by Kyl, Celia
Charlie’s dragon landed on the beach near Joshua’s prone form. All fear of being flame-broiled fled from Elektra and she smiled broadly as her boss shifted into his human form and then returned her smile.
“Charlie!” she cried, breaking free from Grizz and running into the arms of the man who was more father than boss, uncaring of the nudity they shared.
He patted her back and chuckled lightly, pushing her away from him and scanning her body for injuries. Then he scanned Grizz.
“Are either of you injured?” he asked as Grizz trotted up to join them.
“Nothing life-threatening,” she said, grinning at the two most important men in her life.
Relief filled Charlie’s face. “Good. That’s very good.”
“Thank you, sir,” Grizz said, stepping forward and extending his hand. “You saved us and I can’t understand why.”
Charlie’s eyes narrowed and then he nodded at Elektra. “That woman right there is one of the best we’ve ever had. I’d be damned if I let anyone take her away from us. And you…” He cocked his head to the side as he appraised Grizz. “I couldn’t, in good conscience, let an innocent man die.”
Elektra gasped. “You know?”
“I’ll admit you had us chasing our tails for a while,” Charlie said, affection glowing in his eyes. “At first, I felt betrayed. I’d trusted you implicitly, as much as anyone else on my team.”
“I’m sorry, I—” she started, but he held up a hand to stop her.
“It didn’t make a lick of sense. I mean, what on earth could make one of the most dedicated officers I’ve ever met do what you did? Run off with a multiple murderer? It didn’t make sense, and as Judge Judy says, if it doesn’t make sense, it probably isn’t true.”
Grizz laced his fingers through hers. “How did you figure it out, sir?”
“Simple detective work, son. After that little incident with the dragonsbane, it didn’t take a genius to realize Elektra wouldn’t betray us for just anyone. You had to be her fated mate for her to help you escape like that.”
Grizz flashed a smile at her and her heart nearly burst with love—love she’d never imagined she’d experience.
“We turned Harlow Shelton’s house upside down looking for clues to explain what happened,” Charlie continued. “All we found was a formal reprimand for someone named Joshua Slocum. A few well-placed calls by Wyntir, some digital snooping by Ragan, and all the pieces fell into place. My colleagues in the upper echelons of the SBI found Harlow’s file on Mr. Magna’s undercover assignment in Slocum’s office and have officially cleared him of all charges.”
They’d heard that before, and while Elektra took Charlie at his word, Grizz was understandably doubtful. “Really?” he asked.
Charlie’s gaze turned deadly serious as he looked Grizz in the eyes. “Mr. Magna, you have my deepest apologies for everything you’ve been through. I understand if you’d like confirmation before returning to the mainland with us. I’m sure we can work something out.”
Elektra squeezed her mate’s hand, and as he turned to her, she sent him a carousel of mental images showing Charlie through the years. She didn’t doubt him in the least, and she hoped Grizz would trust her instincts enough to follow her lead on this. The worry in his expression evaporated and he turned a smile on her boss.
“That won’t be necessary, sir. What I want to know is what your plans are for this ugly-ass statue.” He jerked his head to where Slocum’s frozen form lay on its side. Elektra wrinkled her nose at the sight of him.
“Well, that does raise an interesting question,” Charlie considered thoughtfully. “I suppose it could be beneficial to leave him this way. You know, a cautionary tale from which other dragons could learn to not be seduced by dark forces and led out of the light. The ice can only be destroyed by dragonfire, so it could stand as a powerful reminder for many years to come.”
Grizz and Elektra exchanged dubious glances, understanding instantly what the other was thinking. There was no need to speak. It was all understood.
“Sorry, Charlie,” Elektra said, gripping Grizz’s hand. “But fuck that.”
She and Grizz stepped back and shifted into their dragon forms while Charlie watched with a bemused expression. Together they blasted Slocum with a turret of life-destroying dragon flame until he was nothing but a boiling puddle of blue goo.
Chapter Ten
The Wildridge Security offices had been transformed from a boring, mundane headquarters into a party zone. Every surface—from staplers and copy machines to water coolers and bulletin boards—was covered with party paraphernalia. Big, shiny banners hung on either end of the conference room, where the entire team was gathered. One read BON VOYAGE! while the one on the opposite side read WELCOME!
Charlie must have put a spell on them because not a single specialist balked at strapping on a silly party hat, not even Elektra. She’d never felt more like celebrating, so it didn’t take much arm-twisting. Dyrk looked less than impressed but ducked down so Tessa could help him adjust it to just the right jaunty angle. Of course, Wyntir looked like she was wearing the latest fashion—despite the hat being made of cardboard and emerald green glitter. Allon, on the other hand, looked a bit like a caricature—huge body, teeeeeensy little hat. Elektra linked her arm through Grizz’s and smiled up at him.
Charlie had thrown this party together out of nothing, as he was prone to do. The purpose was twofold and more than a little bittersweet. After weeks of trying to maintain a long-distance relationship with his mate, Chelle Calidi, Allon Wyvern had finally given up. Neither of them had realized just how torturous it would be to live separately. He’d told Elektra that every moment they spent apart felt like needles to the heart. She understood on a microscopic level because any time Grizz was out of sight, she felt completely out of sorts. Living a continent apart would be agony. So they’d each given notice at their respective jobs and now they were gathered to wish them well on the next part of their journey together.
“It just got to be so painful, it wasn’t worth the effort anymore,” Chelle said to Elektra and Grizz, sipping champagne from a plastic flute.
Allon stood with his arm draped around his mate’s shoulders and nodded. “You know how seriously I take my work. You guys are like my family, but my priorities have shifted. I can’t stand the thought of being apart from her for another second.”
Chelle gazed up at him, her vibrant green eyes sparkling with adoration and amusement. “Besides, it wasn’t fair to others. Every time Allon and I met up somewhere, we sorta left the place in tatters.”
Grizz chuckled. “How?”
Allon waggled his eyebrows lasciviously. “Let’s just say our hookups were…explosive.”
“We’re talking earthquakes, landslides, forest fires, ice caps melting,” Chelle listed off, smiling like she wasn’t the least bit embarrassed that their sexcapades caused so much damage. “Thankfully, no one was hurt, but we decided it was in the planet’s best interest for us to live together instead of releasing all of that pent-up energy in one massive conflagration.”
Grizz threw his head back and they all laughed at the image of two horny dragons blowing up the world. Ragan and his mate Elissa joined them, their fingers laced together.
“We’re going to miss you, big guy,” Ragan said, slapping Allon on the shoulder.
“I bet the Denver team is thrilled though,” said Elissa. “Two of the best skip tracers in the biz.”
“Of the best?” Chelle asked, pretending to be offended. “Girl, we are the best. Right, babe?”
She turned to a grinning Allon, who dropped a kiss on her lips. “Damn straight.”
“All I know is that I have some pretty big shoes to fill,” Grizz said.
Allon lifted one of his massive feet. “Size fourteens, to be exact.”
Elektra’s heart swelled at the thought of working with her mate. Once Allon had tendered his resignation, Grizz had been the first dragon Charlie had called.
&nbs
p; “This is a big change for you,” Ragan said. “Moving from the SBI to the private sector.”
Grizz grimaced. “Honestly, I’m grateful for the opportunity. After everything that happened, I didn’t really feel like I could trust anyone there.”
“Did they not understand that this Josh guy set you up?” Elissa asked, her reporter’s instincts as attuned as ever.
“They did, or so they said. Each one begged my forgiveness and tried to get me to stay, but the magic was gone. If they turned on me once, they might turn on me again.”
“We thought you were guilty too,” said Allon.
“Yeah, but you didn’t know me.” He glanced at Elektra. “But you never once questioned Elektra’s motives.”
Ragan winced. “Oh, we questioned her motives plenty.”
“But never my innocence,” she added, and they all nodded their agreement.
“That’s what sealed the deal for me,” Grizz continued. “The way you all rallied around her and had her back, despite what the evidence said. That’s the kind of team I want to work with.”
Thrett wandered up and slung an arm over Grizz’s shoulders. “Well, as the banner over there says, welcome. Now I’m going to drag these defectors away because Alice has something she wants to show them.”
“Sugar glider?” Chelle asked as they broke away.
“I think I’ll let it be a surprise,” Thrett said, tipping a wink at Elissa.
“Ooh, now I have to go see too,” she said, dragging Ragan along with her.
Grizz waited until they were out of earshot before leaning down to Elektra. “I think it’s all going well. Don’t you? They seem to like me, in spite of… You know.”
“You can thank your mate for that,” said Charlie, who’d moved behind them so quietly neither had heard him approach. “We all trust Elektra with our lives. We always knew she’d never help a convict escape, not without a very good reason. All we had to do was figure out that reason. Allon was the first to suggest you might be her fated mate. Even with the unbreakable mate bond, I trusted she would never fight to free you if you didn’t deserve it. Once we realized you were innocent, putting all the pieces together was child’s play.”
“I can’t thank you enough,” Grizz said, clearly humbled by the leap of faith Charlie took to save them.
“Psh, I should be thanking you. Not only were you instrumental in taking down Joshua Slocum, you gathered some very helpful intel on his mystery experiment.”
“By the way he talked, I got the impression it wasn’t his experiment,” Elektra said. “He used ‘we’ and ‘us’ a lot, so I think he was just a cog in a much bigger wheel.”
Grizz’s upper lip quivered with anger at the thought of Joshua. “He certainly thought he was more than that, but he was just a pawn. Someone higher up is pulling the strings. I’d bet my life on it.”
“That doesn’t surprise me,” Charlie mused with a nod. “He was never bright enough to be the one in command. Joshua Slocum was in the wrong line entirely when they were giving out brains, which was why it was so easy for us to put together the fact that he killed Harlow and went after you, Grizz. He left a trail a mile wide.”
“Thank god,” Elektra sighed.
“This isn’t over yet,” Charlie reminded her. “I suspect what we encountered was just the tip of the iceberg. This mystery runs deeper than any of us expects. Still, the trail’s run cold with his death. It will remain active in the back of my mind, but for now we will simply have to tend to other business.”
Thrett rejoined them as Charlie finished his little speech and piped up. “And what might that business be, oh great leader? I’ve been dying of boredom all week.”
Charlie’s expression shifted from jovial to serious. “You’ll be pleased to know I have your next assignment all lined up, Thrett. You’ll be working up a security plan for the Benningford Preparatory Academy.”
Thrett’s groan didn’t sound pleased at all. “A school? Come on, Charlie. You know me. I’m not good with kids.”
Elektra leveled one of her patented glares on him. “Good thing your job is to protect the kids, not play patty-cake with them.”
Thrett looked appropriately abashed while Grizz looked like he was fighting back a laugh. Charlie cleared his throat and raised his champagne glass, drawing everyone’s attention. All eyes were on him as he smiled and began a toast.
“Let us toast to our teammate and brother, Allon, who has served with impeccable integrity.”
Everyone clapped, except Thrett, who booed loudly with a grin on his face.
“Let us also celebrate his lovely mate, Chelle, who somehow managed to tame the most notorious bad boy in Los Angeles.”
Everyone cheered for Chelle, who bowed theatrically.
“And to Grizz, for sacrificing so much to bring the bad guys to justice, as well as joining our team. Welcome, Grizz!”
More cheers and applause filled the room. Everyone was sad to be losing Allon but thrilled Grizz would be taking his place.
“And finally, to our beloved firecracker of a military specialist, Elektra, for having the good sense to trust her instincts, even in the face of certain death. You are all my family, and I thank you for that. Huzzah!”
“Huzzah!” rang out around the room.
Elektra’s heart swelled with pride as she turned to smile at her mate. He leaned in and kissed her softly. All was well.
Chapter Eleven
The neighborhood dripped with old money. That was easy enough to see by counting the number of luxury cars Grizz jogged past. Those and the pristinely manicured lawn gardens that lined the sidewalk on this foggy weekday morning. Elektra kept pace just ahead of him, sporting a tight-fitting tank top and workout shorts that Grizz couldn’t tear his eyes away from.
That was why he was lagging behind her. Not that she was pushing him harder than his trainer at the SBI Academy. Nope, he could totally keep up if he wanted to. But with the view he had, he didn’t want to. That was his story and he was sticking to it.
His shoes thudded on the ground with every stride, and the sound of their running together took on an almost hypnotic cadence. Though he wore earbuds, no music played. Likewise, Elektra occasionally took out her phone to pretend to check her texts, but instead, she was snapping a few photos of the neighborhood.
Grizz caught up to her during one such photography session. “What do you think?” he asked, panting heavily and grateful for the short reprieve.
She shot him a wicked grin as she kept her pace to a gentle jog. “I think I might see if an old buddy of mine could put you through a refresher PT program with the military if you keep lagging behind. That’s what I think.”
It wasn’t the first time she’d threatened to subject him to military conditioning, and she’d done it enough that Grizz was pretty sure she was only kidding. Mostly. He hoped.
“I meant about the neighborhood.”
“Looks pretty secure, actually. I see lots of security cameras that face the perimeter fence, though none on the school property itself. That’s an easy fix.”
“No, I mean the neighborhood. Just look at that place.” He pointed to a home across the street that was designed to look like an Italian-style villa. While a nanny walked a well-dressed child out the front door to a luxury car, Grizz was distracted by the furnished terrace and fancy telescope standing in the window of a second-story sunroom.
“Beautiful,” she agreed distractedly.
“Nice to know what your taste is like.”
She shot him a look. “I know I don’t look like I have expensive taste, Grizz Magna.”
“No, but you never know. I might start liking nice things.”
“Oh please. The first time you took me to your apartment, I thought it was a dorm room.”
“It wasn’t that bad.”
“I counted no fewer than six tins of Spam, two boxes of Pop-Tarts, and enough dirty clothes scattered about to hide several bodies,” she teased as they rounded the corner of a
vegan cafe and spotted the impressively ornate sign for Benningford Preparatory Academy up ahead.
As far as any of the well-to-do families in the exclusive suburb were concerned, Grizz and Elektra were just another yuppie couple on their morning run. It was a solid cover while they surveilled the perimeter of the school that was Wildridge’s next assignment.
“I’m a dumpster fire,” Grizz agreed, scanning the street for a dark van that had been reported prowling the area recently.
“But you’re my dumpster fire,” Elektra said softly as she slowed to a cool-down walk, making a show of stretching her leg, as though she had a cramp.
“Tell me again why you dragged my ass out of bed so early. I know it wasn’t just to kick my ass.”
“I told you already,” she sighed. “Charlie asked us to assess the security of the school’s perimeter fencing, as well as get the lay of the land of the neighborhood.”
“I know that part, but the why is a little fuzzy.”
“Is your memory really so bad you can’t remember what I said an hour ago?”
“It is when you wake me up to go running before I’ve had my morning caffeine infusion.”
Elektra sighed, as if she was so put upon. “The why is Stark Bradford. He’s a very high-profile client and his son attends this school. His home was burgled on our watch not too long ago. We neutralized the threat, but Stark is understandably concerned for his son’s safety, so we’re upping our game. See, there’s Thrett heading inside to discuss the school’s security with the principal.”
The handsome security specialist glanced their way and nodded subtly before smiling broadly at a pretty woman walking past. What a player!
“How’s Thrett at his job?” Grizz asked, curious about his new coworker.
“Very good.” From her that was high praise. “This school’s about to turn into the next Fort Knox.”
