Page 24 of His Fiery Mate

“Not the point—at least, that’s what I tell him.”

“You’re incorrigible,” laughed Melisandre.

“I am. Luckily for me, Asher likes it that way.” She put her hand on Melisandre’s. “I like you, and I like Tanner. If this isn’t real for you, you need to tell him that, and sooner rather than later.”

“What if I don’t know?”

Nicole patted her hand. “Then you’ll need to figure it out. If and when you want to head back to your place or anywhere else, let me know. I can ferry you to either your SUV or his truck. I told him I’d get you sorted.”

“Thanks, Nicole.” Melisandre ate her breakfast, washed the dishes, changed the sheets on Tanner’s bed, and then headed downstairs.

“Ready?” asked Nicole, who looked incredibly busy.

“Yes. I called Lyft. I know you’re busy. I’ve got a spare set of keys to my SUV. When Tanner gets time, we’ll figure out how to get the vehicles sorted.” Her cell phone buzzed. “Here they are. Thanks for everything.”

Never one to trust strangers, Melisandre had the Lyft driver drop her a few blocks from her vehicle. The first thing she saw as she approached was a long scratch, running from the taillight to the headlight. As she traced the mark, she discovered a note had been left on her windshield, anchored by the wiper blade:

I know who and what you are.

You and Tanner North both.

The two of you will leave and

never trouble me again.

Leave now.

Melisandre sniffed the note. “I know what you are, too,” she muttered under her breath as she unlocked the door and slipped into the driver’s side, started her SUV, and headed for home.

She waved at Rick as she sprinted into the diner and headed up the stairs to her apartment. Sitting down at her laptop, she was surprised to see the chief, at Tanner’s request, had sent her a list of people with the city’s fire department who had clearance to the budgeting information who both she and Tanner now believed were behind the arsonist.

Sniffing the note from her windshield a second time only confirmed what she’d thought the first time. Whoever had sent the note was a shifter. She couldn’t tell what kind of shifter, but they were a shifter. She spent enough time with the chief to know he wasn’t their arsonist—he wasn’t a shifter. That wouldn’t exonerate him with others, though, as shifters didn’t reveal their secret to anyone outside the shifter society.

One-by-one, Melisandre examined all of the fire department’s upper management personnel files. If she and Tanner were right, and she was certain they were, the arsonist had to have access to the kind of high-level confidential information that budget and staffing cuts would be. She just couldn’t see anything that suggested any of the department’s upper-level people might be their suspect.

She called Tanner on her cell.

“Sorry I had to leave you this morning. I needed to speak to the chief by myself.”

“I suppose I understand that, but I do have a question for you. Has anyone over at headquarters made you think you weren’t the only shifter?”

“Whoa. No. I know a couple of guys on Asher’s team are, but no. The chief often brings me in on stuff, and no one ever made me suspect anything like that. Why?”

“When I went to pick up my SUV this morning, our friendly arsonist had left me a threatening note…”

“What?” growled Tanner.

“Down boy. Drakaina here. I can pretty much guarantee I have more firepower than anyone other than another dragon, and whoever left the note isn’t a dragon.”

“What about that ice phoenix that got away last night?”

“A definite possibility, but I have no idea what one would smell like.”

“Me either, but… shit! God, I’m an idiot,” he said.

“No, you aren’t, but what are you thinking?”

“Do you think someone could cloak their scent?”

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