I looked over my shoulder, growling at Patrick’s slack jaw and wide eyes. “Not a good time, dude. Shut the door and get the fuck out.“
He recovered quickly, his eyes lighting with humor. “Oh, shite!” He turned his head and started yelling down the hall. “You guys have to get in here and have a look at Misha’s big, hairy ass. And Rory! Fuck me sideways, they’ve gone and fucked in the coat closet! Did anyone have that in the pool? Prepare yourselves, boyos. Turns out it’s not an icicle he’s got wedged up that ass after all. At least, not anymore. Or, should I say knot.“
Rory snarled. “Shut the fuck up, Patrick. Have some respect for the newly mated if not for your own brother, would you? Close the door and shove off. Do I look like I want to talk to you right now?“
“Sorry, Rory. No can do. When your mating happens in a common area, you have to deal with the fallout. You want privacy? Go somewhere with a door that locks.” He was cracking up and muttering under his breath about not expecting Rory to be the brother caught with his pants down in the coat closet.
Rory shrieked near my ear, making me cringe as he went off. “Patrick! Get. Out.“ He huffed and whispered in my ear. “Sorry, didn’t mean to yell. My brothers just know how to push my buttons.“
“Nah, from where I’m standing I’d say the big Russkie there is the one who knows how to push your buttons.“ Patrick ducked as Rory threw a coat at him. He held his hands over his face. “Hey! Mind the leather, that’s Mark’s nice coat. Hold on, hold on. I’ll go in a second. You need to hear this. I came looking for you because we just heard back from the Chens.” Patrick finally had the grace to turn his back, at least.
“What did they say?” Rory pulled his hips away from me, but we both winced as his motion tugged at my knot painfully.
“I don’t know. They sent it in an envelope. It’s even sealed with wax and embossed with a monogram and shit. How cool is that?“ Patrick got distracted in his excitement, forgetting our situation for the moment as he turned back around. He held up an envelope that even I could tell was on fancy stationery, though I could only see it out of the corner of my eye. Rory sighed heavily.
“Break the seal and open it. I don’t know how soon I’ll be free, so I need you to read it to me. And then leave and never speak of this again.“
“Yeah, because that’s gonna happen.” Patrick snorted and turned his back to us again as he ripped the paper open. “Misha’s furry ass is burned into my retinas. I’ll be telling this story to my grandkids. Okay. It’s addressed to my honorable friends and there’s a paragraph of flowery language kissing your arse.” He quieted, muttering under his breath while he read the letter over to himself.
“Just read it already. Out loud,” Rory growled.
“Hold on. Now we’re getting somewhere. Before I forget, they sent the car back too. Here’s the meat of it. It says Da is unconscious because he’s got coral poisoning, whatever the fuck that means. Oh, this is interesting. The only cure is a tear from the coral dragon who bit him. You didn’t mention Da getting bit.” Patrick mumbled some more until Rory had to get after him.
“Patty! Just read the damn letter to me. I don’t need you to translate.”
“If you want me to read it, you get what you get. This dude is long-winded as hell. Trust me, take it to the bathroom with you next time you’re going to be in there awhile. It’ll take you that long to read it.”
“Patrick.“ Rory sounded like he was about to lose what was left of his patience.
“Sorry. Apparently, he recognized the scent of the coral dragon, but he had to talk to his mates and get their permission before he could share the information with us. He says the man we’re looking for is either Benji or Micky Ashcroft. It had to have come from one of them. They’re a pair of brothers from Australia who worked for the Chen Triad until they were kicked out.”
Rory was silent for a moment as he processed that. “Hmm. That matches what little he told us before. I was too worried about Da to question him at the moment. I’m just grateful he followed up instead of going after the bastards himself. Or worse, doing nothing. Does he say anything else?”
“Yeah, he gave an address and says to slice their wings. Then they won’t be able to shift into their dragon form.” He looked up from the paper. “Do they have their wings in human form?”
“Wei Chen didn’t have wings in either form,” Rory said.
“Maybe it’s a bit of a metaphor, then.”
“You’d think he’d be a little clearer about what he meant if he’s as wordy as you say.”
“Or he thinks it’s so obvious he doesn’t have to explain it?” I ventured. It was absolutely absurd that we were having this conversation with my knot locked in my mate, and my bare ass shining at Patrick O’Malley like it was the fucking Harvest Moon.
“The last thing is a warning to be careful. He says while they may have the form of a dragon, they lack the purity of a true dragon’s heart.” Patrick shuddered and shoved the paper back in the envelope. “That doesn’t sound creepy as fuck at all. It’ll be a walk in the park, boyos.”
7
Rory
I tugged at the fake mustache pasted onto my upper lip. The glue itched and the hairs kept poking painfully at my lips. “This disguise is ridiculous.”
Misha handed me a dirty ball cap. “You can’t go in looking like you, though. From everything Wei has said and what we’ve experienced, these guys don’t have enough brain cells combined to play a game of checkers, but on the off chance that they actually did some research before nabbing your da and took a glance at photos of you and your brothers, you need a disguise.”
“I didn’t ask why I needed a disguise. That’s obvious. I just said this one was ridiculous.”
“Well, you turned down the overalls and refused a buzz cut, so…”
I ran my fingers through my thick hair before pulling on my ball cap. “And lose my best feature? I don’t think so.”
“I wouldn’t say that’s your best feature. It’s lovely, but my list would start with your ass, and there are several more areas of bare skin that follow before we get to your hair.”
“Flatterer.” I let a pleased smile cross my lips. “How do I look?”
“Like a hillbilly fucked one of the Mario Brothers.”
“That’s a terrifying combination, but it fits what we’re going for. Let’s do this.”
We’d managed to catch a few hours of sleep that morning, and then spent another few hours arguing over what Wei Chen meant by “slice their wings” while we waited for the pawn shop to open. A couple of the boyos had staked the place out, and as soon as they’d seen someone unlock the front door, Misha and I were on the move. Patrick and Misha’s brother-in-law River, who happened to be a member of STAHP, sat in River’s truck in a parking lot a block away as backup.
Would it have been smarter to send River in with Misha? Absolutely. Was I going to step back and let anyone else take point on catching my da’s kidnappers? Absolutely not.