Page 65 of Spooks & Specters

But they were to Kit.

Decision made, Hudson left his hoard. After he secured the entrance, he placed the stones he’d retrieved in a small box in their walk-in closet.

Kit and Connie had gone for a jog that morning, so they should be home soon. Such an activity wasn’t something Hudson cared about, but his mates did.

AN HOUR later, Kit and Connie returned. Hudson was sitting on the back patio, enjoying a cup of coffee while he waited. He heard them joking and laughing as they entered the bedroom.

Connie stuck his head through the doorway. “We’re back. We’re going to take a shower, and then we’ll be right out.”

“Quickly, please. There’s something I want to talk to the both of you about.”

Kit popped up beside Connie. “Is everything okay?”

“Of course. You would’ve known if there was something wrong, remember?”

The bond the three of them shared made it pretty hard to hide their emotions. It could be done, but it was also obvious when one of them restricted emotional responses too.

“I know. I’m just checking.” Kit shrugged. “You’re looking serious there.”

“He has his thinking face on,” Connie said, staring at Hudson.

Hudson chuckled.

“Thinking face, huh?” Kit winked at Hudson. “Well, hold that thought, whatever it is, and we’ll be back shortly. Unless, of course, you want to join us?”

“Then it’ll be even longer before we can talk about this idea I have,” Hudson said. “And this is something you’rereallygoing to want to talk about.”

“Tease!” Kit mock yelled. “That is completely unfair, I just want you to know.”

Hudson made a show of checking his watch.

“Fine! We’re going!” Kit grabbed Connie by the arm and pulled him toward the bathroom.

Hudson was pretty sure he heard Kit mumbling under his breath about damn dragons. Pleased with himself, he watched his two mates hurry off. He’d never been one to tease, but since Kit had come into their lives, he found himself sometimes unable to resist.

Kit brought joy into Hudson’s life.

He frowned. No, that wasn’t entirely right. When it had been just him and Connie, he’d been happy. But Kit brought a playfulness out in Hudson that he hadn’t been aware he’d had. Maybe he was somewhat stuffy, as he had been accused, but Kit made Hudson take the time to enjoy his life.

Being a royal—and being responsible for a court—didn’t often leave time for fun and games.

It wasn’t unheard of for a queen or king to be challenged for the right to rule a court, although it had been close to a hundred years since something like that had last happened, and it had been overseas too.

Two powerful, ancient dragons battling for dominance was never a good thing. Lives were lost every single time. If a royal was ousted from the throne, his or her inner circle was normally killed, along with any mates or hatchlings. It was gruesome, to say the least. Same thing happened to the challenger if they lost.

It was serious, deadly business that, thank Guara, didn’t happen often. But it was always something on the very outermost edge of his consciousness, the knowledge that one day he could be challenged, and that he could lose. Fortunately, as far as he knew, there weren’t too many Ancient royal red dragons wandering around who were courtless.

Hudson heard his two mates walking toward the patio where he sat. Shoving away those repulsive thoughts, he turned his mind back to the more pleasurable things he’d been thinking about.

Kit was dressed in some sort of blue jeans coverall outfit and was barefoot. He’d washed his hair and braided it wet. Hudson had seen Kit do that a few times, and his hair always looked wavy when it dried and was unbraided. Hudson debated doing it to his to see what it would look like.

Connie was dressed in khaki shorts, sandals, and a short-sleeved light blue shirt.

“Hey, what’s up?” Kit asked, taking the seat next to Hudson, setting his coffee mug on the table.

“What’s going on?” Connie asked, sitting on the other side of Hudson, coffee in hand.

Hudson didn’t know how to broach the subject, so he just jumped straight in. “Connie has done research into human weddings.”

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