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But unknown to the human hikers who ate at the town’s cozy-looking restaurants and rented rooms from their bed and breakfasts, Midway was a shifter town, a melting pot of non-human races. Bear shifters served as the local police and gossipy birds worked at the exclusive boutiques lining the streets.
Wherever Alejandro looked, a different kind of shifter would be greeting him with a smile. It was as if every shifter race was represented in Midway, with the possible exception of the near-extinct race of the Mariposa.
“Is it your first time to be here?” Calys asked.
“Yes.”
She looked at him hopefully. “And how do you find it so far?”
“It’s nothing like I expected,” he answered honestly. He had heard others talking about Midway being an open town of sorts, but the harmony that existed between the different races was still surprising. Normally, birds and rodents were instinctively antagonistic toward each other but if he wasn’t mistaken, the couple at the bakery across him was exactly that: a male rodent and a female bird.
“Princess?” Pasquale suddenly appeared in front of them. Unlike him and Calys, the panther prince still insisted on dressing formally even while trekking through the forest. As such, his fine white shirt was spotted with dirt and his expensive pants were caked with mud.
Hernandez made a ludicrous picture, but instead of amusing Alejandro, the fact only served to make him testy. Was his hellcat truly serious about marrying the most idiotic panther on the planet?
“Yes?” Calys smiled at her fiancé.
The smile made him crack his knuckles.
The sound had Pasquale moving away from him, which was good. But it also made him crowd closer to Calys. That was not good.
“Are you sure we need to stop for the night here?” Pasquale was unsuccessful in keeping the irritation out of his voice. Stopping at Midway was not a part of his plan, and all these delays were making it harder for him to nail down a time and place for Calys’ assassination. When the vampire he had paid to kill her last night was a no-show, Pasquale realized that her death was just something he had to take care on his own. It was the only way to get to the next step of his plan.
Calys had a painful grimace on her face. “I’m afraid we do. It’s that day for me.”
It took a while for Pasquale to understand what his fiancée meant, and when he did, he had even greater trouble hiding the fact that he found her condition grotesque. She was really a human monster, lacking even the delicacy not to talk about things like that with a prince like him.
“I’m already feeling weak as it is. Later, I’ll be taking medications to knock me out.”
The last words caught Pasquale’s attention. One of the reasons why he had other assassins take care of Calys was because of her freakish strength. But if today meant she’d be bedridden all day, maybe this unscheduled stop would work in his favor.
Alejandro was more disgusted than surprised when Pasquale suddenly appeared in high spirits. The panther really did want his hellcat dead. And he was so narcissistic that he didn’t even care how obvious he was being.
“If that is the case, Your Highness, then bed rest is in order.” He was all solicitous warmth now as he fussed over Calys’ condition, asking about her medication. “Maybe you should increase your dosage,” Pasquale was murmuring helpfully. “You would not want to be waking up in the middle of the night in pain.”
Alejandro watched Calys nod, her big blue eyes full of trusting agreement. Well, there it was. Apparently, she could lie if she deemed it for a good cause.
“I’m going to rent one of the cottages at the end of the road.” Calys pointed to the location she and Alejandro had decided on using to set their trap for Pasquale. “I’ve told Alejandro to stand guard while I rest. He’ll be at the other house to ensure that no one comes to disturb me.”
Pasquale nodded. “I see, I see...”
Yes, they did see. They saw how his mind was now working furiously, going over the information Calys provided him. It was like watching a man tie a noose around his own neck to hang himself. When Pasquale left, he and Calys gazed at each other.
“It is done.” But he was saying it to give her a chance to back out. Because if she really wanted to save the panther’s damn neck, Alejandro would make it possible, even if it went against his good judgment.
Calys shoved her hands into the pockets of her cargo pants. “I know.”
He said quietly, “You’re not to blame. You know that.”
“I know.” Her smile was clearly for his sake. “You’ve told Juriaan to go ahead of us?”
It was a deliberate change of subject, and Alejandro obliged, knowing that the princess’ too-soft heart made her feel guilty over Pasquale’s inevitable fate.
