Lara
I stretch, eyes still closed as I smile to myself. That was the best sleep I’ve had in a long time, and despite the sun waking me with its bright glare, I feel well-rested and ready for the day.
It takes me a moment to realize where I am and why I don’t recognize anything when I do finally open my eyes. Sigurd had moved us into his suite the morning after the ceremony, saying something about having to share it with other males never being part of the plan once he found his queen.
He grumbled about it, sure, but he still made us move into his rooms. There are two bedrooms, a shared living room between them, two massive bathrooms, and two closets the size of our old bedroom on Earth. It’s fucking massive, and it’s sort of perfect to convert into little cat area. I can just imagine building shelves and cat trees and shit everywhere. It would be a little kitty mansion, and I could finally achieve my dream of adopting twenty cats.
I don’t know if they have cats in Drakolia, though, and I need to find out immediately.
With that thought, I get up and stroll through the bedroom to the living room where I can hear my mates talking, pausing in the doorway with my hands on my hips and a frown on my face. Their conversation stops instantly and their mouths pop open in surprise, so I glance down at my body and wince.
Oops. Should have put some clothes on first.
I shake it off and turn to Sigurd, who’s lounging on a comfortable-looking sofa to the left of the roaring fireplace. It’s not even that cold outside, but the castle can be pretty drafty, and the fire livens things up a bit so it’s not all so gloomy and cold. It takes me a moment to realize I’m just staring off into the flames like a moron, and I snap around to look at my dragon mate again.
“Are there cats here?” I ask.
Sigurd frowns. “No, but there are beasts who are similar, just… much larger.”
I pout. “I want to convert my closet into a cat mansion.”
“I can catch one of the beasts for you, if that’s what you desire.”
Smiling wide, I skip to my dragon and hop into his lap, making him grunt as his arms come around my waist.
“You’re so sweet,” I hum.
“Anything for you, my queen. Anything.”
I ignore his heated words, not because I don’t want to bone him, but because Kelvin is already speaking. “We need to discuss our next steps.”
I turn on Sigurd’s lap, much to his dismay, to face the others.
“We’ve already got the dragon up to date on everything that happened to you, including the events that led to your sentencing,” Kelvin continues. “Rio was already aware, but there were some details we hadn’t yet disclosed, given our limited options for communication. We were waiting for you to wake up before deciding what our next step is. Here is the list we compiled of possible suspects.”
Kelvin hands over a file, looking grim, and I nervously take it and open the folder. There’s a short list of names, three to be exact, and only one I recognize. I find it hard to believe that the person who framed me would be a stranger, because everything about those murders—and my sentencing—felt very personal. It felt like a direct attack against me, though I can’t recall ever doing something to someone that would warrant such a methodical plot for my downfall.
Sigurd, who’s reading over my shoulder, is the first to break the silence.
“That’s it?”
“It’s more than I have,” I say, turning to glare at the beast over my shoulder, silently warning him to stop antagonizing.
He just smirks, the asshole.
I sigh and turn to the others. “Let’s hit all three, then.”
Max looks amused at my rather direct approach, and I can’t help but eye him just as naughtily as he’s eyeing me from his fancy-ass chair.
“And if they're not your guy?” Kelvin interjects.
I shrug. “Then we don’t kill them.” The duh is silent, but totally implied.
Kelvin levels me with a hard look. “How will you determine whether they’re innocent?”
“Torture.” Simple. To the point. Easy-peasy.
“Well, I suppose that would do it. Though why can’t your bonded read their minds instead?” Sigurd’s question is valid, and thankfully Kelvin doesn’t take offense.
“I can’t read most people’s minds. Humans are much easier than others, but everyone has natural blocks that prevent me from reading much more than surface thoughts.”
Sigurd huffs, clearly not believing my bonded. “Yet you read mine easily.”
“It’s how I knew you were hers.”
“Explain,” my dragon barks.
I jump in, sensing the rising tension. “As his soulmate, my mind is open. We found out that Max is the same since he’s my other soulmate, and Kelvin’s brother by bonding.”
“Anyone bound or connected to my bonded’s soul is as easy to read as hers,” Kelvin adds. “Others take time and power for me to get anything more than meaningless babble.”
“That’s… disappointing.”
Kelvin isn’t offended by Sigurd’s response, thank fuck. Instead he says, “It’s also a blessing. I can’t imagine hearing everyone's thoughts all the time. It’s less of a problem here, since it’s just us five, but Earth would no doubt give me a terrible headache.”
I’m nodding, because yeah, that sounds tiring.
“You know,” I begin, “whoever framed me would either need to be a witch or know a witch, because they changed my aura to red.”
“That’s something we considered, but it’s impossible to know whether it was a witch, a potion, or a token they bought instead. But we already did as much legwork as we could in the time we had before freeing you from jail, which is why the list has been narrowed down to those three. You’ll find the full list in the very back of the folder along with the reasons they’re no longer a suspect. They’re the only people we haven’t had a chance to… speak directly with.” Max’s grin tells me they did more than speak to our suspects, and I giggle a little maniacally.
I start bouncing in place, excitement thrumming through me as I think about all the bad things I could do to the person who fucked me over. It takes way too long for me to register the groan Sigurd releases, and even longer for me to realize what he’s bitching about. I may or may not have forgotten that I was sitting naked on his lap, and, well, me bouncing around isn’t all that innocent.
“My bad,” I say. I’m so not sorry, though.
Kelvin narrows his blue eyes on me, but I just smile innocently. He doesn’t buy it, because hello, mind reader, but that’s okay. Kelvin is totally being a good soulmate and keeping my secret. He’s so getting a reward later.
“So,” I start with a grin, “I never asked, but how did you manage to get me out of S.O.P., exactly? I mean, what was the deal with all the explosions?”
Rio shrugs. “I cut out the implants from ten or so inmates to create a distraction so they wouldn’t notice a guard and a prisoner fleeing to the slipways. One of them just so happened to have the power to blow shit up.”
“Right,” I drawl. “One of the prisoners you liberated from the power inhibitor implant coincidently has the power to blow things up? It’s not like you had access to everyone's profile that told you exactly what abilities they had and how they use them.” Rio just grins. “I feel like you’re leaving a hell of a lot of details out, but I’m going to let it go because I’m nice like that.”
“You’re just anxious to start hunting our targets,” Kelvin not-so-helpfully interjects.
I roll my eyes and don’t argue, because he’s right. Of course he’s right.
* * *
I feel so badass and sexy it’s unreal. Like, I feel unstoppable, and so amazing with these leathers on. They hug me just right and show off my myriad tattoos, making me look fearless. My combat boots are perfect for kicking some ass too, and leather is so easy to clean blood off of, or so I’ve heard. I haven’t had a chance to test that yet, but I’m so ready to give it a go.
My dual blades are sick too. Their handles remind me of a pair of dragons winding around the hilts, mirroring the tattoo on my arm, and the blades’ curves means I can deal maximum damage. It’s a damn good thing I learned how to handle blades before my brief stint in prison, even if I don’t always need them with the variety of deadly potions I create. It’s always nice to have a backup when murdering people.
First up is David Ranger, a fifty-two-year-old Zodiac enforcer whose son was a Fallen. I had arrested Callen Ranger for his multiple accounts of robbery and brought him in as my job required. This was nearly four years ago, and the string of murders didn’t start until the following January, so motive is there. However, David’s aura is blue, as all ZA employees’ auras are required to be. There are ways around this, but to hide his aura for four years isn’t possible with potions, tokens, or witches. That’s a temporary measure, so the only other option, if he is our culprit, is that he believes he’s doing the right thing, thus tricking his aura into being Sinless.
I’m not so sure this is our guy, but we need to check, and a little pain usually makes most people compliant, which is just what we need. I have potions that can make even the most stubborn bastard confess, but that’s not really that fun, and I only have one, so I need to save it for a special occasion.
That reminds me, I really need to stock up on my herbs so I can restock my potions. Hmm. Maybe after we find our man—or woman—we can stop at the apothecary and clean them out.
It really is weird being back in town again after everything that’s happened. It’s almost surreal, and part of me is dying to sight see and uncover any changes to my hometown. We don’t have time for that, but at least I get to do a little traveling while we hunt down our last three suspects. It’s almost like I’m back at my old job, hunting criminals down, only they might not be criminals this time.
The house we’re creeping into first is a modest ranch-style home with worn shutters and flaking paint. It’s clear that dear old David isn’t all that well-off, and it’s likely why his son took to thievery in the first place.
“Do we knock?” I whisper innocently.
I swear I feel Kelvin’s sigh despite not hearing a thing, and somehow I manage to bite my tongue against the cackle desperate to escape. Max nudges me, and I can see his grin in the dark, and fuck, that almost has me losing it, the little shit. He knows what he’s doing, and I won’t break!
“It’s polite to knock,” Rio adds quietly, and that’s what does it.
I snort and slap a hand over my mouth while Kelvin stares us all down. Sigurd’s the only one to escape his wrath, and I want to call him a traitor, but I know if I move my hand, my laugh will slip out.
“Let’s just go and get this done before we have the agents up our asses,” Kelvin finally says after a long moment, his words cutting through the lighthearted mood my awesome self created.
I pout, upset my fun was ruined, but luckily a new kind of fun is just about to start.