by Jane Jamison
“I shouldn’t have brought her up. Just chalk it up to you knocking me upside the head and scrambling my brains.” He hated making nice, but what was he supposed to do?
“Your brains were already scrambled before I hit you.” Clint grinned, at once letting bygones be bygones.
They liked to fight and wrestle, but it was never serious. They were bound by friendship and, if Trey and Clint had anything to say about it, by their mate to live out their lives together. The only question was how long those lives would last.
“She sure had the looks.”
Here he goes again. At least, he managed to keep the words to himself.
“She had this long, black hair. As black as a crow’s.”
With big brown eyes.
“With big brown eyes,” said Clint.
Vince took another drink, smothering his smile. “And her body? What was that like? How’d she feel?” He ignored Trey’s hard look. His friend knew what he was doing, egging Clint along to get his cousin to talk about her. Whenever Clint talked about the mystery woman, he felt better.
“Ah, man, she was lush. Ripe. Hard in the some places and soft in others. Just perfect. If I could’ve felt her with my human hands, I would’ve flown to heaven without wings.”
Same song like always. Yet, instead of saying so, he only nodded, encouraging him more.
“She had curves that made my mouth water.”
Vince wanted to ask the questions he’d asked so many times before, but why bother? He’d only end up getting his cousin riled up again.
Why hadn’t Clint brought her home if he’d been so attracted to her? Yet he knew the answer. She’d seen him as a dragon. To shift and show himself as a man—a man who she could recognize later—would’ve placed all three of them in danger of being exposed.
Why hadn’t Clint followed her and found out where she was staying? Again, he knew the answer. Clint had gotten rattled at her seeing him and had taken off. By the time he’d mentioned her to Trey and Vince, she was gone.
“I’m telling you we need to start hunting for her again. She had good camping gear so she wasn’t any casual visitor. She must hike the mountains a lot.”
Vince looked to Trey. Recently, they’d talked about searching for her again. Once winter came to the mountains, the likelihood of her showing up again would go way down. Trey shrugged, giving him his answer.
He reconsidered saying anything. Why bring Clint’s hopes up again? Still, what if they could find her? What if she came to the mountains during the fall season, maybe even to the same place as before? Could they risk not looking for her again?
“Okay. You’re right. Let’s do some fly-bys and see if we can find her.”
Clint almost dropped his beer. He did, however, drop his jaw. He’d obviously given up trying to convince them to keep looking. A grin spread slowly over his face. “Shit yeah. It’s about time you two came around.”
Trey’s smile was less beaming than his friend’s. If Vince could’ve spoken to him telepathically without Clint hearing, too, he would have. Instead, he took a swig of his beer and sent Trey a look that said, “I hope we didn’t just fuck up.”
Clint was too excited to notice their silent exchange. His excitement, however, faded a little. “Wait. You two never saw her. How will you know it’s her?”
“We’ve heard you describe her enough times.” More times than he could’ve counted. “Besides, if we see someone we think is her, we’ll get you back there as soon as possible.”
“Then I should just go along every time. Why risk losing track of her again?”
“Yeah, right. And skip out on your duties around here? What about the damn accountant?” The cabin and the land didn’t take much upkeep, but there was always something to do. Vince didn’t mind the physical labor of most of the chores, but he hated keeping up with the expenditures and cash flow. That kind of chore was left to Clint. He’d rather build miles of new fence than deal with their accountant. Especially since they’d managed to accumulate fortunes over their long lifetimes and had various streams of revenue to oversee.
“Who’s going to take the first watch? Never mind, I will.”
Vince clapped him on the shoulder. “Nah, you promised to get those receipts pulled together, remember? The accountant’s waiting for you to email him those copies.”
Clint bounced like a young boy about to ride his brand-new bike. He was too thrilled to calm down. “He can wait. I’ll send them to him later.”
“Nope. You’ve already put him off. The last time he called, I told him you’d send them no later than six today. He’s been chomping at the bit to get them.” He downed more of his beer then handed it to Trey to finish off. “I’ll fly over the spot. More than likely, she’s back at one of the campgrounds by now anyway.”
As much as Clint wanted to refuse, he couldn’t. “Okay. But I take the morning shift tomorrow. Trey can do the afternoon then you can handle later on again.”
“Fine by me,” added Trey.
“Sounds good.” Vince headed out of the kitchen. “I’ll let you know what I find when I get back. Don’t go holding your breath, though. It’s a long shot at best.”
Chapter Three
Clint waited until he heard the front door open and close behind Vince. “Trey, do me a favor.”
Trey chuckled and took a sip of his drink. “I wondered why you gave in so easy. What’s up?”
“Send the accountant the paperwork. It’s already to go on my desk in the office with his info.” He couldn’t stand the idea of not taking to the air. If the girl was close by, he had to find her.
“You don’t even know if she came back. Why not let Vince waste his time finding out?”
“I have a gut feeling about this.” He couldn’t explain it, but all day long he’d had the strange sensation, an urgency, that had him aching to fly over the cliff again.
Trey didn’t like anything he couldn’t touch or personally confirm, feelings being a big part of those. “Like intuition?”
“Call it a hunch.”
“Or would it be more like a calling?” Trey scoffed and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand. “What are you? Some kind of werewolf?”
Unlike some other kinds of shifters, including werewolves, dragons couldn’t sense their mate as soon as they met her. They weren’t drawn to each other by some invisible connection that compelled them to be with her. Instead, they chose their mates by a more refined gut instinct, watching her, seeing her reactions, getting to know her first. Granted, making their decision didn’t take long, sometimes as fast as in a few hours, but it wasn’t as though they instantly knew. Some might say the two ways were the same thing, but as far as the dragon clans were concerned, they were different as night and day.
“Come on, man. Just say you’ll take care of it. I’ve got to get moving.”
Trey shrugged. “Whatever. But don’t blame me if Vince knocks your ass out of the sky.”
“Thanks.” Clint was off and running. He burst outside and pounded down the front porch, shifting as he ran.
The transformation was never pleasant. In fact, it often hurt, but he’d gotten used to the pain. Even welcomed it at times. He barely noticed it this time as he spread his wings and took to the air. Powerful wings split the air, driving it over and under them. He lengthened his body, pushing as hard and as fast as he could, bringing on the cloaking ability to hide his dragon form. If she was at the cliff, he didn’t want Vince to be the first to see her.
Was it like a connection? Or had he thought about her so often that he’d made her out to be more than she really was? Was she real or part of a fantasy he’d made up? He had to find out.
It didn’t take him long to catch up with Vince. His friend was flying at a slow pace, lazily flapping his wings as his tail swayed from one side to the other.
Vince craned his head around and glared at him, his red eyes blazing with his inner fire. “What the hell are you doing here?”
Don’
t worry. Trey’s handling the accountant thing.
“You know that’s not what I mean.” Vince pulled his wings closer to his body and picked up speed.
Sorry, but if anyone’s going to see her first, it’s going to be me.
“For fuck’s sake, man, get a grip. We’re probably not going to find anyone, much less her.”
If we don’t, then we don’t, but I need to know. He copied his cousin’s movements and drew side by side with him.
They were getting closer. The closer they came, the faster he flew.
“Slow down.”
Nope. Gotta see.
“Fuck, Clint. Take it easy. Remember to keep cloaking.”
Yeah, yeah. I know. I’m not going to— Wait. Is that her? He dropped several feet in the air, forgetting to flap his wings.
“Get a grip. It could be anybody.”
Could be. Still, not many hikers make it up this way. He squinted, trying to see her.
“She’s with someone. A man.”
Jealousy swamped Clint, yet he had no right to be jealous. Hell, he didn’t even know if he wanted to get to know her better. Let’s land and check it out.
“No. We need more space to land and shift.”
Clint groaned, knowing Vince was right. Then we’ll change farther down, near the cave, and work our way back.
“Damn it. Is she looking at us?”
Clint dipped a little lower, ignoring Vince’s grumbled warning to stay higher. You’re right. She’s squinting right at us. I’ll bet she sees the shimmers just like the last time. What are the odds? Most humans wouldn’t have noticed once, much less twice. That has to be a sign.
“No, it only means she’s more observant than others.”
Observant or for some other reason, Clint didn’t care. He dove lower, getting closer and closer until he was within several yards of her.
“You can’t let anyone else see you.”
The man she was with grabbed her arm and, following the direction of her point, looked skyward.
“Damn it, Clint. We need to get out of here.”
He hated to leave her again, but his cousin was right. The very last thing that could happen would be to have the man see them. Then they’d have two people who could claim to have seen shimmers in the sky. The media and others would have a harder time ignoring two people than they would one. After all, insanity wasn’t contagious.
Fuck. Fine. Let’s go.
Twisting his long neck, he looked skyward and shot straight up. By the time he looked down, the two people were only specks against the rock.
Vince whisked past him, heading back to the cabin. Clint didn’t try to catch up. He needed time alone to calm down. Every bit of him, dragon and man, ached to turn around and go back. Instead, he made a promise. He’d return soon and find her again—next time as a man.
* * * *
“You saw it. Don’t go trying to lie about it. You saw the shimmers in the sky just like I did.” Monica stayed at Bruce’s side, determined to make him admit it. He’d said he’d seen the shimmers as they were standing on the cliff, but now he was trying to deny what he’d seen. She’d done her best all night, even after they’d crawled into their sleeping bags, to get him to admit to what they’d seen and to believe that a dragon could exist.
“Yes. Okay. I saw the shimmers, but that’s all I saw. I sure as hell didn’t see any dragon.”
“So how do you explain what you saw?” She clenched her teeth, trying to keep her temper in check.
“I don’t know. Maybe it’s some kind of heat thing. Like when waves of heat rise off hot blacktops. Like I said, I don’t know. What the hell do you want from me? I’m not a scientist. I’m a bartender like you.”
If she had her way, she wouldn’t be a bartender for much longer. But that meant she had to get a great, hell, a phenomenal photo. She’d be able to start the career she wanted and help her mother, too.
“Like I told you before, I saw the shimmers, and then I fell. Then I saw the shimmers right above me, and before I knew it, I could see the dragon. I felt his claws around me. Damn it, Bruce, you’ve got to believe me.”
They were headed back toward the cliff for the second day. One way or another, she’d get him to consider the possibility that she was telling the truth. If she got lucky, they’d see the shimmers again.
He stopped and took her arm. “I do believe you. Or at least I want to believe you. But be serious. Shimmers in the sky that turn into a dragon? The whole thing is ridiculous.”
If she were a violent person, she would’ve picked up a stone and slammed it into his head. She was that angry. “I’m telling you the truth.”
“Then why didn’t the shimmers turn into a dragon like the last time?”
She hated not having the answers. “I don’t know. Maybe they will today.”
“Hi there.”
She and Bruce pivoted toward the sound of the deep voice. Velvet richness flowed over her, her body instantly reacting to the low masculine tone.
If ever a voice could make a woman climax, it was that one.
The man fit his voice. He was tall just like she liked men and clean-shaven with a jawline that could cut diamonds. Although he wore a denim shirt, she could see that he was well built. The sleeves were rolled up, displaying dark hair that matched the dark brown hair on his head. Green eyes, the color of the moss on the trees around them, met hers. He wasn’t dressed like a hiker or a camper. Suddenly, she felt weak and strong at the same time, as though she couldn’t hold up her own weight and yet had enough energy to ride him until the sun came down.
She mentally stripped him, tearing away the jeans and boots, the shirt, and the cowboy hat. In her imagination, she swayed toward him, tossing away her clothes without ever averting her gaze. She pushed him to the ground, falling gracefully on top of him. He smiled up at her then plunged his long, hard cock inside her pussy. Rotating her hips—
A nudge from Bruce brought her out of her fantasy. He studied her and frowned. “Down, girl. I’m here, remember?”
She acted as though she didn’t understand what he meant. “Hi.” Yes, that’s right. I’m a scintillating conversationalist. Urgh.
His real smile was even better than his fantasy one. “You two going for a hike?”
“Uh-huh.”
His gaze slid from hers to Bruce and back. “Up to the cliff?”
“Uh-huh.”
Oh, shit. Why can’t I remember how to talk?
Bruce cleared his throat. “Yeah, so we’d better keep moving.” He tugged on her arm.
She wasn’t moving an inch. Not until she found out more about the stranger. “I’m Monica Sullivan.” At least she’d remembered her name.
He tipped his hat, reminding her of an old-fashioned gentleman in the black-and-white western movies she liked so much. “Name’s Trey Weston. It’s nice to meet you, Monica.”
She wanted to ask him to say her name again. It had never sounded so good. So hot.
“And I’m Bruce Hopkins. Now that we’ve got the introductions out of the way, we’ll just keep on keeping on.”
She jerked back when he tried to tug her forward again. “Um, we were about to take a break if you’d like to join us.”
“We were?” asked Bruce.
“Sure we were.” The warmth of a blush heated her cheeks. “I was just going to suggest it.”
“You were? Before or after you talked about the shimmers?”
The blush became hotter. Shut up, Bruce.
“The shimmers?” Trey sauntered toward them, his green eyes sparkling with interest. “What kind of shimmers?”
She slid the backpack off her shoulder and onto the ground next to an outcropping of rocks perfect to use as chairs. When Trey sat down next to her, she took a long, slow breath. He smelled like the forest, along with a touch of a musky smell. It was an enticing aroma she doubted he’d gotten from any bottle.
She hadn’t wanted to say anything about what she’d seen, but now that Br
uce had brought up the subject, she figured, why not? “Bruce and I”—she wasn’t letting him off the hook—“were at the cliff yesterday and saw shimmers in the air.”
“Shimmers? Do you mean like waves in the air?” asked the oh-so-handsome Trey.
“Yeah, like heat waves coming off a hot road,” answered Bruce.
“But different. Definitely not heat related. They were too far up in the air to be coming from the ground.”
“Huh.”
“Have you seen them? Or anything else strange?”
Trey shook his head then repositioned his hat. His gaze darted away for a moment. “Nope.”
If he hadn’t seen the shimmers, then he wouldn’t have seen a dragon, either. Not that she could’ve asked him straight out. She didn’t want him looking at her as though she were crazy.
Bruce dug into his backpack and drew out a granola bar for each of them. “Sorry. We don’t have any extra water.”
“Don’t worry about it.”
She thrust her canteen at Trey. “Here. You can take a drink from me. I mean, mine.”
He took the silver container, and as he did, their fingers brushed. The simple touch, so light, lit a fire in her. Suddenly, the fall day was all too warm. She wanted to take off her clothes to get cooled down. Of course, then she’d wind up getting hot again in a different kind of way.
Trey put the canteen to his full lips and took a long drink. She was spellbound and bit her lower lip as she imagined how amazing his lips would feel against hers. A bump from Bruce once again brought her back to reality.
“Are you from around here?” Did her voice sound strange? She was surprised she could talk at all.
“Yeah. A couple of friends and I own a cabin and some land close by.”
“Inside a national park?” asked Bruce.
She heard the edge in his voice. Why was he pissed off?
“Part of it is inside the park and part outside.”
“I didn’t think owning land in the park was legal.”
She forced her attention away from Trey and widened her eyes at her friend. Why was he acting like such an ass?