Page 17 of Pointy Ears and Purple Glitter (Quirk of Fate #5)

“It’s where I go to shift on weekends,” Malik explained. “When I need to let the rhino out for a while. It’s too risky to do it here in town.”

Understanding dawned in Tynan’s eyes. “Of course. You need space to roam.”

Malik nodded. “My rhino gets restless if I keep him contained too long. Having that land has been a lifesaver.” He hesitated, suddenly feeling uncharacteristically nervous. “I was wondering if you’d like to come with me this weekend.”

Tynan’s eyes widened. “You want me to see you shift?”

“Yes.” Malik brushed a strand of silver hair from Tynan’s face. “My rhino is an important part of who I am, like your magic is for you. And now that we’re mated, I want to share it with you.”

A slow smile spread across Tynan’s face, lighting up his features. “I’d be honored.” He propped himself up on one elbow. “Will I get to ride you? Like a magnificent steed into battle?”

Malik snorted. “I’m a rhino, not a horse. And I weigh well over two tons when shifted.”

“So that’s a no on the riding, then?”

“That’s a definite no.” Malik tugged Tynan back down against his chest. “But you could fly alongside me. With those wings of yours.”

Tynan made a contemplative sound. “I haven’t flown much since coming to Earth. It’s hard to explain away a man with wings to the wingless, as Sparky would call them.”

“No wingless beings out there,” Malik reminded him. “Just us. You could fly as much as you want.”

“That sounds…” Tynan’s voice caught. “That sounds wonderful, actually.”

Malik could hear the emotion in his mate’s voice and tightened his arms around him. He understood what it meant to hide an integral part of himself away from the world. The freedom of his weekend excursions had kept him sane over the years. He wanted to give Tynan that same freedom.

The moment was interrupted by the buzzing of Malik’s phone on the nightstand. He groaned, reaching for it without dislodging Tynan from his chest.

“It’s Ian,” he said, glancing at the screen. “At this hour? I hope nothing’s wrong.”

Concern furrowed his brow as he answered. “Ian? Everything alright?”

“Sorry to call so late, Boss.” Ian’s voice came through clearly, sounding excited rather than distressed. “But I couldn’t sleep, and I kept thinking about Hayley’s case, so I did some more digging.”

Malik relaxed, putting the phone on speaker so Tynan could hear. “Go ahead.”

“So I was looking through more of Hayley’s social media,” Ian continued, “and I noticed something odd about her posts before she met this ‘G’ person. There’s a lot of stuff about her mom, but it’s.

..I dunno…it comes across as tense? Like, she posted this picture of them at dinner with the caption ‘Another lecture about my life choices. #blessed’ but with an eye-roll emoji. ”

Tynan sat up, interest piqued. “What else did you find, Ian?”

“Oh, hi, Tynan. Didn’t know you were there. Um, not interrupting anything, am I?” Ian’s voice turned awkward.

“Nothing that can’t wait,” Malik said dryly. “Continue.”

“Right, so there’s a bunch of these passive-aggressive posts about her mom.

And then I found this comment from Mrs. Cooper on one of Hayley’s photos when she’s out clubbing.

The comment says ‘You know how I feel about these places, Hayley. We talked about this.’ And Hayley replied with just ‘It’s my life, Mom. ’”

Tynan and Malik exchanged looks.

“Did Mrs. Cooper mention any tension between them when she hired you?” Malik asked.

Tynan shook his head. “No, she painted a picture of perfect harmony. Said they were ‘best friends’ and that Hayley told her everything.”

“Well, that’s not what these posts suggest,” Ian said. “Looks more like Hayley was trying to break away, and her mom wasn’t having it.”

“That could explain why she was so receptive to this mysterious ‘G’ figure,” Tynan mused. “If she was feeling controlled by her mother, someone promising adventure and freedom might have been irresistible.”

“Exactly what I was thinking.” Ian sounded pleased. “And there’s more. I found an older post where Hayley mentioned her mom ‘freaking out’ when she brought home an antique music box she’d bought at a flea market. Said her mom made her return it the next day.”

“That’s odd,” Malik said.

“Yeah, and then just two weeks before she started posting about ‘G,’ she put up this rant about how she was ‘suffocating’ and needed to ‘escape the bubble’ her mom had put her in.”

Tynan leaned closer to the phone. “Ian, this is excellent work. You’ve given us a completely different perspective on Hayley’s disappearance.”

“Happy to help.” Ian’s pride was evident in his voice. “I’ll keep looking if you want. There might be more clues about who this ‘G’ is.”

“That would be great, Ian. Thank you,” Tynan said. “We’ll talk more tomorrow.”

After they said their goodbyes, Malik ended the call and placed the phone back on the nightstand. Tynan settled against him again, thoughtful.

“Your mechanic has quite the investigative mind,” Tynan remarked.

“He’s sharp,” Malik agreed. “Always has been. His mam came with him to the interview when he first applied to work here. She said very plainly that he was a good kid who just needed someone to point him in the right direction.”

Tynan traced abstract patterns on Malik’s chest with one slender finger. “You know, I’d like to hire him part-time, if that wasn’t a problem with you. I don’t mind paying him for helping me, outside of his working hours with you.”

“Hire Ian?”

“To help with the social media tracking side of my business,” Tynan explained. “He’s clearly better at it than I am. I barely understand how to use that thing called Instagram, let alone how to extract useful information from it.”

Malik considered it. “He could use the extra money. His mam’s food pantry runs on donations, and those can be unpredictable.”

“And I could use the help,” Tynan added. “Especially with cases involving younger people. I realize that sounds weird given I’m a hundred and sixty-four years old, but I’m hopelessly behind on modern communication methods.”

Malik chuckled. “You’re not that bad. You figured out how to text me dirty messages earlier today.”

Tynan swatted his chest playfully. “That’s different. Motivation matters.”

“Speaking of motivation…” Malik rolled them over in one smooth motion, pinning Tynan beneath him, taking care not to squash Tynan’s wings the wrong way. “I believe you mentioned something about round three?”

Those same wings fluttered against the sheets, Tynan’s green eyes darkening with renewed desire. “I believe I did.”