Free Her Ancient Hybrid by Marisa Chenery Page B

drink. They all would meet again at the house. Cameron had decided to do a little looking around town to see if he could up with any leads that would confirm that the vampires were indeed in Lemmon. His brother and sister would do a little hunting of their own as well.
    It was close to the end of Brolach and Waverly’s shift when she came up to him while he washed a bunch of dishes in the kitchen. “I’m going to put some of the trash out in the Dumpster, then I’ll go have that chat with my dad,” she said quietly. “He’s in his office right now.”
    “All right.”
    Waverly gave him a kiss, then headed out the back door with a garbage bag in each hand. The sound of someone pretending to be sick had Brolach turning to look at Devin, who stood near one of the ovens, acting as if he were going to throw up.
    “You two are so cute together it almost makes me sick,” Devin said.
    Brolach threw a damp dish towel at Waverly’s brother, who easily caught it. “At least we have each other. I don’t recall seeing you with a girl. That’s right. You don’t have one.”
    “Hey, man, that’s a low blow. I haven’t found Miss Right yet, but I’m always working on it. Not many women can resist my charm.”
    He laughed. “I have a feeling you’re the only one who thinks that way.”
    “You’re getting better at the trash talk, Brolach.”
    It was true. He was getting better in tune with the modern world. As for learning how to trash talk, he’d had lots of opportunity with Devin around. He had a feeling it was Waverly’s brother’s favorite thing to do. Devin did it to everyone he knew, except for his father, who only had to give his son a certain look and Devin shut his mouth.
    They continued to good-naturedly rib each other until Devin suddenly grew serious. “Did you see Waverly come back inside? I didn’t. It shouldn’t take that long for her to take out those couple bags of trash.”
    Brolach shook his head. “She didn’t. Maybe she walked around to the front and came in that way. She said she wanted to talk to your dad.”
    “Well, that would be a silly thing to do since Dad’s office is back here.”
    The office was in a little room inside the kitchen off to one side. It really would be kind of out of the way for Waverly to walk around the building to come in by the front entrance and then have to go through the coffee shop to reach where her father would be. And she was taking longer to return than it should have necessitated.
    Brolach headed toward the back door. He heard Devin following in his wake. He pushed open the door and stepped outside. The area was empty, and he couldn’t find Waverly anywhere. He called her name and was met with no response. His gaze landed on the garbage bags, the ones she’d carried out of the coffee shop. They sat on the ground a short distance from the Dumpster, as if someone had just abandoned them there.
    As he walked toward them, he spied a folded piece of white paper stuck to one of the bags. Brolach hurried over to it and tore it off before he opened it. Even though he spoke English, that didn’t mean he knew how to read it. The note was definitely written in that language. He growled with frustration.
    “What is that?” Devin asked as he came to stand beside him.
    Brolach held it out to Waverly’s brother. “A note. Read it.” After the other man took it, he silently scanned it. “No. Read it out loud. I don’t know how to read.” He didn’t even know how to read Finnish. Being able to read had only been for the more learned way back when.
    Devin jerked his eyes up and looked at him. “For real?” At Brolach’s nod, he shook his head and set his gaze on the paper he held. “Okay. It’s addressed to you. It says they’ve taken your mate, and that if you want to see her again you need to go to your resting place. It isn’t signed.” He lifted his gaze. “What does this person or persons mean by ‘your mate?’ And does this have anything to do