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Syrus grinned. Or some version of it, a baring of teeth than was meaner than any true smile. “You really think I’d take you to them?”

“I wouldn’t cage them,” the man said earnestly, the whites of his eyes on full display. “I’d observe in the wild.”

Syrus tsked. “They’d devour you.”

“All great breakthroughs come with risk.”

Syrus almost laughed. Did this human really think any pod was going to suffer through his presence? His questions? His obvious avarice?

The pods Syrus knew may no longer have lured boatfuls of sailors to the rocks, but a lone idiot, all by himself, threatening to expose them in the name of science? He wouldn’t just be eaten. He’d be torn apart. The breeders would no doubt make a game of it.

Maybe Syrus should lead him to the pod after all.

But Syrus didn’t know where they were, and finding them would take too much time away from Luke and Colby. Even if Syrus had been inclined to guide this man to his certain doom, he had no interest in sabotaging his courtship in such a way.

He removed his hand from the human’s chest and stepped back. “You’re not a man of reason at all. You’re just a fool.”

The human’s eyes heated with anger. It was almost a relief to see some emotion other than vapid admiration and outright greed finally come through in his expression. “I’m not.”

Syrus sighed. His head ached, an annoying human affliction apparently exacerbated by idiots. “You will not contact me again,” he ordered softly. “You will not contact any humans in that town. You will leave, and you will do so quietly.”

“Or what?”

Ah. He wanted to play this game, did he?

Syrus leaned down, wrapping his hand around the man’s short neck. “You saw what I did to that guard, didn’t you? It will be a mercy compared to what I’d do to you.” Syrus bared his blunt teeth in obvious threat. “In fact, what’s to stop me from doing so right now?”

Slowly—so slow as to be eerie—the human’s lips stretched into a smile, even as his face reddened from Syrus’s rough hold. “And what would Luke Wainwright think of that?”

Syrus froze, his tight grip momentarily slackening. He had called for Luke at the beach, yes, but he’d never used his surname. He hadn’t even known Luke’s surname. “What did you just say?”

“Does he know what you did to that guard? Do you think he’d still let you near his young son if he did? If you did it again?” The man’s smile dropped as he narrowed his eyes. “Do you think he’d still bond with you?”

Syrus dropped his hand completely. He stepped back.

Who was this loose-lipped pod this man’s adviser had encountered? How had he been given access to so many secrets?

The human’s face contorted into an unpleasant sneer. “Personally, I don’t see the appeal. They’re just two ordinary humans. They aren’t rare or special. Not like you.”

Lies. A complete and utter falsehood. They were the most rare. The most special.

The man stepped closer, closing the distance between them. “You don’t even have to take me,” he pleaded. “Just point me in the right direction.”

But even if Syrus had the information to give, he wouldn’t have given it. The thought of this man encountering his pod no longer seemed so amusing.

Still, there had been truth to the scientist’s words. Syrus couldn’t mindlessly rip into this human’s flesh, not with Luke waiting for him at home, eager to hear what Syrus had encountered. There were consequences to such behavior now.

“Leave,” he growled as he turned away in disgust. “And leave soon. If you think I’d hesitate, know that there are others besides me who can tear you apart to my satisfaction.”

He walked out of the house, and there was only silence behind him.

Syrus found Riley right where he’d left him: in the driver’s seat of the car, smiling down at his phone now with a softness that suggested his mate was on the other end of whatever he was reading.

Maybe Syrus should get one of those. A mobile phone to always stay connected to his human.

Not that he and Luke were yet often apart, but presumably someday they would have to be. Circumstances like the present one might get in their way, and Syrus would be able to press a few buttons and reassure himself of Luke’s presence in his life.

Does he know what you did to that guard?