Page 23 of Twist of Fate

Another scoff and a waved hand.

“—and you don’t have permission to touch me.”

Connal crossed his massive arms over his chest and glared. “Damn Consort and his rules. Why are humans so confounding? I’ll be back.”

Without another word, Connal left through a doorway that mysteriously appeared. Luke tried to catch the door before it closed, but the damn thing snapped shut before vanishing. How the hell had Connal opened it? Luke searched for some sort of lever or knob or even a motion sensor, but nothing stood out.

He grabbed his phone out of his pocket, but he had zero signal. Hell, he hadn’t even switched to roaming. Where had Connal taken him? When Luke tucked his phone away, he checked the small pocket hidden in the waistband of his pants. The thumb drive was still there. He needed to finish his mission, because someone seriously did not want the information on the drive to reach its destination.

Luke spent the next few minutes searching the room once again while pointedly ignoring the fact that Connal had referred to him as human. What else would he be?

But maybe that was one of those language barrier things. That had to be it. It was the only thing that made sense. Connal didn’t understand him. Luke let out a little sigh of relief. Maybe this whole thing was a cultural and language barrier mixed up in a confusing mess of complications.

The room didn’t have any obvious windows or lighting but glowed with a warm, sunlit hue. There wasn’t a fan or air vent in sight, but a cool breeze brushed over Luke’s skin.

Some spy he’d turned out to be.

When the bedroom door opened again, Luke positioned himself beside Connal’s enormous sword. He’d use it to defend himself if he had to. What he wasn’t expecting was a small man with…were those horns?

Maybe he’d been drugged. It explained the anomalies, especially the sparkles.

“Your Majesty—” Connal scowled at the man who’d darted into the room, while holding on to the fabric now draped around his hips. It looked like a tablecloth. Someone obviously hadn’t liked Connal strutting around naked.

Wait. Majesty? What? And those were absolutely small horns on top of the guy’s head.

The horned guy sucked in a deep breath. Was he smelling? What was with all the smelling? Then horny guy’s eyes widened as he turned to stare at Connal. “He’s human.”

“Yes.” Connal’s frown deepened. “He used the words you lectured us about last week, Consort Cosmo. I must confess that I didn’t understand the concept, but now that I’m faced with my mate⁠—”

“Your mate. Fuck me sideways.”

“Your Majesty!”

“That wasn’t an order, Connal. Oh, forget it. Garzaxie!”

A tiny creature popped into existence beside the…Consort? Luke had never been more certain in his life that he’d been drugged. Some sort of hallucinogenic. At least he’d managed to keep the details of his work to himself. He wouldn’t give away any secrets. Not that he’d be believed if he didn’t get the thumb drive delivered within the next couple of hours.

“Bah! Another human mate.” The tiny creature wrinkled its nose at Luke before positioning itself between Luke and the Consort.

Oh, Consort, as in spouse of the King or Queen. There’d been enough royal hoopla in the media lately that Luke finally recognized the word and put two and two together.

“I must claim my mate to stop the Lady’s curse,” Connal said.

His tone didn’t impress the Consort one bit. Lucky for Luke, since it seemed as if Consort Cosmo, whoever he was, would determine Luke’s fate.

“You’ve got to take him back,” Consort Cosmo said.

The tiny creature released a loud, disagreeing huff.

Luke leapt to his own defense. “Yes, you’ve got to take me back. I don’t belong here.”

“Mates belong together,” the little guy said.

“But Garzaxie—” Cosmo the Consort tried to argue with the peculiar looking short man. What exactly was he anyway? Maybe Luke had a concussion along with being drugged? Having his brain completely scrambled might make some of this make sense.

Before Luke could think of something else to say in his own defense, Connal took the little guy’s side, because of course he did. “Exactly. We belong together.”

“Not exactly,” Consort Cosmo growled. He glanced over at Luke and his eyes softened. “Sorry about this. Don’t worry, though. I’m friends with the hellhounds. They’ll zap your memory and you’ll be none the wiser about this entire mess.”