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In any case, those six or seven omegas had gathered for a very special reason. It had been several months since they’d last seen each other, and now they were finally together again. Harry couldn’t say why, exactly, they’d been apart for so long, but he figured it had to do with all the dragonets that had been born recently. Wally, Finch, and Perry had all had live births within the past year, and while Harry couldn’t say it with any certainty, what with his lack of personal experience, babies seemed like a lot of work—much more than raising whelps. It warranted further investigation, but sadly, science would have to wait for later. He’d missed his friends too much to go off and throw himself into new research.
Down the table, someone cleared their throat. All idle chitchat stopped, and everyone turned their head to look in the direction of the noise, including Steve, who was wearing a sirwal and a simple shirt and vest combo. He was partially standing on a plate of fruit that had been placed at the center of the table. A tiny piece of melon dangled precariously from his mouth.
“Uh… hear ye, hear ye,” said the person who’d cleared his throat. It was a very official-sounding Iggy, who was several vodka-cranberries into his afternoon. “I hereby bring this meeting of the Dragonet Club to order.” He glanced this way and that at the other omegas around the table. From his proper posture to the overly formal tone of his voice, it seemed an awful lot like he was working himself up to a very impressive and grandiose speech, but after an exciting moment of silence, all he did was shrug. “’Sup?”
Finch was the first to take the floor. He set his hands on the table and glided effortlessly to his feet. It wasn’t mandatory to address the group while standing, but Finch was very proper, and standing seemed to make him feel more confident during their chats, so none of them had asked him to stop.
“Before all else,” he said quite formally, “I believe an acknowledgment is in order. There has been a new addition to the Drake family the Dragonet Club has yet to celebrate. Congratulations on your beautiful daughter, Peregrine. She really is quite lovely.”
“Thank you, darling.” Peregrine dimpled. “You cannot begin to imagine how deeply you’ve all touched me, leaving Aurora behind to come visit us here in Lebanon in celebration of our little Mira. Traveling is exhausting on its own, but all of you managed with children, no less, and into another clan’s territory. I know how difficult obtaining clearance can be—we had to wait months for our application to process, and yet here you all are. I’m sure such efficiency must have been your doing, Finch.”
Finch nodded. “I filled out and processed the applications for all of us, but I did not do so unassisted—Matthieu took it upon himself to follow up with the legal council of the Ruby clan, and was able to expedite our paperwork.”
“It was nothing,” Matthieu said with a shrug, but the smirk he wore suggested otherwise. “Guillaume was quick to see my reasoning, and decided it was best not to keep me waiting. I can be quite persuasive when I want to be.”
“I wouldn’t doubt that for an instant.” Perry’s smile grew by the smallest degree. “All of you have done so much and come so far, and put in such effort to do so, and all for my benefit. I am truly humbled by the depth of your love. Sebastian, the boys, and our precious Mira appreciate you more than you will ever know. But I believe there is one thing you’re overlooking.”
Finch seemed taken aback. “Something we’ve overlooked? Whatever do you mean?”
“Baby Mira is not the only new Drake we have yet to collectively celebrate.” Perry looked serenely upon Finch, and his smile reached full bloom. “Your Theodore is a fine young man, and just as handsome as he is charming. I am so very glad you were able to bring him here—one of my biggest regrets over the last few months has been being unable to meet him when you and Hugh invited us, but Sebastian has been quite strict with security lately, and I’m afraid I simply could not get away.”
“Yeah, about that.” Iggy planted both his elbows on the table and leaned forward, peering at Perry. “What the hell has been going on? Alistair doesn’t have a clue, but something is obviously up, because Grimbold has been up our ass about whether our house-hunting has to do with having another baby—and not in a ‘so when are you going to give me more grandchildren’ way. It’s more like he’s scared shitless, which, I mean, I guess I can understand to some extent, since we brought Chaucer into this world, but with Sebastian acting so paranoid, I’m thinking he’s less worried about the safety of his Ming dynasty vases than he is something else.”
“You are quite right, Ignatius,” said Perry. “Something else is indeed responsible for Grimbold’s paranoia. There has been an incident, I’m afraid—an omega has been targeting members of our family, and his most recent victim was me.”
“An omega?” Harry blinked, perking up. He’d zoned out for a little while, watching as Steve gummed a grape, but this revelation was too interesting to let pass him by. “By that, do you mean a dragonet, or someone of the non-reptilian variety?”
“Harry,” Iggy deadpanned. “Perry just said he was attacked. Can we hit pause on the herpetology talk until we’ve figured out what’s going on?”
“Oh, of course. I’m sorry, Perry. I didn’t mean to be insensitive. I just got excited.”
“You have nothing to apologize for,” Perry said sweetly, and smiled. “Truthfully, I do not know whether he is a dragonet, one of the Attendants, or someone from outside draconic society who has stumbled his way in. He seemed familiar to me, but I can’t quite put my finger on how or why.”
“It makes no difference,” Misha said without looking up from his nails. “He is a dead man—he just doesn’t know it yet. It would be one thing to attack us, but he was also the one who stole my eggs, and for that, he will not be forgiven. When he is captured by the council, he will be killed, and even that is kindness beyond what he deserves.”
Harry looked between Perry and Misha. They were seated opposite each other, Misha leaned back in his chair with the hood of his hoodie popped up over his head and a nail file clutched in his hand, while Perry was seated primly in place, a look of consternation marring his beautiful face.
“I do agree that what happened is terrible,” Perry said, selecting his words with care, “but don’t you think there is more going on here than meets the eye? I have had a lot of time to think lately, since Sebastian has been so insistent I not leave his sight, and I keep coming back to the same question no matter how I turn the situation over in my mind—why? Why would this omega do all of this?”
“Because he is evil,” Misha said flatly. “Perhaps jealous.”
“Do you truly believe he would put his life on the line for jealousy’s sake?”
“I believe I do not care.” Misha scowled and set his nail file on the table. Steve, who had finished his plate of fruit, moseyed over to investigate it, which for an iguana, unfortunately meant using his tongue. He licked the grit, shook his head in displeasure, and skittered away. “Why should I concern myself with the motive of a criminal? Hmm? He has wronged me, and he shall suffer for what he’s done. It’s as simple as that. You are too soft, Perry. People like that do not change. If you show them kindness, they will only hurt you again.”
“Perhaps you’re right,” Perry said, frowning. “But it seems awfully unfair to pass judgment without knowing the entire truth.”
“An omega, you say?” Finch asked uneasily. He retook his seat. “An omega assaulted me on the night Hugh held a ball with the intention of finding his mate. He claimed I was perpetuating some kind of ‘meat market,’ and that I needed to be punished for leading my fellow omegas to some kind of unsavory fate. Did you say the council is involved with trying to apprehend him?”
Misha’s brow flattened. “I did.”
“Bertram intercepted him,” Finch revealed. “He stopped to help me, as I had been put in quite a helpless position, but as soon as I was safe, he took off after my assailant. Do you think the omega who attacked me is the same one who stole your eggs and attacked Peregrine? I must admit, I have a vague understanding that Bertram does some kind of work for the council, but as to what that work is, I haven’t a clue.”
“Bertram,” Misha hissed, “is a traitor.”
“Uh, hold the phone. What in the Agatha Christie is going on here?” Iggy screwed up his face, eyes narrowed, like Harry had sometimes seen him do while reading his oldest and mustiest books. “Do you mean to tell me the council knew someone has been targeting members of the Dragonet Club and that one of the Drake brothers might be involved, but Grimbold didn’t think it would be a good idea to tell me? I swear to god, I cannot with dragons sometimes. Next time he babysits, I am so going to let the boys eat as much sugar as they want before dropping them off.” He paused, then added apologetically, “Sorry, Wally.”
Wally, who was sitting very quietly and watching as the conversation unraveled, went wide-eyed and shrank into his chair. “N-No. It’s okay. You’re fine.”
