Page 7 of Let's Talk One True Mate

“Hisecho.”

“Yeah. He was Ella’s aunt’s housecat—a stray who showed up at her house around the same time Trevor, Trent, and Troy, moved to Serenity. He had a bare patch of skin on his shoulder that filled in with white fur, echoing Trent’srenqua.”

“Spooky,” Burton said.

“We all were spooked at first, but Smokey’s cool. So’s Angel, Crew and Dahlia’secho. They’ve been helpful and not at all creepy.”

Canyon nodded along, agreeing.

“Trevor went to Abigail White’s store and found her husband there. Ella’s pendant was on display and Trevor bought it right away, not knowing anything about it, just following his instinct.”

Canyon pulled up a driver’s license on his computer.Wheaton White, aged 79,he said. Marriage records show he was married to Abigail White for only 6 months. His daughters reported him missing four days after he sold the pendant to Trevor. That was 11 months ago and he still hasn’t turned up. It was his 3rdmarriage and Abigail White’s 4th, according to the records, but we have reasons to believe that Abigail White has somehow altered official records several times.

Burton pulled a small notebook out of his back pocket and wrote something down, then nodded at Timber to go on.

“By this time, Trevor was falling for Ella, but still not admitting her as his mate. He took her to Pickett’s funeral, but sent her back to the safehouse when he had to go up Blue River Bluff for reports of a disturbance in the Pravus.”

“Disturbance?”

“That’s what thefelencalled it. You’ve heard that thefelencan no longer track Khain when he comes to the Ula?”

Burton grunted in the affirmative.

“These disturbances were the start of that. It was like otherworldly earthquakes, according to thefelen. Khain was up to something.”

Graeme,Canyon prompted.

“Our badass dragen, Graeme Kynock, arrived from Scotland that day. Trevor hated him on sight. They met in Wade’s office, then Graeme opened a momentary hole to the Pravus, just to prove that he could. It knocked all the servers offline, but we took care of it anddragen-proofed them. Later, we ran at thezyanya, and then Mac got his rut—me ‘n Canyon were on our best behavior—Scout’s honor.”

Canyon snickered.You were never a Boy Scout.

Burton snorted. “An actual rut with human females. I never—nobody got bitten?”

Timber scoffed. “Your generation needs to learn some restraint.”

Burton eyeballed him.

Timber grabbed a file folder off his desk and held it in front of his face. “Don't do it! You can't bind me for telling the truth!”

Canyon laughed out loud and Burton shook his head.

“Knock it off, joker,” Burton said gruffly.

Timber tossed the folder on the desk. “Absolutely Chief. Consider it knocked off. Wait, where was I? Oh yeah, so Trevor and Ella got together around this time, even though no one was sure if Ella was a mate. A day or two later, they asked Wade, then Crew to see if anyone had any insights. Crew recited prophecy about her.”

Burton looked confused. “What prophecy? What did it say?”

Canyon checked his computer monitor, then spoke in ruhi. Life begins anew. Love brings two, then four, then six more. Khain's downfall lives inside her. She will be queen.”

“That makes no sense,” Burton said. “We don’t have queens.”

Maybe it’s figurative,Canyon told him.

Burton swung his chair to face Canyon. “Figurative! What do you know about figurative prophecy?”

Canyon scooted his wheeled chair behind his desk, hiding from Burton.Nothing, Chief, nothing,he said, his mental voice amused.

“Ignore him, Chief,” Timber said. “You dropped him on his head too many times as a pup. The prophecy, Khain’s Downfall, is supposed to be about Trevor, but Crew’s prophecy would override that designation to one of Trevor’s young.”

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