by Zoe Chant
Lance’s skin prickled. Beside him, Keeley frowned.
“No, Maggie’s the one who teleported us out of there,” she said, sounding confused. “I’m just here to make sandwiches and carry the beer. Right, Maggie?”
Lance cleared his throat. “As I was saying, it may be that we missed some connection between Harper and another criminal group—”
No one was paying attention to him. Chloe sat forward with her elbows on the table, grinning at Keeley.
“Should have known Lance would be as organized and efficient about finding his mate as everything else. Get all the drama and shooting over with first, then literally teleport back to his place. Talk about not wasting time!”
Lance groaned silently. Keeley was staring around the table. Her eyes were wide, but her lips were pinched thin, as though she was trying not to let on how confused she was.
So much for small steps.
Chloe winked at him and opened her mouth. Lance knew he had to stop her before she said anything more. He had to take back control of the conversation.
*STOP,* he bellowed telepathically. Every shifter around the table jumped, including Maggie. Lance sighed and steadied himself.
Take back control of the situation. Not bawl them out like you’re a drill sergeant. As quickly as he could, Lance explained the situation. From the looks on the faces of his shifter friends, his explanation didn’t impress them.
*You’re shitting me,* Chloe said flatly. *You know how dangerous it can be to ignore your mate bond!*
*It’s only been two days,* he said helplessly. Mathis glared at him.
Grant shook his head. *It’s easier to hand out life advice than to take it, isn’t it?* he remarked. *Who was it who scolded me for keeping Irina in the dark for so long?*
*It’s not like that—*
Lance was about to explain that they’d agreed to take small steps, rather than launch Keeley head-first into all the intricacies of shifter culture, when Irina leaned forward, smiling shyly.
“I know I should just be glad that Lance has found his mate at last, but honestly? I’m so happy that I’m not going to be the only human in the group anymore. If you have any questions about being a big cat shifter’s mate—well, I’m still figuring it out myself, but I’ll help where I can.” Her smile became impish. “Mostly it’s scratching their chins and telling them how pretty they are, anyway.”
“Hey…” Grant objected, not even half-heartedly.
Keeley stared at them both, her eyebrows furrowing. “Wait. You all think I’m Lance’s… mate? What even is that?” She looked at Lance, and he hoped he was imagining the way her eyes hardened as she turned to him, as though she was preparing herself for the worst. “Lance, what are they talking about?”
Lance opened his mouth to explain—and no words came out. Shame crashed down on him, tying his tongue into knots. Chloe was right. They all were. He should have been honest with her from the beginning.
He cleared his throat, but it was too late. The wary hardness in Keeley’s eyes crystallized into solid rock, and she looked away.
“Mates are an essential part of shifter social culture,” he heard himself saying as though from a very long way away. Inside him, his snow leopard rolled up tight, hiding its head under its paws in shame. “Each shifter has one person, human or another shifter, who is indelibly connected to their soul. Being with them… is the one thing that can make a shifter truly complete.”
His voice broke on the last word as he realized just what he was saying. This is what I wanted to leave until later, he thought, his mouth dry. I thought I could put it off. Schedule it, like a meeting, or paperwork. Save the big reveal for an appropriate moment.
God, he was an idiot.
“Keeley, I—”
“Well, it’s a good thing I’m not, isn’t it?” Keeley tried to smile, and then just looked down at her hands. “Seriously, that’s…”
She went so pale so fast that for a moment Lance was afraid she was about to pass out. Instead, she grimaced and shook her head, muttering, “Things are complicated enough as it is.”
Silence fell around the table. Even Maggie was quiet, frozen in the middle of chewing a mouthful of salmon. Lance sent her a psychic hug of reassurance and rubbed the tense spot between his eyebrows.
Mathis was glaring at him. Grant’s look of mocking fondness was transforming into a frown. Carol just looked confused, but Chloe was straight-up grimacing at him, making sharp movements of her head toward Keeley. Even sweet, shy Irina was looking at him with something perilously close to disapproval.
Lance took a deep breath. “I’m sure you all have… things to do today…”
“No, can’t you all stay?” Keeley’s voice was brittle-bright. She reached out and gathered Maggie to her chest, kissing the tiny dragon on the top of her head as she screeched indignantly. “Really, it’s so nice to meet shifters who aren’t trying to shoot me or blow me up—not counting you and Maggie, of course, L-Lance…”
Her cheeks were blazing, the blush spreading down to her neck and the sliver of cleavage visible above the borrowed t-shirt she was wearing. Lance’s heart ached, and deeper inside him, the golden bond connecting him to her twisted and pulled.
“Of course we’ll stay.” Chloe looked from her to Lance, her expression worried. “The boys will all want to do some cat male bonding rubbish since Lance got shot, and we want to get to know Maggie better, don’t we? Irina? Carol? Say yes, Carol, we can put this on your Professional Development timesheet.”
Carol and Irina nodded quickly.
“If that’s all right with you, Lance?” Chloe raised both eyebrows at Lance in a way that told him he’d better answer right.
“Of course.” Lance rubbed his face. “Stay as long as you like.” There was no way he would counteract his mate’s request—even if she had clearly invited everyone to stay to prevent herself from having to be alone with him.
“Boss, when would be a good time to give my report?”
Lance looked to the end of the table where Zhang was sitting. She actually had raised her hand, this time, but quickly stuck it under the table when she saw him looking.
He took a deep breath.
“Go on, Zhang. Now’s fine.” She looked as if she was about to say something, her eyes darting around the table, and he held up a hand. “I trust everyone at this table. And if this latest attack on the Rouse dragons is another extension of Harper’s influence, then they’re all involved, anyway.”
“Right, boss.” Carol pulled out her phone and cleared her throat. “I’ll send you the written version, too.”
Lance nodded absently, his attention on Keeley. She still looked uncomfortable. Maybe even more uncomfortable now than she had done before he’d said he trusted everyone in the room.
His heart sank further, meeting the growing pit in his stomach.
Carol cleared her throat again and began her report. She moved quickly through the main items: the six enemy agents had gotten away, including the one Lance had knocked out. Harley Ames, their Beta transport driver, had taken custody of the remaining two eggs and whisked them away to a safe location.
“Where is Ames now?” he asked Zhang.
Her flat eyes flicked around the table again, and she referred to her phone. “Er. With your aunt, boss.”
Lance sighed. “Well. They’re safe there, at least.” He rubbed his forehead. “But I’d still prefer to have them under my own nose.”
His fingers automatically twitched for the tablet that he hadn’t used in days. Ruefully, he made a mental note and asked Zhang to add a memo to his calendar. She did so while Chloe smirked.
If I contact him today, he can bring them in tomorrow. To the agency, which will be even safer than here.
“Apart from that, there’s... not a lot, boss. Your report matches up with some of our blanks, but there’s still a lot we’re missing. We don’t know who’s behind the kidnapping. We don’t even have footage from the station where the explo
sion happened. The whole system’s been wiped. Briers almost had a fit.”
Lance leaned back in his chair. “Our first priority has to be to keep Maggie and her siblings safe. Once that’s achieved, we can focus on finding out who is behind this.”
“You make it sound so easy.” Mathis grinned at him. “I say, bring Rouse in. Next time these assholes come for the babies, set him on them. Happy families and no more bad guys. Problem solved.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for Plan B,” Lance replied dryly. “Either way, tomorrow is going to be a big day. Zhang, you’re off duty, you can go. Chloe—”
“Why, yes, Lance, I would be happy to stay for dinner, as your friend and not an employee, and spend more time with your delightful dragon baby.” Chloe’s grin was anything but innocent. “And so would the others.”
Keeley’s quiet sigh of relief sent another wave of shame crashing over Lance.
“You don’t get to leave us thinking you’re dead for a day and get away with it,” Grant drawled. *Besides. We need to talk about you and Keeley. Don’t make the same mistake I did and almost leave it too late.*
*Or me,* Mathis added. *You know where that ends. Nowhere good.*
As though I don’t already know what an ass I’ve been, Lance thought.
He deserved to be grilled. And tonight, he would tell Keeley everything. She was his mate, and it wasn’t fair to keep that hidden from her.
Keeley
Thank God I’m not Lance’s mate.
After the initial shock—well, who wouldn’t be shocked, to discover that something like soulmates actually existed?—Keeley had felt sick with relief.
Of everything she’d found out about the shifter world so far, this whole “mate” idea was the most terrifying. Sure, it had been awkward when Lance’s friends had gotten the wrong end of the stick, but that was better than the alternative.
Because seriously—her, Lance’s mate? This gorgeous, brave, kind, and incredibly sexy man, chained to someone like her?
No. The universe wouldn’t let something like that happen. Not to someone as good as him.
Night was falling by the time Lance’s friends left. Keeley wrapped Maggie around her shoulders and helped everyone gather up coats and bags.
Maggie had been awake all day and was getting crotchety. She snapped and grizzled until Chloe had the bright idea of swaddling her in her scarf, with the necklace, Lance’s watch, and—after some more grizzling—Keeley’s gold-ish studs wrapped up in the fabric with her. Maggie’s grizzles softened to the occasional hiss, and by the time their guests had left, she was fast asleep.
Keeley leaned against the wall as Lance reset the security system, pretending to coo over the sleeping dragonling. In reality, she was memorizing the code on the door lock.
Her shoulders slumped. Today had been… nice. But she had to get real. The longer she was here, the higher the risk that someone would find her out.
She’d followed all of Lance’s plans as he talked them over with his friends. Tomorrow, the other two eggs would be brought back to the agency and then flown direct to the safehouse where Maggie’s uncle was staying.
And as soon as Maggie was back with her family, Keeley would quietly slip away, and Lance and his friends would carry on with their lives as though she’d never existed. Irina and Grant would have their maybe-shifter baby. Chloe would… well, Chloe would probably set up camp wherever Maggie was, because it was obvious she was besotted with the tiny dragonling. And Mathis would follow her, because it was equally obvious that he’d go to the ends of the Earth for her, let alone be neighbors with a family of dragon shifters.
And Lance would—would…
Find his real mate, and settle down with her, and have a thousand adorable snow leopard shifter babies, probably.
She winced as something pulled in her chest. “Ow.”
“Is everything all right?” Lance was suddenly at her side, steadying her with a hand at her waist.
“Just a cramp,” Keeley replied quickly, stepping away from Lance’s comforting embrace.
Lance stilled and pulled his hand back. She had to be imagining the look of disappointment that flashed behind his eyes, didn’t she?
“Maggie’s asleep,” she said, keeping her gaze on the snoozing bundle. “I think she enjoyed meeting your friends, though. Or she enjoyed getting more loot off them.”
Lance chuckled. “Grant barely got away with his wedding ring intact. I’ll have to issue a warning to the office tomorrow for everyone to leave their jewelry at home.”
“Tomorrow’s gonna be a big day.” Keeley couldn’t keep a hint of sadness from her voice. “I should get her to bed.”
Lance resettled his glasses. “Yes,” he said, but his voice was a bit more serious than she’d expected. “When she’s settled… there’s something I’d like to talk with you about.”
Well, that doesn’t sound foreboding, Keeley thought. “Uh-huh?”
“I’ll clean up the kitchen and meet you in the library?”
In the library… does he mean the den under his bedroom? Right under his bedroom? “Um, sure,” she muttered, trying desperately to keep her thoughts G-rated. Damn it, she’d been doing so well.
After she’d settled Maggie in the guest bedroom, Keeley followed the sound of clinking glass, a shiver of anticipation going through her as she walked into the library.
Lance turned his head as she entered the room. Damn it, even the sight of him standing over the drinks cabinet made a thrill go through her.
“Whiskey?”
Keeley sat down on the sofa as Lance handed her a glass and immediately sank down into the plush cushions. Lance hesitated, then sat down on the opposite end.
She pulled her legs up and twisted around so she was facing him, her back against the arm of the sofa. Lance sat, staring into his glass, and the silence lengthened.
Keeley’s stomach twisted. Whatever Lance wanted to say, he was clearly having difficulty putting it into words.
She needed to fill the silence. Luckily, she had a great topic of conversation literally in her hand. The amber liquid in her glass gleamed as she held it up to the light.
“I haven’t drunk whiskey since I left home,” she said. “I remember distinct overtones of car fumes and a delicate aftertaste of old puddles.”
She took a sip, and her eyes widened. “Wow. Either I’ve grown up enough that my tastes have actually matured, or this stuff is… nice.” She sipped again, just enough so the flavor burst across her tongue. “I mean. Two mouthfuls, and my throat isn’t even on fire. Are you sure this is whiskey?”
Lance’s pensive mask slipped, and he laughed. “I’m glad you like it. My aunt brings it over from Scotland, when she goes over to visit that side of the family. It makes this apartment feel like more of a home.”
“Come on. Really? It takes beer goggles to make this place feel like a home?” Keeley gestured, her arms taking in everything around them. The lush furniture. The polished floorboards. The floor-to-ceiling windows and the view. God, the view.
God, the things they’d done together, in front of that view…
Keeley quickly looked away from the windows, her cheeks burning.
“It’s a very nice house,” Lance said, staring hard at the glass of whiskey in his hand. “But it’s only a house. It doesn’t have what’s needed to really make it a home.”
He met Keeley’s eyes, and her heart sank. There was no mistaking the longing in his gaze. She wasn’t stupid; she knew what he was talking about. What really made a home?
Those thousand adorable babies, she thought, a heavy lump lodging in the back of her throat.
She felt irrationally, stupidly angry.
Lance pulled off his glasses and set them aside. “I’ve always worked on the assumption that even the most complex mission can be broken down into small pieces. And that makes them simple. Controllable. Understandable. But recently, I’ve seen just how complicated the world is.” He sighed. “And how limited m
y ability to understand or control it is.”
“You seem pretty in control from where I am,” Keeley said. “You have those invisibility things, and this place, and—”
And friends, and a family who loves you if your aunt is any example, and, and… And so many other things that I’ll never have, even if I do manage to escape from Sean again.
“And an enemy I can’t even name, attacking the people I’m supposed to protect. Even my friends.”
“But you saved them,” she said, and remembered another of the stories his friends had told around the kitchen table. “The same as you helped Grant save Chloe, when that woman—Francine—kidnapped her.”
Lance shook his head. “And I was almost too late. Both times. I didn’t see how Francine was hurting, and now she’s gone, because someone else saw how they could exploit that hurt before I could help her. And Mathis…” He took another gulp of whiskey and grimaced. “He sent a final, desperate call for help, and I thought it was a prank. Another of his stupid jokes. I was that close to ignoring it altogether…”
He looked away, his face twisting with guilt.
“This whole time, I’ve been one step behind. Racing to catch up, only to discover how far ahead of me the enemy has already reached. Francine. Harper. And now, whoever is behind the attempt to take Maggie.” He dropped his head into his hand, massaging his forehead. “And now you’re here, and I don’t know how to manage that, either.”
“I didn’t realize I was something to be managed,” she said, wishing the butterflies in her stomach would go away.
A sort of panic flashed across his face. “I didn’t mean—” He groaned. “I’m doing this all wrong.”
He emptied his glass in one gulp and set it down on the floor.
“My agents call me a hero. I thought they were wrong because I could see how close we came to disaster each time we encountered the enemy. I was right about not being a hero, but wrong about the reason.” He turned his eyes on her. Silver mingled with gray-green as the man and the snow leopard both stared at her. “There’s nothing heroic about the way I’ve been ignoring my feelings for you.”