Page 19 of Hunter

Hunter sobered. “Ben stole the nun’s journal from Belle at Wallis’s behest, in exchange for the promise of a hefty monetary payment. We think he was able to discover that she had the journal because she had carried out most of her research on the free Wi-Fi of a local library.”

Zoey frowned. “I didn’t know my Uncle Edgar had those sorts of hacking skills.”

“I think there’s a lot you don’t know about Edgar Wallis. One of those things being that after Ben had handed the journal over to him, and rather than paying the younger man, Ben was then thrown to his death. Murdered. Probably not just because Wallis didn’t want to pay Ben, but also because he didn’t want anyone else knowing about the existence of dragons.”

“That would have required Edgar being in the Highlands just after New Year,” Zoey reasoned.

A nerve pulsed in Hunter’s tightly clenched jaw. “If you question the household staff at Tregarthen House, I’m sure they will confirm that he wasn’t at home during that time.”

Her brow creased in thought. “My uncle was studying a small brown leather-bound notebook when I arrived at the house earlier today and went to his study to say hello,” she recalled tensely. “He closed it and put it away in his jacket pocket the moment I entered his study. Could that be the journal you’re referring to?”

“From Belle’s description of it, it sounds like it, yes. From my observations of him and the house the past two days, he keeps a notebook of some kind on him at all times,” Hunter bit out. “He even takes it up to his bedroom at night and puts it under his pillow before he goes to sleep. Which is the reason I haven’t been able to get a good look at it yet.”

Zoey shook her head. “If you are what and who you say you are and already know all this, I don’t understand why you haven’t just confronted Edgar, taken the journal from him, and returned with it to the Highlands.”

“I need to be absolutely certain I’ve tracked down the right person. Until I can actually have a physical look at the journal, I can’t be one hundred percent certain I’ve done that.”

Zoey nodded. “I’ve now confirmed to you that the journal you’ve described is exactly the one I saw my uncle studying when I arrived earlier.”

“And I believe you,” Hunter assured smoothly. “But now I can’t leave, with or without the journal, until I can persuade my own one true mate to leave with me.”

CHAPTER SEVEN

Zoey eyed the man—dragon?—warilyas he stood a short distance away from her. Unfortunately, not far enough away for her to be able to outdistance those much longer legs, get in her car, and lock all the doors before putting the key in the ignition and driving back to London.

Hell, he looked strong enough to rip the door off the Mini even if she managed to do the first three of those things. To rip the roof off too, if it became necessary!

She moistened her lips with the tip of her tongue. “You mentioned your one true mate?”

“You,” he confirmed with satisfaction.

Zoey gave a scornful laugh. “You met me two hours ago at the most?—”

“And I knew the moment I saw you and breathed in your unique perfume that you are my one true mate. My dragon knows it too,” he added happily.

Zoey opened her mouth to dismiss his ridiculous claim. But then she remembered that the dragon in her delusion had said she was the last person it would ever hurt. Was that for the same reason that Hunter, the man, had just told her he couldn’t leave Cornwall without his mate? Becauseshewas the true mate of both Hunter and his dragon.

Was she really starting to buy into this fantasy?

Hard to continue dismissing it when she had definitely seen a thirty-foot-tall dragon, and Hunter had now insisted that dragon was him. There was also no disputing that he hadn’t been around when the dragon was, andvice versa.

She swallowed. “Are you able to…I don’t know, maybe partially shift? Not to your full dragon,” she hastened to qualify her request, not sure she was up to being confronted by a thirty-foot-tall silver dragon for a second time in a matter of minutes. “But maybe just your mouth or—or hands? Claws? Is that possible?”

She had barely finished speaking before Hunter lifted what had been his hand but was now a huge dragon claw, with long curved talons extending from what had been his fingers.

Scary, yes, but also incredible. Miraculous, in fact.

Zoey kept her fascinated gaze on Hunter’s clawed hand as she took a step forward, followed by another, then another, until she was standing directly in front of him. She half lifted her own hand as if about to touch one of those talons, but stopped several inches away. “Does it hurt when you do that?”

He shook his head. “It’s as natural to me as growing fingernails is to you.”

“Amazing,” she admired. “Can I—” She glanced up at him. “Can I touch?”

Hunter smiled. “My darling Zoey, you’re my one true mate. You can touch me anywhere and at any time you wish.”

She gave him another lingering glance. “You like saying that, don’t you?”

He bared his straight white teeth—the same ones that could shift into a mouthful of large, pointed ones—in a grin. “That you’re my one true mate?”

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