Page 22 of Crown and Dragon

They continued onward, the sound of the city above silenced by the depth of the catacombs.

Marius stopped and Tahlia ran into his back.

“What is it?” she whispered, her heart hammering.

“Footsteps.”

Tahlia drew her dagger and held her breath to listen. His ears were so much better than hers. It was frustrating.

“They’re coming. Two males. Humans.”

The sound of whispering and quick boot steps echoed through the dimness. Two men in muddied clothing rounded the corner, faces going slack with shock.

One with a red beard recovered first. A sly grin slithered over his mouth. “Well, well. A couple of guards keeping watch on the old bones.” He rubbed his hands together. “Ripe for the picking, seems like to me.” He jerked his chin in the direction of Marius’s tomato hat.

“I assure you that you do not want to bother us,” Marius said.

The fool was too dumb to be scared of that tone and he lunged for Marius. His friend, a man with a tiny knife and only one tooth at the front of his mouth, went for Tahlia.

Marius slammed into Red Beard, knocking the man into the wall. He exhaled in a gust of curses and raised a fist to strike.

Tahlia lifted her arms and dove into Toothy’s attack—one forearm at his neck and the other hitting his arm. Her left hand slid down that arm until she had his wrist held firmly with his sad, wee knife locked away from her body. She looped the hand at his neck around the back of his skull and bent him low. Shekneed him in the nose. He shrieked, dropped the knife, and fell against the far wall.

Marius had his assailant on the ground, his foot on the man’s chest. Marius’s eyes burned with unspent fury. “Did he injure you?” he asked Tahlia.

She grabbed the tiny fallen knife, then grabbed her attacker and threw him down beside his friend. “Nope. I’m fine. Should we tie them up?”

“Yes. We can report them to our superior once we have finished canvassing the catacombs.”

Ah, right. He was pretending to be a city guard. Tahlia frowned, watching how his eyes burned as he looked at them. Yes, they were terrible people, but that rage… seemed over the top. Maybe it was because she was his mate. Males did become rather insane with protectiveness once fully married and mated. Or was it because they were humans and they dared to attack them? And human pirateshadkilled his sister. He did seem to hate humans with a special level of passion.

Chapter 11

Tahlia

Three different songs wailed through the streets of Midhampton. Locals and visitors alike danced the same quick-step jig, drank ale from pale crockery cups, and laughed together.

“It’s marvelous,” Tahlia said, doing her best to keep moving. Marius kept gently urging her forward with a hand to the small of her back.

“It’s chaos.”

“What would you rather be doing right now? Sitting in your chair at Dragon Tail Peak with one of your saucy novels?”

He growled over her shoulder. She glanced up at his handsome, scarred face and grinned.

“How do you know about my reading choices?”

“I’m your mate. You think you’re sneaky, putting that military history book on top of your romances, but I’m not fooled.”

“Well, I’ll thank you not to mention my preferences regarding books in public.”

“Nobody here knows us.”

His breath was suddenly at her ear. “Hush, female, or I shall have to tie you up when we get home and punish you for disrespecting your commander.”

“Oooh, promise?”

A chuckle rumbled in his chest, vibrating into her back as they took the third right.

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