Defender Raptor (Protection, Inc: Defenders, #2)

by Chant, Zoe

  “I have to take two Dramamine before every performance,” she confided.

  As they headed for the fairgrounds, Dali said, “You seem really worried about Natalie.”

  “She’s not replying to calls or email, nobody knows where she is... It’s not like her. I’m tempted to ask Ransom, but that’s the exact sort of question that can really mess him up. And I don’t know that anything’s wrong with her. If I’m going to ask a teammate to put himself through hell for my sake, I’d rather ask him who tried to kill you.” Merlin ran his hand through his hair, rumpling it. “Is that selfish of me?”

  Dali took his hand. “Merlin, you’re the least selfish person I’ve ever met. You’re pulling yourself in all directions trying to do the right thing for everybody: me, Natalie, Ransom. Your mother. The circus. You should do more for you.”

  “That’s funny.” He squeezed her hand. “I could say the same thing about you. Maybe we should promise each other to do more for ourselves.”

  “In bed?” she asked drily.

  He grinned, unabashed. “Also in the shower.”

  “It’s a date.”

  They found the Duffy brothers, as sparrows, practicing squeezing through increasingly small rings held by Bobby Duffy, the teenager who had been an audience plant in rat roulette.

  “Cool act,” said Dali.

  “Not an act,” said Merlin. “The Duffys don’t perform. They’re practicing breaking into buildings. Or cars with the windows partly rolled down.”

  Dali stifled a sigh. Fun as the circus was, there was no way that she could ever join a criminal enterprise. The law might be stupid and unfair at times—the sound of the cop jeering “Pigeons stole me necklace!” echoed in her ears—but she still believed in it. She’d bent all she could in accepting that the circus’s crimes weren’t that bad, as crimes went, but they were still crimes.

  “Hey, Billy! Larry!” Merlin called. “I need to talk to you.”

  The sparrows shifted into their human forms as a pair of jowly middle-aged guys with receding hairlines. Dali averted her eyes, but unfortunately not fast enough to miss the sight of the Duffy brothers stark naked.

  “Yeah?” said a Duffy brother. She had no idea which, as she wasn’t looking.

  “You ever teach the necklace trick to pigeon shifters?”

  “Nope,” said the other Duffy brother.

  “Do you know any pigeon shifters?”

  “Nope,” said a Duffy brother.

  “Have you ever told anyone outside of the circus about the necklace trick?” Merlin asked patiently.

  “Nope,” said the other Duffy brother.

  Dali was so aggravated by their utter lack of caring that she looked up. Larry Duffy had put on his shirt, but no pants. The other one, presumably Billy Duffy, was still completely naked, sitting on a bench with his legs spread wide as he leisurely unknotted his shoe laces. Dali once again averted her eyes... and saw the Duffy nephew, also determinedly looking away. And also looking very slightly guilty.

  She beckoned to him. “How about we get away from the naked dudes with the dad bods?”

  Bobby eagerly followed her behind the nearest food stall. “Thanks. They’re so embarrassing!”

  “It must be even worse for you, since they’re family.”

  “It is,” he said, with all the heartfelt sincerity of a teenager. “Thanks again for rescuing me. If I walk out on my own, they tease the hell out of me.”

  “Family,” said Dali. “You love them, but they drive you crazy.”

  “You can say that again.” He gave her a curious glance. “How come Merlin’s asking about the necklace trick?”

  “It’s because of my family, actually. I was raised by my grandmother, and she has a necklace that’s a family heirloom. She believes it’s a lucky charm. Last week I got fired, so she loaned it to me to give me better luck...”

  As Dali continued her story, she watched the play of emotions over the teenager’s face: sympathy, realization, and guilt. It amazed her how well her ploy had worked. She’d never thought of herself as a sneaky person, but she’d set up the entire conversation to get this exact response, and it seemed to be working.

  She concluded with, “My grandma is in assisted living, but she still can cook, and she makes dinner for me every Sunday. I’m really hoping to get the necklace back to her then—I’ll feel terrible if I have to tell her it’s gone forever.”

  Dali watched the kid’s face. Guilt. Anxiety. More guilt.

  “Umm,” he said. “Sunday, huh?”

  “Yes,” she said firmly. “Sunday, before 6:00 PM.”

  He made his decision. “Can I get your email?”

  She was tempted to let him do his thing, but he looked about fifteen. She couldn’t let him potentially walk into danger just to retrieve an inanimate object, no matter how precious it was.

  “Bobby, I want that necklace back, but I don’t want you going alone into some situation that might turn violent—”

  She broke off, surprised, when he laughed. “It won’t.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Yeah. I guess I have to tell you the whole story, huh? So you won’t worry I’m going to get shot by gangsters or something.”

  “Yes,” Dali said firmly. “But I promise to keep it a secret.”

  He shrugged. “You can tell Merlin. Just tell him not to tell anyone else, okay?”

  “Sure.”

  “There’s a secret website for teenage shifters,” he said. “I’m not going to tell you what it’s called. Trust me, no one knows about it who shouldn’t.”

  “Okay.”

  “So, I have some buddies on it who live here in Refuge City. They’re pigeon shifters. I told them some of the stuff we do, and they tried it. I warned them not to! My family has been practicing it for years and years, and also, we’re sparrows. My uncles can slip a necklace off someone’s neck without them ever noticing, so they think it came undone and fell off. Those idiot friends of mine flew at people and perched on their shoulders. Everybody noticed! And not only did they notice, they freaked out and flailed at them and then ran screaming!”

  “Except for me,” Dali said.

  Bobby nodded. “Yeah. You were the only person they actually got anything from.”

  Normally she was proud of her ability to master her panic, but apparently that had been the one time when screaming and flailing would have worked out better. “Do they still have it?”

  “Yeah. They were just doing it for fun and to see if they could, and they didn’t realize your necklace was valuable till they got away with it. But they couldn’t return it because they didn’t know who you were. I’ll email them that I found the owner, they’ll give it to me, and I’ll give it back to you.”

  “As simple as that,” Dali marveled.

  Bobby grinned. “As simple as that.”

  “You’re a good guy,” she said. “Thanks. I really appreciate it.”

  “Any time. And just so you know, I’ve always liked Merlin. I know heir isn’t something we vote on and I’m too young to vote anyway, but I’m staying with the circus no matter what. And whatever my uncles say, I know they will too. You can tell—”

  A sparrow landed on his head and pecked his ear.

  “Ow!” Bobby yelped, batting at it. “Cut it out, Uncle Larry. Well, guess I’m back to work. Nice to meet you.”

  “Nice to meet you. See you later.”

  Dali watched him walk away. She was about to follow him when she felt a tug at her jeans ankle. A tiny raptor poked his head out of the cuff of her jeans where he’d been hiding. She burst out laughing as Merlin leaped out, scurried a few feet away, and then became a man again.

  “Great work,” he said. “You couldn’t have been smoother if you’d been raised here yourself.”

  “Thanks. And hey, good work to you, too. You went straight from teeny raptor to man without any size switches in between.”

  “That’s right. It has been easier lately.” He seemed to listen
to some inward voice.

  “Is your raptor talking to you? What’s he saying?”

  “He says, ‘You’ve gotten much more sensible lately. Of course I’ll do what you want if it’s what I want too, because I know best. Now let’s go get a banana split.’” Merlin leaned over and whispered in Dali’s ear, “I think it’s really that practice makes perfect. But hey, whatever works.”

  He kissed her ear, then her cheek. She turned her head, offering him her lips, and he claimed her mouth. Desire caught fire within her, and she caught herself glancing around for a place where they could get some privacy. Merlin, who was clearly thinking along the same lines, peered inside the food stall’s window.

  Dali followed his gaze, then regretfully shook her head. “We wouldn’t be able to move without sacks of potatoes falling on our heads. Tonight, okay?”

  “Tonight,” Merlin promised her, trailing his fingers along the edge of her collar. Her skin felt like it came alive everywhere he touched, and she trembled.

  “On second thought... how about we take a quick trip back to your place instead?”

  Merlin grinned. They clasped hands and ran to his car.

  The week went by in a whirl of bright colors, alliterative names, and spectacular performances at the circus, and even more spectacular sex at Merlin’s place at night. Not to mention kitten cuddling, bugbear antics, cooking together, eating together, cuddling together, talking together, laughing together, even sitting on the sofa and reading together, side by side.

  Though they made no more progress in finding out who had dropped the trapeze on them, there were no more ‘accidents’ either, and Dali began to think that either it really had been an accident, or whoever had done it had given up and wouldn’t try again.

  Bobby Duffy was as good as his word. He returned her necklace, carefully polished, wrapped in tissue paper, and presented furtively in a box wrapped in brown paper and tied up with string, in time for Sunday dinner with Grandma.

  Merlin dressed up for dinner in an actual suit, which made his blue eyes and golden hair stand out like gems on black velvet, and highlighted his muscular shoulders and narrow hips to swoon-worthy effect. Dali had to stop him from going overboard with gifts, but even a restrained Merlin showed up with a bottle of wine, a bouquet of flowers, and a box of homemade marshmallows.

  Dali was unsurprised but happy to discover that Merlin and Grandma hit it off. It was one of Dali’s favorite things about him: he was genuinely interested in people, and liked to listen as much as he liked to talk. Five minutes after she finished thanking him for the gifts, they were sharing old southern recipes and chatting away about regional differences in barbecue sauce.

  When Merlin went out after dinner to bring the car around to the front, Grandma kissed Dali on the cheek. “Didn’t I tell you the necklace would bring you luck?”

  “So, you like him?” Dali asked, knowing the answer but wanting to hear the words.

  “Sweetheart, you walked in here practically glowing! I like any man who makes you happy and treats you well. And he seems very kind, which is the most important thing.” She winked. “And right after kindness comes hands that know what they’re doing, if you know what I mean.”

  “Grandma!” Dali whispered frantically, glancing at the door. But when Merlin didn’t appear, she relaxed and said, “Well, good. I’m glad you approve.”

  “I do.” But then her face wrinkled a bit more around the eyebrows. “Though... I’ve known men like him in my time. Kind-hearted, generous, clever, handsome, good with their hands. Men who make women very happy, when they’re around.”

  “What do you mean, ‘when they’re around?’” Dali asked uneasily.

  “Well, they don’t always settle down,” Grandma replied. “Soldiers, sailors, musicians, traveling salesmen—sometimes there’s too much restlessness in their hearts to stay in one place.”

  Merlin returned, and Grandma smiled and invited him back for next Sunday dinner. But all the drive back, Grandma’s words stuck with Dali. Even after they went home and made love, she lay awake in the warm circle of his strong arms, thinking about his restless heart. Now that he was a shifter, there was nothing stopping him from leaving with the circus when they moved on to their next destination.

  How could they stay together, if the price was either giving up her life or tearing him away from his?

  CHAPTER 16

  The wizard-scientist Morgana was pleased with the way her plan was progressing. Despite the concerns of the other wizard-scientists, she had stuck with her plot to build up Merlin’s hopes and allow him a stretch of uninterrupted happiness. It would make his despair all the stronger when she destroyed his dreams.

  Only one thing hadn’t gone exactly as planned: Merlin had not yet stepped forward to claim his position as heir to the circus. Morgana had expected him to do so by now, thus forcing his lover to choose whether to go with him or to break up with him. Morgana could work with either choice, though she’d have preferred (and expected) a breakup. But Merlin hadn’t declared himself, and so he and Dalisay were still together.

  Now Morgana had to make a choice: should she first destroy the circus and then destroy his relationship, or first destroy his relationship and then destroy the circus? Either way, he needed to be left with nothing.

  She considered her chosen Dark Knight. Which was he more attached to, really? Whichever it was, she should ruin that one first, and then the lesser relationship would be easy to crush in the midst of his despair.

  The circus was his family and home. Once he’d lost it, he’d tried to find a replacement, first with the Marines and then with his bodyguard team. But neither had been sufficient. He’d left the Marines and he was unhappy with his team. Moreover, his beloved mother’s life was also entwined with the circus. Without it, she too would have nothing. She was elderly, and with luck the shock of losing her life’s work might even kill her.

  Dalisay Batiste, on the other hand, was merely a girlfriend. Merlin’s ability to recognize and bond with his mate had been severed, so even in the unlikely chance that she was his mate, he was incapable of forming a true and lasting relationship with her. Once the circus was destroyed, breaking them up would take no more effort than flicking a finger at a standing domino.

  And this was just as well, Morgana thought. She’d put in far more effort in preparations to destroy the circus, carefully laying the groundwork with donations to the proper places, aided with just a little magic.

  At last, it was time for the Fabulous Flying Chameleons to meet their doom.

  Smiling to herself, she picked up the phone and dialed.

  CHAPTER 17

  The phone rang while Merlin and Dali were relaxing together on the sofa, drinking afternoon coffee, eating homemade marshmallows, and binge-watching The Great British Bake-Off. Cloud lay across their shoulders, with her tail curled around Merlin’s throat and her head nestled into Dali’s hair. Blue’s head and paws were in Merlin’s lap, and the rest of him was sliding off the sofa at glacial speed.

  The woman he was crazy about, the pets he adored, and marshmallows to satisfy his inner raptor: it was a perfect moment. Which made a tendril of dread curl around his heart at the phone ring. Reluctantly, he picked it up. “Hello?”

  Blue fell off the sofa with a thud and a yelp. This startled Cloud, who launched herself into the air, digging in her claws as she went, and knocked the phone out of Merlin’s hand. It went skittering across the floor. Cloud, who loved chasing small moving objects, pursued it and batted it under the refrigerator. Blue stuck his nose under the fridge, his tiny wings buzzing madly with his effort to crawl after it.

  Dali, wiping tears of laughter from her eyes, used a broomstick to slide it out. She handed the phone to Merlin. “It’s for you.”

  “Hello?” Merlin repeated.

  Roland’s deep voice had the exasperated tinge it always seemed to have when he was talking to Merlin. “Should I even ask?”

  “It all began when my bugbear fel
l off the sofa,” Merlin began.

  “I shouldn’t have asked,” said Roland. “Where’s your report? And don’t tell me your bugbear ate it.”

  Merlin was relieved that he had a straightforward answer to that. “It’s done. I can email it to you right now.”

  “Our printer’s broken,” Roland said. “Carter did something to improve it, and now it’s printing page after page of a car repair manual in Russian. Can you print it yourself and bring it in?”

  “Can’t you just read it online?”

  “I want to ask questions about it in person. Now, Merlin.” He hung up.

  Dali winked at him. “Don’t worry. I’ll be there as backup.”

  That cheered him up. So did having her by his side when he, she, Cloud (in her purse) and Blue (in the coat) ran into a troupe of cookie-selling Girl Scouts on the way to the car.

  “What is that?”

  “Why’s it wearing a coat?”

  “Is that blue stuff its fur?!”

  The last Girl Scout ignored Blue entirely and directed her sales pitch at Merlin. “We have Thin Mints, Peanut Butter Patties, Samoas...”

  His raptor’s eager and predictable demand to buy them ALL distracted Merlin enough that he didn’t respond to the questions about Blue immediately. To his surprise, Dali answered. “He’s a purebred Hairless Saint Bernard, and he’s wearing a coat because he doesn’t have fur of his own. The blue stuff isn’t his fur, of course! It’s his little furry sweatshirt.”

  When they had gotten rid of the Girl Scouts and gotten themselves, Cloud, Blue, Merlin’s report, and six boxes of assorted Girl Scout cookies into the car, Merlin said, “You’re a natural. You should try running rat roulette some time.”

  Dali chuckled, but it sounded a little forced. But before he could inquire, she said, “Are the cookies for your teammates?”

  “My raptor would love to eat them all himself, but yeah. No way am I eating six boxes of Girl Scout cookies. Take whatever you want, though.”