by Rinelle Grey
His question left Calrian stumped. No one had ever really joined Rian clan, they were born into it. Technically, Rylee, and by extension, Rowan, were now part of Rian clan since she’d mated him. But looking at Rowan’s shining eyes, he suspected that wasn’t going to be enough.
He thought quickly. “You need to place your hand over your heart and repeat after me.”
Rowan put his hand on his heart, his face filled with excitement. Even Rylee looked a little misty eyed as she did the same.
Calrian couldn’t help smiling at her as he made up the words, hoping they might inspire her as well as her son. “I promise that as a dragon of Rian clan I will always be true to myself and speak my mind as a dragon should.”
“I promise that as a dragon of Rian clan I will always be true to myself and speak my mind as a dragon should,” Rylee and Rowan repeated.
From the look in Rylee’s eyes she was taking his words to heart, and Calrian was glad. They were words she needed to hear. If they also helped Rowan, then that was a bonus.
“I promise I will stand up for what I believe in and defend it if necessary,” Calrian added. He wasn’t sure if that bit was for Rylee or her son, who was nodding his head. He suspected both of them needed it.
Now he needed an ending. Calrian searched around for something that sounded fitting.
“I will not give up hope, no matter how bad the situation seems, for as long as I’m alive. I know love will find a way.”
Yeah, that last bit was for him. He could see the recognition of that in Rylee’s eyes. She already knew it and had lived through it when she’d left her husband. Now he was the one who needed to hear her repeating it.
Somehow, together, they’d find a way. Calrian didn’t doubt it. Rylee was his hope.
“You’re now both dragons of Rian clan,” Calrian announced. His voice may have wavered a little. But as he stared at his small clan, he knew he needed to look forwards, to his future, not dwell on his past.
With that thought in mind, as they sat back down to finish breakfast, he asked Rylee privately, “I was actually asking what you wanted to do for our future? I’m your mate now, and I want to help you achieve your goals, whatever they are.”
Love and gratitude shone in Rylee’s eyes as she looked back at him, but what she said was, “It’s time for us to make some new goals together. Because that’s what partners do. They work together for something they both agree on.”
Calrian knew, in that moment, he couldn’t have hoped for a better mate. Rylee might not be a dragon, but she had a wisdom and a determination he wasn’t sure even a dragon could have matched.
“I can agree with that. What shall our first goal be then?”
“First we need to decide where we’re going to live.” Rylee hesitated, then said, “Would you prefer to stay here? It is your home, after all?”
Calrian looked at Rylee and Rowan and knew they would stay if that was what he wanted. But it wasn’t the ideal home for either of them. For one thing, they couldn’t get in and out on their own. Besides, if he looked forward, not back, there was nothing to recommend it.
“No, I think we need to find a new home that’s ours. One that isn’t filled with memories of what I’ve lost. But I don’t know anything about human homes. I assume we will need money to get one?”
“Well, actually, I have another option. It’s not great, but it would be a start.”
Calrian listened as Rylee told him about the caravan Martha had offered to let them borrow. She was apologetic, listing all the things wrong with it, but Calrian could see she thought it was the best option, so he interrupted her description.
“If I’m there with you and Rowan, then it will be home,” he said simply.
Rylee’s smile told him she felt exactly the same way.
Chapter 14
“I’m going to go down the street and get the papers and mail,” Rylee announced to Calrian. “Do you want to come?”
Calrian looked up from where he was finishing washing the breakfast dishes at the small caravan sink, his hair mussed, and smiled at her. “Sure.” He washed the last dish and put it on the drying rack, and Rylee couldn’t help thinking what she wanted to do was take him back to bed.
They’d been mated for nearly a week now, and that urge hadn’t seemed to fade any. Possibly because the only time they could indulge it in the small caravan was when Rowan was away at school. But she could pause her desire for a bit now since she knew they’d be able to make love all they wanted later, not to mention for the rest of their lives.
It was the only way they were managing to get anything done. It had taken two days to clean out the caravan enough to move in, and there was still some maintenance that needed to be finished. But it didn’t matter. Rylee was happier than she’d ever been, and she wouldn’t change any of it for the world.
Rowan seemed happier too, at school and at home. He’d told her, excitedly, that he’d done what Calrian said and told the bullies to leave him alone, and it had worked. Rylee wasn’t quite sure why, except that Rowan had changed. Her quiet, intense little boy had grown, and his confidence showed. Perhaps the bullies had sensed it? Calrian was obviously a good influence on him.
As she and Calrian walked the short distance down to town, something Rylee had done thousands of times before, everything felt different, as if new colours had been added to the world.
Calrian’s presence in the back of her mind made everything seem better. Maybe as well as dragon speech, as he called the telepathy that allowed them to communicate, she also had some of his advanced dragon senses?
Or maybe it was just that she was in love. Rylee smiled at that thought.
They walked into the newsagent, and Calrian picked up the local and the state newspaper. He’d become very interested in reading them and keeping each one. If he kept up this way, they were going to need a bigger caravan just for the newspapers.
But Rylee didn’t mind. It made him happy, and it was good to see him immersing himself in the world. He still had moments when he missed his clan and was depressed at the thought of never belonging again. Rylee could always tell when he was thinking about them. But she hoped the feelings would grow less frequent over time.
“Is there anything you want?” Calrian asked.
Rylee looked around the store. They didn’t have much money, but she was determined to do her best to make sure no one felt its lack, even herself. But there was little she wanted. She had all she needed with Calrian and Rowan. She felt very lucky.
Her eyes fell on the scratchie rolls on the counter, and for a moment, she let herself imagine what it would be like to win some of the prizes. What a difference that sort of money could make to their lives.
The urge to buy one hit her, but she fought the temptation. They were just a money making scheme. The chances of winning were almost non-existent. They were just a waste of money, and it wasn’t as if she had much.
Except… that was Eric’s voice in her head, not hers.
Rylee hesitated. She knew the facts were still true, the odds of winning were very low, but she wanted to believe there was a chance. She wanted the few minutes of hope the gamble gave her. What did a few dollars hurt anyway?
As she hesitated, Calrian asked, “Did you find something?” He was watching her, his head tilted slightly to one side, that smile on his face.
Well, against all odds she’d found a dragon and true love.
Taking a risk on a dream was always worth it, even if you failed. Because it was taking the risk that kept the dream alive. “Yeah, I’ll have a scratchie,” she said, stepping up to the counter and waving to the rolls. “Just a two dollar one.” Then she paused. Why not go big? “No, actually, make that a five dollar one.”
The man behind the counter smiled and rang up the newspapers and then handed Rylee the scratchie.
Calrian was watching her curiously. “What’s that?” he asked privately. Rylee had suggested he ask any questions about what things were in drago
n speech. They received fewer strange looks that way.
“It’s a scratchie,” she explained. “I’ll show you when we get home.”
Calrian didn’t ask any further questions, just put his arm around her and nuzzled her neck on the short walk home. By the time they arrived back at the caravan, Rylee had forgotten all about the scratchie. She was far more interested in taking all of Calrian’s clothes off.
It was only a few hours later, when Calrian picked up the paper to read through it, that she remembered.
“So, how does this work?” Calrian asked again, holding up the scratchie.
Rylee felt kind of silly for buying it now. She justified it with the thought it was another human custom Calrian should understand.
She sat down beside him. “It’s a game,” she explained. “You scratch off these panels, and if you get three of the same number, you win that amount of money.”
Calrian grinned. “That sounds like fun. Maybe we can win a fortune and you can buy that bed and breakfast.” He bumped his hip up against hers.
“There’s not very much chance of that,” Rylee said dismissively. “The odds of winning that much are very low, like a million to one. More likely I’ll get another five dollars, and the lotto company hopes I’ll spend it on more scratchies.”
Calrian patted her back. “Still, you never know.”
His attitude made Rylee feel a little better about wasting the money on a gamble. She pulled out a coin and started to scratch off the squares one at a time. Calrian watched over her shoulder. “Two hundred and fifty thousand? That’d really help with buying that B&B,” he said.
Rylee shook her head. “They always put one or two of them in just to excite you. But we won’t win that much. See, the next one is ten dollars.”
She kept scratching, hopeful when the next number was a thousand dollars. That would be a nice windfall and not too far out of possibility.
“Another two hundred and fifty thousand,” Calrian said, his voice expectant.
Rylee shook her head, grinning. Maybe they needed to buy a few of these so Calrian could realise it was just a tease. She kept scratching.
“That’s another two hundred and fifty thousand,” Calrian said. “Doesn’t that make three?” His voice was distant. Rylee barely heard it because she was so busy staring at the scratchie in front of her.
It wasn’t possible. The odds of her winning the top prize were astronomically small. And yet the numbers in front of her didn’t lie.
“We… we won…” she stammered. She looked up at Calrian almost for confirmation. She couldn’t quite believe it. Surely she must be imagining it?
But no, Calrian was smiling and nodding. “It looks like you did. What are you going to do with that much money?”
Rylee’s head was still spinning. A world of possibilities had suddenly opened up. That sort of money would buy a very decent house here in Mungaloo, and still leave plenty left over. If she was careful, they could survive for years on that kind of money.
She gave Calrian a hug, feeling as if a big weight had been lifted off her shoulders. She hadn’t realised how worried she’d been about money until that moment. But even though she’d ignored it, it had been there, in the back of her mind just niggling.
But if they didn’t have to worry about money…
“We could go on a holiday,” she said, grinning. “Maybe visit the ocean.”
Calrian’s face lit up at that too. “I’ve always wanted to see the ocean,” he said with a big grin.
A thousand dreams filled Rylee’s head. But she needed to be sure first. “I need to go back to the newsagent and confirm it,” she said firmly. “They won’t be able to give me that kind of money there, but I guess they’ll tell me what I have to do.”
Her hands were shaking, and she had to sit down for a minute. It was hard to believe her life was about to change so drastically. She stared at the scratchie in her hands, checking the numbers over and over again, but they didn’t change.
She really had just won two hundred and fifty thousand dollars.
Excitement rose in her, and suddenly the world was full of wonderful possibilities, possibilities she never thought she’d have. She jumped up and threw her arms around Calrian, her eyes filling with happy tears. “We won,” she said.
She couldn’t help bouncing a few times, adrenaline rushing through her.
Calrian squeezed her back, laughing. “You did,” he agreed. “And it couldn’t have happened to a nicer person.” Then he kissed her, and for a moment, Rylee almost forgot about the money because she had something even better right here.
Chapter 15
Calrian stared around at the huge buildings as Rylee drove them into the city to pick up her winnings. He’d thought the human town of Mungaloo had been big, but it was nothing compared to the city. The buildings towered above him, and it would take him several seconds to fly to the top of one of them. But what a view he’d get.
Calrian half wished he could fly around this city to see it from the sky. But that was far too risky so instead he settled for staring from the ground.
In the back seat, Rowan stared around in similar amazement.
“I think I was supposed to go down there?” Rylee swung her head around and stared down a road they’d just passed.
Calrian could almost feel the stress pouring off her. He didn’t blame her. There were cars and people everywhere, and he had no idea where they were going. Even the map open in his lap didn’t really help because he wasn’t sure of their current location.
But his stress would only add to Rylee’s. “We can go around again,” he said soothingly. “You can do it, Rylee.”
His words helped. She straightened her shoulders, went around the block again, and this time, took the right road. Soon they were standing in front of the office where Rylee would collect her money.
Calrian held her hand and squeezed it, and Rowan stood on her other side, excitement shining in his eyes.
“Once we get the money, Mum, can we go shopping before we go home?”
Rylee laughed. “Sure,” she promised him. “You can buy all the LEGOs you want.”
Rowan gave a wide grin. “Then what are we waiting for?”
Rylee laughed, and they headed inside.
It took a few hours, filling in all the forms and signing all the paperwork, but when they walked out, Rylee had a cheque for the money in her hands. Calrian wasn’t sure exactly how it worked. He hadn’t wanted to confuse Rylee by asking too many questions, even in dragon speech, but he gathered that the small piece of paper somehow stood for the money.
It wasn’t the end of their journey either. They still had to walk several blocks to find what Rylee called a ‘bank’, which was just another big building where she ‘cashed’ the cheque. Calrian wasn’t sure what that meant because she still didn’t seem to have any actual money. Both she and Rowan seemed happy and excited though, so he smiled along with them.
Then they went shopping. Calrian couldn’t help getting almost as excited as Rowan when Rylee bought a giant rocket ship, which Rowan said was a model of the one that had landed on the moon. It was in pieces, he explained, and they had to put it together. It sounded like a lot of fun.
Calrian began to understand a little bit about why some dragons had become obsessed with wealth and riches. It certainly seemed to bring a lot of advantages, fun, and happiness to the people he loved, and that made Calrian like it.
Finally, when they had bags of toys, clothes, and books, they stopped at a café for lunch.
As Rowan excitedly poured over all the things he’d bought, Rylee and Calrian sipped hot chocolates and watched him in amusement.
And in the quiet moment, Calrian took the chance to broach a question he’d been wanting to ask for a while. “Will this be enough to buy the bed and breakfast you want?” he asked using dragon speech, not wanting to interrupt Rowan’s happy chatter.
Rylee smiled. “No, not really. But that’s okay. I wanted the
money so we wouldn’t always be struggling, and now we won’t.”
At face value, her reply made sense, and her expression and tone matched her words. But for some reason, Calrian wasn’t convinced. Maybe it was just intuition, or some subtle knowledge of Rylee he couldn’t even put into words, but he was certain there was more.
He wanted to help her. It was beyond frustrating that she’d won a huge amount of money and it still wasn’t enough to achieve her dream. But what could he do about that? He didn’t understand how to make money, and from the bit he did understand, it would take years to earn the kind of money she’d need to buy a bed and breakfast.
He stared around the café as though the answer might be there waiting for him somewhere, and his eyes fell on a pile of newspapers near the counter for customers to read.
They reminded him that he had been learning a lot about human ways in the papers. And there was one way to make money that didn’t take a lot of time. It just took money to invest.
Calrian hesitated, unsure whether to mention his idea to Rylee or not. She’d said she was happy with the money she had. Was it arrogant of him to think he knew her well enough to know she wasn’t telling the whole truth?
But he couldn’t not say anything. Rylee could always say no to his idea, but he wanted to offer her the choice.
“What if there was a way to turn your money into more money? Maybe even enough to buy that bed and breakfast?” he asked her quietly.
Rylee raised an eyebrow. “That sounds like a risky proposition. What do you mean? I’m not gambling with that much money.”
Calrian wasn’t even sure what gambling was. He shook his head. “No, not gambling. The stock market.”
Rylee frowned at that. “The stock market? I don’t know anything about the stock market. Except that it seems pretty random. Not sure investing in it is any better than gambling. We could lose everything we have.”
He knew that was a risk. And normally he wouldn’t even consider it, except… “I’ve been reading about this company in the paper, when I was going back through the archives. They make a major announcement every year at the same time, it’s just a few weeks away. And I think this one is going to be a really big one.”