“What is she doing?”

Carol was crouching beside the desk, heedless of her crisp gray pantsuit. She was eye-level with Maggie, watching her with open enthusiasm. And confusion.

“I think she’s trying to tease them?” Keeley put her head on one side. “Baby, I don’t think you can tease people who are still in eggs. They can’t even see you.”

Maggie blinked at her. She was holding Lance’s gold watch between her front teeth like a pacifier. “Prrp?” she asked, and then turned back to the nearest egg, waving the watch tauntingly back and forth.

When that didn’t get the response she wanted—or, indeed, any response—she snorted and dropped the watch back in the pile she’d pulled out of her hoard box. After nosing around briefly, she re-emerged, this time with Keeley’s necklace clutched gently in her jaws.

“Prrp!” she declared, and stalked back to the egg. This time, she dropped the necklace in front of the egg for a few seconds before snatching it away.

“Is she trying to make them jealous?” Carol wondered aloud. “Look at all my cool stuff, nyah nyah?”

“I don’t think so.” Keeley frowned. “It’s like she wants them to come and play with her.”

She was only half paying attention. Lance had been gone longer than she’d hoped, and her phone felt like it was burning a hole in her pants. Why couldn’t he hurry up and get back here, so she could come clean and they could…

A cold lump formed in her stomach. Fix this. Somehow.

“Huh. Like... make them hatch?” Carol looked thoughtful. “If only we knew how she hatched. All three eggs were in foster care for months without any sign of life, then all of a sudden, here Maggie is. I wish I knew how.”

“Yeah…” Keeley said weakly as Maggie stretched out her neck and tapped the gold pendant against one of the eggs. Tap, tap, tap—on the third tap, she darted away and hid the pendant jealously under her belly.

Keeley laughed, and then paused, frowning.

Was it her imagination, or had the egg moved?

It must be because Maggie bumped it, she told herself. Or you’re imagining it.

Or... another dragon is about to hatch.

“Oh, sh—sugar,” she murmured. “She’s using the gold to hurry them up? Is that how dragons work?”

Keeley touched her collarbone, where her gran’s pendant used to rest. Where it had been resting, when Maggie hatched. She swallowed.

“Um, Maggie, can I have that pendant back now? Maybe you should try using something else…”

She resisted the urge to reach out and snatch the pendant off Maggie. One baby dragon was enough of a handful.

Even if another one would mean a brother or sister for Maggie to play with...

Raised voices came from the corridor outside. Keeley looked up, recognizing Lance’s deep tones, and Carol quickly jumped up and tidied her clothes.

The door swung open.

“Lance! You’ll never guess what Maggie’s trying to do...” Keeley’s voice faded. Lance’s jaw was set, and his eyes skated away from hers. The knot in Keeley’s stomach twisted. “What’s happened?”

“Get her away from the eggs!”

Keeley hadn’t even noticed Briers come in. The mousy-haired man stormed in front of Lance, pointing at—her?

For a moment, she wondered what he was doing. Then she saw the look in his eyes. Pure, unvarnished hatred and disgust.

What the—? Oh, no. Oh, no, no, no. Not now.

The bottom fell out of her stomach.

Carol looked from Keeley to Briers and back, confusion in her flat black eyes. “Boss?”

“Lance, what’s going on?” Keeley stood up. At a nod from Briers, Carol grabbed her arms behind her back and pulled her away from the desk. “What the hell?”

She tried to pull away, but Carol was surprisingly strong. Or not surprisingly, maybe. On the desk, Maggie rose up on her hind legs, looking from Maggie, to Lance, and back. “Preep?” Confusion buffeted against Keeley’s mind.

Lance swore under his breath and gripped his forehead, then waved his hand calmingly at the baby dragon. Maggie stared at him, eyes wide, and kept cheeping in distress.

Keeley gritted her teeth. Maggie’s confusion was like the start of a migraine, wearing against her brain. “You’re scaring her, Lance. What the hell is going on?”

Lance’s throat moved like he was biting back words. For one long breath, he didn’t meet Keeley’s eyes, and when he did, his gaze was dark and troubled.

“Some new information has come to light about the night Maggie was taken.” Lance’s voice was clipped. Professional. Keeley shivered. “Keeley, I—”

Something behind his eyes broke. He ran the back of his hand over his mouth, and before he could say anything more, Briers strode forward.

“The dragon should be scared. But MacInnis isn’t the one she should be scared of. Isn’t that right, Keeley Bailey?”

Keeley’s stomach dropped. “I d-don’t know what you’re talking about,” she stammered. “That’s not my name. I’m K-Keeley Smith.”

The lie was out before she could stop it, and she knew the moment it left her lips that it had been a mistake. She swallowed hard and tried again.

“I mean, I—”

Without thinking, she glanced toward the door. Her mind made the calculation without prompting: there was no way she could make it out without one of them catching her, even if she managed to slip out of Carol’s grasp.

It was less than a second before she looked back at Lance, but even that was enough. He’d seen her eyes flick to the exit, and the broken shards of pain in his eyes turned sharp as splintered glass.

He held out a tablet. Keeley forced herself to look at the images flashing across its screen.

“Briers recovered the footage from the station. It shows you arriving. With the case containing Maggie’s egg.” Lance swiped the screen, and another clip began to play. “He was able to track your movements back to when you received the case from your associate.”

Keeley’s throat was dry. “It’s not like that,” she protested. “Please, I was going to tell you, you have t-to understand—”

“You thought you were safe after I told you the CCTV footage was lost, didn’t you?” Lance’s voice was hollow. “You were planning to leave before then. You only changed your mind after you heard Carol’s report. Why?”

Keeley’s voice caught in her throat. It was true. When she’d heard the footage was gone—she’d felt safe. But that wasn’t what had made her decide to stay.

“I—”

Briers cut in. “Get her phone,” he barked.

Keeley automatically grabbed at her pocket, but Carol was too quick for her. The shark shifter muttered a quick apology before she threw the phone to Briers.

An ugly sneer twisted his face as he activated the screen.

“Just as I thought,” he hissed. “You said she wanted to check in with her work, MacInnis? It wasn’t the hotel she was worried about. Arrangements for the drop point, payment details—it’s all here.” He scrolled down. “Interesting. It looks like our thief dropped off the radar without checking in with her associates. What happened, Bailey? Did the plan fall apart after Lance caught you running off?” His eyes narrowed. “Or were you waiting until there was a bigger payload to sweeten the deal?”

He looked meaningfully at the eggs on the desk and slipped Keeley’s phone into his pocket. “Thank God we got to her in time.”

“That’s bullshit,” Keeley spat. “You’re lying! There’s no way he has my number, he can’t have messaged me on—”

“He?” Lance’s voice was glacier-cold.

Keeley choked. Lance’s expression was sterner than she’d ever seen him.

No, that wasn’t true. He’d looked like this when he talked about tracking down the people who’d tried to take Maggie. Who’d hurt his friends.

And now he thought she was one of them. Because she was one of them.

“You’ve got it all wrong,” she said desperately, struggling to pull away from Carol’s iron grip. “I’m—that’s not me. You have to let me explain—”

“Not you?” Briers cut in again, his voice dripping with acid. Keeley’s heart sank as Lance let him talk. “Let’s talk about who you are, Keeley Bailey. You’ve got quite the history, don’t you? Breaking and entering. Burglary. Assault. No wonder you’re living under an assumed name.”

“I never—” The words died on Keeley’s tongue as Lance stared at her, hurt in every line of his face.

“You lied to me. Everything—” Lance groaned and clutched his chest. Pain twisted his face. “No,” he muttered bitterly. “Not everything was a lie.”

The mate bond. It’s hurting him. Keeley’s chest ached, as though in sympathy for Lance’s pain. “Lance, please. I can explain. I know I’ve fucked up, but—”

What could she say? Her ribs cramped. Explain? More like confess.

Bitterness filled her mouth. Most of what Briers had said about her was true. How could Lance believe anything she said now, knowing her history?

“I never meant to hurt you,” she burst out. “And you know I would never hurt Maggie. Never.”

Lance searched her face, his eyes so intent she found it difficult to hold his gaze. All her instincts were telling her to run and hide, but it was too late for that. All she could do was hope he would give her a chance.

A chance she knew she didn’t deserve.

Lance’s eyes, usually so bright in contrast to his dark skin, looked faded and dull. For the first time since Keeley hard known him, he looked defeated.

No, she thought desperately. It wasn’t meant to be like this. I was going to tell you everything. I didn’t want you to be hurt like this.

Lance looked like he was about to say something when Briers spoke up.

“We don’t have time for this, sir,” Briers muttered, loud enough that his voice carried through the pounding in Keeley’s ears. “I can use her phone to pin down her associates’ locations. You need to go, now, before the trail goes cold again.”

Pain twisted like a knife in Keeley’s heart as Lance straightened, grim determination replacing the torn anguish in his eyes.

“Take her to the holding cell.”