Dragon Fever: Limited Edition Holiday Romance Boxset

by Serena Meadows

  “A dragon, Mommy. Just like in the movies.”

  Neil reached for her, but Jordan flinched back from him. He withdrew his hand, gazing at the ground even as Axel bounded around him, barking, happy. “You’re hurt,” he said, his voice low.

  “Mommy, did Cade knock you down?”

  Suddenly feeling the urge to yank her daughter away from this thing, Jordan took a closer look at Caitlyn and her lack of fear. Even Axel, who knew what Neil was from the very first moment, leaned against his legs, hoping for an ear scratch. This man slept under the same roof as my daughter, and it turns out he’s a dragon.

  “I guess I should go now,” Neil said, turning away.

  “No,” Jordan gasped, trying to collect her thoughts, work through her fear, “wait.”

  “Why?” He didn’t lift his eyes to hers. “You know what I am now. And it scares you.”

  “Why does Neil scare you, Mommy?”

  “Baby, hush for a minute, okay? I need to think about this.”

  “But, Mommy—”

  “Hush!”

  Caitlyn leaned against Neil as much as Axel did while Jordan rubbed her painful shoulder, staring at him. “Let me understand this,” Jordan said slowly. “You’re a dragon?”

  “Yeah.”

  His eyes flickered toward her, then away. “I’m not human,” he said, his tone soft. “I look like one, but I shift between dragon and two legs at will.”

  Jordan thought back to his description of himself as a predator and now realized what he meant. Why Axel reacted the way he did. Why the horses were terrified of him. He really was a predator in the most basic sense. “And you fly?”

  He nodded.

  “Breathe fire?”

  “Yeah.”

  “And your people are dragons? Like you?”

  He nodded again. “I was exiled,” he said in that same dead tone. “Sent away from my kin. Told to live among you. But I don’t belong.”

  So much about him fell into place now, Jordan realized. Neil having no belongings when she met him on the road. His ignorance of the most common things. Perhaps even his strange accent. “You flew down here.”

  “I did.”

  “And why you don’t know much about us.”

  “We’re educated about your kind to some degree,” he explained. “But some things I was never taught about, like horses and dogs. It’s forbidden of us to let humans know we exist. And now I’ve failed in that, too.”

  Jordan felt a small amount of humor creep into her. “Not everyone. Just us.”

  “Turn yourself into a dragon, Neil,” Caitlyn pleaded. “Please. Show Mommy she doesn’t have to be scared.”

  “No, I don’t think—”

  “Please do.” Jordan shocked herself with her own words. A part of her wanted to see the creature again. “I want to see it. You.”

  Neil studied her for a long minute, then shrugged. Letting go of Caitlyn’s hand and dislodging Axel, he took several steps back. And then he was gone.

  A huge red-gold creature stood gazing down at her with Neil’s pale amber eyes. Now that she knew what to expect, and had a steady grip on her emotions, she felt only a single powerful jolt, then relaxed. Limping toward him, she stared up into his face, then slowly walked around him. In this form, Neil stunned her with his majestic beauty.

  His long tail, his four legs, the vast spread of wings. Awed, Jordan touched his leg and felt his warm hide that was not fur and yet also not scales but something in between. Axel barked, running happily under him, dancing in canine happiness even as Caitlyn clapped her hands, laughing.

  “Fly, Neil,” she cried.

  The huge wings spread further. In a single leap, Neil went airborne, climbing higher with every beat of those wings. Jordan’s hair whipped around her face from the wind of them. In their pen, the horses bolted in all directions, but Neil banked away from them. Jordan kept glancing between them and Neil, noticing they calmed rather quickly when he didn’t fly toward the corral.

  He circled over their heads, his head angling down from his long neck to watch Jordan and Caitlyn. Then a burst of flame shot from his jaws, and even with the considerable distance between them, Jordan still felt the heat from it.

  “Isn’t he pretty, Mommy?”

  Jordan grinned up at the stunningly graceful creature flying above them. “Yes, baby, he is.”

  Neil dove toward them, then passed a mere few feet over their heads before soaring upward again. Caitlyn screamed laughter, and now Jordan, her fear gone, laughed along with her. “Neil doesn’t scare you, baby?” she asked, glancing at her daughter’s expression of delight.

  “Neil would never hurt us, Mommy.”

  “No, I suppose he wouldn’t.”

  Neil flew in to land not far away and furled his wings over his back. In a blink, he was Neil again, on two legs, and watching her with a mixture of consternation and hope. Approaching them, he grinned sheepishly as he saw Jordan’s face. “I told you I like to fly.”

  “Oh, my God, I guess you do,” she cried, half laughing. “I thought you meant in an airplane.”

  Caitlyn ran to hug him around his waist, and Axel barked and jumped on him, planting his front paws on his shoulders. “Axel, get down,” he said and pushed the dog back onto four paws. Neil watched Jordan carefully. “Do you want me to leave?”

  Jordan slowly shook her head. “No. I want you to stay.”

  “Then you should come into the house. That horse hurt you.”

  Jordan had completely forgotten Cade and the pain from his hooves. “I have to put him back in the barn.”

  “Can’t he stay where he is for now? Will he get loose?”

  Jordan turned toward the round pen, realizing the stallion had quieted and now ambled around without his previous panic. “I guess he can stay there for now.”

  “Then come to the house,” Neil suggested. “Maybe I can look at your wounds.”

  “I’m not really hurt,” she said but went with him to the house. “Bruised, and very sore.”

  “Maybe you should take a pain pill.”

  Jordan laughed, even if it hurt. “Maybe later.”

  She let him persuade her to lie on the couch while Neil and Caitlyn hovered over her. Axel got in a few licks to her cheek before Neil pushed him away. “Where are you hurt?” Neil asked.

  Jordan pointed to her chest and shoulder. “I should put ice on it,” she murmured.

  “All right, you lie there and I’ll get some.”

  He headed for the kitchen while Caitlyn sat on the couch beside her and held her hand. “Will you be okay, Mommy?”

  “Yeah, baby. Cade just knocked me down.”

  “Bad Cade.”

  “He just got spooked. But this is why I make you stay away from him.”

  “I know.”

  Jordan stroked her hand down Caitlyn’s hair and cheek, finally realizing why Neil did what he did. With the stallion bearing down on them at a gallop, he had to change forms to scare Cade away—to protect Caitlyn. “Why don’t you turn on the TV?”

  “Okay.”

  Caitlyn picked up the remote and turned the channels to her favorite, the Disney Channel. Curling up with Axel on the floor, she found some dancing show while Jordan closed her eyes. She heard Neil return a short while later and opened her eyes to find him crouching beside her.

  “Here.”

  Jordan accepted the ice wrapped in towels and gently rested them on spots where Cade’s hooves had knocked into her. The cold leeched into her aches and gradually numbed them. “Thanks.”

  “Now I understand a bit more of what you were trying to tell me,” Neil said, sitting on the floor. “About horses. And how dangerous they can be.”

  “Most are easy,” she murmured, closing her eyes again. “Some are like Cade. Some are far worse than he is.”

  “But they are all afraid of me.”

  Jordan opened her eyes. “They’ll come to like you.”

  Neil looked at the TV. “How can they? The
y understand better than you what I am. A killer.”

  “Have you ever killed what you didn’t have to eat?” Jordan asked.

  “Well, no.”

  Jordan smiled. “Then you’re a hunter. A killer, no. Big difference.”

  Chapter Eight

  Jordan let Neil do most of the work that evening, but she took Cade back to his stall in the barn. Neil watched carefully, trying to read the stallion’s body language, but the horse seemed calm enough as he paced at Jordan’s side. She fed him in there while Neil threw hay and watered the horses in the corral, who by now paid him no mind at all.

  “How is it they’re used to me so soon?” he asked.

  Jordan shrugged as she filled the big water trough.

  “Horses are very adaptable,” Jordan answered, limping up behind him. “That’s why they have been so useful for so many thousands of years.”

  “They fascinate me more and more.”

  As Jordan wasn’t up to cooking a meal, and Neil didn’t trust himself to cook anything edible, he fixed them all sandwiches as the sun set over the mountains. Caitlyn fed Axel as one of her responsibilities, then helped him carry plates into the sitting room where Jordan rested. “I think I’m going to need a Vicodin soon,” she told him with a tiny smile.

  “Are you up to eating?”

  “Maybe a little. But I don’t feel hungry.”

  She ate half of her sandwich while Neil, not liking to waste food, ate his own and the rest of hers. “Lie down,” he said, “and I’ll get the pill. Where is it?”

  “Bathroom cabinet over the sink.”

  When he returned with the bottle, he showed it to her. “Is this the right one?”

  Jordan nodded. “Thanks for taking care of me.”

  She swallowed the Vicodin, then Neil covered her up with a blanket. “I’ll tidy up, then come back to sit with you.”

  Leaving them in the sitting room, the TV with its show, Neil took everything into the kitchen and put the dishes in the dishwasher. Axel followed him, wagging his stump as Neil said, “I’m not supposed to spoil you.”

  But Axel seemed happy when Neil scratched his ears. “I’m glad you accepted me so quickly,” he muttered. “Without you, it might have been harder for Jordan not to be so scared of me.”

  Turning out the lights, he went back to the sitting room with the dog on his heels and sat down near Jordan.

  “A dragon,” she breathed, her eyes closed, and Neil suspected the pill was taking effect. “Hard to believe, but dragons do exist.”

  “We do. Now get your sleep.”

  Jordan laughed. “A dragon telling me to sleep.”

  “Now you know why I’m in charge,” he said with a grin.

  “Yeah.”

  It wasn’t long before Jordan fell asleep on the sofa, her breathing slow and even. “Should I take her to her room?” he asked Caitlyn.

  “No,” she replied without taking her eyes from the TV. “She sleeps on the couch a lot.”

  “Okay.”

  Neil tried to remember when Jordan had sent Caitlyn to bed the night before and couldn’t. “When is your bedtime?”

  “Eight-thirty.”

  It was now eight, so Neil tried to watch the show, but couldn’t seem to follow what was going on. So, he let his thoughts range to the last crazy twenty-four hours and kept an eye on Jordan as she slept. I doubt she heals as fast as I do, but maybe she will be better by the morning.

  Though she was up at her usual time, Neil immediately saw Jordan was still in a considerable amount of pain. Instantly concerned, he took her by the arm as she sat at the kitchen table. “You need to be in bed.”

  “Horses have to eat.”

  “I’ll do it.”

  Jordan stared into his eyes for a long moment, then at last nodded. “All right. You saw how much I fed yesterday?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Give them that amount. Give Cade hay and water and hope he doesn’t tear his stall apart in panic.”

  Neil nibbled his lower lip. “Is there something I should do if he goes wild?”

  “No. Just get out as quick as you can.”

  “Will you go back to bed?”

  “After you get back.”

  With Axel trotting beside him, Neil fretted over frightening the animals as he did the previous day. But the horses in the corral didn’t act scared of him at all and came to the fence as he threw hay over the top rail. Then he tossed grain into the chicken pen, filled their water from a hose, and took a deep breath.

  “All right, beastie,” he muttered, walking toward the barn. “Don’t go berserk.”

  The big horse snorted, his eyes wide when Neil went in, but stood still as he tossed hay into his feeder and filled his water bucket. “Good boy,” he told the horse when the stallion didn’t move. “Just stay quiet.”

  Returning to the house, feeling pleased with himself, Neil found Jordan still sitting at the table. “How’d it go?” she asked.

  “None of them went nuts.”

  She smiled a little. “Then I’ll eat a little and go back to bed.”

  “Take a pill first.”

  “I wish I healed as fast as you.”

  Neil sat in a chair and took her hand. “That’s the dragon part of me.”

  “Pain like this is the pits.”

  Picking up her hand, Neil lifted it to his lips and kissed it. “I’m sorry I got you hurt.”

  “You don’t know for certain that you scared him. Stallions can be tricky, and I told you they can be hard to handle. I’m not blaming you.”

  “I’m blaming me.”

  “Don’t.”

  Caitlyn wandered, yawning, into the kitchen. “Hi, Mommy; hi, Neil.”

  “Morning, baby.”

  She went straight to Neil for a hug, which he felt happy to give her. “Your mommy still isn’t feeling good.”

  Caitlyn stared at Jordan with those big brown eyes for long moments, then she said, “Mommy, will you lay on the couch and watch TV with me?”

  “You know I don’t like you watching TV all day. Only for a little while in the evening.”

  “Why?”

  “I told you, it’ll rot your brain. Now, after breakfast, you go play outside for a while.”

  Neil stifled a laugh when Caitlyn rubbed her eyes and sighed heavily. “Okay.”

  At Jordan’s insistence, breakfast was toast and coffee, milk for Caitlyn. “You’ll keep an eye on her while I lay down?” Jordan asked him, her expression slightly anxious.

  “What are the rules?” he asked with a grin. “Dos and don’ts.”

  “No television,” Jordan replied with a small answering smile. “She has her puzzles and Axel to play with. If she wants to come in, her tablet has educational games on it. She is also learning to read, so her books are a must.”

  “I think I can handle that, eh, little one?”

  “I guess so.”

  After Jordan had taken a pill and gone to bed, Neil took his duties seriously. He watched her play in the yard with Axel while he sat on the porch and refused to let her see the horses. “Your mommy trusts them,” he said to her annoyance, “but I don’t. Their feet are bigger than your head.”

  “I want to see the dragon again.”

  “Not right now.”

  “Please?”

  “Maybe later. Your mommy asked me to look after you, and I can’t do that if I’m a dragon.”

  Caitlyn pouted for all of thirty seconds before starting a wrestling match with Axel. Neil felt no end of amazement at how gentle the big dog was with her. He guessed Axel outweighed her by more than fifty pounds and could have bitten her in half at the waist. But he let her sit on his back, pull his ears, and rain kisses on his muzzle, accepting it all with a good-natured humor.

  “You’re supposed to be a protector, eh?” Neil asked him when Caitlyn amused herself with a couple of dolls and Axel wandered onto the porch to sit with him.

  Axel lay down with a long groan as though complaining about h
ow Caitlyn had exhausted him, then put his muzzle on his paws. Neil laughed. “You’re a big softie is what you are.”

  Caitlyn talked to her dolls in the big yard and Neil observed the horses in the corral seemed to be asleep. Two had lain down, and he started to yawn. Movement at the far side of the yard caught his attention. A gray and brown dog seemed interested in Caitlyn and watched her closely. It took a few trotting steps toward her, paused to watch, then trotted sideways to her.

  Wondering if it was a neighbor’s dog that wanted to play with her, he noticed that Caitlyn had seen it, too. She stopped her chatter to her doll and stared at it. “Is that dog friendly, Caitlyn?”

  At the sound of his voice, the dog jumped, started to trot away, then circled back toward Caitlyn again. It wasn’t very big, less than half Axel’s size. Its interest in Caitlyn seemed odd to him, however, and the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. “Caitlyn, come here.”

  Axel lifted his head, and a guttural, ripping snarl emerged from his throat. Neil observed the whites of his teeth and the hair that rose on his back and shoulders. A split second later, he was off the porch and charging the other dog.

  The other animal didn’t wait to meet him. It fled, its tail tucked, and vanished into the brush at the edge of the property. Axel chased after it and was gone for several minutes, but even when Neil stepped into the yard to pick Caitlyn up, he didn’t hear the sound of a fight.

  “Axel,” he called.

  Axel came loping back long moments later, and Neil wondered if perhaps dogs were territorial and didn’t like other dogs. “Time for lunch, little one,” he told Caitlyn, carrying her into the house.

  Jordan sat at the table looking weak and tired but offered them a wan smile. “You should be in bed,” he told her, setting Caitlyn down.

  “I had to pee and then felt like eating something. What have you been doing?”

  Neil rummaged in the refrigerator for the food to make sandwiches with. “Doesn’t Axel like other dogs?” he asked.

  “He’s great with other dogs,” Jordan replied, and Neil turned to see her frowning. “Why?”

  “He got really upset about another dog in the yard.”