Page 107 of Robb

He felt himself finally, infinitesimally, beginning to unwind.

He didn’t think he would be truly relaxed for some time – and, he was starting to realize, he’d never even realized what true relaxation was before he’d met Tahnee. But once all the debriefing and paperwork and everything else was out of the way, he thought that, at the very least, he might take a weekend off. Maybe even three days.

Wow, don’t go too crazy, he could almost hear Tahnee’s voice saying sardonically. Leave some holidays for the rest of us!

He winced internally. There were going to be some long, difficult conversations ahead. Their lifestyles were just so different that it was going to be hard to work out a compromise – but, he thought, they could make it work. He wanted to make it work.

Maybe I could take a week, he thought.

Maybe a bit longer.

“Boss man!”

His team were suddenly all around him, fussing over him like mother hens while also poking fun at his updated relationship status, as well as giving both their congratulations and condolences to Tahnee.

He let them have their fun, simply content to let relief wash over him for a minute.

I’m alive. Tahnee is alive. My team are all alive.

Robb only half paid attention as his team clamored about him and talked over each other, saying how they knew he wouldn’t have said those things to them over the phone that were actually the work of the lyrebird (that was Hector), and that there were extra agents at the Sydney office keeping an eye on the prisoners in the damaged prison (Euan), and that he needed to come back to the Sydney office and judge the next cheese toastie-making competition (Rhys), and that Dusty had dropped his gold-plated pen in the lunchroom bin, but it had been fished out and cleaned up and was now as good as new (Zina).

He also heard Liam telling Tahnee that the sanctuary was safe, and that it seemed the threat had only ever been against Tahnee herself.

That’s fortunate for Hargreaves, the dingo said. If they threatened our mate’s home now, there wouldn’t be enough left of them to pack up in a box once we were done with them.

Robb watched as Daniel from the Brisbane office cuffed Bruce, the ridiculousness of an enormous meathead of a man cuffing a tiny lyrebird not lost on him, and he hoped that the Agency’s clean-up crews were doing a good job of keeping the gawkers at bay.

At any other time, Robb would’ve been all over that, letting his team fend for themselves while he made sure everything ran perfectly behind the scenes – but maybe it was time to pass the baton. At least a little bit.

Still, it was with some relief that he overheard the civilians talking about how amazing the dragon special effects were, and how exciting the earthquakes had been.

There was one thing, however, that he wanted to make sure of.

“Let’s go back to the castle,” he murmured to Tahnee.

“Oh, yeah?” said Tahnee, raising one eyebrow. “Got plans?”

Hector’s face appeared over Tahnee’s shoulder. “Should we leave the two of you alone?”

Robb made a face. “Not the kind of plans you’re apparently hoping for,” he said to Tahnee, doing his best to ignore Hector. “No, I want to check the monitors. Make sure the dragon’s actually gone where it’s supposed to go. And to make sure there’s no more Hargreaves agents down there with it.”

“… Okay, good point,” Tahnee said. Leaning forward, she whispered into his ear, “But don’t think you’re getting out of that other thing.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it,” he murmured back.

Louder, he ordered his team to follow him, Tahnee beckoning Liam over as well.

They entered the castle and went up the spiral staircase, entering the spacious room at the top once more. There was no avoiding the reality of Anne’s body still lying there on the floor, but Robb ignored it as best he could, making a mental note to get someone to come and deal with it. He moved a little closer to Tahnee as they passed it, letting his arm brush against hers.

“Here,” he said, picking up the remote. “This is where they were monitoring the dragon from.”

He turned the monitors on, part of him dreading what they might see – but he needn’t have worried.

The dragon was curled up happily in its lair once more, its eyes closed, its chest rising and falling in sleep.

And caught up in its arms was…

“Is that – is that James?!”