by Kyl, Celia
“Tell me about yourself,” he said quietly, his thumb rubbing a lazy oval on her shoulder.
“Me?” She raised her eyebrows with a flirty smile. “Grizz, I’m the least interesting part of this story.”
“Says you. I get the impression you’d be hard to get to know for anyone else.”
“You’re one to talk,” she teased, clearly trying to push the conversation back on him. When he remained silent, waiting, she finally sighed. “I guess you’re not wrong. Honestly, my teammates at Wildridge are the closest thing to family I’ve ever had. I suppose they know me better than anyone else in the world.”
“I guessed that much, but… What about your real family?”
Her shoulder jumped under his hand, apparently indicating ambivalence, but he could sense her sadness. What an amazing sensation, to know what your mate was feeling. It might have seemed like a nightmare before he’d found Elektra, but once their bond had been set in stone, he couldn’t imagine living any other way.
“I never knew my birth parents,” she explained quietly, not bothering to hide her feelings from him anymore. “Grew up in an orphanage or foster homes. I never really felt like I belonged anywhere. The closest I’ve ever come was at Wildridge. Those people are as close to me as family.”
From the little he knew of Elektra, Grizz guessed she was a workaholic, a perfectionist. She held herself to higher standards than anyone else, trying to fulfill the need to overperform so she could compensate for being the “outsider,” even if the others didn’t see her that way.
“Still,” she continued, twirling her index finger in his chest hair, “most of the time I feel like a distant cousin.”
“That’s still family, even though you don’t share blood. I’ve spent most of my working life inhabiting different personas. You don’t exactly get to stay in touch with everyone from high school in this line of work. I’ve learned to make families along the way and cherish them as long as they last. In fact, the idea of having something long term is…”
A warm glow wrapped around them and they linked their fingers together with happy smiles. She reached up and kissed his chin.
“Now that we’re together, I finally understand what it feels like to belong,” she said. “If my fate was to spend all of my life not belonging just so I got the chance to find you, it was all worth it. Every second. Even if we die tomorrow, I will never regret a moment we’ve had together.”
For the second time that day—probably his entire adulthood—Grizz felt the sting of tears burning the backs of his eyes. He couldn’t have said it better himself. Slipping a hand around her waist, he drew her closer, pressing a kiss to her lips and becoming lost in her sweetness.
“All this time, I thought I just wasn’t interested in finding a mate,” he murmured against the top of her head, breathing in her intoxicating scent, “when I’d really only been waiting for you.”
Tears shimmered in her eyes and Grizz knew that was just as unusual for her as it was for him. Pulling her close, he kissed her and then peppered more along her jaw and down her neck, drawing a low moan from her.
“Oh, Grizz, I—
They both froze, every sense going on high alert at the sound of electronic chirps echoing off the rock walls of his sanctuary.
Chapter Seven
“What the fuck is that?” Elektra bolted to her feet, crouched in a defensive position and already growing in size as she prepared to release her dragon.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” he said with a heavy groan as he willed the beeping to stop. It came through in three-beep bursts—five of them—then fell silent.
“It could be a bomb,” she panted, eyes darting around.
“It could be, but it’s not.”
Grizz dug around in the stacks of supplies until he pulled out a small, watertight box he’d all but forgotten about. He grimaced as he showed it to Elektra.
She frowned. “Please don’t tell me you’re into geocaching.”
He joined her back on their makeshift bed and she sat back down, snuggling as close as she could, yet still not close enough for his taste.
“Um, no.” He flipped the latches on the briefcase-like box and gave her a look. “Ready?”
“I dunno. What’s in there?”
“Ta da!”
Throwing the lid back revealed a relic from the past that modern kids wouldn’t recognize. Elektra leaned in to get a better look, a crease marring her perfect brow.
“Is that…” she looked up at him for confirmation. “Is that a pager?”
“Yup,” he said, digging the device out of its protective foam nest inside the box. “Jeez, I can’t believe the battery still works.”
“Might I ask why you have a pager, of all things, stored in a waterproof case in your lair?”
“I brought it out here so I could get important messages without being traced. Looks like someone’s trying to get in touch with me.”
A thrill of excitement—or maybe it was fear—spiraled up his spine as he pressed a button to read the messages. The only person who had the pager’s number was murdered four days ago, which could only mean…
“It’s from Harlow’s second in command,” he told her, not quite ready to believe what the screen was showing him.
“What’s he want?” She reached around and pulled the hand holding the pager close to her face so she could scroll through the messages. “Return to HQ. Found Harlow’s file on your undercover mission. Charges dropped. All clear. Josh.”
They both stared at the pager, trying to process this new information. Elektra spoke first.
“Is this for real?”
“Has to be. Only Harlow had the number, and now Josh has taken over. He’s calling me in.”
“Uh-uh, no way,” she said, pushing his hand away. “It’s a trap.”
Grizz thought it all through and shook his head. “I don’t think it is. Look, he says he found Harlow’s file on my mission. Harlow didn’t trust anyone besides me, and I know for a fact he didn’t tell another living soul about my undercover work. Josh wouldn’t have said he’d found the file because he didn’t know it existed. Hell, even I wasn’t sure it existed.”
Elektra searched his face, hope flickering in her eyes. “So…you think this is legit?”
“I…” He had a hard time believing it himself, yet it made total sense. He and Harlow were the only two people in the SBI who knew what Grizz was up to. If Josh had the file, he knew the charges were faked. “I think so. You know what this means. Right? We’re fr—”
Elektra interrupted him by throwing her arms around his neck in a fierce kiss that knocked him backward. She straddled him and kissed all over his face as she laughed.
“No wonder we didn’t find it at his house,” she said, pulling herself upright but keeping him on his back with the light press of her palms against his chest. “It must have been at his office.”
“That timeline tracks. They would have worked through his priority files first. If it took them four days to find mine, Harlow must have hidden it well.”
Twenty-four hours ago, Harlow would have been relieved at the news. Happy, even. But his connection with Elektra was so deeply profound, the emotions he felt now blew “relief” out of the water. It wasn’t just his life and future at stake, but hers too. With the charges dropped and everything out in the open, Elektra wouldn’t face the dire consequences of helping him escape. Not only could they live their lives together without constantly having to look over their shoulders, but she would be safe. To Grizz, that was the most important takeaway.
Elektra would be safe.
Happiness tightened his chest to the point he couldn’t resist the impulse to kiss his mate, so he leaned into it. She was the first to break away.
“How long do you think it’ll take them to process the paperwork and get the word out?” Her smile faltered a touch. She was anxious for her chosen family to know the truth and he couldn’t blame her for that.
“In the
ory, no time at all, but I think we should leave an extra day as a buffer, just in case. I don’t know if I want to try tangling with your team again if your boss hasn’t gotten a phone call yet.”
“Good call.”
“And that happens to give us a little time to give you a proper tour,” his lips pulled into a broader grin. “I don’t exactly have a bottle of fine champagne out here, but I know of a view that might hold a candle to it.”
“I’m all eyes.” Her giggle sounded like she’d been waiting to feel this way her whole life.
Grizz kept a few waterproof duffel bags full of spare clothes, and he was glad to find that despite the evidence of tiny nibble marks on the vinyl-coated fabric, no local animals had managed to break in. While Elektra dressed in her very appealing and very form-fitting black clothes, he pulled on a snug white t-shirt, jeans, and a pair of old hiking boots.
Heading back to the cave’s wide entrance, Grizz peeked through the dangling vegetation first. Los Angeles was barely a silhouette in the hazy afternoon light and they skies were free of everything except the occasional plane.
“Looks clear,” he said, taking her hand and leading her back up the narrow path to the sloping, scrubby landscape of the island.
It had been a while since he’d visited his lair, so it took him a minute to find the overgrown trail that led to the other side of the island. It was an easy but longish hike and they flirted like a couple of first-time crushes as they made their way to a cliffside overlook facing west.
They looked out onto a broad, open sea, warm winds riffling the waters and creating the occasional white cap. The ocean sparkled like diamonds as the sun edged closer and closer to the horizon. All manner of sea birds dove into the water for their dinner and Elektra even spotted the spout from a whale in the distance. The way she was grinning, she looked like a kid in a candy store.
Leading her to a tree at the edge of the cliff, Grizz sat down with his back against the rough bark and then pulled her down so she sat between his legs with her back resting against his chest. Without a word, Elektra pulled his arms around her and snuggled in to watch the sunset.
Not a word passed between them as they watched the sun touch the surface of the water and turn the sky a shocking orange. Grizz tightened his hold on his mate and marveled at how spectacular everything was now that he’d found her. Nothing would ever be the same, and that was just fine by him.
* * *
“We should probably head back soon,” Grizz said softly in Elektra’s ear, sending chills fluttering across her skin as the last of the sun disappeared in a wavy, watery flash.
“But I’m so comfortable,” she whined.
“We’ll be even more comfortable in my lair,” he reminded her, pressing a soft kiss to her temple. “We can build a fire and have some dinner.”
“And what’s on the menu at Le Lair Bistro?” Elektra chuckled.
“MREs. Nothing fancy, but they’re edible. Kinda.”
Elektra’s stomach chose that precise moment to let out a long, plaintive growl and they both laughed. “How can I argue with that?”
“Come on,” Grizz stood and offered her his hand. “While we still have lots of light.”
Hand in hand, they chatted about their future as they made their way back across the island. Elektra had never thought much about her future. She’d always tended to live in the moment, which she’d assumed was just another facet of her thrill-seeking personality. Now she realized it had more to do with the fact she didn’t want to think about the future, mostly because she had no one to share it with.
Happiness had always been an elusive, mythical fantasy other people talked about. But walking alongside the man of her dreams, talking about the good times that lay ahead? With a start, she realized what the word actually meant. It was every single thing in her life coalescing into a glowing pinpoint of brightness and warmth deep in her chest.
“Now that we’re officially a thing, where are we going to live?” Elektra asked.
“Probably not my crappy apartment. I’m on the road so much, I never saw the point in paying for a big, fancy apartment I rarely use.”
“Mine it is, then,” she replied cheerily. “The bigger question is what happens when we’re on assignment? How will we manage to not rip everyone’s heads off while we’re apart?”
“Other fated mates have done it,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze. “We’ll figure it out. Honestly, Elektra, I don’t think there’s much of any problem we can’t solve.”
“Including your mission. We’ll unlock it. I know we will, especially once we have access to all of our resources. What do we know so far?”
“You want to talk about this now?” Grizz’s lips twitched, slightly amused. “Not very romantic.”
“I disagree. I think it’s very romantic. The sooner we work this shit out, the sooner we can have more time to ourselves, and I know you’re interested in that.” She waggled her eyebrows at him.
“You make a compelling argument,” he said with a chuckle. “Okay, Harlow was the first to realize that shifter criminals were being sent to prison, only to be released even stronger and more powerful than before they went in. And not just from weight-lifting. Thankfully, the SBI was able to neutralize them before they caused too much permanent damage.”
“The ones they knew about, you mean,” she said, giving him a knowing look.
“Exactly. Danque Anguis, that bank-robbing snake shifter, flew under the SBI’s radar for far too long. Who knows how many others are out there?”
“What else did Harlow learn?”
“Not too much, really. He happened to stumble across the fact that all of the criminals, up to that point, had been caught by our unit. It seemed peculiar to him and he developed the theory that someone inside the organization was involved. When I returned from my mission in Belarus, he proposed the undercover job so I could search for dirt. And now he’s dead.”
“I’m sorry you lost your friend,” she said softly, squeezing his hand and leaning against him for a few steps. The contact helped her, and she didn’t need her mate-bond to tell her it helped him too.
“Thanks.”
They walked along in silence for a few paces before Elektra spoke again. “Not to alarm you, but I think the post-prison power development thing might be a bigger deal than you all thought. When our team was hunting down Danque, we found that his powers seemed to get stronger and stronger the longer he was out of prison. Like it was a muscle he kept flexing and building, according to Chelle Calidi, the skip tracer from Skypoint Security who chased him all the way across the country.”
Grizz frowned. “Really? I hadn’t heard that.”
“Did you find anything interesting while undercover?”
“Nothing concrete,” he admitted. “But an inmate did tell me to hook up with a buddy of his once I got out of holding and into human prison.”
Excitement sparked in her heart. “Got a name?”
It was one of her duties as a specialist at Wildridge to know all of the criminal players in the local shifter community. Maybe…
“First name only. Drake.”
It didn’t ring a bell, but once she could go back to the office, she’d have Ragan try tracking him down.
“I know this will come as a big surprise,” Grizz said, “but the guy was pretty shady. Didn’t give a lot of detail, just told me there was a ‘special program’ for shifters that I wouldn’t regret joining. I have to believe that’s exactly what Harlow was trying to sniff out. That’s why I was so desperate to get in touch with him…”
“You did everything you could, Grizz.”
“It wasn’t good enough,” he replied, his mood shifting from light and happy to gloomy in the blink of an eye. “I can’t believe he’s gone. One of the best in the field, gone forever. He wasn’t only a great SBI agent, Elektra. He was a great guy. A good man. He genuinely wanted to make the world a better, safer place. For him to be killed over all of this… It’s just fuck
ed up. Which is why I have to solve this mystery. For Harlow.”
“For Harlow,” she repeated with a soft smile. Then she froze and held out an arm in front of Grizz.
“What is it?” Grizz whispered as his hot cocoa eyes searched the sky for signs of trouble.
“No, look,” she whispered back, pointing toward a nearby bush. “Is that a baby fox?”
A tiny grey fox no bigger than a standard housecat sat just off the side of the path, watching them. It looked every inch like a baby fox, but without an ounce of fear. It didn’t appear aggressive either. Grizz peered over her shoulder and she felt his amusement.
“No, that’s an adult. Those are the babies.”
He pointed at the bush behind the fox. It took a second for Elektra’s eyes to adjust to the gloom under the bush, and when they did, she spotted two sets of tiny eyes peering back at her.
She almost squealed.
“Oh my god,” she whispered instead. “They’re so small!”
“Yup. They’re endemic to this island only, believe it or not. Can’t be found anywhere else in the world.”
A second “adult” fox strolled out of the bush and sat next to its mate, their fuzzy little tails crossing. It looked like the fox version of holding hands. Grizz gently tugged her along to leave the little family in peace. None of them appeared to be alarmed by their presence, which made sense. If they were native to an uninhabited island where they were the largest predator. Why would a couple of measly dragons bother them?
“So, what do you think about starting a family?” Grizz said, shooting her a nervous glance. “I know it’s a little early to bring that up, but…”
“I never put much thought into it, honestly. I guess because I never wanted to look that far into my own future. But now… well, I could really see that happening.”
Grizz took her hand and raised it to his lips to kiss softly. Elektra smiled as her cheeks warmed. She didn’t blush easily, but Grizz was different. It wasn’t difficult to figure out why.
