by Honor James
“Well considering that I feel safe with you, I think that this is the best place to be. You won’t leave me alone with anyone, will you?” The hopeful tone of her voice was there and clear. “I really am not sure that I would feel safe with anyone else.”
“I will stick it out as long as you want me to, sweetheart,” he promised her honestly. “I will be at your side through everything unless you want me to leave. But if that’s the case, you’ll have to say something. I’m not always on the ball when I’m on my downtime. ‘Slightly dense’ was how one of my friends put it.” He grinned and wiggled his eyebrows. “He seems to think I have ADD or something of that sort. I keep telling them that I get bored easily, so they need to keep things lively if they want me to maintain my attention.”
“Well then it’s a good thing for you that I’m one of those weird people who will totally tell you exactly what I’m thinking, when I’m thinking it.” Chrissy looked back out the window and then back to him once more. “Lord, you are one of those men who has to constantly be moving, aren’t you?” she teased with a grin.
“Most days, unless it’s football Sunday, and then you couldn’t pay me enough to move my ass.” Tryggr chuckled. “I only actually get to do one or two Sundays a month with work and all, but I take my football seriously.”
That had her grinning, and Chrissy laughed with the grin. When she spoke there was so much laughter and joy in her voice that it was clear that he had tickled her. “Right. Well, hopefully the Sundays coming up aren’t ones that are your football days, because you will have me at your home. I really wouldn’t want to have you having to babysit me when you would rather be watching your games.”
“You could just sit with me and watch,” he pointed out and grinned at her look. “Not a football fan?” he asked curiously. She’d had an odd look on her face, one he couldn’t quite define. “It’s not so bad, always lots of eats, cheering, booing, and hissing. It’s very loud and emotional.”
“Yeah, I’m not much of a football fan, sorry.” The tone of her voice was one of regret. She was sorry that she wasn’t a huge football fan, but it was what it was. “I’m sure that I can find something else to do though. I hope.”
“I’m sure you could,” he said honestly as he pulled up to the gate. Rolling down the window, he waved to the guard. “Evening, Charles. We’ve got a meeting with T-Rex. See you later, buddy,” he told him as he took the truck onto the base and headed for the parking by the office buildings.
Chrissy frowned and undid her seat belt and looked around. “I never knew that this place was here. This town is not that big of a town, and yet I never knew that this place was here. Why is that?” she asked with a frown and looked to him once again.
“We’re a ways outside town, and the townsfolk keep it all on the down low, and in return we keep them safe,” he said. Plus the fact they had a magical shield around the place so that unless you were of their world or in one of the vehicles, you couldn’t see it. “It’s a win-win situation,” he told her as he pulled into a spot and parked.
“Right, win-win.” She frowned and shook her head. Chrissy found herself trying to move in closer to Tryggr despite the fact they were in an SUV. “Is this a safe place? This base thing that you are taking me to?”
“Absolutely,” he said, rubbing his hand up and down her arm after shutting off the engine. “No one will hurt you here,” he promised. “Come on, sweet, let’s go and see the big guy.” Tryggr opened his door and stepped out. “Want to come this way?” He held out a hand to her.
She slipped her hand into his and got out on his side. “I really don’t think that I want to spend much time away from you or being too far from you please.” She was scared out of her mind. Terrified actually. “I know that sounds totally silly, but I really want to be as close to you as possible, please.” She trusted Tryggr. She didn’t know anyone else.
Inhaling her fear, Tryggr shut the door and pulled her in closer to him. Giving her a gentle hug, he looked down at her face. “It’s perfectly safe, Chrissy. I promise you that. But I will stay right next to you the entire time,” he whispered quietly.
“As long as you are beside me, I know that I’m going to be safe, I know I’m going to be fine.” She looked up at him and hugged him back again with a smile. “I’m just not used to being around a lot of people either, so I guess that’s another thing that has me all kinds of warped right now.”
Without looking around, he knew there wasn’t a soul around them. “There’s no one here,” he said quietly. “There are more inside than out here, sweetheart,” he murmured, brushing a kiss to her temple. “And there will be a couple in the room with us while I debrief and Talon asks you questions.”
“That’s what I mean,” she whispered. “When we are around the others. I just wanted to tell you now instead of waiting for later. I needed you to know that I really don’t do crowds well is all.” Leaning into him, Chrissy wrapped her arms around him tighter and simply held onto him. Stroking her hair gently, he rubbed his chin to her hair. “I will be there, holding your hand and right next to you, Chrissy. Talon may look like he’s a big scary giant, but he’s a softy. His bark is worse than his bite.” To those he liked. He wouldn’t go into that with her though. He didn’t need her scared more than she was.
“Thank you then for not leaving me. I know that I’m being all clingy and stuff, but I can’t seem to help it. I really like you, and I feel so very safe with you.” She had just met him, and she was safe with him, felt safe with him. “All right then, let’s go and see these people that we need to see and meet this man that will likely scare the bejesus out of me.”
“Shh,” he murmured, squeezing her close to him. “I’m with you, Chrissy, all the way,” he whispered and, keeping her close, he guided her toward the offices. He held her one hand in his as he kept her tucked tight to him. “Talon is a good guy.” Maybe he shouldn’t have said anything.
“I trust you. If you say that he’s a good guy, then I trust you. I just don’t like people in general,” she admitted. “That’s why I deal with animals instead of with people. I have an assistant, Mindy, that I like and I like to deal with, but not much more.”
“Well, if we’re lucky, it will only be you and I and Talon there, no one else. Did you want some tea before we go to the meeting?” he asked in the hopes it might help her to settle and give her hands something to toy with if she had nerves.
“No thank you. I think that having my hands free would be the best idea.” Otherwise she would toy with the tea and then more than likely spill it all over Talon. “I say that we get this over and done with as soon as possible,” she told him with a grin.
He rubbed his hand up and down her arm as he led her inside. Taking the elevator, he guided her into the conference room where Talon sat doing something on his phone. Closing the door, he guided her to a chair. “Talon, this is Chrissy. Chrissy, this is Talon,” he said holding the chair for her.
Chrissy took the seat that Tryg offered her and looked up at him. She watched him, and then when he took the seat beside her, she slipped her hand into his and looked once more at the beyond-large man that sat in the oversized chair. “Hello, Talon,” she offered to the man that seemed to watch her as if he were sizing her up for, well, she didn’t know for what.
“Hello, Christine Shaw,” he said softly as he stared at her. “Or is it Doctor Shaw? So, you’ve had a bad night I take it from what I’ve heard coming in. I need you to tell me everything that’s happened since this morning, in great detail from the moment you left your practice to when Tryg scooped you up,” he requested in the same quiet tone, never once blinking.
“Dr. Shaw is actually my title, but I prefer Chrissy, if you wouldn’t mind,” she admitted. Leaning back she closed her eyes, rubbed them for a moment before she said,, “I think I realized there was someone there before he was behind me. And then I could smell the rot. When he spoke, I swear there were pieces of what I’m going to think of as animal and would
prefer for you not to burst my bubble on that. He knew me. He knew my name. He said that he had been sent for me and me alone, that it was time for him to break someone’s heart.” Which meant hers of course. “And since I’m not dating, married, or even seeing someone, I assumed that meant him breaking my heart, with his hand.”
Sharing a look with Tryggr, Talon frowned. “Somehow I don’t think so,” he murmured quietly. “We’ve had a few other incidents where seemingly random women were assaulted. A couple were taken, and others were left. All said their attackers knew their names and were there to break someone’s heart. We have no idea what it means, but so far we’ve kept all the women safe. Unfortunately it doesn’t appear to be stopping anytime soon. We can’t call it a serial since all the attackers are different and appear to be working in a large group in case of any attention being attracted to what they are doing. At the moment we are going with the theory that someone out there has a list of names and your name’s on that list. What the list means or who is on it, we’ve got nothing. But you’ll be kept in protective custody until we know you’re safe. On that note”—Talon watched her even closer—“I need to know your preferences for protective custody. Do you want a hotel, a friend’s place, or Tryg’s place?”
There was absolutely no hesitation when she said, “Tryggr’s place please.” She looked to the man in question and added, “As long as the option is still available. Are you sure that you will be all right with me sticking around and going with me tomorrow to make sure that all of the animals that are in the clinic get to their homes and so on?”
“The offer is still open, Chrissy.” Tryggr smiled at her. “And yes, I will go with you to ensure the fluff balls get back to their homes. Speaking of which”—he looked to Talon—“I will need a couple of the guys to come along just in case someone shows up again.”
“We can do that.” Talon looked away from them to his data pad. “Mac and Aiden are available and likely would like a light-duty day.” Setting it down, Talon grinned. “All right, since you chose door number three that means you get ‘the speech.’ You want something to drink before we start in on this?” he asked her. “Water, tea, scotch?”
“Oh lord,” she whispered and gulped. “Tequila? Like by a gallon-load?” At the man’s look she grinned. “If it’s news that has you offering me scotch, I figure that it’s going to be something that is going to blow my damn mind, and I would really rather have something that will dull my senses so that I don’t scream or pass out or something foolish like that.”
Getting up, Talon collected a bottle, glass, ice, salt, and limes as well as a knife. Taking everything back, he set it before her and lifted a brow. “You may want to put a couple of those down before I start,” he warned softly.
“That bad?” she asked and after his look grabbed the tequila and poured a heavy shot into the glass, took a gulp back before taking and cutting up the limes, and did a couple more shots before she felt warm all over and grinned at Talon. “All right. Hit me, big man.”
Watching her for a moment, he waved a finger before her eyes, which were a little sluggish but still alert. “All right, watch.” He pointed to his face and allowed the Dragon to begin to come to the surface. Talon could feel the bone structure shifting, the skin itching as it hardened, and his teeth lengthened and took over his mouth.
A hand on her chair, Tryggr watched her as she stared at him.
Chrissy watched the man shift from human to…well…not human. “Oh. My. God.” She felt like lifting from her chair and running but couldn’t. Instead she just looked and watched. “It’s like a damn train wreck. You can’t stop watching.” She felt panic hitting her, felt her breath coming in gasps as she watched him. “Oh God. What the hell are you?”
Talon lifted a brow and seemed to have some sort of inner struggle for a moment. “I’m a man,” he said softly. “I’m also a Changer Dragon if you hadn’t guessed. But if you want to get all specific, I’m King of the Dragons. My lead tech is King of the Mage and Sorcerers, Tryggr here is, technically, King of the Cats, though he was too traumatized at the time of his parents’ deaths to take the position, so another was nominated. Now he’s just too comfortable in his own life to be bothered with taking the Throne as he should.”
Chrissy turned to look at Tryggr and gulped. “Show me,” she demanded softly. “I need to see. Don’t ask me why, but I need to see.” She didn’t care about “king” or whatever, but she needed to see Tryggr as he was, as the animal that he was, not only the man.
Making a face, he let his eyes change and his teeth lengthen into full canines as fur slowly started to sprout on his cheeks. Pulling the jaguar back under control, he blinked as his eyesight returned to that of a man. “Meow,” he murmured softly and resisted grinning when she jumped slightly.
Chrissy just watched him and shook her head. “That is how you could smell the animals from the clinic on me. Your sense of smell is far more than that of a human.” She put two and two together fairly quickly. “Meow, yeah, only meow if you want to be petted like a kitten,” she muttered and turned back to Talon. “All right, I still choose him.”
“I do like having my ears scratched and my belly rubbed,” Tryggr threw out with a lopsided grin.
Rolling his eyes, Talon shook his head. “And back onto topic we go. The world has all sorts of Changers and magic users. The Teams that Tryg and I are a part of all consist of several Changers, Wolves, Cats, Dragons, and a few Avians. Quincy is our lead Mage on site. He’s our tech guru and the one you may see popping Skittles like they are going to be torn from shelves tomorrow. Thus his nickname, if you hear anyone use it. I swear that boy lives on the damn things.”
Chrissy grinned and said, “I had a roommate in college that ate M&Ms as if they were her salvation. I swear that woman always, always had those things on her person. What was sad though was that she was actually diabetic and didn’t know it.” A soft frown touched her lips when she added, “She died at the age of nineteen from complications from a diabetic coma. Is your guy taking care of himself?”
“He’s a Mage. They burn energy differently than even Changers because they are tapped into the very energies of the Earth. The sugar is used for their magics very quickly, plus the fact that Changers and magic users don’t get diseases like humans do. Except the cold. We don’t know why, but we do, and it’s very annoying,” Talon grumbled.
Chrissy laughed. “Well it’s good to know that even you, you…” She hesitated. “What are you all called? I want to say humans, but you are all so much more than that, so what species would you be classified as?” She blamed her mind that wanted to work out problems for the ability to still be thinking and speaking even after six shots.
“In public we are just men, humans. Behind closed doors you can refer to us as Changers or magic users, or by our animal, like Dragon or Jaguar. Other than that…” Talon shrugged. “We are half-human, Chrissy. We think, we love, we hunger, we fear, we hate, we cry. While we have something more contained deep inside, we still think of ourselves as human.”
“Human it is then.” Chrissy smiled and felt the booze hitting her before she added, “I can’t think of you as anything else right now, because knowing me, I would totally blab that at the wrong time and then it would be like the Salem Witch hunts, times like a bazillion.” Sighing, she turned her gaze to Tryggr and smiled. “Will you take me home, my kitty cat king?”
Wincing at her slurred tone, Tryggr got up. “No more alcohol for you, that’s for sure,” he muttered. Rolling her chair back, he helped her to her feet and then held her there. “I’ll check in in the morning, T,” he told his boss and friend. “Come on, darling, time to get you home and into a bed where you can sleep this off.”
Chrissy waved at the dragon and grinned. “Good-bye, T,” she teased and then, “T, P, C.” Giggling, she looked up at Tryggr. “Oh, T-Rex. I like that,” she murmured with a snicker. “Bye, T-Rex,” she teased with a grin.
Shutting the door on the low snarl
that emanated from the Dragon, Tryggr hustled her up the hall to the elevators. “Never, ever call him that to his face, woman,” he hissed softly. “He really hates that nickname, and most of us remember that.” Not counting Quincy of course, but that Mage seemed to have a death wish or something going on. Or he had dirt on the big guy and could get away with it.
Chrissy giggled and shook her head. “He wasn’t going to bite me or anything. I think that you think that he thinks that—” She paused and tilted her head to the side. “What was I saying?” She had drunk too much. “How many shots did I have? Six, seven?”
“You had six,” he said with a sigh. It was going to be a long night. “Six very healthy shots of high-end tequila,” he added as he tugged her along with him toward the parking lot. “Which should have you sleeping rather well tonight and perhaps regretting some of them come morning.”
“Just give me Motrin and water before bed and I will be right as rain come morning.” She ran her hands down his chest as she stepped before him and looked up happily. “You are so very pretty. I wanna pet you. Will you change and sleep with me so I can pet you?” Yep, she was so toasted it wasn’t even funny.
“Somehow I doubt you’d appreciate my furry ass in your bed come morning when you come face-to-face with me,” he said, lifting her up into the truck. Doing up her seat belt, he had to keep pushing her in since she had a list toward the door. Rolling his eyes, he gave her one good nudge and slammed the door before she swung back toward it.
Chrissy giggled when he got into the vehicle and shook her head. “I don’t giggle,” she stated bluntly. “I think your boss got me drunk,” she muttered. “Or was that me?” Likely her. “And I think that I would like all of your ass, furry or otherwise, in my bed, Tryggr.”