by Jan Dockter
“Yes, my queen,” said Reanne. But her back was stiff and even when a servant placed a plate of food before her she did not reach for it.
“Reanne, why don’t you greet your sibling?”
“I’d rather not.”
“Forgive Reanne. She approaches her mating season and it common for a dragoness to lose her appetite, and her manners.”
“I’m sorry, Ryan,” said Reanne.
“There that is better. Give him a kiss, Reanne.”
Ryan hardly knew what to expect, but Reanne leaned in and pressed her lips to his. But her kiss felt cold and unwelcoming. Not that he had an appetite for any woman other than Steph.
“Steph!” thundered Rhea. “Why are you thinking about this human?”
“My queen,” said Calvin. He had put his hand on Rhea’s arm but she shook him off.
“Ryan?”
Ryan turned his head and stared into Rhea’s furious eyes.
“She is my lawyer,” he said coldly.
“Lawyer? From the human firm?” snarled Rhea. Her eyes flashed and Ryan could swear he saw flames in them.
“Yes.”
“The seneschal,” Rhea said more coldly.
“Yes.”
He shut down his thoughts but felt a pressure on his thoughts as if someone was trying to enter to his mind. Ryan glanced at Rhea who was staring at him with great intensity. Alarm spread in a cascade up his spine. Calvin had warned him not to reveal his relationship with Steph and now the dragon queen was trying to steal that information.
Ryan stood and kicked back the chair.
“Get out of my head, Rhea,” he said.
“You will do what I say,” said Rhea. “You will give me access.”
“Over my dead body,” he said.
“We can arrange that,” said Rhea. In a lightning fast movement, she stood. Her chair fell and clattered on the floor of the cavern. All in the dinner party stopped and watched Ryan face Rhea. She spread her arms and suddenly a great golden dragon stood before him with her wings spread open. Rhea roared her anger and the walls of the cavern trembled.
Ryan caught the thought of the great dragon and it was ugly. Rhea imagined snapping Steph in half in between her jaws.
He would not allow it. Ryan opened his mouth to speak but instead it came out as a roar. His eyesight shifted and his skin burned as it turned to blue scales and black claws. Rhea hissed at Ryan and the sibilant sound frightened Ryan. Again he opened his mouth to scream at Rhea, but instead white fire lanced from his mouth and blasted the dragon queen.
Dragons in human form screamed at the sight. Rhea roared but more in anger than real pain and Ryan saw she outclassed him. Other dragons many of whom he supposed loyal to Rhea surrounded him.
Ryan flapped his wings in agitation trying to figure out what to do. Calvin was at the queen’s side speaking to her but the dragon shook her head menacingly.
Change and run, said another voice in his head. We will cover for you.
He turned his head to Reanne, and she nodded. For a minute, he panicked not remembering how he shifted back the first time he was in dragon form. Then he remembered Steph and how the urge to comfort her overrode his doubts about his abilities. He thought of Steph now and how he needed to get back to her and his body burned again but this time he stood before Reanne as a human.
“Run,” she whispered urgently.
And he did.
CHAPTER FIFTEEN
Steph
Fury overtook Steph’s mind. Hearing that Mr. Watins didn’t care about the interests of their country, a sudden cold spread from her gut through her body. Raised a Marine’s daughter, being a Marine herself, loyalty to her country ran through her like her life’s blood. She spit out her resignation without thought and without care for her financial future. Steph didn’t care that her student loans wouldn’t get paid off, or that she had just shot her career in the foot. She couldn’t stand to be in the room with this traitor one more minute.
She turned and stalked toward the door, shaking in her shock and indignation.
“Wait!” called Ivan Kaur.
But Steph didn’t stop. She just made the door when Ryan’s father caught up to her and grabbed her arm.
She stopped in her tracks and gave him a frosty stare.
“Look,” he said dropping her arm, “I don’t like any of this either. My former lawyer here put me in the middle of some very nasty business.”
“Kaur,” said Watins in a warning voice, “you do not want to drop us as your representatives.”
Ivan Kaur turned to Watins who glared at the industrialist.
“I don’t? Why would I keep attorneys that lied to me and my wife and gave us a dragon child without revealing that little fact to us? Manipulate me, my son, and this blameless young woman here? To make sure we don’t develop weapons that work against dragons? Get your sorry ass out of my house, Watins.”
Watins face turned beet red.
“You’ll regret this, Kaur.”
“I swear to the Almighty, Watins, that if you do one thing that harms me or mine, you are going to find yourself at the other end of a government investigation. That I can promise you. Out!”
Watins stormed out to of the room. Kaur crossed the room and picked up his phone.
“Make sure Mr. Watins is shown off the property. Thank you.” He settled the handset into its cradle with a click.
Steph stared at Mr. Kaur. She saw a bit of Ryan in him, a bit of his brashness and take-charge attitude. Kaur huffed out a breath and then looked at Steph.
“Well, it seems I’m without representation, Ms. Brooks and you are without a job. Looks like we have a mutual need.”
For the second time she was shocked. “I’m just a first-year associate, Mr. Kaur. I’m not qualified to represent you.”
“I wouldn’t say that. You’re honest, which to me is an essential quality for the people I employ. And you aren’t afraid to stand up to the big guys, which is another one.”
“Still, I just don’t—”
“Stop doubting yourself. Besides which the role I have in mind for you is more as a liaison between Kaur Industries and whatever firm we hire. Believe me, when word gets out that I fired Peters, Watins and Roe, they will all come calling like the whores they are. No, I’m worried about Ryan. He’s in a hell of a mess right now. First fleeing the scene of an accident can potentially put him in prison. The reports of him kidnapping you have been hard to dispel.”
“Well, I’m here now.”
“I’ll call the governor and let him know that that is just the media latching onto a sensational story.”
“You can do that?”
“Sure. We play golf all the time. Hang on.”
Kaur dialed a number and Steph heard the voice of the governor on the other end.
“Yeah. The media’s gone a little overboard. Ms. Brooks is my employee and was with Ryan during the accident. He was more concerned about getting her help than worry about the car, so he called our helicopter service and airlifted her to hospital. We are terribly sorry for the misunderstanding.”
“The witnesses at the hospital were quite certain they saw a dragon,” said the governor.
“No. Dragon Helicopter service. I’m sure it was a miscommunication.”
“I’ll talk with the commander of the State Police and wave him off the kidnapping aspects, but Ryan has to turn himself in for the other charges.”
“I understand. He will. Thanks Governor.”
“Okay. Just as long as we meet on the links this weekend. I want the chance to win back that last thousand you stole from me.”
“Sure thing. See you then.”
Kaur looked at Steph and grinned. “Well, that was relatively cheap. All I need to do is suffer the indignity of letting him beat me at golf and giving back a thousand that I rightly won. But for Ryan I’ll suffer that.”
“Even knowing he’s a dragon, you love him?”
“Ms. Brooks, since the first time I
saw his fuzzy little head I loved him. Regardless of his biological parents, he’s my son and always will be.”
“And is there a Dragon Helicopter Service?”
“Ah, there will be. Here,” he opened a desk drawer and handed Steph a folder.
“Your first assignment. Here is a shell company I incorporated about ten years ago.”
Steph took the folder and read the tab.
“Dragon Services?”
“Yes. I had no idea if Ryan being a dragon would come up but I wanted to be prepared. Find an office and set it up at one of the smaller airports in the state. I don’t care which one. I’ll call my accountant and tell him that you have power of attorney over the company. You draft the documents as well as your employment contract. We’ll start you at $250,000 per year, and include some performance bonuses on top of that.”
The elder Kaur was in full businessman mode, rattling off instructions and not giving time for Steph to be amazed at the money he offered. She grabbed at a pad and pen on Kaur’s desk and started writing furiously.
“We’ll need at least three helicopters to make it look good, so you are to order them and have them delivered to the new office, all with the Dragon services logo on them. We’re backfilling here, so we need to be quick about this. But order them through the Kaur aircraft division, and order the top of the line ones.”
“Any particular color?” quipped Steph.
Kaur gave her a quizzical look. “Order what you think is appropriate.”
“Blue then,” said Steph. “As a dragon, Ryan is blue.”
“Blue, eh? Well, blue it is.” He continued without missing a beat. “We’ll have you move in here.”
“Now wait Mr. Kaur. I don’t think Ryan will like that.”
“Why?”
“Because he left me,” she said bitterly. “Fired me and flew off with that other dragon.”
“Other dragon? I’m afraid I don’t understand.”
“Another dragon showed up at the hospital, the second time, and Ryan went off with him.”
“That damned rat Watins,” cursed Ivan. “He told me Ryan flew away the second time like the first.”
“Are you surprised he lied, sir? After the lies he’s told you all these years.”
“No. I suppose not. But this is news to me and concerns me greatly. Do you know where he is?”
Steph shook her head. “No. I haven’t heard from him.”
“Damn. That can’t be good.”
CHAPTER SIXTEEN
Ryan
Ryan’s feet hit the marble floors of the hallway of the dragon’s palace with a dull slap. The dragon queen was certifiable and he wasn’t go to spend another minute here, answers or no answers. But he didn’t know where he was going and afraid he ran deeper into the underground compound rather than out.
Behind him the queen’s roars rumbled through the halls though they were getting fainter. Ryan didn’t know what this meant. Either she changed form to pursue him or she sent other dragons to chase him. Ryan’s only hope was to get away from here. Now.
But Ryan’s shins hit a hard surface and he flew forward to crash into the solid floor below him. He turned to see a man who looked to be about his age standing with a staff.
“Sorry,” the man said. “I had to stop you and this was the fastest way to do it.” He held out his hand. “I’m Evan Waters.”
Ryan took the offered hand and stood as he tried to place the name. “Wait. You’re one of the dragons that escaped the English prison.”
“Well, I escaped but I landed here, so I don’t know if I’m better off. But you managed to get the queen royally pissed off. What did you do?”
“She read my thoughts.”
Evan shrugged. “Well, that could do it depending on the thoughts. Come on, we don’t have much time. They’ll be watching the courtyard and that is the best place for launch.”
The man turned and sped in the direction that Ryan had come, but soon turned down a hallway perpendicular to the other. Ryan followed and Evan entered a stairwell leading up. They broke onto the courtyard where Ryan had arrived hours earlier. It was dark and no moon shined so they were both shrouded in darkness.
Evan pulled the robe off him.
“Shift and go now,” Evan whispered, then he backed away.
Ryan stood in terror, his heart beating wildly. Now when he needed to transform he couldn’t seem to do it. So far shifting had been totally involuntary and in response to immediate danger. The white fire he breathed was involuntary too and he was shocked that it did nothing to harm Rhea. Right now he was standing in the dark, totally naked, and doubting his ability to do anything.
“Shift!” urged Evan from the shadows.
“If I could I would!”
“Don’t you know how?”
“Only when something dangerous happens.”
“Well, think of the most terrible thing that can,” suggested Evan.
Ryan remembered Calvin’s warning that should he leave Steph’s life would in danger. That made him furious. Ryan saw for himself how volatile Rhea Gentrix was and it wasn’t hard for him to imagine the dragon queen harming Steph and that he could not tolerate. His anger sparked and rose through him and the prickly sensations on his skin drove him mad. But he was a dragon, and he spread his wings and roared.
“Oh, god,” Evan said from the shadows. “Fly out of here now. I can hear the queens’ guard arriving.”
Ryan did feel the rumble of many feet on the ground. With a great leap, he hurled his body into the air and immediately caught a thermal under his wings. He spiraled upward into the clouds as the sounds of other dragons trumpeting followed him. He beat his wings looking to gain height, but he realized quickly that he had no idea where he was, other than he was flying above a very spikey mountain range. He could be in the Rockies or Tibet for all he knew.
The cries of dragons grew louder and the beating of wings filled the air. He was surrounded. One dragon flew above him and then dove straight at him.
Ryan dove and tried to twist out of his way, but the dragon’s fore claw struck Ryan’s snout painfully, and knocked Ryan off balance. He spun out of control and fell. If he didn’t pull out of this dive he’d smash into one of the mountain peaks below him.
Ryan thought how desperately he wanted to be home. If he ever saw his father again he’d apologize for all the problems he gave him.
And then suddenly the sky cleared of clouds and the air was thicker. Ryan was still falling and he couldn’t seem to get his wings under him. He spun crazily and tumbled but in one of the rotations he noticed a large swimming pool below him. In fact the distinctive shape was that of the pool on at his, or rather, his father’s house. He twisted his body to aim for the pool thinking the water would be an easier landing than the ground.
Bam! Water sprayed around him as he hit the pool. A wave of pain surged through him because the landing was not soft as he imagined it would be. It felt like a very painful belly flop from a diving board only worse.
He bellowed from the pain as two people ran from the house. Ryan thrashed his tail trying to get it under him so he could get upright, but nothing seemed to fit in this damned pool. Why did he think it was big?
“Ryan?” called Steph.
Steph. Thank god it was Steph. He bellowed though it came out a throaty whine.
She jogged to his head and threw her arms around his neck.
“Where did you go?” she said.
Ryan huffed. He must be in shock because not a lot was making sense right now. All he knew was that he scented Steph and that made things a little better.
“Ryan, be human again, okay,” she urged.
Human? He was a dragon, not human. He thought he was human but he wasn’t.
“What’s wrong?” said a deeper voice. He struggled to place the familiar voice. Father. That’s it. It was his father. Only he didn’t have a father. Or a mother. Just Rhea Gentrix—one scary evil mother.
“He’s confused. Prob
ably shock from the fall.”
“Son! I need you to be yourself. Can you do that? Be the Ryan that I know.”
An image of his human body filled his mind and he knew it was how Steph saw him. Blond, tall, muscled, sexy. Everything she wanted. Except he couldn’t have her. Rhea would kill her. He had to get her to leave and stay far away from him.
“No, no,” he said. The pool grew bigger. Water swirled around him to his neck. Steph held out her hand and Ryan pulled up and out of the water and he promptly dropped sit at the lip of the pool. Droplets dripped down his face from his hair while someone draped a large towel on his shoulders.
“Are you okay, son?” asked his father.
“What?” Ryan said, “Is she doing here?”
“I hired her,” said the elder Kaur.
“No!” croaked Ryan hoarsely. “She has to go. Take her away. She mustn’t be here, ever.”
“Ryan!” chided his father. “Ms. Brooks has done nothing but help.”
“Out!” he ordered. “Out of here.”
“No, that’s okay, Mr. Kaur,” said Steph in a steely voice. “If Ryan doesn’t want me here, I’ll leave.”
Her heels clicked away on the patio and Ryan slumped.
“Here,” said his father. “Get him to bed. I have some business to take care of.”
Two of the estates security men hauled Ryan to his feet, and between them dragged him up the stairs to his room. He fell into the bed, grateful for the give in the mattress that eased his bruised body. His stomach was aching badly and he wondered why. He had tried to burn Rhea Gentrix but nothing happened to her.
For some time he lay on the bed going in and out of consciousness, when his door opened. A man he did not recognize flashed a penlight in his eyes and asked him some questions. He pulled down the towel which Ryan used to cover his stomach.
“Yeah. That’s a bruise.” He felt around Ryan’s stomach and asked if it hurt when he pressed on certain areas. Ryan shook his head.