Choosing the Dragon

by Rinelle Grey

  Rylee reached over and put her hand on his knee, sending a feeling of warmth through him. It was different from the feelings he’d had while they were in the Mesmer, less urgent and not as dramatic, but it affected him none the less.

  “It’s okay, Calrian,” she said softly. “You have nothing to be sorry about. There’s nowhere I’d rather be right now than here, helping you.”

  Her words hit right to his heart. She couldn’t possibly mean them, could she? But as she glanced briefly over at him, taking her eyes off the road for only a few moments, he could see it was true. The smile she gave him, warm and… was that happy...? only confirmed it.

  For the first time since he’d woken from the Mesmer sleep, Calrian felt this might just work out, that his life might not be a completely disaster after all.

  “Thank you,” he said softly, putting his hand over hers for a brief moment.

  She gave him another smile. “Right, where to?”

  Calrian stared at her a few moments longer, his mind not switching to business mode as quickly as hers had. For a moment, he was tempted to tell her to turn around and go back to her house… back to her bed.

  But her father could be there. And if he had any hope of offering her a way out of this mess he’d created, he needed to find his clan. Calrian forced himself to focus. Where should they start?

  “Back to my lair,” he decided. “Now that I have my strength back, I can fly up and see if they left any clues as to where they’ve gone or what happened.”

  Rylee nodded and turned towards the wave rock.

  As they drove back to his former home, a jumble of feelings swirled around in Calrian’s mind. But the most dominant one was hope—hope that he might find something to help him locate his clan, hope that he might be able to help Rylee.

  But mostly he felt hope that he might have a chance to be happy, whatever the outcome.

  Chapter 5

  Rylee pulled up in front of the wave rock and stared up at it. She couldn’t see any sign of a dragon lair from here, but Calrian seemed certain this was the spot. And it was too distinctive for him to be mistaken.

  She just hoped he found whatever it was he was looking for.

  He’d been so worried earlier about her interaction with Eric. It had probably thrown him that she’d burst into tears. But Rylee felt strangely calm about the whole situation.

  Perhaps it was because he’d believed in her and listened to her. Perhaps it was because he’d backed her up in her choices and said she needed to do what she felt was right. Or maybe it was because he’d offered her another option if he found his clan.

  Not a feasible option, but it warmed her heart that he cared enough to suggest it anyway.

  Calrian opened the door and stepped out, staring up at the cliff, his face determined. Then he turned and searched the surrounding area. But all was calm and quiet. There weren’t many tourists around in the middle of the week.

  They were the only two people here. Rylee got out and stared too.

  Calrian turned to her, his expression intense. “I need to go up there.” He paused for a moment, then asked, “Do you want to come?”

  His question surprised her. She wasn’t sure why. It just hadn’t occurred to her that he would ask. There was no way she could climb up there. He hadn’t been able to in human form, so he had to be offering to fly her up.

  That was temptation enough. Rylee nodded quickly before she could chicken out. “I’d love to.”

  Calrian gave her a smile and then, after one more glance around to be sure they were still alone, stripped off his shorts and put them carefully on the front seat of the car. Rylee tried not to stare as he stepped out into an open space, but gave up any pretence as his body began to change.

  His skin darkened and took on a blueish hue, scales appearing all over his arms and legs and face. His body shifted and changed before her eyes, growing larger, his neck growing longer, and huge blue wings sprouting from his back.

  Her mouth was probably hanging open, but she didn’t care. It was the most amazing and unbelievable thing she’d ever seen. She couldn’t help wishing Rowan was here to see it. He’d be very impressed.

  When Calrian was one hundred percent dragon, he looked over at her. For a moment, a shiver ran through her. He was huge and had giant teeth and horns. But his eyes, when they rested on her, were completely familiar. He might be a dragon, but he was still Calrian.

  “Are you ready?” his voice said into her head, just as familiar and comforting as his eyes.

  That gave Rylee the courage to step forwards and say, “Yes, but… uh… do I climb on, or?”

  Calrian bent one knee, creating a step of sorts. “Yes, climb on. Don’t worry, you can’t hurt me.”

  Rylee nodded and stepped forwards, climbing onto his knee and from there onto his back. Once she was up there though, she felt suddenly uncertain. She was quite high up, and Calrian hadn’t even left the ground yet. What if she fell off while he was flying?

  As though he was reading her thoughts, Calrian said, “Don’t worry, I will hold you on with my magic. You can’t fall. Are you ready?”

  Rylee bit her lip. He might say his magic would hold her, but she couldn’t feel a thing. It felt very dangerous up here.

  But this was Calrian, and she trusted him. Surely he wouldn’t let her do this if there was any risk. So despite her misgivings, she nodded. “Yes, I’m ready.”

  She felt his muscles bunch under her seconds before he launched them both into the air. His wings spread out on either side of her and beat the air strongly. For a moment, Rylee was filled with terror.

  Then she saw the ground retreating as they soared up towards the cliff. From this angle, she could see a shadow behind a fold in the rock, the entrance to his lair. Excitement replaced fear. She was riding on a dragon’s back. A very sexy, hot dragon’s back. And she was going to see a dragon lair.

  But when Calrian landed in the opening behind the fold of rock, the large cavern was empty.

  For some reason, Rylee had half expected to see more dragons here, and she was more than a little disappointed that she didn’t.

  But her disappointment must be nothing compared to Calrian’s. She turned and put a hand on his scales, as though she could somehow ease the pain he must be feeling.

  He barely seemed to notice.

  He walked forward, transforming back into a human as he walked, seemingly unaware that he was completely naked. He walked across the room, looking in every corner as though he expected to find his clan hiding somewhere.

  Rylee watched, feeling incredibly sad for him. How hard must it be to have your whole family gone? To be the only one of your kind?

  Calrian walked down a passageway on one side of the cavern, and Rylee hesitated. She wanted to follow him, to see if she could help, but she wasn’t sure if there was anything at all she could do to help.

  How could she possibly help him to cope with losing everything?

  *****

  Calrian wasn’t sure why he felt the need to search every room in the lair. He already knew from the lack of answers to his calls that there was no one here. But he couldn’t help hoping for a clue, some sign of where they’d gone.

  But the more rooms he searched, the more clear it became. The lair was completely empty. Not so much as a gnawed bone or single bedding fur indicated that this had been anything more than an empty cave.

  Of course, it was no ordinary cave. He could see the claw marks where dragons had carved the tunnels and rooms, the indents in the sand where sleeping furs had lain, and the steps carved into the few tunnels that led downwards.

  But there was nothing at all to indicate why his clan had left or where they might had gone.

  That had to be a good sign, right? If Trima clan had wiped Rian clan out, they wouldn’t have bothered to clean the lair out to this degree, would they? Calrian wasn’t sure if that was a valid reason to hope or an indication that he was clutching at straws.

  Eventually he
made his way back to the main cavern, where Rylee met him, her expression sympathetic. “I’m so sorry, Calrian,” she said, putting her arms around him.

  Her warmth and her sympathy helped soothe some of his pain, helped keep some of the terrifying loneliness at bay.

  The way his naked body instantly reacted to her closeness helped provide a distraction. It was so tempting to stay here with her, away from reality. His clan might not be here, but neither was her family. She would be safe from them here, even without his clan. He was sure they could find plenty to keep themselves entertained.

  The thought was nice for a while, until reality intruded. They had no food, no bedding furs. And Rowan wasn’t here. He knew Rylee would want to return to her son.

  He wouldn’t pretend. His clan wasn’t here. Finding them was going to take him more time than he’d expected. He needed to prepare himself for that fact, not let himself be distracted from that goal. No matter how much he wished he could be.

  He kissed the top of Rylee’s head, letting himself inhale her scent for a few moments, then stepped back. “We’d better return to the car. Do you think we have some time for searching and calling to my clan?”

  He appreciated Rylee’s help, but he wouldn’t let his search intrude on her life. He’d done that enough already.

  She nodded slowly, searching his face for a moment. Then nodded again with more certainty. “Where shall we look?”

  That, Calrian didn’t know. He didn’t even know why his clan had left. How could he possibly hope to figure out where they had gone? They could be miles away, nowhere near the lair. For a moment, he felt his shoulders slump. “I don’t know.”

  Rylee’s expression was sympathetic again. She put a hand on his arm, then her own shoulders squared. “Right, well, I say we head back towards town. I need to do some shopping anyway or we’ll have nothing for dinner. It’s unlikely they’d be that way, but you never know. Maybe one of them could be in town in human form.”

  It seemed unlikely to Calrian, but then again, he hadn’t even expected humans to have a town here. For all he knew, his clan had decided to live hiding amongst humans. Stranger things had happened.

  Besides, he’d already interfered in Rylee’s life enough. If she needed to do shopping, he wouldn’t keep her from it. “Let’s go then.”

  Chapter 6

  Rylee wasn’t quite prepared for the stares she was going to get when she drove into town with Calrian. She hadn’t been in Mungaloo much since she was a kid, but everyone knew her dad, and thus, by extension, her.

  No one knew Calrian though. And his clothes, or rather his lack of shirt, certainly wasn’t inconspicuous. So instead of heading straight for the grocery store, she drove to the second hand store.

  “What can I help you with today, dearie?” Martha, one of the elderly volunteers at the store asked as she walked in. She did a double take when she saw Calrian, and fumbled with her glasses, putting them on then staring in shock and more than a little admiration.

  “This is a friend of mine from out of town,” Rylee said, thinking quickly. “The… uh… bus managed to lose his luggage, and… uh… his shirt… got wet. He needs some new clothes.”

  “Oh… well…” Martha stared at Calrian again in a manner that could almost be called ogling. “We can certainly help with that. You’re in luck. All men’s shirts are fifty percent off today.” She pointed to the rack, and Rylee pushed Calrian in that direction, painfully conscious of stares from the other customers in the store.

  She’d come in here frequently enough in the last few weeks that people recognised her. Usually that was handy. They had even saved a school uniform in Rowan’s size for her last week, they were hard to come by. But right now, she was wishing she had a little more anonymity.

  Rylee winced. If Eric didn’t tell her father about Calrian, he’d probably hear about him the next time he came into town.

  Well that couldn’t be helped now, and she was sure things would go a lot better once Calrian had some more normal clothes.

  And yet, as she helped him try on a t-shirt and a more normal pair of shorts, she began to doubt. Oh the clothes looked more normal, but they only seemed to emphasize how abnormal Calrian was. He looked gorgeous no matter what he tried on. Nothing hid the fact that he was the most perfect specimen of a man she’d ever seen.

  And from the stares and whispers around the store, she wasn’t the only one who’d noticed.

  Calrian though, seemed oblivious. “Which do you think?” He stared critically at his reflection in the changing room mirror.

  “It looks great,” Rylee said automatically from the doorway, trying not to glance around the room and count how many people were staring at them.

  “Really?” Calrian’s voice was uncertain. “Do you think it’s better than this one?” He held up a second t-shirt, which looked just as capable of emphasizing his chiselled body.

  Rylee hesitated. Calrian sounded like he genuinely wanted to hear her opinion. Unlike Eric. If Eric had asked that same question, he would have clearly been looking for agreement, not an opinion. But Calrian wasn’t like Eric.

  He actually wanted to know what she thought.

  That was why Rylee froze up completely. For some reason, giving an opinion made her even more nervous than simply giving praise. Her mind was filled with doubts—doubt that he really wanted her opinion, and worse, doubt that her opinion had any value.

  Calrian was staring at her though, his head on one side, patiently waiting.

  “Um… which is more comfortable?” she asked, knowing she was avoiding the question.

  Calrian took her question seriously though, looking from one to the other. “The material of that one is softer,” he indicated the hanging shirt, then pointed at the one he wore, “but I like the colour of this one more.”

  Rylee had to admit, the blue shirt did match his eyes particularly well. It was the one she would have picked. She could stare at him all day in it. But this wasn’t just about her. She reached out to feel both shirts, agreeing with his softness assessment too.

  “How about you get both?” she suggested. “They’re only a couple of dollars each.” That got her off the hook.

  Calrian frowned. “I hate to spend more of your money than necessary.”

  Rylee smiled. “Trust me, a couple of dollars isn’t going to break the bank.” When Calrian looked at her strangely, she elaborated. “It’s ok, it’s not expensive, I promise.”

  Calrian stared at her for a few moments before nodding acceptance. “Thank you.”

  Rylee helped him pick out a couple of outfits before the stares became too much for her, and she hustled him out of the store, heaving a sigh of relief when they were back in the relative privacy of the car. Between the decision making and the staring, that stop had been more exhausting than she’d expected.

  “Are you all right?” Calrian’s expression was concerned.

  Rylee gave him a wry smile. “Yes, I’m fine for someone who’s going to be the talk of the town.

  Calrian’s concern deepened. “I’m causing problems for you again.”

  Rylee didn’t want him to feel bad. This wasn’t his fault. She gave a slight grin. “That’s okay. They needed something to talk about. It gets dull around here, and they live for the gossip.”

  Calrian gave a slight smile at her joking comment, but it was clear he wasn’t convinced.

  “Don’t worry about it. We’ll just get the shopping done, then get out of here,” Rylee promised him. “A few stares and whispers never hurt anyone.”

  And it was the truth. She wasn’t in the least bit bothered by it. In fact, if it weren’t for worrying about her father and how he was going react if he found out, she’d be quite enjoying it.

  Unfortunately, her father’s potential reaction did put a damper on her fun.

  “Perhaps I could wait in the car while you shop?” Calrian suggested.

  Rylee shook her head. “No, I’ll be at least half an hour. I don’t want t
o leave you that long. Unless…” she paused to look at him. “You haven’t heard anything from another dragon, have you?”

  Calrian shook his head. “No, I have been calling, but there are no other dragons within calling distance.”

  So much for that idea. Well, it had been a long shot.

  “Actually,” Calrian said, “I’ve been thinking. If my clan have been here since this town was built, perhaps there is some mention somewhere, maybe in one of your newspapers. Is there anywhere I can get copies of older editions?”

  Rylee frowned. The idea was interesting. But she suspected it was going to come to naught. “If anyone had seen a dragon it would be big news. Either that or no one would believe them. It’s unlikely you’ll find anything in the newspaper.”

  Calrian nodded. “I realise that there isn’t going to be anything obvious, but if I look through them carefully, perhaps I could recognise a face in a crowd or even a name. I have to try something.” There was a trace of frustration in his voice, and Rylee felt sorry for him.

  She started the engine. “Well, it doesn’t hurt to try, I guess. They should have copies of old newspapers at the library. I’ll take you there.” Shopping would certainly be quicker and easier on her own.

  Of course there were more issues to deal with at the library, another place she frequented. The librarian looked over her glasses at Calrian, but at least she was a little less obvious about staring than Martha had been.

  “Good morning, Rylee. Can I help you?”

  “This is a friend of mine from out of town,” Rylee said hurriedly. “He’s doing some research on Mungaloo and wants to read some past newspapers. Do you have them here?” She hoped so, though the library was quite small. If they were in Yerloo, the next town over, they wouldn’t make it today.

  Thankfully, the librarian nodded. “We have a selection of papers dating back to Mungaloo’s establishment. They aren’t available for borrowing though. If you want to read them, you’ll have to do it here.”