Page 12 of The Goblin in the Sink Drain
“We need to locate that dog.” I glanced left, finding myself almost cheek to cheek with Rían. “Tara would never forgive me if I let something happen to one of her animals.”
“We’ll find it,” he promised, his expression unyielding. “We’ll have to examine the area for scent trails anyway. I’ll make sure Liam knows to search for the dog too.”
“I can handle it.” I waved away the offer. “I’m a pro at finding runaways.”
All it took was one time helping a kid down the road from GSG locate his missing pug to cement my local legend status as a doggy detective. Any shifter could have done the same, including the sentinels trailing me, but they were too afraid of Mercer finding out they had taken their eyes off me to lend a hand. Or a nose. But my human neighbors didn’t know that.
From that day on, if a kid lost a pet, I got a tearstained visit.
Since grateful parents tended to give me business from then on, I didn’t mind helping out one bit.
“Okay.” He zeroed in on the screen again. “I’ll take the assailant’s trail then.”
A laugh bubbled out of me before I could stop it, and I bit down on the inside of my cheek.
Tearing his attention from the clips, he studied me. “What’s so funny?”
“Are you sure you’re an alpha?” I turned my head, making our noses brush. “You give in so easily.”
“I’ve seen alphas rule through fear, and it never ends well. For them or their people. I prefer offering the right to choose to each person in my clan. I only intervene in private matters if their actions harm others or endanger the clan as a whole.” He huffed a laugh. “I’m not saying I’m right, or how I rule is best, but it was the system my parents believed in.” He fell silent, and I wished again that I had the nerve to ask how they had died, but I was still too afraid of the answer. “I haven’t been magnus long, so the rules might change, especially if the Sartoris push us to defend our territory, but equality is where I would like to begin.”
“It’s a nice dream.”
“It doesn’t have to only be a dream.”
The intensity of his stare, the wash of his breath over my cheeks, the knowledge I could lean in and taste his ideals on his lips was too much of a temptation for a cynic like me. Mouth gone dry, I forced my head forward and my wayward thoughts back to the job at hand.
As unlikely as it seemed after this morning, I think I understood Liam’s take-charge attitude a bit better.
The utopic view Rían’s parents held on ruling must not appeal to Liam. That, or he had seen too much to believe the idyllic vision of their clan’s future Rían held was attainable. Or sustainable. He was the stone others broke against before reaching his cousin.
I had been curious as to why Rían would send his own cousin into enemy territory, even before I learned Liam’s roles within the clan, but I was willing to bet he had volunteered. I was starting to think there was nothing Liam wouldn’t do for Rían. Perhaps even act as his foil, using my lifetime of engrained fears to drive me closer to him.
But maybe that was my paranoia talking. It definitely enjoyed the sound of its own voice.
“I found the client list on the shop computer.” Liam strode into the room. “Sloane matched up all the animals. We’re missing one French bulldog named Mephistopheles, but everyone else checks out.”
“He’s running loose on the property.” I noticed Sloane from the corner of my eye and updated her on Lon’s abduction. “The Frenchie got free on the loop. He’s got a forty-five minute head start. With any luck, he’ll be too busy sniffing and peeing to get far, but you know how that goes.”
“I brought this from his kennel run.” She tossed me a hairy blanket. “You want to do the honors?”
“No offense to Ana,” Liam said, sounding genuine, “but wouldn’t you be the better choice?”
“Her nose works just fine, as you well know,Bowie.”
“Your sense of smell is keener after you shift, and we might need that edge to locate the hostages.”
That a man with his training believed it was possible the staff was still alive set my pulse thumping.
Standing toe to toe with him, Sloane growled, “Thenyoushift.”
“No thanks.” A smirk twisted his lips. “A wolf can pass as a dog, but a dragon?—”
“Want to get out of here?”
The low whisper in my ear set my heart pounding for other reasons, but I nodded, unable to resist Rían or his crooked smile as our guardians verbally sparred. Had I not been paying such close attention to Sloane, I might have missed her subtle hand gesture for me to get a move on.
That little sneak was antagonizing Liam to give us an opening. Not that he made it hard to do.
