Page 25 of These Little Heirs (Moonscale Heirs Duet #2)

Ciro

“There she is,” Morvan said, spotting Patrica on the ground from our hiding spot high on one of the government buildings.

The alphas hadn’t lied. The lynx shifter was a bitty thing of a woman probably standing five feet, but she was five feet of solid muscle holding something enchanted at the ready.

I shifted my eyes to that of my cat and swallowed hard.

I assumed she’d try to blow Torvan up or shoot him but her weapon of choice was a throwing knife packed with so much magic that I didn’t want to get in her way.

For a moment, I considered telling Teal that we needed to go back to Heartville and let him work out his own debts.

I could be pregnant. I couldn’t get myself stabbed with that thing.

“You’re going to be our eyes up here,” Teal announced, picking up on my thoughts over our mating link. “We’ll deal with her. We’re the only ones who might stand a chance.”

I wanted to shift and throw myself on top of him. My weight wouldn’t keep my mate down forever but it would slow him down enough not to be the one to die because someone was dying today. When a cat went hunting, it rarely returned home empty handed.

“Patrica is our friend,” Morvan tried to reassure me. “She’s our friend! She wouldn’t hurt us! If she wanted to hurt one of us she wouldn’t have waited until we were both out of the way.”

“You stay here, please,” Teal begged, his eyes locking to mine.

“If you die, I swear I’m hiring some goon to die and kick your ass. I swear it to the moon and stars Teal Moonscale!” I said and kissed him hard before he could make any objections.

Then they were gone and I was alone on the roof watching my mate descend into what was bound to be chaos.

I let out a long, slow breath and prayed the lynx didn’t kill my mate.

She was good. Even from here I could smell she was good.

She blended in with everyone coming and going around the apartment building but she was posed like a killer with her muscles strung tight for the throw.

Her ears gave the slightest twitch, and I held my breath.

The old building’s door opened and Toravn stepped out into the sunlight.

The sun glinted on the dagger as it zigzagged around passersby unnoticed.

Morvan shouted and leapt back into the air towards his unsuspecting brother.

Torvan’s eyes lit up when he saw Morvan and then his face contorted with bemusement as Teal tackled Morvan just in time for the dagger to pass through him a few feet from his brother.

Both dragons tossed their arms out toward the target but neither of them was fast nor tall enough.

The dagger found its home right where Patrica sent it: Inside Torvan’s heart.

The dragon sank to his knees as a crimson pool formed on his chest. Morvan elbowed Teal off his back and scurried to his brother screaming for help.

His words were lost to the wind but his mouth moved and moved.

No one was going to get there in time. The magic spread over him quickly, sucking up his blood into the knife.

I was an asshole. As Morvan held his dying twin in his arms and he and Teal both yelled for help that was en route but would never make it in time I felt only two things.

Relief and awe. My mate was alive. Patrica disappeared into the crowd and climbed into the passenger seat of a baby blue pickup truck.

Morvan was right about one thing. She hadn’t wanted to hurt him or Teal.

Still, I was in awe of her. She threw that knife as if moving a claw through prey.

If I was into women I might’ve sprung a boner because I was that big of an asshole.

“Our kittens will still have a daddy. Everything is moot,” my cat murmured into my thoughts.