“What am I doing here, you ask?” Aegis said, flashing Minach a bright, good-humoured smile. “Seeing to it that you get the job done, of course.” He turned his gaze to the young woman still seated at the café’s table. Her large eyes were all but bugging out of her head as she stared up at him in an expression of utter disbelief.

“Your lack of faith in me is nothing short of hilarious,” grumbled Minach. He grabbed Aegis’s arm, dragging him towards the café entrance several feet away. “Now perhaps you can tell me why you’re really here,” he whispered.

“Bertie asked me—us, rather—to come. Amara reported to her at some point last night, told her what’s happened to the Dragon shifter. We thought you could use some backup in case the killer was still close by.”

Minach swallowed hard at the mention of Amara’s name. So, it seemed that after his strange altercation with her the previous afternoon, she’d calmed down enough to give her new boss a head’s up. Well, that was a good sign, he supposed. Perhaps one day she’d even calm down enough to look him in the eye again. “I see,” he said. “Did Ashlyn come with you from London, then?”

Aegis nodded. “As did Lyre, and Trix as well.” A surge of relief and joy shot through Minach to realize that his brother had come. Perhaps Amara had been right, and he would one day have a happy, healthy relationship with his twin. “They’re just checking into the inn,” Aegis continued, “they should be along any minute now.” He looked towards Caitlin, a mischievous smile returning to his lips as he whispered, “So tell me, who’s your little friend there?”

“That’s Caitlin,” Minach said. No doubt his fellow Dragon shifter had already figured out three things: the young woman was pregnant, she was a shifter, and she was far too excited by the presence of Dragon men. “She is—was—Duncan’s mate.”

“Ah,” replied Aegis, his expression immediately changing as he realized how inappropriate it had been to throw out jokes at her expense, even if they were directed mostly at Minach. He stepped over the Wolf shifter’s table and looked her in the eye. “I’m very sorry to hear what happened, Caitlin. I hope you know that the Guild will do whatever we can to help.”

“Thank you,” she said, laying a hand on her belly, her bright eyes still assessing both Dragon shifters. Minach got the distinct impression that she was trying to determine which of them would make a better father for her young.

Aegis turned to him and raised his eyebrows as if to say, “So, what the fuck is going on with this talk about new daddies?”

“I’ll fill you in later,” Minach replied, raking frustrated fingers over his dark stubble. “Meanwhile, how did you know where to find me?”

“Bertie gave us directions to the cottage, and we stopped by. Amara told us you’d come into town.”

Minach did his best to maintain his composure despite his heart thumping hard inside his chest. “So you actually saw her? How’s she doing?”

The other man narrowed his eyes, looking as though he were attempting to work out what was going on in his friend’s head. Minach couldn’t very well blame Aegis for his shock; after all, he’d spent years convincing the world that he never thought of anyone but himself.

“She’s fine, I think,” Aegis replied. “She seemed a little tired. Said she was going to head out for a walk to get some fresh air. Is everything okay between you two?”

Caitlin stared up at the two shifters, a confused, inquiring expression creasing her brow.

“Fine,” said Minach, remembering that he’d told the Wolf shifter the previous day that he and Amara weren’t an item. “But there’s no us two, as you know. I’m only concerned because she seemed a little…agitated…last night.” To say the least. “Anyhow,” he added, “I appreciate that you came all this way, but it was unnecessary. Caitlin here is the Seeker, and she’s going to help me find the Relic.” He turned to her, raising his eyebrows. “Aren’t you, Caitlin?”

“I…yes, I suppose I…” she stammered, apparently too confused to speak in complete sentences. “But there’s so much to consider. So much to do before…”

Minach withheld a sigh of frustration. She was resisting again, trying to find a way to delay the hunt for the stone. Looking for any excuse to avoid helping them.

Aegis shot Minach a quick look that said Let me look after this before stepping around him to get closer to the young woman. As Minach watched, he pressed his palms flat into the table, leaning forward to speak softly to the Wolf shifter. The fucker always had been more charming than him; maybe he’d have better luck getting her on board with their plan to retrieve the Relic.

“We’d be really grateful if you could help us,” Aegis said, flexing his triceps as Caitlin’s eyes took in his physique. Damn, the muscular bastard was doing it on purpose. Somehow, he knew exactly how to manipulate her, and he was far more skilled at it than Minach. Probably because he was kinder and less prone to bouts of irritated impatience. “You’re the Seeker,” Aegis said. “You know that, yes?”

Caitlin nodded, her eyes fixed on Aegis’s massive arms.

“You know what that means, don’t you?”

“It means I alone can find the Relic,” she replied in an oddly robotic drawl.

“That’s right,” Aegis replied. “It’s your destiny, Caitlin. You’re in a position to help all of Dragonkind. You want to do that, don’t you?”

She nodded again. “Yes, of course I do.”

Another tinkle of the door’s bell pulled Minach’s mind away from the strange interaction. Within a few seconds he’d picked up another familiar scent and pivoted his body to face the latest arrival.

“Oh my God,” Caitlin blurted out, her eyes momentarily turning away from Aegis as she noticed the man who’d just walked into the café. “What the hell is going on here?”

Lyre was now striding towards Minach, only to throw his arms around him in a quick hug before pulling away. “How are things, Brother?” he signed, hands moving at lightning speed

“F-U-B-A-R,” Minach signed back, the letters forming in rapid succession. “You don’t even want to know.” He laid a hand on Lyre’s shoulder and looked him in the eye, silently catching up his twin on the latest mayhem. This is Caitlin. Her mate was Duncan, the Dragon shifter who was killed a few days back. Her Wolf seems to have latched onto me, or at least to the idea of me. In a nutshell, it’s all one enormous clusterfuck and I want to get out of here as soon as possible.

“Interesting.” Lyre’s voice projected the word into Minach’s mind as he turned to smile at Caitlin.

“This is my twin, Lyre,” said Minach out loud, watching Caitlin for her reaction. “But then, you’ve probably figured that out by now.”

“There are two of you,” she stammered, her eyes shining so bright as to almost glow white. The scent of her Wolf’s excitement wafted through the air, a lupine aroma greeting Minach’s nostrils. It wasn’t unpleasant; if anything, it was actually quite appealing, though it had nothing on Amara’s sweet, enticing scent. “Two Dragon brothers,” she said, her tone turning childlike, almost innocent. “Then there’s the other one, the blond man.” She turned to face Aegis once again, cocking her head to one side as she studied him.

“That’s Aegis,” said Minach. “He’s our resident nerd.”

“He doesn’t look much like a nerd,” said Caitlin, who was all but drooling now as her Wolf took the men in, no doubt assessing their slew of physical attributes.

Aegis slipped into the chair opposite hers, pressing his torso forward to pull her attention his way again. Enough with the worship; it was time to refocus her mind on the task at hand. “Listen,” he said, “this is very important. What can you tell us about the Relic? Do you know the verse that will lead us to it?”

Her breath began to come in short bursts as she launched into some sort of panic mode. “I…I told Minach already…the verse says…No. Maybe I shouldn’t tell you…” The young woman looked more confused now than ever, overwhelmed by some conflict tearing her mind in two.

Minach spoke up. “The verse mentions a tower by the sea, and a fortress on a hill. Does that sound familiar to you, Aegis?”

“Not so much.” Aegis kept his eyes locked on the Wolf shifter’s, refusing to let her mind stray too far. His voice had altered, somehow, slowing and deepening as he addressed the young woman. Minach recognized what he was doing; it was an old trick that Lumen had mastered many years ago, but used only rarely to extract information from others. Aegis was charming the other shifter, using his scent, his eyes, his voice to reach into her mind and extract what he wanted from her. He was controlling her Wolf with the Dragon inside him, commanding her with his eyes, his voice, his scent. A subtle form of mind control meant to separate human from déor.

“I think Caitlin knows where the fortress is,” Aegis said softly. “At least her human side does, doesn’t she? Perhaps she could come out and tell us.”

With those words, the colour of the Wolf shifter’s eyes altered almost immediately, her bright blue irises dulling to a shade more human than animal. She shook her head as though trying to bring herself out of a trance, and looked about with fresh eyes at the large men surrounding her.

“There is a word…in Gaelic. It means fort by the sea,” she said. Her voice had turned rough, as though grief had set in once again. The same grief that Minach had observed when he’d first met her, a profound sadness for the loss of her mate. A decidedly human emotion was taking over her mind, fighting back her Wolf’s desire to protect her fragile heart from harm.

“What is the word, Caitlin?” asked Minach. Remorse sat in his gut like a lead weight for pressing the young woman when she was in such a state, but this might be his only chance to get the information he needed so badly. His only chance to escape this blasted place and to get back to London. “Please,” he said, “this could be the clue we’ve been looking for.”

“It’s…” Caitlin let out a long exhale as she let herself surrender at last to the Dragon shifters’ will. “It’s Dundurn.”

* * *

Aegis, Minach and Lyre headed outside to meet up with Ashlyn and Trix on the sidewalk just outside the café. Caitlin still sat inside, her eyes fixed straight ahead. The look of wonder had disappeared from her features, replaced by an expression of sadness, her eyes slightly red from the tears that she now fought back. Her Wolf had retreated for a time, her human struggling to maintain her presence long enough to help the others.

“Who’s that?” Ashlyn whispered to Aegis when she peered through the café’s window. “She looks like a shifter.”

“She’s a Wolf,” Aegis said. “That’s our Seeker.”

“Oh, so her mate must have been the one who died. I’m sorry to hear it.”

“Aegis has been working a voodoo mind trick on her to get her to help us with our search for the Relic.”

“Oh?” said Trix, one eyebrow raised high. “Interesting.”

“She’s got it in her head that a certain Dragon shifter should stick around and become her new mate,” Aegis said. “I merely focused her mind elsewhere.”

“It must have upset her. The poor thing looks so sad in there.”

“She is sad, Aegis replied. “But much as I hate to draw her human out, she needs to access her emotions in order to help us. Caitlin’s déor knows that if we get our hands on the Relic, Minach is gone. Her human side, however, wants him to fuck off so that she can mourn in peace. It’s that side that we need right now. I think she’s begun to realize that it’s for the best.”

Ashlyn looked at him admiringly. “You figured that all out in a matter of seconds, you clever thing. I don’t know if I should admire you or be frightened. But I will say this: you’d best not try those tricks to get me to do you sexual favours and the like.”

“I would never,” Aegis retorted. “Besides, I strongly suspect that you’d punch me through a wall if I tried any such thing.”

“Damn right I would. Besides, you don’t need to play with my mind to get me to take off my clothes.” Ashlyn planted a quick kiss on his lips.

“Enough of that talk, you two. You did the right thing, Aegis,” said Minach, getting back to business. “We need more than just the name of the Relic’s location; we need her to bring us to Dundurn and find the stone with her own eyes.” He glanced back into the café. “As much as it pains me to say it, I think we ought to do it sooner rather than later.”