Silver Basilisk (Silver Shifters 4)

It was late when they all met back at Bird and Mikhail’s.

Everyone had been working. Doris supervised the student volunteers who brought batches of antidote the moment they were ready, as Sara and her lab rats made up the bottles that Bird brought to Godiva to distribute to their team of recruits.

Jen, Nikos, and Mikhail cruised, the first two looking for zombies and Mikhail on a silent hunt for Cang. If the plan was to go down the next morning, Cang had to be somewhere near. Mikhail found the house that the charm had been sent to completely empty, and a fast internet search revealed that the house was actually owned by people currently living overseas. Cang had obviously broken in and used the place for an interim lair.

So Mikhail went hunting in his dragon form, but found no sign of Cang. The red dragon had to be sticking to his human form, which made him more difficult to sense unless the other mythic shifters were very close by.

But the red dragon was nowhere to be found.

Late at night everyone broke up to rest before meeting again at the bakery in the morning. Linette had been told that there was a group planning to clean up the beaches, after meeting at her place to start the day with goodies and coffee.

Rigo drove Godiva and himself back to her place. By then her eyelids were drooping. As she got ready for bed, she sought for words to ask if he wanted to sleep with her or have a bed to himself, but before she could find them he smiled her way, question in his eyes—and within seconds, she lay with his arms around her.

I could get used to this, she thought sleepily. Then her eyes flew open.

Get used to it where?

She heard Rigo’s breath deepening, and told herself firmly: tomorrow.

But it was still on her mind when the alarm went off. Once again they had to rush the shower (there will be time for hanky panky in my gorgeous bathroom, Godiva promised herself) and then dressed. Godiva chose a tunic top that was bland in color, sturdy, with deep pockets, into one of which she stashed her ‘air sanitizer.’

“Ready?” Rigo asked, holding out his hand.

She took it, and struck a pose, saying, “Make my day. No. Wait. You’re supposed to say that to villains. What other thing do badasses say? Let’s do this.”

Rig chuckled as they moved quickly through the silent house.

It was just barely light, as the targets were supposed to converge on Joey’s watchers at the Oracle Stone site around seven a.m., before the tired night shift guarding the place went home, and the day shift appeared.

At twenty to seven, Godiva and Rigo reached Linette’s diner. Rigo opened the door, from which wafted the smells of coffee and . . . cleaning fluid?

The two walked in to discover chaos. The other members of the Gang of Four and their mates were righting furniture. Linette was busy cleaning up a spill. One of her kids handled the orders and the register, as the regular morning trade was pretty brisk.

Doris straightened a chair and turned to greet Godiva and Rigo, her face flushed. “We had everything organized, but some drunk rolled in a couple minutes ago and managed to crash into the table where the buffet for our party was laid out. Luckily a few customers saved most of the pastry, but the big coffee maker went flying and splashed half the room.”

Jen stepped to her side, sipping herb tea, from the smell of it. “Why is it that when liquids spill, they seem to multiply by about ten extra gallons?”

Godiva said, “Does Linette want help with the cleanup?” At least it wasn’t me this time, she thought—and caught a quick, secret grin from Rigo.

Doris waved her off. “As you can see, we’re about done. There’s fresh coffee right here. Linette just brought out the pot from the back room. Godiva, you have to be at your station by seven, so grab your pastry and coffee, don’t wait!”

Rigo leaned down to kiss Godiva, then said, “I see Mikhail over there. I guess it’s time for me to go be backup. Which means right now getting the out of the way of y’all.”

Godiva watched him greet Mikhail and Nikos, who had finished straightening tables and now were chowing down on pastry—a plain donut for Mikhail, and something nutty and spicy-looking for Nikos. Rigo quietly passed up the sweet stuff and poured himself a cup of fresh coffee. Godiva then remembered he didn’t like sweets in the morning, though he wasn’t saying anything to anyone. Being the class act he was.

Pride surged through her as she grabbed her favorite strawberry tart. “I’m off.” She left, devouring her pastry as she walked, her elbow pressing tightly against the spritz bottle in her tunic pocket.

How are we going to talk about where to live, she wondered as she headed down the street. She definitely wanted to visit the ranch, especially as Alejo lived there, but . . . the thought of leaving her house made her insides squeeze.

And yet, did she have a right to ask Rigo to give up his place?

She gulped down her coffee, finishing it before she reached the coffee place across from her target’s apartment. She tossed her paper cup, closed one hand around her bottle, and pushed the door open.

Her target was a big buff guy with red hair, who invariably started his day with a double-espresso. He was supposed to be part of the team attacking Joey’s night patrol on the cliff above the Oracle Stone site—but no matter what he did with his days, his watcher had said he always got espresso first.

Godiva squeezed between the chattering college students and a clump of people in business attire, all needing their infusion of the good stuff before heading off to work. Absolutely no one paid any attention to her.

She pulled out her cell phone to look busy, so she could watch the time. 6:53.