Gone to find the wyvern… to warn it?
Chase knew that the wyvern wasn't in Brighton at the moment—his pegasus senses covered the entire city, and there was no hint of the wyvern's distinctive scent. But Sammy knew of his ability. No doubt he'd told his hired assassin to stay out of Chase's range.
He was tempted to follow the shifters immediately, in the hopes that they would lead him to the wyvern. But he wasn't finished with Sammy yet.
Yes, his stallion told him. Fight this one, kill him, now! He threatened our mate!
Sammy appeared not to have noticed his henchmen's departure. “You say this wyvern knocked the Spitfire down into the drink, son?”
“That's right,” Chase said, trying to ignore his stallion's bloodlust. “And if you try to steal it, you'll get a big surprise.”
“I remember your sea dragon friend. So he's guarding my plane. That's real neighborly of him.” Sammy waved the lobster claw at one of his remaining thugs. “Send the nice dragon a fruit basket from me, will you?”
“It's not your plane,” Chase snapped. “And it's not going to be.”
“Well now.” Sammy leaned back again. “Seems to me that it is. The bet's that West's Spitfire will win the Rydon Cup. Even a hotshot pegasus is going to have a mite of trouble winning a race with a plane that's underwater.”
Gotcha!
“Thank you, Sammy.” Chase stood up. “That's exactly what I needed to hear you say. West's Spitfire will win the Rydon Cup, I can promise you that. And I can promise you one other thing.”
“And what might that be, son?” Sammy's eyebrows rose.
Chase leaned on the table, staring Sammy straight in the eye. “If you ever, ever try to harm my mate again, in any way, no matter how indirectly, I will find you. I will hunt you down wherever you try to hide, and then I will personally kick your teeth out through your asshole.”
The shark shifters to either side of Chase bristled, then hesitated. They glanced over at Commander Ash, who was peacefully buttering a bread roll.
“No need, boys.” Sammy waved his shifters back down again. “It's understandable that our pegasus friend here is mite het up, seeing as how some pond scum has been threatening his mate. I'm willing to cut him a little slack.”
Casually, Sammy popped the lobster claw into his mouth. The thick shell splintered as the shark shifter bit down.
“A little slack,” Sammy said, pulling the cracked claw out of his mouth. He idly started picking out bits of lobster meat. “I'm as pained as you are, son, I really am. To think of that beautiful plane all tangled up in seaweed… it breaks my heart. I sure would like to have words with the kind of monster that would ruin a noble warbird like that. You let me know if you find this wyvern shifter, you hear?”
“Oh, don't worry,” Chase said. “I will.”
CHAPTER THIRTEEN
“And that's how we met,” Virginia concluded. She exchanged a long, warm look with Dai, their intertwined hands resting on the top of the table.
Connie felt a little embarrassed to be watching them, like she was intruding on their privacy. There was a deep, unspoken intimacy between the pair that made her feel like a spare wheel. From the way Killian had apparently become fascinated by something at the other end of the bar, he felt just as awkward.
“If you're going to stare at each other like that, for God's sake, get a room,” Hugh snapped. He had his back pressed to the wall, as far from Dai and Virginia as he could get without being on the other side of it. “You've already spoken quite long enough about the joys of being mated. No need to provide us with a physical demonstration as well.”
Connie couldn't help but notice that the paramedic was keeping a marked distance from her, too. When they'd left the private room to head to the more comfortable main bar area, she'd accidentally brushed against Hugh going down the stairs. He'd jerked away from her touch as if she was radioactive. At least he seemed to have the same distaste for Dai and Virginia as well. The only person he didn't seem to mind being near was Killian, oddly.
Virginia just smiled, clearly well used to ignoring Hugh's surly attitude. “So, any questions?” she asked Connie.
Connie had a hunch that there was a lot more to the story than Virginia had revealed. “I don't mean to pry, but… did you ever doubt your feelings for each other?”
One corner of Virginia's mouth curved upward. “Well, I did flee from him in terror one time.”
“Believe me, my mate is very kindly painting me in a much better light than I deserve,” Dai said wryly. “I was so cautious when it came to telling her the truth about myself, I very nearly lost everything. I'm glad Chase hasn't made that mistake, at least.”
“Not talking
enough,” Killian muttered, “has never been one of Chase's problems.”
“But you never doubted your feelings for Virginia,” Connie said to Dai.