Page 12 of Courted by the Sabertooth (Mori’s Mementos #3)

Lady Annila

Moonscale London

Dead bodies squelch when you shoved your hands into them.

I didn’t know that before. Jon and Chard watched me from across the room as I held Topher’s heart in my hands.

It no longer beat. It was nothing more than dead muscle and flesh now.

His blood pooled inside his furry body and I contemplated whether or not I should eat his heart.

Our short conversation before all this happened danced through my memory as I massaged the muscle, playing with it.

After all, this was the only way I’d ever hold a man’s heart in my hands.

A few years before I got sick, I dated Topher.

We were almost serious. Well, we were serious as far as I was concerned.

Then he proposed and I said maybe. There were so many people to tell.

So much to do. I hadn’t even told my only kid that I’d fallen in love.

Hell, he didn’t even know I was seeing someone.

I called my lawyer first. I needed a prenup.

Love didn’t mean no-risk. Hell, couples fell apart all the time.

That’s why I had been single at my age, after all.

No one would ever get their hands on Shiny Butt Cosmetics except for Nic.

My sweet and so bloody naive Nicholaf. Of course, Topher ‘Tops’ wouldn’t sign it.

He lost his cool and ransacked the little apartment I’d rented so we had somewhere private to spend nights and weekends together.

That’s when I knew he didn’t love me. If he loved me, it would’ve been a two second signature.

I didn’t come from old money like some dragons.

I started making makeup in my parents’ basement when I was a teenager.

I figured it out. I wasn’t the wealthiest dragon in the territory by any means, but I gave my son the life he wanted and ensured my employees and their children could pursue education and life beyond whatever employment they took up with me.

I never told Nic about Topher. I never dreamed that the bastard would use my baby to get to me. I should’ve, though. You can’t trust anyone. If you can’t see right into their soul, you can’t trust them.

Topher didn’t even look surprised when I banged on his door holding Jon and Chard’s head. He didn’t bother asking why I’d beheaded his goons.

“They shouldn’t have been dumb enough to let you catch them, huh, sweetheart?” Topher asked.

“Don’t call me that,” I stormed into his house, pushing past him and setting the heads on the table so they could watch their boss die from whatever hole in the ground they were inside of in the Pit.

“Though, Nic is pretty dumb too, huh?” he laughed. “Fell right for Jon. Who could blame him? Jon’s pretty. So is Chard. Poor pathetic Chard who thought me letting him suck my dick meant something more than I was horny and he had a warm, wet hole.”

My dragon reared up inside her inner sanctum and I forced her down.

If she shifted now, the house would break.

It was too small to hold her, and the slimy bastard would escape.

There wasn’t time to chase him down again.

Any second now, Clarence and his guards would figure out where I was.

The only time we had was now and men like Topher don’t stop until they’re dead.

“Why go after Nic? Why not me?” I asked. “Are you a coward? Because the big, bad alpha hyena who took it up the ass for me, wasn’t a fucking coward.”

Topher stopped talking and met my gaze. Love and sex weren’t going to get him anywhere here but his gaze said he remembered.

“Jon owed me money. He was too pretty to kill. So, I set him to work. It wasn’t my idea to kill Nic. They came up with that all on their own, Anni.”

Anni. He was the only one who ever got away with calling me that.

“I just didn’t stop them. He’s not my stepson.

He’s not even my lover’s son. He’s just some rich, little prick who doesn’t know how not to fall in love with a con man.

That runs in the family, huh? You may have pounded my ass – and you were exceptional at that, doll face, I’ll admit that, but I had my hand right around your heart.

How was I to know that you’d call up your lawyer instead of eloping like I wanted to?

Then you ignored me. You didn’t even acknowledge it when I sent death threats.

Thought for sure cancer would do you in and save me the trouble. ”

“You did hold my heart in your hand,” I said, tapping my long nails on the table. Nic had done them for me a few nights before the paw showed up on the doorstep.

“Nic met his true-mate all thanks to you and your dumbasses,” I said before Topher could speak again. “He’s happy. They’re going to spend all that money. I’m going to send them on a tour of the whole fucking globe and you? Well, I’m gonna hold your heart in my hand for a change.”

My beautiful nails with their little geometrical designs shredded as they shifted into dragon claws.

It was only then Topher thought to panic.

His biggest mistake was thinking that because I loved him once that I wouldn’t kill him now.

Lovers were like money. They came and they went and sometimes if they were very good, they came again.

But Nic was my baby. Grown or not, he was the little boy that sat so patiently outside the boardroom playing with his little toys and the kids of my friends and employees while I built us a future and pulled my friends up with me.

I would’ve given him the world, but he wanted the money and not me.

He wanted the company that I put my sweat and tears into – the company that loyal friends had done the same for.

It was hilarious. Sort of. It was to me anyway because I only owned half my fucking company.

The other half belonged to the people who worked there.

He never knew me because he never bothered to. Hell, I never knew him either.

Hell, I didn’t know him any better now that his heart was between my fingers and his tongue lolled out of his furry mouth.

Topher didn’t bother to shift for a fight until he panicked.

Only that was too late. Too late because man or laughing dog, he was dead meat as soon as my claws pierced his skin.

Sure, a hyena was a smaller target but that just made his heart easier to hold.

I pulled it out through the hole in his belly where I’d gone up under his ribs and stared at the bloody blob.

“It’s time to go, Annila,” a strange woman’s voice reached my ears as a hand touched my shoulder.

I spun on my knees, nails still dragon claws and ready to fight. The woman was a shebear. Her scent was strong enough to smell over the blood.

“The things we do for our children,” she clucked her tongue and that’s when I realized where I’d seen her before.

She’d been on so many wanted posters and text alerts from the flight. This was Sharon Claudis. Sharon Claudis who had nearly blown up a bar to kidnap her unborn grandkid. At least, it was something like that.

“Bring the heart if you need to, love. I’ll grab decapitated dumb and dumber,” she smiled softly. “Let’s get you out of here before they all get here. You can come back later.”

“Why are you here?” I asked, not budging up from my spot on the floor.

“Because my grandson’s carrier seen fit to help you. I think you’ll understand everything soon. All I want is to keep my family safe too. Guys like this worthless piece of dogshit are always fucking with us, huh?”

Yeah. She was crazy. Still, a crazy getaway driver was better than none at all. I’d shake her after we got far enough away to be out of reach of Clarence’s guards. Then I’d have to figure out where Nic was holed up.