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  However, before I could reach the little table, a stocky young woman with pale blonde hair waved to me from a booth and said hello. Her name was Brianna, and like Dana, she had an outgoing, indiscriminately friendly sort of personality. Not that I knew her all that well, though. Dana had just introduced us briefly one day.

  I made my way over to Brianna’s booth, where she and a friend sat with bowls of chili and glasses of iced tea. Soon, I was sitting with them with a bowl of chili of my own, after Brianna had introduced me to her friend, Liz, and had invited me to join them.

  At first, in the glow of a strand of little lights shaped like pumpkins running along the wall next to our booth, the three of us just made small talk, discussing things like their kids, the weather, and what I thought of the city so far.

  But then, Brianna took a sip of her iced tea, seeming to be studying me over the rim of the glass, set the glass down, and then did a little throat-clear that struck me as very forced-casual for some reason. “So, Kira….”

  I set my spoon down, intent on what she was going to say.

  However, instead of finishing the thought, Brianna just turned bright red, obscuring the very light smattering of freckles on her cheeks. “Oh, I’m sorry. I was just going to ask you something, but now I just feel like a big gossip or something, and I really hate gossip. Lord knows it’s caught up with me a time or two.”

  Now, I was really interested in what she'd been going to ask me. I could only guess that it might have something to do with Mason and Alex.

  CHAPTER 18

  Intrigued, I told Brianna to not even worry about seeming like a gossip. “Just go ahead and ask me whatever you were going to ask me. As long as it’s nothing too personal, I’m kind of an open book, so I really don’t think I’ll mind whatever it is.”

  Looking visibly relieved, Brianna took another sip of her iced tea and once again set her glass on the table. “Okay, well, I just wondered if you’d heard about the altercation or whatever it was today, and I just wondered if you knew anything about it. I guess everyone is just kind of….” Brianna shrugged, tucking a strand of her short blonde bob behind one ear. “I don’t know. Maybe everyone is just slightly worried. Or maybe just disappointed to hear about it or something. See, although Mason and Alex have never seemed particularly close, they’ve always seemed so unified as co-lieutenants under the commander. My husband, Derek, is kind of friends with them both, and he says he doesn’t even remember them ever having a major altercation like the one they had today.”

  My interest had turned to total confusion. Other than the weird few moments of awkwardness after Mason had interrupted Alex by laughing in my bedroom that morning, I wasn’t aware of the two of them having had any fight or “altercation,” as Brianna had said.

  Feeling more than a bit out of the loop, and more than a bit worried as well, I shook my head. “I’m sorry, but I really don’t know anything about any fight between Alex and Mason. I’m feeling just…completely clueless, I guess.”

  Liz looked at me a bit skeptically, as if she wasn’t quite sure that I was telling the truth. “So, the fight wasn’t about you as far as you know?”

  I shook my head again. “No. I mean…I really don’t have a clue. I really haven’t heard about any fight between Alex and Mason today.”

  Brianna flamed red again. “Sorry. We’re being really rude. Whatever happened between Alex and Mason today is their business, and whatever you’ve heard or haven’t heard about it is yours. We’ll leave you in peace to eat now, because we’ve gotta get going to pick up our kids from the toddler dance class down the street.”

  Brianna and Liz got out of the booth, and Brianna said she was going to pay for my chili at the register. I said thanks but that she didn't have to, but she insisted.

  “It’s probably the least I can do for being the bearer of bad news.”

  Once she and Liz had left, I started in on my chili again, but I hadn’t even taken two bites when my phone went off. Thinking that it might be Alex, calling to arrange a meeting with me or something, I whipped my phone out of my pocket and answered without even looking at the screen. However, it was Dana, even though I’d pretty much just talked to her. She said she’d just been relieved of her babysitting duties and asked where I was, because she’d knocked on my door but had gotten no answer. I told her I was at the café, and she said she’d join me in five.

  She actually made it over in only two or three minutes flat and sat down across from me, unwinding a thick, rust-colored scarf from her neck. After taking off her jacket, too, and setting it beside her, she grabbed a laminated menu and began scanning it.

  “Do they have pumpkin pie here yet? Or anything involving pumpkin and spice?”

  I gently pulled the top of her menu down so that I could see her face. “Hey. I know you’re probably hungry and want to order, but I’ve got a little problem and want to talk to you about something. There was some sort of a fight between Mason and Alex today. Have you heard anything about it?”

  Dana set her menu on the table with a sigh. “I didn’t want to burst right out with it and alarm you or anything, but…yes. I’ve heard about it, and from a comment a friend said to me in the elevator down in our building, the whole city has heard about it by now. See, something really strange is going on between Alex and Mason.”

  I definitely knew that, although I knew that that “strange” thing was really a murderous plot.

  Desperate to know what had happened between Alex and Mason, I told Dana to tell me everything she knew.

  She took a deep breath, leaning back in the booth before speaking. “Okay, well, I’ll tell you right off the bat that I don’t know very much. I was honestly hoping that you could fill me in on a few details.”

  “Well, I’m sure you know more than I do. The first I heard about the fight was literally just a few minutes ago, from Brianna.”

  “Well, I only heard about it pretty recently, too. Dean called me real quick on a break, and he just said that Alex and Mason had had some kind of a shoving match while in human form, right before they were supposed to lead everyone out on patrol this afternoon. Apparently, that shoving match escalated into Mason taking a swing at Alex, but he missed or something.”

  “Well, did Dean say what started the whole thing?”

  “No, he just said that it was really nothing major at all…just a disagreement about what area outside the city to sweep for Darkwing spies first or something like that. Regardless, it’s really strange for them to openly fight about anything; so, needless to say, everyone around them was a little surprised. Dean even thought for a second that he might have to step in and try to break things up. But then, Alex and Mason both seemed to realize what they were doing and thought better of it, and they both kind of walked off and then apologized to each other within a few minutes. Mason even admitted that he’d been acting like a ‘total asshole,’ Dean said that he said. So, I guess it all got worked out, but…I can tell people think there was more to the fight than just a spy patrol disagreement or whatever, and I honestly think that, too. But not just because it’s so out of character for Alex and Mason to have a disagreement right out in the open like that. It’s actually Dean that makes me think something is really out of whack between Alex and Mason lately.”

  “What do you mean?”

  With another sigh, Dana turned her gaze to the little twinkling pumpkin lights along the wall for a moment before returning her gaze to my face. “Well, so, Dean has been Alex and Mason’s right-hand-man for a really long time, but lately, he’s been making a few cracks against Mason. Nothing serious…just a few comments here and there that make me think that he doesn’t exactly like Mason anymore for some reason, but he’s refused to elaborate about this. Then, the past day or two, he’s had a few weird, secret calls and visits with Alex, and again, he refuses to elaborate what they’re all about. So, obviously, all this makes me think that he knows something about whatever it is that’s going on between Alex and Mason. It’
s just a little troubling and mysterious, because he just won’t tell me. It's also troubling on a different level.”

  “And what level is that?”

  “Well, with the Darkwings really ramping up their spying efforts and attacks lately, now is so not the time to have some sort of a funny fracture between the commander’s co-lieutenants, especially since the commander has all but abdicated power because of all his different health problems. So, this is why everyone was just a little rattled to hear about the fight today.”

  “Let me guess. People probably think it was all over me, right?”

  It had been pretty clear that at least Liz suspected that.

  Dana winced. “Well, in short, yes. Some people think the fight could have been over you. I mean…it would just kind of make sense. A lot of people are questioning the commander’s judgment in bringing you here, actually.”

  “And people don’t think that maybe Alex and Mason fighting not long after I arrived here could just be a coincidence? Like, people don’t think that maybe there was already some serious friction between them already?”

  Dana frowned. “Maybe. I mean…people know that they’ve never been close, and that there’s some serious rivalry when it comes to who’s going to be the commander’s successor. But I guess that people always want to think of the most salacious thing. People just want to think that their fight had to do with you, I guess.”

  Sighing, I picked up my spoon and began picking at my chili, sure that I shouldn’t say any more, not that I even could. I knew that if Mason knew that I knew about his plot, he was supposedly going to kill me. So, if I told Dana about the whole thing, it just stood to reason that she’d be in danger too.

  Avoiding her eyes while I continued picking at my chili, I asked her a short while later if she knew when the shifters might be coming home from patrol. She said that she didn’t, then asked me if I wanted to know for any reason in particular.

  Still avoiding her gaze, I shrugged. “I just really need to talk to Alex.”

  Dana didn’t answer right away. “Not him and Mason both?”

  I hesitated for a second or two, planning my response. “No...just Alex. I just find him easier to talk to lately, I guess.”

  “Easier than Mason? That honestly kind of surprises me. Alex is always so quiet and brooding, and Mason has always been so much more of a people person.”

  “Yes…he’s told me that.”

  “So, why don’t you want to talk to him and Alex both? It just seems like if the issue is fighting over you or something-”

  “I really don’t think it’s that…at least, not just that. I think it’s something a little deeper.”

  Something a little more murderous.

  “Well, ‘deeper’ how?”

  A bit exasperated, I set my spoon down and returned my gaze to Dana’s face. “It’s just really complicated, and I just need to talk to Alex to sort some things out. And, by the way, I don’t know how often you happen to come into contact with Mason, but maybe avoid telling him that, please, or anyone else for that matter. Just don’t specifically say that I was eager to talk to Alex alone.”

  “All right, I won’t. I know I can be a little pushy about wanting to get the ‘scoop’ sometimes, but I don’t go around town blabbing everyone’s secret little things. In fact, just while we’ve been talking, the thought has occurred to me that maybe we should be a little quieter with our talking or switch tables or something. Don’t whip your head around to look or anything, but there are two women a few booths behind you that are just about falling out of their seats trying to listen to us. They probably can’t hear over the jukebox, but just the same…maybe we should move.”

  “Well, let’s just change the subject instead. I really don’t have anything else to say about Mason and Alex, and you’re right that I probably should be a little more careful with what and who I talk about, in public anyway.”

  Dana agreed and soon ordered a bowl of chili for herself, along with a side salad. I ordered a side salad for myself at the same time, and we both ate quietly while raindrops fell from the darkening evening sky beyond the wide glass windows of the café.

  After finishing her food, Dana dropped her spoon into her chili bowl with a satisfied smile. “Now, let’s see about dessert.”

  While she and I ate squares of pumpkin spice cake and sipped coffee, we talked about things of little consequence. However, the conversation turned a bit more serious when Dean joined us, fresh from a patrol shift. Dana asked him how the day fighting off the Darkwings had gone, and he sighed, raking a hand through his thick hair.

  “Well, the day went as well as could be expected, I guess. We found and killed two of their spies, but another four got away, and Alex was concerned that they might have gotten into the city in their wolf forms. So, an all-night search will ensue, even though Mason wasn’t quite as concerned about the whole thing. However, Alex’s concern kind of won out in the end, so eventually, Mason agreed to the all-night search. I got sent home for a little sleep, but I’ll probably go back out and rejoin the others well before dawn if they still haven’t located the spies by then.”

  Setting my coffee mug down, I tried my best to make my voice sound casual. “So, Mason and Alex probably won’t be coming back to the Towers tonight, then?”

  “Probably not. There’s just too much to do. On top of the search, they still have to organize tomorrow’s patrols too.”

  Dana spoke next, asking a question I wanted to know the answer to as well. “So, should anyone be concerned about some kind of a serious fracture between Alex and Mason, or do you think that fight today was just some weird fluke?”

  For the second time, Dean raked a hand through his reddish hair, avoiding Dana’s gaze. “I’m probably too sleep-deprived to talk about all this right now, baby. I need to get a solid few hours of rest before I can even think straight.”

  With her characteristic persistence, Dana started to again ask him something about Alex and Mason, but he cut her off.

  “I’ll tell you what. If you can hold all your questions for later and head home with me right now, I'll treat you to another piece of that pumpkin cake to take home. I’ll even get you two extra pieces, because I know you have more than one sweet tooth.”

  Dana agreed to this deal, and Dean ended up buying four pieces of pumpkin cake, two for Dana and two for me. The three of us left the café and walked across the street back to the Towers together, and before we parted ways, Dana promised to give me a call the next day.

  She did, calling me fairly early in the morning, actually, but unfortunately, she had no news about the Alex and Mason situation. Upon arriving home, Dean had promptly fallen asleep, so Dana hadn’t been able to get any more information out of him. This left me wondering if I was ever going to find out just what exactly had happened between Alex and Mason the previous day.

  CHAPTER 18

  I didn’t see Alex or Mason all day, and when I ran into our shared maid in the elevator, she said she didn’t even think they’d been home to change clothes, adding that when she’d went to their apartments to deliver fresh towels, the ones she’d delivered to them both the day before had still been in a clean stack.

  I knew they both had to come home sometime. However, I knew they could just as easily grab clean clothes from someplace in the city, and probably shower somewhere too.

  A little past eight in the evening, I received a text from Alex, and it was short and to the point. Just wanted to let you know that I’m thinking about you and still trying to get away to see you. My response was short and to the point as well. I hope I see you soon.

  Very unfortunately, I didn’t. Five days passed. Five days of Dean being evasive with Dana, five days of Alex and Mason having their hands too full to see me, and five days of me nearly losing my mind with anxiety. I was really beginning to feel like I might never get answers from Alex. Also, I was beginning to feel like I might never get to see his incredibly handsome face again and feel him pull me c
lose, which was somehow almost even worse.

  The evening of the fifth day, Dana and I took a spin around the city in her new glossy red sportscar, which had been a birthday gift from Dean. Dana said that he usually didn’t buy her such extravagant birthday gifts, but that she thought that his guilt over not being able to spend much time with her as of late because of the Darkwings might have had something to do with it.

  Once back home, I changed into pajamas, put my hair up in a knot, and climbed into bed, almost immediately biting back a scream.

  I hadn’t closed my bedroom curtains that evening, simply because I’d forgotten. Sometimes, I even left them open on purpose, just to gaze out into the glow of the city in the dark before I fell asleep. The outline of tall buildings wasn’t what had my attention at present, though. The sight that did was of some dark shape hovering just a short distance away from my window, almost blocking out the city lights. It took me several seconds, clutching my blanket in fear, before I realized that the dark shape hovering beyond my window was a dragon, flapping its wings very slowly. Even though I couldn’t see this dragon’s features clearly, I could tell it was Mason, just because while in his dragon form, he had very unusual eyes, which were the same pale blue as his human form eyes, although in dragon form, they actually glowed. It was highly unusual for a were-dragon to have pale blue eyes, as Mason had told me once, because most were-dragons had eyes that were green. Mason was the only one in the city who didn’t have green eyes while in dragon form.

  Knowing that he probably wanted me to open the window, I got out of bed, not without a little feeling of trepidation, and did just that. The moment that I had it opened fully, Mason made some gesture with his long, dark tail that I interpreted to mean “step aside.” Wondering just what on earth he was planning to do, I did, immediately startled, because within the blink of an eye, Mason shifted into his human form and somehow leaped inside, landing on the hardwood flooring almost soundlessly. And despite having startled me, he actually had the nerve to grin, making his perfect white teeth glint in the moonlight.