Page 59 of Walking in Darkness

Connie stood next to him. “We gathered information on Don as soon as we knew he was Kit’s ex-boyfriend and a hunter. He’s disappeared, Hudson. We probably have Lennox to thank for that.”

“No doubt.”

“But I managed to get the license plate, and I’ll have Torres run it.”

“Good.”

“Let’s hope he didn’t swap out license plates.”

Hudson groaned. He hadn’t thought of that. “He most likely did. In fact, I wouldn’t be surprised if he abandoned the vehicle on the interstate.”

“Especially if he knows Kit saw him.”

“Dammit.” It was as if the little punk had disappeared into thin air. They couldn’t find any trace of him or Lennox, and every paranormal leader in San DeLain was actively looking. It had almost become a competition of sorts.

“Should I send out a mass email to the other leaders, letting them know what we saw?” Connie asked.

Hudson sat down on the edge of the bed. For several moments he stared at the pillow Kit had rested his head on during Connie’s massage as he thought about his answer. “Yes. But include that we’re not sure it was indeed Don.”

Connie took out his phone and started typing. “I’ll try to get that sent out this afternoon. I don’t have everything I need on my cell. Can it wait that long? I’d like to stay here and keep an eye on Kit.”

Hudson jerked in surprise. “Of course it can wait. I wouldn’t send you away from our mate right now.”

Connie sat down next to Hudson. “Thank you for that. I’d go if you insisted, of course. This is important.”

Hudson wrapped his arm around Connie’s waist and pulled him closer. He kissed him on the cheek. Now what kind of mate would he be if he did that? “It is important, but our mate is more important. Besides, your dragon wouldn’t be happy if I sent you away from our mate while he’s injured.”

Connie shook his head. “No, no, he wouldn’t be. Hudson, what if I hadn’t gotten onto the shoulder? What if one of those big rigs plowed into us? Kit could have died.”

“I know, sweetheart. I know. Believe me, it terrifies me as much as it does you.” In fact, Connie wasn’t the only one whose dragon was unhappy.

The ornery creature didn’t understand why they weren’t pouring their blood down Kit’s throat right this very second. The human side of Hudson actually agreed, but this wasn’t the Middle Ages any longer.

Consent was a thing. Actions had consequences. He reminded his dragon that having their mate hate them would not be conducive to a loving relationship.

“Your dragon isn’t happy, is he?”

“No.”

“I want to shift. Badly.”

Concerned, Hudson stared into Connie’s face. “Do you have control?”

“Yes. I just want to shift.”

Hudson completely understood because he felt the same. “Tonight. Let’s let Kit rest for a couple hours, then maybe grab him a snack when he gets up. Then later we can take Kit with us out back and shift. He hasn’t seen me in dragon form yet.”

“That sounds great. Maybe we can talk him into riding one of us,” Connie said. “And I can’t believe I just said that. I never thought I’d allow somebody to ride me like a steed.”

“I know. I feel the same. But I love the idea of having Kit on my back.”

“But will Kit? That’s the question.”

“I think we’ll have to ease into it. We are rather intimidating. Maybe we should start off having him sit on our back while we’re on the ground,” Hudson mused. “Technically, he’d still be on the ground. Well, he’d be on us, butwe’dbe on the ground.”

“Make sure you use that logic on him.” Connie snickered. Then he got serious. “Lennox needs to die.”

“I completely agree. The hunters do too.” But Hudson couldn’t kill them if they couldn’t find them, and so far, they hadn’t been able to unearth what rock they were hiding under. “I have a question.”

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