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

front—clearly the tribe leader by the way she carried herself—kept looking at her wristwatch, then back to Nathan.

"If looks could ignite," Skylar said. "Poor Nathan would be a pile of ash. Wouldn't want to be on the receiving end of that glare."

"No kidding, where does she need to be so badly?" I asked.

"Maybe she needs to use the restroom," Aubrey joked. "I know I'm looking forward to getting out of here. My bladder ain't near what it was pre-kids."

We giggled together and watched the woman attempt to give an unamused Nathan a piece of her mind. Didn't look to be for the first time either. The way he tuned her out was praiseworthy. Talk about a resting face to be jealous of.

"That's Sue," Azure transmitted, "head of Tribe Avoiuli, which covers the Austin area. She is the most stuck-up woman I've had the displeasure of meeting. Thinks she is the most important dragon protector, just because the Austin tribe is the oldest in Texas."

"I'm so glad you keep up with all these people," I transmitted. "There is no way I would be able to correlate faces to names and tribes."

"Glad to be of service," Azure transmitted in a condescending tone.

I ignored him and focused on the ladies at the doors. There was no point giving him the satisfaction of a response.

"Of course," Aubrey lowered her voice. "They could be in a hurry to flee the scene."

"If that's the case," I said. "They have a huge misunderstanding of the word stealth."

"Probably haven't watched enough covert operation movies," Skylar said. "That's the problem with amateurs these days, don't learn enough of the basics."

She shook her head in disappointment, while Aubrey and I doubled over in laughter.

"There are too many suspects," I said. "Anyone here could have a motive for stealing the trophies."

I glanced at Aubrey with an over-dramatic questioning look. Had to rule out everyone in the room, right? She saw right through my nonsense and put her hand to her chest in a mock gasp.

"Not me," Aubrey said in her most sunny voice and stuck out her tongue. "I don't even own a cat!"

We laughed, drawing glances from our own group of gossiping cat lovers. I cleared my throat and returned to people watching.

Aside from the tribes, sprinkled throughout the room were small groups—two to four women, and the occasional man—all of whom were non-protectors.

It was interesting to note the stark difference in how the tribes were reacting compared to the normals? normies? no dragoners?

"Others. Focus. Eye on the prize," Azure transmitted. "Stop making me feel like I'm surrounded by tea drinkers."

"Shots fired!" I transmitted. "Would 'brilliant observation, let me ask Skylar if she is picking up on that too' be too complex a thought for you? Instead of name calling?"

"Is your larynx broken too?" he transmitted.

"Look at mister vocabulary," I transmitted. "I'm sure Aubrey would get a kick out of this turn of events."

"Touche," he transmitted.

I rolled my eyes at his snotty behavior. This trophy business went straight to his head. With each passing minute, a future cat show was looking less likely.

Hopefully, he was transmitting to Skylar. It would give me a small confidence boost to know she was thinking the same about the people in the room.

It was shocking how many of the non-protectors had deer in headlights expressions, compared to protectors who maintained calm demeanors—or anger, in Avoiuli's case. Maybe they all just needed a good cup of coffee?

I would drink tea to get a cup of coffee! The end of the show survey would hear about the lack of refreshments in this room.

"Skylar agrees that it's weird," Azure transmitted. "Shadow and her are also assuming the culprit is a tribe member."

"Are you dragons talking cross tribe about this?" I transmitted.

Seemed reasonable if it was a dragon issue. They could find the guilty party faster as there were more of them in communication. But if it had to come down to us "feeble-minded humans," I had growing confidence in our ability to solve the crime. If I got out of this room, that was. It could not be that hard to follow the drama trail and figure out who stole them. The fact they would waste our time, knowing there was no refreshment table in here, was pure evil.

"No," he transmitted. "To reiterate, dragons are drama. Those of us that orchestrated an inquiry have been told to calm down, 'it's just a cat show.' We'll keep trying, though. The longer this goes on, the more dragons I'll be able to persuade."

Aubrey began laughing, and I looked to where she was staring.

"What's so funny?"

"They're over there playing cards." Aubrey pointed. "I have so many questions. How can they be so carefree? Who had the foresight to bring cards? Would a guilty group bring cards to pass the time? It's a great cover if they did."

I laughed at the idea of planning a robbery and using a deck of cards as cover. It was so absurd that it might be true. Dragon protectors were known for their out-of-the-box thinking after all.

"They're playing hearts," Azure transmitted.

"You can tell that from over here?"

"Not exactly," he transmitted. "That's Tribe Cyrillic of San Antonio, they're renowned heart players."

I shared this tidbit with Aubrey, telling her it was a rumor. Skylar met my eyes and smiled at my obvious lie.

"Why don't we play cards at our lady's night?" Aubrey asked.

"Because none of us own a deck of cards." I laughed.

"I think I have some Uno lying around," Aubrey said.

"Oh, no thanks." Skylar waved away the mere idea of Uno with her hands. "Lost 240 points on my first ever hand played, never again. First to 500, my butt. That'll happen in like two good hands. What's the point?"

Aubrey and I wide-eyed her rant over a kids game. Note to self: never mention Uno in Skylar's presence.

She realized we were staring in stunned silence and giggled.

"Whatever," Skylar said. "It's a tea of a game."

"Apparently." Aubrey giggled. "Can't say it's ever gotten that heated with the