Kick Back - Susi Hawke Page 0,13

you on board. Which was a good decision, by the way, because things were a lot smoother after I had your help."

Darius gave a wry smile. "Funny how that works, isn't it? Getting a royal involved who knows how to sneak around and has money to help buffer when needed is a great way to smooth out any operation." We exchanged a smile, remembering our adventures over the years.

Sitting here beside my mate—whose hand I still held—made me glad that my journey here on Aurelia was done. I didn't know what would come next, but I knew who would be beside me. At least, he would if I had anything to say about it.

We chatted a little longer, and I introduced them all to my three charges—Kevin, Sonia, and Andy. Darius waited until we were in the air before calling his mother and apologizing for his spur-of-the-moment departure. Supposedly my mate was sick, so Darius and Gib were taking him and his brother back home.

He lied smoothly, talking about how he'd hoped to integrate his brothers-in-law into his own family and let everybody get to know each other. Queen Hannah seemed to eat it up with a spoon because when he ended the call, Darius was smiling and making promises to update her on Dear’s condition. He set his phone down with a smirk and rubbed his hands together. "And that, ladies and gentlemen, is how it's done. This is yet another reason why it's good to have a royal on your team. I flew in with one objective and everything went according to plan."

Gib quirked a brow. "I don't know. From where I'm sitting, I think I need to pay more attention to the things you tell me. Who knew my mate was such an accomplished liar?"

Dear started snickering. "Leave him alone, Gibby. If we start pointing fingers, someone's going to get hurt. Shall we talk about how fast I can pick a lock or which one of us is better with a garrote? I know, maybe you can finally tell us what happened in Hungary all those years ago."

His brother simply held his middle finger up before changing the conversation. When he and Darius started discussing plans for getting their son a tutor, Dear squeezed my hand. "Whew. Finally, we can talk. In case you missed it, my name is Dear. It's short for Dearil but nobody calls me that. What's your real name? I don't know why I thought it was actually Clarence, but I found out a couple hours ago that it's your surname. And I have the proof in my suitcase."

I found myself laughing as I looked into his eyes. "You don't need proof, I'm happy to tell you anything you ask of me. My name is Nathaniel, but nobody has called me that since I can remember. My family called me Nate but now even my friends call me by my last name."

Darius overheard us and gasped. "Seriously? How did I not know that? I'm searching my mind but… no. I have zero memory of ever calling you Nate or Nathaniel and I don’t think I ever paid attention to your asshat parents when they bothered to speak to you."

I started to reply but Dear held my attention. "Then I will call you Nathaniel. Everyone else can call you Nate, but you'll be my Nathaniel." My chest swelled as bubbles of pure joy began bouncing around inside me. Dear's smile fell as a solemn look came onto his face. "So about those papers I mentioned… I have news. Nathaniel, I found your brother, or at least where he went. Not only do I know where to start looking for Anthony, I know his alpha’s name. So I was thinking, you'll need to lay low anyway so how about we head his way next? He didn't go to South Africa, by the way. Whoever said that was lying. According to the king's records, your brother went to Slovenia."

I stared at him in shock. It didn’t surprise me that my father had misdirected me by saying Tony had been sent to another continent. I wanted to thank Dear but the words wouldn’t come. I was afraid to say anything for fear that I would lose control and begin to cry at any second.

Dear seemed to understand. He rested his other hand over our clasped ones with a gentle smile. "Since I'm only hearing a yes when I look into your eyes, I'm going to start researching