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“Did you ever turn anyone away? Refuse to treat them?” Percival asked.
I shook my head. “Never.”
“Scorned lover?” Triston asked.
I scoffed and shook my head. “You’d need a lover to have scorned them. No, that’s definitely not a possibility.”
The men blinked at me in silence for at least twenty seconds before looking at each other again.
“Could it have something to do with you being here?” Triston asked Riddick. “No offense, but we all know you’re a high-profile figure and not on everyone’s favorite side.”
Riddick sighed and rubbed the back of his neck with his eyes on the ground. “I’ve thought of that, but why curse the creatures to seek her out? I just met her not even a week ago, it’s not like we’re friends or mates or anything serious.”
And cue my insecurities and sadness. Keeping my face neutral to hide those feelings was hard, but I managed.
“Perhaps they know that you’d feel indebted to her for treating you and that your instincts to protect her would override not knowing her?” Percival suggested.
“It’s possible,” Riddick said and sighed again. “I’ll return shortly. I need to make another phone call.”
Maybe we had been looking at it all wrong. Maybe it wasn’t me the mage was after, but one or more of the males I’d treated at my house?
Turning to Percival and Triston I said, “I think it’s time we learn more about each other.”
“What do we have in common?” Percival asked Triston. “The three of us are hybrids, but what else?”
“Our parentage, maybe? I’m part mage, what about you?” Triston asked Percival.
Percival’s eyes widened. “I’m part mage as well.” His brows furrowed as he frowned. “Riddick is not though.”
“Three of the four of us are mages or part mages,” I said. “Three of the four of us are hybrids.” And honestly, it could be possible I was as well. “Three of the four of us are shifters.”
“This started before Branson and Kieran left,” Percival pointed out.
“It got worse after they left,” I countered. “I don’t think it has to do with them, but they were also hybrid shifters. I don’t know if they were part mage or not.” It hadn’t seemed important to know before.
“I’m not anyone important,” Triston said. “I was a waiter at a small restaurant before I got attacked and brought here.”
“I’m just an accountant,” Percival said, and shrugged. “I got into a fight with a full-blooded werewolf and a few of his pack showed up, backing him up, and knocked me out. I don’t know who brought me here.”
“I don’t know that either,” I said with a huff. “I probably should install some cameras, at least to see the vehicles that bring people to figure out who keeps bringing you all here. I didn’t used to care, was just glad I could help people that might have been left in a ditch or something instead, but now it may be important to know.”
Triston sighed. “We really aren’t much closer to an answer, unfortunately. There are too many unknowns. Too many variables.”
“I need to head into the city to look into something,” Riddick said when he rejoined us. “Did you guys come up with anything?”
“Not really,” I admitted. “Unless I’m somehow a hybrid and didn’t know it, all four of us don’t have anything in common.”
“You don’t really smell like a full-blooded mage,” Triston said, “but that doesn’t mean you’re a hybrid.”
Riddick sighed and ran a hand through his hair, mussing it up, but he was still somehow sexy. “Promise me you’ll stay in the wards while I’m gone and stay safe? I don’t like the thought of you getting hurt while I’m gone.”
“Riddick, I appreciate your worry, but I’ve been on my own for decades now. I am powerful, remember? Go tend to your business and return when you can. We’ll see if we can come up with anything else.”
He hesitated, hands clenching and unclenching at his sides.
What was he thinking about?
His brows furrowed, relaxed, furrowed, and relaxed again. After another second, he walked to me, rubbed his cheek against mine, and kissed my lips lightly. “I’ll return as soon as I can.”
