Page 5 of Romeo

“Good. You’re heading there soon?”

“As soon as it’s dark.”

“Keep me posted.”

“I will.” She paused and then added, “I’m turning my phone off.”

“What?”

“You always forget that I don’t keep my phone on when I’m working. You nearly blew my cover when you sent one of the guys to check on me when I was watching that group of bears in Lake Tahoe.”

“Fine. I’ll expect a report soon.”

“It’ll happen, don’t worry.”

Brent hung up without saying goodbye.

She had a little over two hours until it would be fully dark and she could infiltrate the woods surrounding Whisper Creek. In the meantime, she would do a little recon through the town, then grab something to eat and bide her time.

Spying was a waiting game and she was very good at it. Before her sister had been killed, she’d had little patience for anything, but now she had plenty of patience. If losing Kerry had taught her anything, it was that being patient meant exposing weaknesses, and weaknesses meant victory for Humans Against Shifters, and that was worth waiting for.

Midas and the tigers were going to be sorry that Brent had decided to focus on them.

* * *

The eveningof the mating ceremony, Romeo found Midas in his small library, where he kept the volumes of the ambush laws, among other things. The original set was in Midas’s library, but there were copies of the law books in each of the elder’s homes.

Midas was snarling when Romeo found him on the couch, a law book in his lap.

“She’s in town, you know,” Romeo said.

Midas looked up from the book, his brow furrowed. “What?”

“Maya. She’s here in Whisper Creek, fully guarded by our people and safe. Since she’s safe, you can stop growling.”

Midas blinked a few times. “I was growling?”

“Yeah. You’ve been growling and grumpy all day.”

Midas made a disgruntled sound. “I’m not grumpy.”

“Ya are,” Romeo said with a chuckle. “But the good news is that the sun is setting and it’s time to head out.”

“Fucking finally. This was the worst idea in the history of ideas.”

“Her staying away from you all night?”

“Yeah.” Even though neither of them was human, Maya had wanted to follow the human tradition of the couple staying apart the night before the ceremony, so she stayed with her friends in the ambush. The fact their ceremony wasn’t until sunset meant his boss had to stay away from his mate for a really long time, and he’d clearly been pissed all day because of it.

“Let’s get you to your mate,” Romeo said. He clapped Midas on the shoulder and smiled at his king. “I’m happy for you. She’s going to be a great queen.”

“Thanks. I hope you find your truemate too.”

“Me too.” He honestly thought finding his mate was the only thing that would help settle the unease he had about his bloody past. Maybe once he found her, he would sleep through the night and wake feeling refreshed like a normal person.

They walked out of the library. Romeo said, “Tilly’s waiting for you in the kitchen so you can escort her to her seat.”

“Is everyone here?” he asked.

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