the principle that if it could happen to Marvin, then it could happen to any of them.
He chuckled at how shell-shocked Ajani had looked when he’d seen him after what had happened to them on the way to the mall.
“What’s so amusing?” Beaumont’s voice brought him from his thoughts.
“Just thinking about Marvin,” he said, then realized how that sounded. “You know, the shock baby,” he added quickly to clarify it was nothing more.
“It sounded interesting, for sure.”
A silence followed as they continued, slipping deeper into the rainforest. Duron made an effort to get a read on his mate. The tension eased in his shoulders when there was nothing to suggest Beaumont was upset, not like earlier, so Duron let it go.
His thoughts meandered back to what kind of house they’d buy together. He had more than enough money to contribute. It was important to him to do that. After years of sharing, Duron got an excited buzz at the prospect of having something that truly belonged to him and his mate. The house he lived in with the other assassins they’d built themselves. They’d wanted no trail left that would lead the council to the knowledge they had banded together. Although, that was a moot point when mated to the council leader.
His lips twitched at how things had turned out. Never in his wildest dreams would he ever have considered his mate would hold such power. Would Beaumont want him working alongside him?
He rolled his eyes at the stupidity of that thought when that was exactly what they were doing.
Beaumont touched his arm, halting him in his tracks.Can you hear that?
Duron cursed himself for not focusing on why they were in the jungle in the first place. His head tilted as he listened intently.The creepy whistling noise?
Yes.
Duron’s training had included a huge amount of geography about the world and what was native to each country. He had learned to retain information early on, when it could result in painful stimuli to make them recall it.
He ran through what he knew about native birds that could make what seemed like a noise guaranteed to scare folks out of the rainforest at night. Birds could make many sounds.It’s a night ghost bird, an urutau.
A what?
An urutau bird. It makes that spine-tingling sound that reminds you of a mournful or angry ghost, don’t worry, it’s nothing supernatural. Although some locals think it’s the night spirit of the myth yasi yatere a pavonine cuckoo. Some believe it must never be imitated or killed and treated with the utmost respect. During siesta it transforms into the yasi yatere bird, and if you hear it then, stay away or it will lead your children into the jungle, and they will come back crazy.
The reptilian eyes stared at him with something akin to wonder.How on earth do you know this?
Training.
The awe became replaced with sadness.Sorry, that was insensitive.
Duron placed his hand on top of Beaumont’s as he went to pull away.It isn’t. The knowledge impressed you. Keep that feeling. I like it.He squeezed, and then let go when something else became apparent. The scent they’d been tracking was stronger.
We need to go this way.
He headed in the direction opposite to where Selina’s home was, trusting his animals. An hour later, sweat caused his T-shirt to rub uncomfortably against his skin where the pack lay on his back, and Duron came to a standstill. His senses going crazy with the knowledge of where part of Selina’s scent had led them.
He inhaled deeply, wading through the distinct smells, eliminating those of no importance to their mission. Only as he did that, it became clear they were where Ben had found his mates. Their scents remained dominant, as was part of Selina’s. Here Duron had to concentrate harder to figure out what his animals were telling him.
Something was off. The three men he’d encountered, who smelled the same as Selina, they were all in that space. Only there was a fifth smell, more dominant, that had characteristics of those four and that of his mate. Similar, but unlike the other four, not the same.
Keeping the conversation internal, Duron asked gently,can you smell your son?
Beaumont wordlessly stripped off his clothes and stacked them into a neat pile. His features were tight, muscles taut, and revealed how hard Beaumont worked to keep his control. Before Duron could offer any support, though he wasn’t sure what, Beaumont shifted.
Duron shivered at the enormous creature, who possibly measured close to thirteen feet long, who opened his mouth wide to scent the air.
His colossal body then moved with a grace his size belied as he stalked closer to what looked like an immense pile of cut down trees. On closer inspection, Duron could see it had once been a structure. The scent of explosives and the Putney brothers were coming from the remnants of what had been the scientists and trainers’ den of desperation and pain.
