“Are the next words out of your mouth going to beyou can go home if you want to?”
“Er, yes? It’s getting late, and I assume that you’ll want to sleep at some point.”
“And you won’t?”
He blinked at her pointed question.
“I will at some point, but I have a job to do. The sooner we find the cerastes, the better off all of us will be, including the poor cerastes.”
“You have a job to do, and so do I.”
She said it with such determination that he couldn’t keep from grinning and wanting to kiss her all over again. He had the idea, though, that if they started again, it would be even harder to stop, and they’d barely managed it the first time.
“And what job is that, at nine in the evening on a Friday night?”
“Well, first, there’s how little I like the idea of some poor man dealing with Clearwater City Hall all on his lonesome late at night. That building’s weird, and I can give you the keys, the map, the YouTube video some ghost hunters made of it a few years ago, and there will still be some places you’ll never think to look.”
Luca made a mental note to ask about the ghost hunters later, but for now he only raised his eyebrows.
“And second?”
“And second. Well... I’m not sure I want you out of my sight.”
There was that feeling again, his heart drowning in sweetness, the knowledge that yeah, this was her, it could only be her.
“All right. I’ll meet you back at City Hall.”
He saw Macy get snagged at her car by an elderly, very enthusiastic couple, and for a moment, he only watched her by the light from the diner. Macy was a gorgeous woman, but there was something about the way she engaged with the people of her town, excited, eager, and dedicated, that told him she was so much more.
Shaking his head, he drove back to City Hall, pulling the large snake hook and the containment bag out of his trunk. The bag would be a tight fit, designed for the smaller animals he tended to deal with, but it should work for the cerastes.
Waiting for Macy on the steps, he took the opportunity to update his sister via text and to let her know that the local wolf matriarch was currently looking after her son. Luisa didn’t work in conservation or wildlife rehabilitation like so many of theirfriends and family, but she knew how things got, understanding that sometimes, you just had a pack of wolf hybrid puppies to move or an endangered snake to corral. She was, however, far less chilled out about the fact that Luca had found his true mate, and his phone chimed practically the moment he’d typed the words out.
“Your true mate?” Luisa shrieked. “Seriously?”
“Hey, I thought you said you didn’t want to wake Allison.”
“I went outside. I’m actually in my pajamas on the porch screaming about the fact that my big brother has found his true mate! Oh my God, who is she, what’s she like? Does AJ like her?”
“Well, her name’s Macy, she’s the mayor of Clearwater, and she’s... well.”
“Well?”
“She’s perfect,” he said quietly. It was the only word that would serve. She was, and he knew it to the depths of his bones.
“Wow.” Luisa’s voice softening, and for a moment, they shared the silence like cat shifters tended to, absorbed and quiet. “You tell Mom and Dad yet?”
“No, they’re probably hunting right now or out with the Garcias. I’ll call them this weekend when I know they’re home, let them know. And AJ doesn’t say much, but he collapsed into her arms like a regular Hamlet when he got tired.”
“Aw, yeah. Littlest guy who believes in trust falls. You doing okay, Luca? When I met Allison, well… you know.”
His sister had met Allison hiking at a U-pick-it orchard in Wisconsin. They had stared into each others’ eyes, and then Luisa had shifted and run straight up the tree because only the best, most gorgeous, most luscious apples would do for hermate. It was now the family joke that Allison had figured out that true mates and panther shifters existed in the same moment, but she had at least gotten some delicious apples to smooth it all over.
“I’m doing. I’m doing great, I think. Except for the snake thing. I have a very old snake to catch before I can concentrate on Macy.”
“Catch the snake, romance the girl. You’re more dedicated that I am. I gotta get back inside before Allison wonders where I got off to, but good luck.”
Macy came up the stairs, and Luca pocketed his phone, smiling at her.
