The upper level had come with the diner, and it had been some kind of bar when Artemis had bought with building. Since he wasn’t interested in selling alcohol or maintaining the bar, he turned it into an apartment, ripping out all the old flooring and furniture and replacing it with carpet and nice hardwood and the things he needed to live.
He’d had some walls put it, and now it was a cozy one bedroom with a small kitchen, a nice bathroom, and a large bedroom. The door from the stairs opened into the open living room space, and though he rarely had visitors, he was glad now that he had a pull out couch.
Holly looked around as she stepped in, and Artemis closed the door and turned on more lights. “Alright,” he said. “So you’ll sleep in here. The couch pulls out into a bed, and I’ll get you some sheets and things in a minute. The kitchen is just through there,” he said, pointing. “And you can help yourself to anything in there. Coffee, juice, whatever. Bathroom is the last door at the end of the hall there, and my bedroom is the other door. I’ll leave it open in case you need anything, alright?”
“Okay,” Holly practically whispered.
“Are you going to be alright?”
She nodded quickly. “Yes. I...yes. I’m just. I didn’t expect anyone to help me.”
Artemis smiled at her and shrugged a shoulder. “I can’t help myself sometimes. I have the ability to help, so. I don’t like seeing people distressed. Here, I’ll get your bed set up if you want to go grab a shower. Just use whatever you want in there.”
“A shower would be wonderful,” Holly replied, and for the first time since he’d found her, she looked ready to relax. He watched as she dug in her bag for more clothes and then hurried to the bathroom clutching them to her chest.
He waited until the door closed and the sound of water running could be heard and then let out a ragged sigh. He shook his head and ran fingers through his hair, going over to the shelf in the hall where he kept the extra linens. It was quick work to pull the couch out into a bed and make it up for her, and he used the distraction to avoid thinking about the pulling in his chest that made him want to go to her.
Dragon instincts were hard to ignore sometimes. The need to claim and to keep ran strong in most of them, harkening back to the old days where dragons sat atop of their hordes and guarded them possessively. He didn’t know anything about this girl other than her name and the fact that she needed help, and already he wanted to help her.
Surely the last thing she needed was an over protective lizard breathing down her neck, though, especially if she had just escaped a controlling situation, so he was determined to keep a lid on the feelings, since they weren’t hers to deal with anyway.
Artemis made tea once the bed was made up, sitting in the kitchen, one ear perked towards the bathroom to make sure that Holly didn’t need anything.
When she emerged several minutes later, she smelled like his shampoo and soap, which caused the great hulking beast inside of him to rumble with contentment. He ignored it and watched through the doorway as she padded into the living room hair damp, but clean, and rummaged in her bag for a bit before sitting on the edge of the bed, looking uncomfortable.
“Make yourself at home,” Artemis said, and she jumped. “My apologies for startling you.”
Holly shook her head. “Don’t worry about it. I’m...easily startled. And this is all so weird.”
“How so?”
“I just. People don’t do this, do they? Take in random people from off the street? Bring them into their homes? What if I’m some kind of con artist who pretends to be a runaway?”
He smiled at the notion that he wouldn’t be able to tell that about her. Dragon shifters tended to be excellent judges of character, and Artemis had lived and worked with humans long enough that they were easy to read. “You aren’t,” he said confidently. “Believe me, I can tell the difference. As for the rest, it’s just something I wanted to do. You looked like you needed help. Don’t overthink it too much. You also look like you could use a good night’s sleep.”
“Yes,” Holly agreed, though she looked skeptical. Whether it was directed at his motives or her ability to sleep well, Artemis didn’t know, but he finished his tea and then got up from the table, stretching and giving a content noise when his bones cracked.
It was later than he usually ended up retiring, but he’d be fine.
“I’m going to shower and then head to bed,” Artemis told her as he walked into the living room. “As I said, help yourself to anything you find in the kitchen. The diner opens at seven, so I’ll be up very early in the morning. I’ll do my best not to wake you.”
“Oh, please don’t worry,” Holly said. “It’s your home. Just...do whatever you’d normally do. I’ll be fine. I promise.”
He smiled at her and nodded. “Very well. Sleep well, Holly.”
“Thank you,” Holly murmured, and Artemis was pretty sure she didn’t just mean for the well wishes. He nodded again and then headed to the bathroom, grabbing fresh towels on his way. It would be strange, going to sleep knowing someone else was in the apartment, but he didn’t think he was going to mind it all that much, really.
Chapter 3: Not All Alike
“I don’t know why you’ve even bothered running away, Holly,” Dante said, sneering at her from the other side of the glass wall. “You belong to me. I’ll always find you, don’t you understand that? Anywhere you run to, I’ll show up to drag you back.”
She trembled at his words, a strange mixture of fear and anger holding her rooted to the spot. Dante laughed at her and shook his head, and her cheeks burned with shame. She was so weak. Who did she think she was kidding? If he came for her, she’d go back with him. She needed him. He loved her.
When Holly looked up again, her father was standing where Dante had been, and Dante was nowhere to be found. He looked angry and disappointed when he looked at her.
“What have you become, Holly?” he asked. “We warned you. We tried to keep you safe. And now look what’s happened. This is all your fault.”
“No,” she said, eyes filling with tears. “No! I didn’t know. I didn’t…”
Her father shook his head at her. “You’re not our daughter. You’re nothing now.”
“No! Dad! Daddy, please. I’m so sorry. Please let me come home. Please!”
He just kept shaking his head as he faded away, leaving her alone.
She didn’t wake up with a jolt this time, instead opening her eyes slowly and staring at the ceiling for long minutes, the sadness from her dream still holding her down. She felt like she was going to suffocate with it, and tears spilled from her eyes as she laid there.
It wasn’t until she’d lifted a hand to wipe them away that she realized she wasn’t where she was supposed to be.
Frowning, Holly sat up and looked around, staring at the unfamiliar furniture and walls until it all came back to her. So that part of the dream had been almost real. She had run away. Instead of feeling giddy about it, she just felt heavy. Was her dream Dante, right? Would he just find her and make her go back with him?
Holly didn’t want to think about it. She sighed and got up, stretching languidly. On the plus side, Artemis’ sofa bed was more comfortable than the small bed she’d slept in at Dante’s house, and she felt better than she had in ages. The apartment was blissfully silent, no laughter or cruel words to be heard, and she reveled in it.
She was hungry and thirsty, but even though Artemis had told her to help herself, the idea of rummaging in his kitchen for something for breakfast seemed rude. Maybe just a cup of coffee?
Quietly, she padded into the kitchen and looked around. It was nice; small, but she supposed that made sense considering there was a whole diner with an industrial kitchen just downstairs.
On the table, there was a piece of paper with her name on it, and she picked it up to read.
Holly,
I hope you slept well. There’s coffee in the machine, just hit the green button and it’ll brew. Cream and milk in the ref
rigerator, and sugar’s in the canister by the stove. the kettle’s on the stove, and there are mugs and tea in the cupboards in case you’re more of a tea person. If you’re hungry there’s eggs and bread, but you can feel free to come on down to the diner, and I’ll make you something proper if you want. It’s up to you.
A
Holly chewed on her lip for a second, reading the note a second time. Even if Artemis knew she wasn’t some kind of con artist, he was being awfully trusting of her. Desperate people on the run could steal just as easily as anyone else, and if she needed money badly enough, she was sure she could find things to take here.
Of course, she wasn’t going to repay his kindness by stealing from him, and maybe he had already sensed that about her. Either way, she was grateful for what he was doing for her.
She started the coffee and then went back into the living room, rifling through her bag until she found clothes that would probably be appropriate for going down to the diner. It was bound to be full of people, and while the idea of being stared at by strangers didn’t appeal, it had been so long since she’d had the opportunity to be around people who weren’t Dante and his pack that she wanted to see what it was like.
The coffee gave her energy, and she’d dressed in shorts and a long sleeved shirt, not wanting to show everyone the mottled bruises that littered her arms, and Holly took a deep breath before opening the door and heading on quiet feet down the stairs to the diner.
The closer she got, the louder it got, and she could hear the scrape of utensils on plates, and laughter. Voices clamoring, and Artemis’ deep rumble above it all. Holly hesitated, hiding in the shadows of the stairwell, unsure if she was ready to leap into the fray.
Artemis was kind enough, but she didn’t know anything about these people who would be out there. Honey Ridge was far enough away from where she lived that she didn’t think anyone would recognize her or know Dante, but what if they did? What if they were already looking for her and someone had come out this way?
Footsteps approached, and she inhaled sharply and pressed herself against the wall, but it was just Artemis.
Now that she’d had some sleep, she was seeing him more clearly than she had the night before. He was huge, actually, definitely over six feet tall with a solid, muscular frame, and if he hadn’t been so nice to her, she would have been afraid of him. He’d been wearing long sleeves the night before, but now he was in a t-shirt, and Holly could see that he had some kind of tattoos that ran down his forearms and over the backs of his hands. They were practically skin colored, though a darker shade of bronze than his tan skin, and when she peered at them, they looked like scales.
That kick started something in her brain, and Holly remembered his pupils in the darkness when he’d found her in the alley, the way they had been wide and eerie. Now they were almost slitted, like a reptile’s, in the light of the kitchen, and Holly gasped softly and then slapped a hand over her mouth.
He was a shifter.
It was so obvious now that she looked at him. No human that large could move with such grace, and when she peered closer, she could just tell. Shifters all had something other worldly about them, and it was there in Artemis just like it had been in Dante and his pack.
Dante was a wolf, though, and she knew Artemis wasn’t. She didn’t know of any reptilian shifters except for the dragons, and no self respecting dragon shifter would be in a little town like Honey Ridge running a diner. At least not from what she’d heard about them.
Either way, shifters were bad news. They always thought they were better than humans, just because they had the ability to change into different creatures at will. The only ones she knew were Dante and his pack, but they were perfect examples of violent and rude shifters who only knew how to treat humans like toys and inferiors.
“Carlos, we need three double stacks for table seven,” Artemis said as he bypassed her hiding spot, though if he was a shifter, there was no way he didn’t know she was there. “French Toast for table four, and scrambled eggs and bacon for Mrs. Reynard. She’s in a hurry.”
“She’s always in a hurry,” replied the young man working the griddle, and the others in the kitchen laughed.
“True enough, but it’s to our credit to keep her happy,” Artemis said. “Michelle, if you could do a coffee refill all around, you would be my star.”
“I’m on it, Art,” said a pretty woman with braids and a bright smile, and she gathered up the coffee pot and headed out to the dining area.
“There should be a lull between breakfast and lunch today. Mr. Porter says there aren’t as many out of towners around today as yesterday, but get some burgers and ham started around eleven either way,” Artemis said. “I like to be prepared.”
Holly’s heart pounded in her chest as she watched him work, and she wondered if she’d fallen into some other trap in escaping Dante. She didn’t believe that all shifters knew each other, so Artemis probably wasn’t acquainted with Dante, but still. This couldn’t be safe.
She was so lost in her panic that she didn’t notice Artemis coming up towards her, and she squeaked and nearly fell over when she looked up to see him standing there.
“Are you alright?” he asked, voice soft. “I can hear your heart racing from clear across the kitchen.”
It wasn’t fair, how many advantages shifters had over humans, and Holly had been taught to fear it.
“You’re a shifter,” she said, eyes wide.
Artemis wrinkled his nose. “Ah. Well, yes. That’s quite true.”
Holly wrapped her arms around herself, eyes darting from his face to the stairs, wondering if she could make a break for it. If he wanted to chase her down, he could, but she didn’t think he’d want to cause a scene in the middle of his place of business.
Would he?
“Holly,” Artemis said, and she could tell he was trying to make his voice soothing. “Calm down. I promise I don’t mean you any harm. You trusted me last night, didn’t you? I’m still the same person.”
“That was before I knew you were a shifter,” Holly insisted. “I didn’t...I can’t…”
She swallowed hard, not wanting to go into detail about her history with shifters. All she knew was that it was getting hard to breathe.
But Artemis was quiet, just watching her. He seemed like he wanted to help, and there was a part of her that wanted to trust him. He was the first person who had been nice to her since she’d left her parents’ home, and there was something soothing about the way he spoke to her. Of course, he could have just been trying to lull her into a false sense of security so he could hurt her later, just like Dante had done.
“Holly,” he said, keeping his voice calm. “I promise you that you can trust me. I’m not going to make you stay here, obviously, but this is a safe place. All of the people out there know me and can vouch for my character. Yes, I’m a shifter, and can tell that you’ve had some bad experiences with them in the past, but I wouldn’t hurt you. I wouldn’t hurt anyone.”
He was calm and relaxed, but there was a tightness behind his eyes that seemed to speak to a need for her to believe him. Holly didn’t want to just believe him because he asked her to, but she could feel herself relaxing just a bit.
It helped that she didn’t have anywhere else to go at the moment.
Her stomach growled, and she knew he heard it when he smiled at her. “Tell you what. You can go sit at the counter, and I’ll bring you some pancakes in a bit. Talk to the townspeople. I’m sure some of them need some work done, and that will help you get some money so you can keep running if you want to.”
It seemed reasonable enough, so she nodded and edged her way past him to slip out of the kitchen and go to the dining area.
The diner wasn’t as packed as she’d been expecting, and she slid into a seat at the counter, glancing around at the other customers. None of them seemed to be paying attention to her at all, focusing on their food and their phones. It was obvious that they were comfortable there, an
d this seemed like the kind of place that would have plenty of regulars.
Coffee was poured and meals were delivered, and ten minutes later the pretty young woman with the braids slid a plate of pancakes in front of her. “Compliments of the boss,” she said, flashing Holly a smile.
“Thank you,” Holly said softly. “I…”
The waitress gave her a reassuring look. “You’re staying with him, right? I overheard a little bit, sorry. He’s a great guy, you know. Gives us all jobs every time we come back to Honey Ridge from college, makes sure we’re fed and definitely over pays us because he clearly doesn’t need the money.”
Holly nodded, poking at her stack of pancakes. “Thank you,” she said again.
The young woman smiled again and saluted with her coffee pot before heading back to work.
For the rest of the day, she just watched. Artemis made sure she had things to eat, bringing her a sandwich at lunch time and refilling her water glass. He didn’t say anything to her, but made sure that no one got too close to her all the same. When he saw her looking, he smiled, and from the way he interacted with his customers, it was clear that he was actually as kind as he appeared.
So gradually, Holly relaxed more. It wasn’t fair of her to assume that he was a predator just because Dante had turned out to be one. Every shifter in the world probably wasn’t out to get her. They weren’t all cocky and power hungry like Dante.
Artemis seemed like a gentle person, despite his size, and Holly started smiling back at him when he smiled at her. He stopped to talk to everyone he served, laughing and smiling with them pleasantly. The food was good, but it was clear that most people came to the diner to see him and not just to eat.
By seven at night, the crowds were thinning and patrons trickled in and out. By eight, it had been an hour since the last customer, and Artemis sent home his workers and flipped the open sign to closed.
Holly had barely moved from her spot all day, chatting idly with the people who had talked to her. Now she hopped off her chair and moved to help Artemis pull the other chairs up onto the tables.
Hakona: Dragon Warrior (Scifi Alien Dragon Romance) Page 19