Free The Lynx Who Claimed the Sun by Scarlet Hyacinth Page B

Byron, as well.

    The Lynx Who Claimed the Sun
    63
    He pushed the annoyance out of his mind and focused on the importance of the information Byron might have. “Okay. What did you find out?”
    “Nicolas Shields doesn’t exist, Garth. Sure, there are a number of people with that name in the States, but your Nico isn’t one of them.”
    For whatever reason, Garth wasn’t surprised. Even so, he needed to know exactly how this could help him. “What do you mean?”
    “It’s easy enough. Upon first glance, his data comes out clean, but when you dig a little deeper, you figure out that the first time your mate ever appeared was twenty years back, in Mexico. It seems he just one day emerged out of the rainforest. Mind you, that’s entirely possible. It’s not unusual for shape-shifters to have reclusive communities in their respective habitats. But if that is so, the name he used in LA is not his real one.”
    “Mexico.” Garth mused over the information. It was a stretch to go look for his mate there since this morning his mate had still been in the States. “Listen, Byron, send me all the data you have and please, monitor the borders, just in case something happens. I’m going back to Nicolas’s place to investigate.”
    Byron promised he would, and after thanking his friend, Garth closed the connection. He could no longer track Nicolas using his senses, but there had to be something at his mate’s place, something to give him a clue.
    It wasn’t hard to enter the apartment. Nicolas had given him the key once, and Garth was often around the place so no one who might see him would be surprised at his presence. Upon first view, there didn’t seem to be anything unusual about the apartment. The living room was as clean as ever, and the bedroom still smelled of Nicolas’s scent. There were no traces of anyone else having been in the apartment at all.
    Disheartened, Garth readied himself to leave when his eyes fell on an apparently innocuous manila envelope. He didn’t know what had drawn his attention to it, but he figured it wouldn’t hurt to look it 64
    Scarlet Hyacinth
    over. He wasn’t the type of lover who obsessed over checking his loved one’s messages, but on this particular occasion, correspondence could yield an important clue.
    The envelope was, however, empty. Garth frowned, the feeling that its contents had been important swelling inside him. He sniffed the paper, hoping to catch a trace of where his mate might have put the item or items inside.
    It was surprisingly easy to catch the scent in question. The envelope smelled like flowers, a bit like Nicolas did, but not quite.
    Garth couldn’t exactly identify the difference, but it was there.
    Another hummingbird must have dropped it off.
    With the aid of the envelope, Garth found its contents inside Nicolas’s desk. He froze in horror and shock. There were pictures, dozens of pictures, all of Nicolas’s loved ones, including Garth and his kits. Any hope that Nicolas had taken them vanished when he caught sight of the hummingbird in some of them. Someone had been stalking them, and that someone must have taken Nicolas.
    But why hadn’t Nicolas mentioned anything? Why leave like that, out of the blue? Did Nicolas know this person? So many questions, so few answers.
    He was startled from his musings by the sound of his phone. Hope blossomed in Garth’s chest upon seeing Skylar’s number. Perhaps the seahorse had heard something from Nicolas.
    He took the call and opened his mouth to ask Skylar about his news. He didn’t get the chance. “Check your e-mail,” the seahorse said, his voice so quiet Garth almost didn’t hear it.
    “Skylar, what is it?”
    “Just…check your e-mail,” the seahorse answered. Without further ado, Skylar ended the call. Garth didn’t delay in doing exactly that. Thankfully, his smartphone had an e-mail app, and in seconds, he’d logged into his account. Tucked in neatly in his inbox were two new e-mails, one