AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She shook her head. “He has no magicalabilities.”
“And what’s third tier? There are tiers of magic?” My mind was reeling with all Ilearned.
“Oh, sorry. Sorceress is first tier. Then wizards. I’m in with witches and warlocks.” Peri licked her lips as she stared up at me. “I’m not sure whether I’m lucky or unlucky to have any magical ability atall.”
I held her closer. “You’re very lucky.” She growled, pushed off my chest, and climbed out of my lap, leaving me feeling both sad and scared. Dragons don’t scare. What the hell was going on with me? I stared at Peri who looked equally disconcerted. “Did I saysomething…?”
She wrapped her arms around her body and paced. “It’s not you. I’m just…confused.”
“Me too,” I grumbled as I leaned forward and held my head. “Why do you keep pushing meaway?”
Whipping around, she glared at me. “Devon was just murdered. I knew I wasn’t his mate, but I adored him.” Peri shook her head. “Ugh. IthoughtI adored him. Then you come along. And in a matter of hours, you have me feeling things…strange and unexpectedthings.”
She gathered up her hair and dropped it over her shoulder to spill down her chest. I watched in fascination. Then I scratched the back of my neck and stood, closing the distance between us in a number of steps. “I’ve guarded some of the most beautiful women in the world,” I began, while she glared at me. “I haven’t touched any of them. Ever. Never wanted to. Not even when they threw themselves at me.” I leaned low so we were at eye level. “You, I can’t keep my hands off of. I can’t let you get more than a few inches from me. You think I know how to handle any of this, how to prepare for this, after hundreds of years alone?” I lifted her up. “I don’t. So, I’m hoping we muddle through thistogether.”
Peri stiffened in my arms. “Why would you want anything to do with me? I’m nobody. I have nothing to offeryou.”
I chuckled. “That’s not true. Nothing could be farther from the truth.” Then I heard sirens in the distance and remembered we couldn’t even think like this. Not yet. “Let’s figure this out later. You could be in danger.” I set her on her feet and walked over to the table. I stared at the papers strewn across the wooden surface, scanning, hoping something would pop out at me. “We know the victims are all young, unmated, butsuccessful.”
She joined me at the table. The change of topic seemed to make her feel more at ease. “What are yousaying?”
“Well, where did their money go? That’s what we haven’t looked at.” I wrapped an arm around her waist and sighed. “For the record, I’m not done with our other conversation, but we both know before we can even think about our future, we need to tackle thisfirst.”
“Agreed.” She stared up at me sadly. Then she turned her attention to the challenge at hand. “So, in order to figure this out, I think we should follow the money.” Then Peri stepped away from me and flipped through one of the piles on the far end of the table. “Less than an hour before his death, Devon finalized his will.” She passed metwo.
Holding them side by side, I examined them one page at a time. “So, Devon left everything to you.” I swallowed hard. “Obviously, he cared aboutyou.”
“Yeah,” Perimurmured.
“And trusted you.” I watched as she nodded slowly. “What’s with the twowills?”
“Oh, one he wrote, the other was crafted by Spencer Morse of Abingdon, Betters, and Morse.” She stared at me. “I think there’s something toit.”
I scanned the original will. “Everything was supposed to go to the Reclaim the Kingdom Project.” Sitting down hard, I leaned back and rubbed my temples. “The answer couldn’t be that easy,right?”
Sitting in the seat across from me, Peri blew out a breath. “We need to find out who runs the charity, who’s on the board ofdirectors.”
“Yeah, and we need to find out if the other dragons’ estates went there too.” I reached for my cell and started the search on Safari. “This is going to be a challenge, researching on thephone.”
She frowned. “I didn’t bring my laptop. This wasn’t supposed to be a working weekend. And I lost my phone in thescuffle.”
“No, you didn’t.” I rushed up the stairs and pulled her phone out of my costume. Then I skipped down the steps while holding it out to her. “I called it to find you. Instead, I found the phone in the grass and saw you beingchased.”
Peri shook her head. “Just when I was coping with the loss and thinking I’m cut off from the world, you savedme.”
“Happy to help. You two can get reacquainted while I contact my team.” I winked. Then I sent a quick email to my second in command, explaining I needed information on the 403b. I paused thinking out loud. “I’m pretty sure we can access the wills too. They should’ve been filed for probate after which they become public record.” I typed madly on my phone. “Read aloud those names for me, the deceaseddragons.”
“Well, Devon of course, but his won’t be filed and we have it anyway. So: JusticeDraco.”
“Oh, I’ll need the state too.” My finger hovered over the screen while Iwaited.
“Washington. Ezra Draco in New York. Blake Draco was in England,” she murmured absently while she rifled through the papers to find the information Irequested.
After another ten minutes, we had finalized the request with all pertinent information. “Done.” I smiledtriumphantly.
“But it’s Sunday.” She chewed on hercheek.
I shrugged. “We work every day; we’re security. We’ll have our answers soon enough. Most of this is publicrecord.”
