“Liz.” Reese touched my arm lightly, her expression sincere. “I know things seem strange, but no one here means you any harm. Quite the opposite, actually.”
I wanted to believe her, but my brain kept throwing up red flags. “I’ll keep that in mind, but I need some space to think.”
Reese nodded, stepping back. “Of course. I’m here if you need anything.”
I watched her walk away, and I couldn’t decide which bothered me more: that Lucan had offered me the money for his own knife, or that some small part of me had wanted to take it.
Chapter 12
Lucan
Iwas going to roast Zarek.
I stormed up the steps to his cabin, my temper simmering below boiling. When I’d heard from Reese about Liz’s visit to the office and Zarek’s “interrogation,” I’d nearly shifted where I stood.
My dragon rumbled under my skin, agitated and ready to confront the threat to our mate. Not that Zarek was technically a threat. He was a first-class pain in the ass with boundary issues.
He knew I was coming. The whole area probably knew with the waves of irritation rolling off me. I didn’t bother knocking when I reached his door. I just shoved it open and walked in like I’d done it a thousand times before.
“Make yourself at home,” Zarek said dryly from his kitchen, not bothering to look up from where he stood chopping vegetables. The rhythmic sound of the knife hitting the cutting board only added to my annoyance.
I closed the door behind me. “What were you thinking?”
Zarek didn’t look up from his cutting board. “You’ll need to be more specific.”
I leaned against the counter, forcing myself into his line of sight. “You know exactly what I’m talking about. What the hell was that with Liz today?”
“Standard security protocol.” His knife sliced through a bell pepper. “A stranger camping in our territory requires investigation.”
“She wasn’t camping anymore. She came to the office upset, and you treated her like a suspect.”
Zarek looked up, his blue eyes cooler than usual. “She had information we needed.”
“Information like what? How many marshmallows she toasted? How many pine needles got stuck in her hair?” I ran a hand through my hair in frustration. “She’s my mate, Zarek. Not an intruder.”
“A mate you met once.” He resumed his methodical chopping. “A mate who doesn’t know about dragons. A mate who showed up out of nowhere with one of our treasures.”
My hands clenched at my sides. “I gave her that knife. Do you really think I’d make that up if she’d stolen it?”
His knife paused momentarily before resuming its precise work. “Possibly.”
“She’s allergic to pistachios.” I felt like a broken record, repeating what I’d already told them when I found out.
Zarek’s expression hardened. “We know nothing about her.”
I barked out a laugh. “What do you want to know? Her favorite color? Her credit score? Her feelings about which direction the toilet paper roll goes?”
“Why she was really camping alone.” His voice remained steady. “Why she left her previous situation with nothing but a car and a tent. Determining whether anyone might be looking for her.”
I took a step forward, my control slipping. “She’s not running from the law. She’s running from a bad relationship.”
“And you know this how?” Zarek tilted his head, watching me with unnerving focus. “Because she told you over dinner? Or because your dragon says so? Your dragon isn’t particularly objective.”
I gritted my teeth. “Neither are you, apparently.”
The temperature in the room seemed to drop several degrees. We stared at each other, a silent standoff neither of us would break. This wasn’t really about Liz. It was about how his dragon thought he’d found his mate once, and he was wrong.
“She returned the check,” I finally said. “Twenty thousand dollars, and she gave it back because she doesn’t trust me. Your interrogation only reinforced that distrust.”
