A Hippogriff for Christmas - Zoe Chant Page 0,46

she heard a voice on the other side of the door calling out, “Hey, Beau. It’s me, Declan.”

Beau immediately relaxed, looking down at Annie reassuringly. “Don’t worry about it – it’s my colleague at the Corps.”

“Oh, and what does he turn into?” Annie asked, as Beau headed toward the door. “A manticore? A griffin? A kraken?”

Beau shot her a grin as he opened the door. “Nope. A unicorn.”

A unic—

Annie quickly tried to get her surprise under control as Beau’s colleague – Declan – stepped in through the door. Well, he didn’t look like a single-horned horse, she thought as she looked at him – and she wondered when she’d stop being surprised by that kind of thing.

What Declan did look like was a man who was almost as tall and broad as Beau was, with the same air of quiet strength. Annie wondered if he already had a fated mate – Christina would go nuts over him.

Just as well I’m already nuts about Beau, Annie thought, swallowing down a smile. Or I might too.

But for all Declan’s good looks and strong build, Annie found she couldn’t muster up even the slightest bit of interest. Whatever it was that bound her to Beau – this mated bond – it apparently meant other men left her completely cold.

“So, what’s the situation?” Declan asked, eying off the wolf-man where he sat in his chair. He glanced at Annie a moment later with obvious curiosity, before he frowned. Then a look of complete surprise bloomed across his face. “Are you – Beau, you never said –”

“I’ll explain it later,” Beau interrupted him, nodding to Annie as if to reassure her. “I promise. But right now, let’s focus on the job.”

Declan looked as if he wanted to press Beau for more information, but then he nodded. “Okay. Sure. But you better keep that promise to fill me in.” He reached out one massive hand for Annie to shake. “Declan Reed – nice to meet you. Beau didn’t say he’d found his mate.”

Declan had a kind of strange, clipped, classy-sounding accent, and Annie found herself warming to him immediately.

“Annie Shaw,” she said, taking his hand. “And believe me, we only found out ourselves a few hours ago.”

“Well, I look forward to hearing that story once things have been sorted out here,” Declan replied. He looked across at the man in the chair, his eyes narrowing. “Wait – I know you. Pete Sangraves, isn’t it? You were mixed up with something last year in Vegas.”

From the way the man bowed his head, baring his teeth in an annoyed grimace, Annie knew Declan was right.

“Pete Sangraves,” Beau repeated. “He’s been cagey about his name and I decided not to press it. I guess this is why, if he’s been under our feet before.”

“He informed on a bunch of his higher-ups who were running a scam operation last year,” Declan said. “He arranged a very nice deal for himself in the process.”

“Ah. Well, I guess you’re trying to do the same thing again now,” Beau said to Pete. “Not sure it’ll work out as well this time, though. I’m guessing last time there wasn’t any attempted arson involved.”

Pete shook his head vehemently. “Like I said, I didn’t even want to –”

“All right, all right, noted. We’ll deal with that later,” Beau cut him off. “Right now, we have bigger issues. Like getting a human civilian out of the hands of some dangerous shifter criminals.”

“Hardwicke is sending a specialist team, and they’re on their way now,” Declan said. “I could just get here the fastest.”

“Whatever we do, we have to get the human they’ve got hostage out of danger first.” Beau grimaced. “It might be a little tricky, but we can’t risk him being in danger if they intend to charge in and make arrests.”

“I agree,” Declan said.

Annie could barely breathe as she listened to their quiet, tense conversation. It was clear they both knew exactly what they were doing, and naturally she didn’t feel any need to interrupt.

“Well whatever you do, it’ll need to be fast,” Pete cut in. “The boss is heading off to warmer climates after tonight – this is the last big party of the year before the whole entourage clears out for Majorca.”

Declan and Beau exchanged a glance.

“Well, that’s all right, since we need to deal with this now anyway, and the team is already on its way,” Declan said. “So no issue there as far as the sting is concerned. What do you suggest