Page 149 of The Dragon's Mate

“My caseload is -”

“Will still be waiting for you when youcome back. If there’s anything that’s an emergency, I’ll get another detectiveto cover for you.”

Pissed, but knowing that there was nothing hecould do, Bren left his laptop on his desk. Morales clapped him on the back. “Youget your vehicle yet?”

“Yeah,” Bren said. “The security companythat I hired to protect Tyler got my keys from me this morning. They picked upmy car and grabbed me some clothes and stuff from my apartment. Said there wasstill a pack of reporters hanging around.”

“Fucking vultures,” Morales said. He squeezedBren’s shoulder. “This’ll blow over eventually. You got a place to stay?”

“Yes,” Bren said.

“Good. Text me if you need anything, yeah?”

“I will. Thanks, Captain.”

Bren grabbed the ballcap he’d stuffed intothe bottom drawer of his desk and jammed it onto his head before heading out theback door of the precinct. His SUV was parked close to the door and aftertaking a look for reporters, he jogged over to it and climbed in. He put hissunglasses on and took the back alley out to the street, easing behind three newsvans and the crowd of reporters milling on the sidewalk – Christ, how many reportersdid this city have? – and making his escape down the street.

He checked his rear-view mirror repeatedly andmade a few different unnecessary turns before being satisfied that he wasn’tfollowed and heading toward Mara and Roland’s house. He’d given his cellnumber to Mara before he left with Kaida last night and Mara had texted himthis morning to tell him both boys were doing fine but that, as per the school’soriginal request, she was keeping them home with her for the rest of the week.

He pulled into the driveway of the wolfshifter’s home and shut the SUV off before checking his phone. There was notext from Kaida. Not that he expected there to be. After they returned from theclearing, they’d crawled into bed. Kaida had fallen asleep immediately. Helaid awake until just after six then had a quick shower. She’d mostly wokenwhen he kissed her goodbye but was asleep again before he even made it to thedoor of the bedroom.

He still felt uneasy about having sexwithout a condom. He knew Kaida was right – the odds of her being pregnant werelow, but what if she was? It’d be one hell of a mess they’d gotten themselves into,if she was.

Like you wouldn’t be thrilled if she waspregnant.

He couldn’t argue with his inner voice. Hewould be over the goddamn moon if Kaida was carrying his baby. She wasn’t, heknew she wasn’t, but he couldn’t help the little thrill he got just thinkingshe might be.

They needed to sit down and talk…really talk.But Kaida was spooked about everything that had happened with his father, andhe had the bad feeling that she would bolt like a startled deer if he evenpushed a little to talk about where their relationship was going. He wanted toclear the air with her, wanted to find out if she loved him or if she was justgoing along with her dragon’s infatuation with him because it was easier, butthe thought that it might push her to drop him completely from her life, madehim feel sick to his stomach. Worse – it scared the shit out of him.

He stared at himself in the rear-view mirrorbefore yanking his sunglasses and ballcap off and leaving them on the passengerseat. “Some fucking tough guy you are,” he muttered and headed toward thehouse, locking his car behind him.

He knocked on the door and smiled at Marawhen she opened it. “Hi, Mara. Sorry to drop by without texting first.”

“Don’t be silly,” she said. “Come overwhenever you want. The boys and I are about to have lunch. Have you eaten?”

“No,” he said as he followed her into the houseand down the hall to the kitchen. Tyler and Corey were sitting at the table,both of them looking at Tyler’s iPad. Bren dropped into the seat next to hisbrother and Tyler held out his fist without looking away from the iPad.

“Dude.”

“Hey, buddy.” He bumped Ty’s fist with hisown.

“Why aren’t you at work?” Ty asked.

“I’m taking a few days off.”

“Because you want to or because you haveto?” Tyler finally looked at him.

Bren didn’t reply and after a moment, Marasaid, “The soup is almost ready. You boys wash up and then set the table forme, would you?”

“Sure,” Corey said.

He and Tyler left the kitchen and Marasmiled at Bren. “Your brother and his boyfriend are lovely young men.”

“Thanks again for letting them stay here.I appreciate it,” Bren said.

“We don’t mind at all. Actually,” Mara tastedthe soup again, “I had a chat with Corey’s social worker this morning, and heagreed to let us temporarily foster Corey until a more permanent solution couldbe found.”

“Seriously?” Bren said.

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