Free My Feline Protector (Middlemarch Shifters Book 6) by Shelley Munro

Commission the number. They will have contacted him. The man I spoke to told me he’d take care of the notification, although I considered calling Royce too.”
    “Do you have the number?”
    She nodded.
    “Ring it. Check he’s in England.” It was an order. He saw her swallow, the tremor of nerves as she reached for her handbag. “I can do it for you.”
    “No. I’ll do it.” She pushed buttons on her phone then held it to her ear.
    Gerard watched her the entire time, saw her fear linger, the tension in her shoulders as she waited for this Royce to answer the call. With his feline hearing, he heard the rings. At ring eight, a machine clicked on and a man’s voice said he wasn’t available to take the call, to leave a message. London hung up without leaving a message.
    “I’ll try again later. There’s a twelve-hour time difference, so he might have gone to the gym.”
    “You didn’t leave a message.”
    “No, it’s best if he answers. I don’t think he’d return my call.”
    “You know best,” Gerard said. “Have you decided what you want to eat?”
    “Yes, I’ll have the blue cod, chips and salad.”
    “A drink?”
    “A glass of Sauvignon Blanc,” she said.
    Gerard placed their order when the waitress returned. The restaurant was busy, full of locals and a few strangers. He scanned faces of those who weren’t familiar to him and met the gaze of a big man with salt-and-pepper hair waiting for a table. He nodded before turning his attention to a menu. The zombie and this guy looked as if they might be a similar height but this guy looked doughy and overweight. He didn’t appear as if he could run across the street let alone wield a knife and escape with no one seeing him.
    “Gerard.”
    He jumped when London touched him on the hand to gain his attention. “What? What is it?” He blustered to hide his surprise, his confusion. No one took him unawares in that manner.
    Her eyes rounded and her expression shuttered. Hell.
    “I’m sorry. I was miles away, and you made me start.”
    “Thinking about Henry?”
    “Yes.” Not far from the truth.
    “You’re close.”
    “He’s my best friend, along with Sam Mitchell. I spend so much time with Henry. We were school friends and in the army together. He’s my brother and my business partner. I trust him with my life.”
    “Jenny—we hadn’t spoken for years. Three and a half years. This holiday—part of it was us reconnecting.”
    “What happened?”
    “Royce Weaver,” London said. “I met Royce when I worked in London. I only moved to Bath three years ago. Before that I lived in London and shared the Notting Hill house our parents left us with Jenny—well, apart from the short time when I moved into an apartment.” She paused while their drinks arrived. The waitress left them a basket of fresh bread, oil and dips. Once the waitress moved to a neighboring table, she continued talking. “I fell for Royce straightaway. He was charming and good looking and seemed to listen, to be interested in me.” She picked up her glass of wine and gulped the first sip.
    Gerard remained silent, waiting for her to continue. Not only was he interested in London and Jenny, but he wanted to hear more of this Royce. He intended to get Isabella to check him out anyway. The cops should have looked at the husband, even if he lived across the other side of the world.
    “Royce acted interested in me, although I was overweight.”
    “You’re not overweight. You’re healthy.”
    “I am now. Then, not so much. In Bath I had little money, which meant I didn’t exist on convenience food. I exercised more and lost weight. What I didn’t figure out for a long time was that Royce was pumping me for information on my older sister. It was her he wanted, and his behavior toward me changed. He had his charming side and what I called his evil twin. I never knew which man would turn up when he came home from work. One night he hit me when I didn’t follow an order he