He gave me a pointed look. “Are you serious? A human would do so, if they could.”
I giggled a little bit. “I guess you’re right.” People could be greedy and self-centered, and I was sure that dragon people weren’t much different in that regard. “Well, I guess I better get packing.” I kissed him on the cheek excitedly and started off, but he gently pulled me by the arm. I went back into his arms, hugging him, and he kissed me softly on the lips.
I recalled what he’d called me back when we were with Sam. Girlfriend. Much like then, I blushed and smiled at him. “I love you,” I said to him, kissing him back.
I ran off to the bedroom after that, finding a black duffel suitcase waiting for me. Brock had clearly been hard at work helping us prepare. Some of my clothes were also neatly folded in stacks on the bed, as if he was making some suggestions for my packing. Chiefest among the items of clothing were a thick, blue winter coat with gray faux fur lining. I smirked as I held it up to give it a closer look. Did Ash pick this out for me? It matches him. I made sure to place it into the bag, and then I reasoned that I might to better to wear it on the way. It’s going to be cold when we fly there, I’m sure.
Other items such as a pink and orange bikini could go into the suitcase. I wasn’t sure how much action that would be getting. Who went swimming in Montana in the autumn? Is he taking me somewhere where there’s hot springs? That’s pretty cool! Er, hot. I chuckled to myself.
By the time Garen made his way into the bedroom, I was pretty much done packing up the suitcase. The only things that remained were things like my toiletries and a set of pajamas. “I’m torn,” I said to him as soon as he appeared in the doorway. “Should I pack a cute little nightie or should I wear something warmer to sleep? What sort of cabin are we staying in?”
At first, he looked like he was going to give me the same line about it being a secret and that he couldn’t tell me anything about it. But then, he tilted his head slightly, considering. “I think you might want to bring both. I imagine that some of the time we’ll be sleeping all snuggled in the same sleeping bag and that will get plenty warm, but you might want something thicker for when we’re sleeping in the cabin.” He beamed at me. “But that’s all I’m telling you about it.”
I laughed. “Oh, fine,” I replied. “Keep it a surprise. This anticipation is exciting on its own, really.”
“Good,” he said. “I hoped it would be.”
To my surprise, Garen got out a suitcase for himself and started to pack his clothing into it. For once, he wasn’t going to be wearing business suits the whole time. This trip was starting to be the most thrilling thing that had ever happened to me. Well, thrilling and good. Plenty of the bad kind of thrilling had happened to me lately.
“How are we going to get these suitcases all the way to Montana?” I asked. “Are you going to somehow hang them off your tail or something?”
He laughed and shook his head. “Brock’s going to go on ahead of us with them strapped carefully to his back. “Don’t worry; he’ll keep them safe.”
I nodded at him. That made sense. It seemed pretty crazy, but it also made sense. “I wish that I could bring the computer with us,” I said, feeling silly for even admitting it. “I know it’s a vacation, but it would be nice to get some schooling in while we’re there.”
Sure enough, Garen was looking at me like I was crazy. I laughed. “I know, I know. I won’t worry about it. Anyway, I’ll make it up by not taking a break during Thanksgiving.”
It didn’t surprise me that Thanksgiving was quite a foreign concept to the dragons. I wasn’t really big into that holiday either, so it was perfectly fine with me to have another kind of break. This would be close-ish to Halloween, a holiday that I preferred. Heh. Maybe I could dress in costume and go out on the town in broad daylight for once.
“It’s your holiday,” Garen told me. “You may do whatever you like. I just thought that you might want freedom from classes for a week, too.”
I nodded, smiling at him. “You’re right about that.” After feeling like all I could do was be chained to my work when Garen wasn’t home, it would be good for my spirits to not have to worry about work.
When it was time for us to go to bed, I could hardly sleep because I was so excited. I’d never been out of Illinois before, and I’d certainly never run off to the wilderness in Montana before. I didn’t know the first thing about it, other than the fact that there were huge national parks there as well as bears and moose. And apparently dragons… I smiled to myself. There’d be at least one dragon there anyway.
Somehow I managed to fall asleep that night and it wasn’t even fitful. My mind had just eventually wandered off down enthusiastic paths relating to our vacation and all the things we could end up doing while we were there.
Garen wasn’t kidding when he said that we’d be leaving at first light. He roused me from my sleep when the sky was still dark and there wasn’t a sound to be heard outside. “It’s time to wake up,” he said to me gently, like he wished that he didn’t have to wake me so early. He frowned slightly at me to show his displeasure at the task.
I grumbled a little and stretched, wishing that I could curl back up in the comfortable bed. For all I knew, we’d be sleeping on the cold, hard ground for a lot of this trip. He’d said something about sleeping in sleeping bags, after all. “Why does it have to be so early?” I moaned, rolling out of bed, even though most of my body was leaning towards calling the whole trip off so I could keep sleeping.
I threw some jeans on along with a long-sleeved, purple shirt. Stepping into my sneakers, I looked for my blue coat and found it lying on the floor near where the duffel had been. I tisked slightly. “He couldn’t hang it up before he left,” I muttered.
Garen chuckled at me as he dressed. “I get the feeling he was in a bit of a rush,” he said. “Seeing as I told him to leave earlier than we did. I doubt that he slept last night.”
“Yikes,” I replied, grimacing a little. “Are you sure that’s safe?”
He shrugged a shoulder. “He’ll be all right. He’s done it before. He’ll probably be sleeping when we arrive, though. Best to be quiet when we get in. We’ll probably want a short nap, too, honestly. Especially me.”
I was glad that they hadn’t kept the fact that it was Montana from me. It was much easier to plan for things if I knew more or less what to expect at least out of the climate and the temperatures… and the distance from home. “You’re going to be flying for a long time,” I said. “Are you sure you’ll be okay?”
He nodded, smiling at me. “As I say. As long as we have a short nap when we get to the cabin, I’ll be perfectly fine.”
I didn’t know what fueled dragons. Maybe they’re full of Red Bull and that’s what gives them wings, I thought as I smiled at Garen. This was obviously too stupid to share out loud. I was feeling loopy from lack of good amounts of sleep.
As soon as we were both dressed and ready to go, we lumbered downstairs to the kitchen and got ourselves some of the leftovers from the wings the night before. My stomach wasn’t really feeling it, but I knew that it would be important to have food in me for the journey. I didn’t know how long it would take a giant, strong-winged dragon to fly to Montana, but it certainly wasn’t going to take just an hour or something like that. I didn’t want to be starving and exhausted when we landed for our first day of vacation.
“Are you ready?” Garen asked me, sounding almost nervous as he watched me lick the hot sauce off my fingers.
I nodded my head, smiling tiredly at him. “As ready as I’ll ever be,” I replied.
He chuckled. “You always say that. You fly very well with me.”
Leading me out the door, he invited me onto his back as soon as we were in the front of the mansion, between it and the lake. I was so glad that he wasn’t going to be taking off at a run towards the body of water this time. That was so scary when I wasn’t drowsy, so I could imagine it causing me to scream if he did it now. And that wo
uldn’t be good towards our goal of being inconspicuous.
Rather than running at all, Garen merely jumped up and shifted before I knew it was happening. I almost fell off his back in my surprise, but I held tight to his neck and erupted in shocked laughter instead. “Whoa! A little warning next time.”
“Sorry,” his voice boomed as he eyed me with one of his giant oculus orbs. “I sometimes take off before I remember…”
His voice rumbled like thunder and I wondered if it could be heard throughout the entire region. At least we were safely up above the clouds now. Probably anyone who heard Garen thought that it was just thunder. Except for those who knew better. I rested my head down against his neck as I hung on, closing my eyes, used to this enough now that I was able to attempt a nap for a while.
When I opened my eyes again, I had the sense that a good three hours had passed. We were lower in the sky now and I could make out tiny buildings and mountain ranges below us. I smiled slightly, still holding on tight but sitting up so I could get a good look at things. I was afraid of heights, but somehow this didn’t seem so bad. Garen would keep me safe. And the view from his back was beautiful.
He slowly encircled a forested area by a lake and I had to laugh a little. “What is it with you and lakes?” I asked him, not bothering to raise my voice because it wasn’t really a serious question.
Garen’s voice rumbled again as he laughed. He safely made his landing before he answered my question. “I like being by water. I don’t know why. It’s a good safeguard that’s always worked for me.” He shrugged a shoulder, which was particularly interesting to see when he was still slightly dragon-like as he shifted back to his human form.
Up ahead, there was a little, light brown wooden cabin that fit right in with the tall trees that surrounded it. I couldn’t tell if the cabin reminded me of my brief stint as a girl scout or of every horror movie ever. I looked at Garen a little apprehensively. “We’re staying in there?”
He nodded. “Mmhmm.” Noticing my expression, he let another laugh escape him—this one much less booming. “You’re going to love it. Come on.”
Taking my hand, he led me inside the place. It was much bigger on the inside than it looked outside. There was a kitchen to our immediate left, a living room with a mounted big screen TV, a large and open back porch through a sliding glass door, and a sweet little dining area to our right. It certainly looked like a home away from home. I smiled at Garen, feeling a surge of excitement now. “I don’t know why I ever doubt you,” I said.
“Go look upstairs,” he said, biting his lip slightly in his own excitement.
I cast a confused glance at him but then I went up the stairs to see what he was talking about. There was a bathroom, a small bedroom that could be used for an office or something if we wanted, and a massive master bedroom with a gorgeous skylight. The bed was the kind of canopy bed that Garen clearly favored, but this one was made of cedar with white sheets. It reminded me a bit of the bed we’d first shared together, back when I was completely new to this world of his. I blushed a little, thinking about how innocent I’d been back then. It would be nice to be back in a bed like this.
“Did you look in the office?” he asked from behind, startling me.
I shook my head, still smiling vaguely about the bed. “I thought it was going to be nap time.”
Garen chuckled and nodded. “You’re absolutely right, of course. We don’t have to check it all out right now. We’re going to have a nice, long time here in Whitefish.”
Aha. That’s what this place is called.
We climbed into the bed together, kicking off our shoes and taking off our pants so we could get nice and snuggly. It was pretty cold outside, but the rush of adrenaline when we landed in town coupled with the eagerness to look around the place had kept me warm until now. Thankfully, I had soft blankets and Garen’s warm body to make sure that I was nice and comfortable.
“What do you think so far?” he asked me in a soft voice as he lay there with his long arms around me. “Is this everything that you’ve been hoping for?”
I beamed at him and nodded. “It’s everything that I wanted and more,” I said. “I wanted to get away for a while, and it looks like you’ve given me a brand new adventure out here. Hopefully one that’s just one hundred percent fun.”
“Good,” he said, kissing me on the forehead. “You deserve to relax and have fun. You’ve been through a lot.”
“We both do,” I pointed out. “Because we’ve both been through a lot. I’m not so self-centered to think that I’ve been the one going through everything while you just play around. I know that there’s all kind of crazy shit that you deal with on a daily basis. Even if I don’t really know or understand what you go through, I know that you go through it.”
Garen took my face in his hands and gave me a kiss. “I appreciate that you notice.”
Chapter 7: The Fish in Whitefish
Our first day in Montana, we mostly just relaxed in the cabin that Garen had rented for our vacation. When I got out of bed, I took the time to explore the rest of the cabin to make sure I familiarized myself with what we had for our use. To my surprise, the kitchen was nicely stocked with food so we wouldn’t have to worry about running to the store. I didn’t even know where the closest store was, but I had a feeling that Garen had thought to put us somewhere near civilization, but not directly within a city. “Is this Brock’s doing?” I asked him, gesturing to the open pantry full of food.
Garen nodded. “Yes. While we were napping, I suspect. I asked him to do so.”
“Where is he now?”
He pointed up. “He’s going to come down for a break soon, but he’s going to be on guard duty most of this week. I made sure to book a cabin for him, though. He doesn’t need to sleep outside.” He smiled.
I smiled back, shaking my head a little. “You’re too kind.”
“You might want to go check out the office now,” he said. “And then do you want to go into town and explore a little. I’ve heard there are some great restaurants here. And no dragons.”
That statement made me feel uncomfortable. He’d heard there were no dragons around this area, but how accurate could that be? Who had he heard such a thing from? “How do you know that for sure?” I asked him.
He shrugged again. “I don’t… But we can’t spend our whole lives being afraid of living. You’re safer here than you are back home. That’s for sure. No one here knows who you are, and as long as you keep your arm covered and stay with me…”
I frowned. So I’m not really free to just run around and have adventures out here. I still have to hide. As far as I figured, disguising myself was the same as hiding. “What about you? Won’t people recognize you?”
Garen simply shook his head. He seemed completely calm about this whole thing, even though it sounded to me like we were going to be asking for trouble. Maybe I just need to get a grip, I realized. He knows more about all of this than I do. He’s experienced more things than I can even contemplate. Trust him and stop being such a baby.
I cleared my throat. “I’m sure you’ve got it all figured out.”
“I believe so,” he replied. “If it’s all right with you, I think I should fly around above while you explore the town. That’s the best way I can think of to keep you safe. Because you are right. I could be recognized.”
Sucking in a breath, I nodded my head. “Okay. That’s better than staying indoors, right? We don’t want to stay inside all week.”
I knew that he could tell I was fearful now. He put his arm around me and squeezed me in a gentle side-hug. “We’ll go to whatever restaurant you want for dinner, okay? It’s your choice. I won’t be in my dragon shape for that.”
“Ha. You would break the place if you tried that.” I gave him a smile that wasn’t completely genuine, but I was doing my best. I was going to try for him. I wanted this normalness, dammit! I was determined to fight for a normal day for once.
I decided to tak
e Garen’s advice and go check out the office—after all, it was on the way back to the bedroom, and that was where my pants were located. Stepping into the small room, I noticed that there was a twin-sized bed up against one wall as well as a short wooden dresser. There was also a desk, and on the desk sat a black laptop computer.
My heart leapt. “Huh,” I said suspiciously, approaching it as if it might be a bomb or some kind of trap. But when I opened it, I saw that it was just a normal laptop. I pressed the button to turn it on and it powered up nice and quickly.
“For Tatyana,” the bright blue wallpaper said to me in a white, swirling cursive font. I gasped and brought my hand to my mouth.
“Oh my god,” I said, too floored to even yell in my excited appreciation.
Figuring that it was what Garen wanted when he invited me to go in this room and look, I sat down in the rigid, wooden desk chair and scooted up to the desk. Since I was on vacation, I opened up the browser and went to social media sites instead of my school’s website. Ahhh, I thought, even as I said it out loud.
He’d bought me a fucking laptop.
He’d given me a lot of reasons to know that he loved me, but this one was probably the biggest hint. I laughed. That’s crazy. He saved my life a time or two and THIS is what shows he loves me?
I don’t know how long I played on the internet, but I knew that it got out of hand when Garen lightly knocked on the open door of the office. When I turned to face him, he was grinning proudly. “Are you ready to head out and do some exploration?”
As much as I did, I was also besotted with my new laptop. “I can’t believe you got me a laptop,” I said with a grin back at him. “After all of that ‘don’t work while on vacation’ stuff we talked about.”
“I still mean it,” he said. “Pleasure, not work this week, okay?”
I nodded and carefully put the computer to sleep for the time being. We had sights to see and restaurants to stake out for both today and future days. Because we lived in Whitefish, Montana for the week.
Abducted By The Dragons: The Complete Series Page 14