by Maia Star
But he never came out. He wasn’t there.
I collapsed on the bed, my face squished into the comforter, and smiled.
I was really doing this. Starting over in San Francisco, hopefully meeting new people and creating healthier relationships. The first step was to get there in one piece, and now I needed to move onto the second step: to find a job. I mean, that couldn’t be too hard, could it?
Swinging my backpack onto the bed, I pulled out my laptop. I flipped on the TV to make some noise, and then I started job searching with a stupid grin on my face.
Chapter Four
Alec
I watched Fallon as he lifted a cardboard box from the moving truck and stepped back up onto the curb. He balanced the heavy box in his thin arms and slowly trudged up the steps to our new house.
When I watched him, I felt myself at ease, even if it was only temporary. My inner dragon was willing to compromise and calm itself when it came to Fallon, and for the moment, I was able to keep my thoughts from straying to Sandra and Levi.
But then I made the mistake of accidentally letting the box I held slip through my fingers, and photographs of Sandra, Fallon, and I tumbled out onto the sidewalk. One landed face up. I wasn’t really too concerned about the frames chipping or breaking apart, but the moment I spied Sandra’s easy smile, and my arm wrapped around her, I wanted to tear it to pieces.
My inner dragon flared with rage, and while I crouched, I trembled, my fingers gripping the frame tightly.
“Dad?”
Fallon came into view, already huffing and puffing from going back and forth from the moving van to the house. He stared down at the photo I was practically clawing at. He tried to reach forward, to take the photograph from me, but I kept it out of reach. I didn’t want him to look at a picture of his mother and be reminded of how she’d skipped out on us a few days ago. She’d never really been a good mother, always brushing Fallon off when he needed help or wanted to simply spend time with her. She smoked in front of him, drank herself silly in front of him...it made me so angry I hadn’t been the one to cut her off instead.
Actually, I had been thinking about confronting her that night. Maybe she had sensed my anger and decided to go and get herself a trump card to finally make me completely lose my cool. If that really was the case, then she was right, because I couldn’t control the fountain of anger that surged through me.
I knocked Fallon’s hand away from the photo, snarling at him. For a brief second, I saw Sandra instead of him, and I wanted to tear him apart. “Don’t you ever touch these photographs again, do you understand me?” My voice came out harsher than I meant it to, and my hand trembled as much as Fallon’s whole body did. I quickly scooped up the rest of the photos that sprawled across the ground. “Do you hear me, Fallon?”
He nodded and ran back inside, tears in his eyes. By the time I realized how much of an asshole I’d acted like and reached a hand toward him, Fallon had slammed the front door. My shoulders drooped, and I stood, sighing.
Only three days in and being a single parent is already proving to be a problem. I filled the cardboard box back up with the framed photos and pushed it to the side, climbing up into the truck to pick up more boxes. Maybe I should look into having someone to take care of him, do the things Sandra should have done.
A nanny would be a change of pace for us both. And, if the nanny made a good enough impression, maybe she’d help Fallon deal with the pain he’d been feeling. Or maybe that would backfire and only intensify his pain.
Picking up another box, I just held it as my brain struggled to remain deep in thought. Would it really be the best decision to hire a nanny? I mean, I couldn’t stay home and be around Fallon all the time, and he needed some time away from me while supervised.
As I pondered the decision, two sets of footsteps echoed on the moving truck behind me. Glancing back, I saw a man and woman climbing up into the truck. “Jeremy, Amber, what are you two doing here?”
Amber, just an inch shorter than her friend, smiled wryly. “Nice to see you too, boss. Unfortunately, we’re not here just to see how you’re holding up after—”
Jeremy elbowed her before she said Sandra’s name. Apparently, he thought I wouldn’t be able to handle hearing it...and he was right. My jaw was already twitching.
“We’re here to talk to you about the West Side Dragon Clan,” Jeremy continued as Amber held her side. He frowned. “Levi’s been spreading them out all over the city. They’ve become extremely hostile to most shifters that cross their paths, especially if those shifters are from our East Side Dragon Clan.” He shook his head. “There have been no fights...yet, but Levi looks like he’s ready to announce that he’s taking over the city.”
After Amber recovered from the jab, she scowled at him while speaking to me. “It doesn’t help that Levi’s claimed Sandra as his mate now...like a king declaring his queen.”
I let loose a growl and tightened my grip on the box I held. “Of course he is. He’s already smug enough, thinking he ruined my marriage. And now he’s probably planning on finding a way to get rid of our clan, the only other powerful dragon clan that could oppose him. Like that’s going to happen.” I motioned for them to get out of the way as I stalked to the edge of the truck and jumped down. “Jeremy, Amber, we won’t do anything drastic just yet but round up a bunch of dragons willing to keep an eye on our rival clan. Keep track of which parts of the city they wind up in, and where they seem to be headed. And if you see Levi, don’t get all worked up and attack him yourselves...because he’s mine if it comes to all-out war.”
Jeremy gulped. “San Francisco would really suffer if a clan war sprang up. We’re practically in the heart of the city.”
“That’s why I want to know exactly what Levi’s plotting. He wouldn’t get rowdy unless he thought his shots at victory were perfect. If we can cut him down to size before he gets that far, we’ve already won.” Placing the box down on the sidewalk, I waved them off. “So hurry up and go already. Get the ball rolling.”
I watched as Jeremy and Amber jogged away down the sloping street.
Now, about hiring a nanny...
Chapter Five
Naomi
For days, I’d been searching for a job to start off my new life in San Francisco. Everything so far about the city had been perfect. The weather, the coffee shops, the sense of freedom I got from just walking down the streets. I had even been hit on already, even if I kindly turned the guy down.
Everything was great...except that I was still searching for a job.
It wasn’t exactly time to panic yet, that time was way off, but still I felt a sense of urgency. I wanted to get going on my new life, and to do that, I needed to really get settled in, and I couldn’t really do that unless I knew my place was secured. Snatching a well-paying job was my ticket to feeling welcome in this city.
And yet, after days of frantic searching and applying, I’d no success yet.
What I needed to do was calm down since panicking wouldn’t help. So I decided to leave the comfort of my little motel room and find a place downtown to stay for a couple of hours and browse the internet. Luckily, I found this perfect cafe in the corner of a strip mall.
The cafe was themed after a grassy meadow, so pictures and art of sprawling fields and plains lined the walls. The floor was painted to look like blades of grass. And there were even a few specialty drinks that worked off of the peaceful green color. It was all around extremely calming and helped to right my brain into focus. After setting up my laptop and taking my first sip of my drink, I got to scrolling through job listings.
Very few of the listings stood out to me, especially since none of them were what I was comfortable with. I spotted one job for a software engineer that paid really well...but I just couldn’t imagine myself working with technology day in and day out. That wasn’t what I truly wanted.
I came across another job that was for a barista...at the very cafe I was sitting in. Surprised, I glanced
up at the one guy who worked behind the counter. He had already been watching me, his hands working furiously on two machines at the same time. He winked and gave me a soft smile. I awkwardly smiled back and dipped my head below the laptop screen.
Nope! I couldn’t imagine myself dealing with the endless stream of impatient customers looking to get their special coffee made up in seconds. Plus, that guy seemed like he’d be the type to constantly chat me up, trying to get my number, even in front of customers. Again, wasn’t my cup of tea.
Honestly, time began to fly by for me. I lost track of the people coming in and heading out of the cafe. It felt like my eyes were glued to the screen as if I’d be endlessly scrolling through job listings for the rest of eternity. Finally, one job caught my eye.
It was for a nanny position, and it had only opened up a few days earlier. It was for a company named Fiery Hearts Inc.
Opening up the listing, I began to whisper the job details to myself. “Looking for a nanny to look after my son while I’m at work. Would do things like laundry, cooking meals, taking my son to and from school, cleaning, and other various tasks. Nanny would live in house and the pay is...two-hundred-fifty an hour!”
I realized I had shouted that last part, drawing every pair of eyes to me, save for those with their ears covered by headphones that were too deep in thought. Even the barista guy gawked at me. Blushing furiously, I ducked my head even further, my heart racing in my chest.
Paying two-hundred-fifty an hour for a nanny gig? Is this a joke? Am I seeing this right?
Tentatively, I glanced up and ran over the details again. I gulped. That amount of pay was so much higher than it should have been. Maybe it was a typo and it really meant twenty-five an hour? Either way, that would still be a good rate.
Trembling a bit, I clicked on the link, and the listing took me to the main site where this job was listed. Suddenly, I felt like it was a sick joke.
At the top of the page, under the heading for Fiery Hearts Inc., was a sub-header that read: for all of you who’ve dreamed of meeting dragon shifters.
I began to remember hearing about Fiery Hearts before, about how it was mainly a dating service used for matching humans to shifters. I scowled at the thought, shaking my head. I went to click off the page...until I noticed that the job listing specifically called for a human nanny for a human client. Now I was thoroughly confused.
Taking a moment to browse the actual site, I realized that this was a new, experimental service from the main organization. The Nanny Hearts Service, meant for humans only. While that screamed suspicious to me, I couldn’t help but tell myself that changed everything.
I thought back to when I saw the video of two shifters going at it over a woman, destroying a house in the process. Shifters were dangerous people, and I had no desire to get involved with them...but if this job truly was all-around human, well, I didn’t think I could pass it up. It was simply too good to not at least try it out and see how it went.
So, I got to work on tailoring my resume and creating my application. It didn’t take me too long to change things around, and soon enough, I was hitting send on that application, watching for that split-second as it went through. Once I got the pop-up message that my application was sent in, I settled back in my seat. I was done job hunting for the day, and what I really needed was to relax. There was something in my gut that told me I was fine now, and that I’d definitely get that nanny job. I had the skills and the motivation to work with a kid. As long as the father wasn’t some kind of prick, this job just might end up being my ticket to a new life.
I couldn’t wait.
Chapter Six
Alec
It wasn’t a stretch by any means to say that driving Fallon to school the next morning was extremely awkward.
I was supposed to be an alpha dragon, an amazing fighter, and a shifter that could handle leading hundreds of dragon here in San Francisco...but when it came to my own son, I seemed to fumble for the right words and deeds. Even this morning, when we were getting in the car, I casually told Fallon to hurry up while he trudged down the driveway. Instead of actually hurrying, he shot me a glare and began to walk at a snail’s pace. I could see the fiery anger in his eyes.
If he was angry at me, which he certainly was, then I knew it had to do with what happened with Sandra. My ex-wife hung over our lives, never seeming to go away. She was the topic of the fights Fallon and I had had so far, and I couldn’t stop thinking and raging about her betrayal.
Fallon watched me as I pulled down the road that led up to his elementary school and mimicked my scowl.
“Don’t do that,” I said, eyeing him.
He crossed his arms and stared out the window.
“Talk to me, Fallon. Are you mad at me? It’s fine if you are, but I need to know. Not knowing is killing me.” My inner dragon growled inside me, making me tap my fingers along the steering wheel in frustration. “Look, I realize we haven’t had a proper talk since...well, you know. I think after school today, we should sit down and—”
“No.”
“Excuse me?”
Fallon didn’t budge at my tone; he only continued talking. “I don’t want to talk about it.”
My eye twitched, and suddenly I realized I’d just pulled into the roundabout drop off zone. I parked the car, and we stayed sitting there in silence for a minute before Fallon finally opened the door and jumped out of the car.
“Fallon—”
But he wasn’t listening. Instead, he slammed the car shut and walked towards the front doors. I couldn’t stop looking at him, even when a group of taller kids walked over and started to laugh and poke him. He turned and snarled at them, a bit of fire licking his tongue, and then marched inside before the boys could taunt him some more.
Watching that made me want to get out of the car and teach those kids a lesson, but then my eye was drawn to a woman shooing off her own girl. She had seen the whole thing and was laughing at my son. There was a beer can in her hand too.
I saw Sandra in her, and before I knew it, my anger was flaring again, and I was stepping out of my car to approach her.
The woman didn’t seem to notice me march up to her until I stood right in front of her. Her glazed eyes rolled over to meet mine, and she giggled and hiccupped. I could see that she was swaying now. “Oh my...handsome man. What say you and me go somewhere private and—”
“Shut up,” I said. “You were laughing at my kid.”
She raised a brow. “Oh, the shifter boy? There are not many shifter kids that go to this school. Don’t you all have a shifter-specific school in San Fran?”
I grabbed the beer can from her hand easily, found it was empty, crushed it in my hand, and tossed it perfectly into a recycling bin nearby. I flexed my other hand to keep myself calm and engaged. “You shouldn’t be drinking right now, either. It’s stupid, especially if you’re driving. Set a better example for your daughter.”
Now the woman was laughing again. “Ah! What are you, the parent police? Mind your own business, dragon.”
Balling up my fists, I stepped closer to her, looming over her. Most people, human or shifter, would cower, or at the very least, flinch at my presence, but this woman didn’t budge an inch. She crossed her arms and widened her grin. “What, are you going to hit me for talking back? Are you going to hurt an innocent little woman like myself? Come on. Do it!”
I was baffled. Did this woman have a death wish? She did know it wouldn’t take much from me to kill her, right?
But then I got the urge to look over my shoulder. Parked not too far away was a cop car, with two officers standing on either side, watching us...watching me. If it looked like I was harming this woman in any way, I’d be thrown in jail. I could fight back, run away if I messed up...but then where would Fallon be? I couldn’t afford to screw up, so while my glare remained, I backed off.
“You’re one of Levi’s clan members, aren’t you?” I said, staring at her. “Thought you could goad me into
getting myself into some trouble with the law?”
The woman sneered, and suddenly I saw the dragon fire in her eyes. “We’ll trip you up eventually, Alec. Levi will see our clan come out on top...and yours will be crushed like the cowards you are. Though, if you really want to end this quickly...go fight Levi. That’s if you can find him.”
Stalking away back to my car, I saw the cops visibly relax. I blocked out the woman’s voice, trying to ignore her taunts, and luckily, it worked.
Once I was back in my car, I sighed and rubbed my forehead. Levi was an idiot, and he wasn’t about to leave me alone anytime soon. That woman was right: I needed to find him and cut him down to size to keep his little coup from igniting.
My phone dinged and I picked it up, hoping to see a text from Jeremy or Amber. Despite being my subordinates, those two were close friends of mine.
But it was neither of them. Instead, I got a ping from my job listing. It looked like I had an applicant, and that applicant was already approved. To move forward, the message I got said I had to meet at the Fiery Hearts building in downtown San Francisco.
Grunting, I looked up to find that dragon shifter woman gone. Shaking my head, I wondered if the woman who applied to be Fallon’s nanny was another of Levi’s pawns attempting to worm their way into my head.
Without another word, I drove off to find out if this nanny was the real deal or not.
Chapter Seven
Naomi
Somehow, I was standing on the street below my old apartment, staring up at the window. There was a light on, which meant Ken was home.
Yet when I turned to my left, Ken was standing beside me, grinning like a man about to realize all of his dreams.
“You’re back!” he said to me, his voice wild and high-pitched. “You came back. Back!”