Purrfect Roast: A Dragon Cozy Mystery by Verena DeLuca (the giving tree read aloud TXT) 📗

his face into my belly. His purrs grew louder as I pet him. I never meant to upset him, but at the same time, I wanted him to understand he had a support system. He did not need to try to tackle his grief alone. Not that I was one to talk, it was a rare day for me to reach out to my friends for help, even on my hardest days.

Our grief stemmed from two vastly different places. Tona was a parent to me, but a mate to him and that made for a far larger void. I wished for a way to take the pain from him, but so far all I could think of to help was to reassure him I was not going anywhere and would wait for the answers to my million questions, no matter how long it took. But I knew he could not let this fester. It would just lead to turmoil for everyone in the tribe.

There was a knock on the door, so I forced myself to slide out from under Azure's sleeping form. I went to the peep hole to see who it was. It was Skylar holding shadow, her hair still a bit wet and up in a bun.

I opened the door and asked, "Do you feel better?"

"Totally," Skylar said. "As soon as that hot water hit my shoulders, I felt the stress of the day melt away."

"I know exactly what you mean." I stepped aside for her to come in. "Aubrey is still in the shower, she should be out in just a minute."

As I finished speaking, the sound of the shower stopped.

"I guess you got the memo too?" I asked, noticing she had her luggage with her.

"Oh yeah," she said, and rolled her eyes. "They could have at least given us a heads up."

"Right?" I said. "As soon as Aubrey is done, we can head to the cars."

"I'll be right out," Aubrey called out.

"Take your time," I said as I finished packing the last few things into our suitcase. "Skylar and I are in no hurry."

"I wonder if they found the trophies, or are just needing the rooms," Skylar said.

"I figure they just need the rooms. Though maybe we'll get lucky and walk in on the ceremony."

"Doubt that," Skylar said.

Aubrey cracked the door open just wide enough to stick her head out. "Hey Skylar." Before shutting the door to finish getting ready. To which Skylar waved from the desk chair she took up residence in.

As I set our luggage down next to Skylar's I heard a commotion behind me. Thinking Azure sat on the remote I turned to find the cats wrestling on the bed.

"What are you two doing?" I transmitted to Azure.

"Just passing the time," Azure transmitted.

Shadow pulled off a flip with his back legs that put Azure on his back and pinned him to the bed.

"Looks like you have your paws full," I transmitted.

"I let him do that," Azure transmitted.

The next moment Azure managed to flip Shadow onto his back and pinned him.

Skylar and I sat quietly watching the fight, while Aubrey got ready in the bathroom. After five or ten minutes of cat wrestling, Aubrey came out fidgeting with her hair. It was a rare day to see it in a messy bun. I giggled at the idea of her slumming it.

"I almost thought about blow drying it again," Aubrey said, knowing full well why I was giggling at her. "But I talked myself out of it. No reason to waste more time up here in the room when we have a case to solve."

"Totally," Skylar said. "You look fine, don't worry about it."

"Thank you." Aubrey blushed and touched the bun again.

"What should we do with the rest of our afternoon?" I asked.

"The other vendors," Aubrey suggested.

"Sounds good to me," Skylar said.

* * *

"Our cat obstacle courses provide the perfect level of stimulation to keep your cats young," the salesperson said, pointing to the display behind him.

Why anyone would want a cat tree the size of an entertainment center I would never know. The carpet runways to go along the upper walls of the house made sense though. Azure was not a cat, but even he would enjoy having places to perch. I could almost see him sitting at the top of the living room staring down at me while I read a book.

"Ten percent discount, free shipping, and free setup for the first five people who sign up," the salesperson said as he finished his presentation.

"What do you think?" Skylar asked me.

"I think Azure would look super cute perched at the top of my living room, but I don't know about the price."

"Totally," Skylar said. "I know Shadow would love being able to walk around the house without touching the floor. If I didn't know better, I'd say he thought the floor was lava." She looked at Aubrey and then back to me before continuing, "I agree about the price though. Even with a 10% discount that's more than I've spent furnishing my living room."

"I know what you mean," Aubrey said. "We remodeled the house when Madison was born, and it didn't cost us half as much as they're charging for the full house set up."

"Yeah," I said as I set down the pamphlet the salesperson had handed out. "But I imagine a lot of ladies here are going to spend a pretty penny to take care of their kitties."

"I think some of the ladies here might take care of their kitties better than I take care of my children," Aubrey said laughing.

Skylar and I laughed a bit harder than we should have, but Aubrey had no idea how expensive our dragons could be. They truly ate us out of house and home.

"Kidding of course," Aubrey said. "But they probably do spend more."

"They totally spend more than they should," Skylar said. "I mean at the end of the day, they're only cats, and it's not as if they are going to really know the