Stop Dragon My Heart Around

by Susanna Scott

  Chapter Eighteen

  The next morning, Tee stared at her brand new door, on her brand new house. Under her hand, the door opened and closed with a well-installed sigh. The elusive feeling of accomplishment she’d been waiting for clicked into place and she smiled. Hers. Her work. Her accomplishment. Satisfaction hummed through her, adding to her already high level of happiness from being with Leo.

  Inside, the beige walls of her three-bedroom, two-bath starter home were bare and her stuff still in boxes in various rooms. The early morning sun filtered through white blinds and washed the living room carpet in a cheerful glow. The whole place felt like one of Jane’s blank canvases, waiting for her to add her distinctive, colorful touch.

  The thought of her friends dimmed her contentment. She didn’t know where she stood with them and she felt foolish. Why hadn’t they felt they could share the truth about themselves with her? She felt like she’d revealed all of herself to them and they’d revealed nothing.

  She walked into her bedroom, where hang-up bags filled with her colorful wardrobe lay on her brand new bed. She unzipped and hung several pieces, automatically grouping things by color, enjoying the process.

  Leo had been uneasy, letting her leave the casino to settle into her new house. Even now, someone—make that some-dragon—watched her house for signs of more trouble. She appreciated that Leo had given her some time off from the casino. He seemed to understand that she needed to process all that had happened.

  To have a life with Leo, she would give up a normal human marriage with two-point-five kids and her own minivan. She used to think she wanted that but now the idea seemed as stale as her beige walls. She wanted Leo and his dragon, and some color, of that she was certain.

  Her standing with the tribe and her future relationship with the Chief still needed to be sorted out. Who was she now? The devil-on-her-shoulder whispered that she was jumping into things with Leo to fill the void left by the tribe. The thought that maybe she couldn’t stand on her own, that she needed some affiliation to be complete, niggled at her uncomfortably. Her angelic-shoulder speaker flatly, and most emphatically, denied the charge.

  Funny, she smiled at her thoughts. The chaos that was the rest of her life had nothing to do with Leo. She sighed just as her phone rang on the counter in the kitchen. She hurried to answer it. “Hello?”

  “Tee?” Jane said. “It’s me and Mei. We’re coming to see your new place. Don’t say no, we’re already in your driveway.”

  “Ah—” Tee didn’t get to respond before Jane continued.

  “We brought you a plant, you know, as a housewarming gift.”

  “A plant?”

  “Well, we considered a puppy or a cat, but that seemed impractical with your schedule. We just wanted something to keep you company.” Jane’s anxiety came across their connection in waves.

  “A plant?”

  Tee heard a shuffling of the phone.

  “Ya,” Mei said. “She got you a plant. Toss it if you want, but open the goddamn door. It’s hot out here.”

  Tee disconnected and went to open her front door. Outside a casino limo sat in the street. Its doors opened, and Jane and Mei piled out and walked up her concrete sidewalk to the door. Mei handed her a full mug of coffee as they breezed by. Tee smelled the familiar aroma of her favorite blend and shut the door behind them.

  Jane put the plant on Tee’s living room coffee table. “It needs to be re-potted.” She pulled off two small yellow leaves near the roots and set them on the glass. “You know, when a plant needs more space, it cuts nutrients to the smallest leaves first, so they go yellow. They need the big ones more, because they bring in more carbon dioxide.” She rambled on, without meeting Tee’s eyes. “It’s a matter of survival, really.”

  Mei crossed her arms and looked uncomfortable. “Leo told us that you know about us. Jane’s trying to say that we’re sorry we didn’t tell you about our dragon forms. It’s forbidden to tell a human.”

  “We miss you.” Jane gave her a wavering smile. Both Jane and Mei were dressed in comfortable yoga pants and pullovers, like they’d rolled out of bed and decided to come straight over.

  “I brought you your favorite coffee as a piece offering,” Mei said with a hint of exasperation. “What else do you want?”

  Tee smiled, considering. “That’s it.” She was so happy to see them that her eyes filled with happy tears.

  “Leo gave us permission to tell you whatever you want about our people.” Jane gave her a grave look. “To try and help you understand.”

  Tee took a sip of the coffee. It was cold, but it and the offer of information was endearing.

  She walked them to the living room, where a brand-new, butterscotch-colored sofa sat wrapped in cellophane next to the coffee table. “I’d offer you a seat, but it’ll take a minute to get this plastic off.”

  “Here.” Jane leaned over the corner of the sofa and blew air under the cellophane. The cover inflated and burst, sounding like a busted balloon. It fell free of the couch like plastic confetti. Jane gathered up the broken pieces.

  “How’d you do that?” Tee sat on a chair next to the couch.

  “I’m a storm dragon.” Jane walked to the kitchen and tossed the clear wrapping in the trash, before returning to the living room wearing a pleased look. “I can control the wind and earth elements. I’m not very strong, but I can handle plastic wrapping.”

  Tee turned this information over in her mind. She hadn’t considered there might be different types of dragons.

  Jane and Mei sat together in the middle of the couch, and then had to readjust when the stiff new cushions leaned them toward each other. Mei moved to the far edge of the sofa and Jane put her feet solidly on the ground and straightened her torso.

  “I don’t have any food yet.” Tee sat her cold coffee on the table. “I hope you aren’t hungry?”

  “No,” Jane said. “We just wanted to see your place and tell you how sorry we are.”

  Tee glanced at the green plant with its two discarded yellow leaves. She didn’t want to leave Jane and Mei behind, pluck them off for good, any more than she wanted to leave Leo behind. She missed them. Cared about them. Needed them in her life. Her life was filling with dragons rapidly.

  “I wish you had been able to tell me about your dragons.”

  “Seriously?” Mei laughed. “Would you have believed us?”

  “Well.” Tee nodded once, admitting the point. “You could’ve showed me, like Leo did. Then, I would have believed you.”

  “We talked about that, but you would have been terrified,” Jane said.

  “You would have flipped your shit,” Mei added.

  Tee nodded, trying to imagine a scenario where her roommates revealed that they were dragons. Yeah. She would have flipped her shit. “I understand, really I do.”

  Jane rushed forward and hugged her where she sat, followed by Mei. The three embraced in a circle hug. “We’re so sorry,” Jane said again.

  “It’s okay,” Tee managed through a tight throat.

  Jane and Mei resettled themselves on the couch. “You must have some questions,” Jane said.

  “I didn’t realize there were different types of dragons.”

  “Storm, fire, and ice dragons,” Mei said. “Didn’t Leo explain?”

  “No. He just said we’re fated to bond or he’d lose his dragon.”

  Mei looked thoughtful. “It’s hard to explain, but once you have flown—”

  “I flew,” Tee said. “It was scary.”

  “Our human skins are the way we exist with each other,” Jane said. “We’re too aggressive to all live together as dragons. It’s just not possible to survive as mythical beasts in this age, so we adapted physically. We need our human skins, but we love our dragons. They’re equally a part of us. To lose our dragon forms would be devastating. Most who do die soon after.”

  “Jane said she was a storm dragon. I’ve seen Leo use fire,” Tee said to Mei. “What are you?”


  “My people are from the east. I’m an ice dragon.” Mei held out her hand. It turned white and iced over like a frosted windshield, and then the ice disappeared. At Tee’s smile, Mei narrowed her eyes. “You aren’t surprised.”

  “Well,” Tee murmured. “I’m sure you’re a wonderful ice dragon.”

  Jane laughed and Mei joined in so they laughed together, just like old times. The sound pulled at Tee’s heartstrings. Her internal tense-o-meter relaxed a bit. She slumped in the chair and pulled her legs up to hug them.

  “Normally a storm dragon and an ice dragon can’t stand each other.” Jane looked affectionately at Mei. “But Mei and I, we’ve always just been straight with each other. We get along.”

  Tee added this to what she had observed about their friendship over the years. They were different women, but they were stronger for their friendship, and felt the same way about her. The knowledge warmed her.

  “I’m so glad to see you two.” She smiled at them. “I’ve been so confused about things.”

  “Leo said some reservation thugs tried to grab you from the casino,” Jane said. “You shouldn’t be here by yourself.”

  “Don’t worry. Leo has the dragon cavalry stationed somewhere outside.” Tee waved a hand. “Didn’t you see them?”

  “We did,” Mei said. “Still, we could stay here with you until things calm down, or you could just move back into the spare room.”

  Tee looked around the blank, spotless house. It was clean to the point of smelling like Pine-Sol—there was no hint of the dusty reservation here. It was everything she’d ever wanted. As much as she loved her friends, she didn’t want to go backward and move back in with them, even temporarily. She wanted to move forward, and that meant having Leo here with her.

  They could make a home together.

  Would she still fill the house with her Native American furnishings? Yes. The tribe’s beliefs were part of her blood, its beliefs were her beliefs, and she felt them in her core. She’d grown up on the reservation the same way other tribe members had, experienced the same harsh realities, the same questions about the future, the same lack of opportunity.

  “Thank you, but I need to stay here.” She’d lived everything the rest of the reservation lived. She deserved her place in the tribe. “Leo will be with me.”

  “Tell us about Leo,” Mei said, her voice mischievous.

  Tee smiled. “I guess you know Operation Leo was a roaring success, so to speak.”

  The two smiled. “How do you feel about him?” Mei asked.

  “I love him, and he loves me. The whole dragon bond thing, I told him I would try it.”

  Jane leaned forward. “He said you have his mark on your back.”

  Tee nodded.

  “You don’t seem certain about the bond,” Mei said. “You should only do it if you are one hundred percent certain that it’s Leo you want. Forever.”

  Again, Tee nodded, seeing the volatile relationship between Mei and Darius with new understanding. “Can Darius choose someone else if he wants?”

  “He won’t,” Mei said, hot certainty in her voice.

  “He could,” Jane said gently. “But finding a second destined mate…It’s very rare.”

  Silence filled the room.

  “Did Leo tell you about the Chief?” Tee asked into the tense void.

  “No,” Jane said. “He just said that he’d told you about us.”

  “The Chief isn’t my biological father,” Tee said.

  “Oh honey.” Jane stood and gave her a gentle hug “You had no idea?”

  “No.”

  “Why didn’t he tell you before?” Jane asked.

  “He said my Mom asked him not to. He didn’t want to dishonor her wishes.”

  “That’s bullshit,” Mei said. “There’s no dishonor.”

  “There shouldn’t be,” Tee admitted. “I mean, in my heart I understand that children are loved and raised every day by parents they aren’t related to, and I know the Chief loves me. It’s hard to explain. It’s like I don’t know who I am now. He said my father was a trucker. A trucker? What does that mean about me?”

  “Nothing,” Mei said, her tone emphatic. “The person you are hasn’t changed.”

  “And what about my belonging to the tribe?” She rubbed away the wetness around her eyes. “Exactly,” she said when neither Jane nor Mei replied. “What if they reject me? They’ll say there was always something different about me, and it’s true. Now I just want to find a way to still belong there. The tribe thing really hurts now. Worse than the father thing.” Her voice broke.

  “We just need a plan.” Jane fisted her hands together on her knees. “We can solve this.”

  Tee laughed. “Some things can’t be fixed with a plan, Jane, no matter how good it is.”

  At a knock at the door, Mei sprang to her feet. “Are you expecting someone?”

  “No.” Tee went to the front door, Mei and Jane right behind her.

  “We’ve got this.” The end of Mei’s hand turned white and Tee stood back in surprise. Mei rose to her tiptoes, looked through the peephole, and exhaled. Her hand returned to normal. “It’s Darius.” She unlocked the door and opened it wide.

  Darius’s broad shoulders filled the doorframe. He pulled the Chief out from behind him so Tee could see her father. “He says he needs to talk to you.”

  The Chief wore his usual jeans and chambray shirt over a white tee shirt. His long black hair hung in a single, gray-streaked braid down his back. He looked exactly the same as when she’d seen him last—except his eyes were even more hollowed under and exhausted. His face appeared more aged.

  “Chief.” Tee rushed forward, but Darius stopped her short. He held out the Chief’s hunting blade like a censorious stop sign. “He had this on his belt.”

  Tee went from concerned to angry to protective in the space of her indrawn breath. “Give it to me.” She grabbed the knife from Darius’s hand. “It’s his ceremonial blade. You’ve no right to touch it.”

  When Darius refused to move, she sighed. “This is my father, he’s fine. He is always fine.” Emotion choked her words. She met the Chief’s eyes and the two exchanged a look weighted with meaning and history. “I’m fine with him,” she added with finality.

  The Chief walked into the house so that her already crowded foyer was difficult to move in.

  “Mei, Jane, thank you for coming by,” Tee said, holding the door wide so they could leave.

  “Sure.” Jane gave her a hug and a kiss. “We’ll check back later today.”

  “No,” Tee said, making up her mind. “I’m going to the reservation, get things sorted out there. Mei, can you shuffle my incoming players to someone else?”

  “Your trainee will be thrilled,” Mei said. “She’s already taking all of Roy’s action. Did you know he was pimping women on the side? Leo put him on a plane back to Ohio and threatened to put him six feet in the ground if he ever returned to Vegas.”

  Leo’s action warmed her heart. “That’s good.” Now she would never have to see Roy’s sneering face again, even if it was only to kick him in the balls.

  Mei gave her a stiff hug and went outside with Jane. She bumped Darius’s shoulder as she exited and jumped back as if the contact had scalded her.

  Darius watched her walk down the sidewalk, a bemused look on his face. His expression behind his glasses when he turned back to Tee was annoyed.

  “Darius, thank you for watching over me,” Tee said. “But I’m safe alone with the Chief.”

  Darius nodded. “I’ll be outside.” He made to follow Mei and Jane.

  “Listen,” Tee called him back. “You’ve never asked me, but if I were trying to get Mei’s attention…”

  Darius focused his ice blue gaze on her face. “Yes?”

  “Have you ever been around a cat?”

  “A cat?” He grimaced. “The lesser animals don’t really like us all that much.” His accent was clipped and Russian sounding. “We’re not friendl
y if you know what I mean.”

  “Right. Well, cats don’t like to be pursued, it makes them feel trapped. They like to make up their own minds. They’ll come to you on their own if you just give them space.”

  “You think I should back off?” He raised two incredulous dark brows behind black glasses. “It’s been two years. I can’t back off any more. My dragon is fading.” His voice conveyed a wealth of pain that Leo hadn’t shared with her about losing his own dragon form.

  It was one thing to believe Leo should let his dragon go. It was another to be confronted with the raw emotion of the loss. “That pains you? To think about losing your dragon form?”

  Darius nodded, but his face and stiff posture said the idea was akin to someone drawing his limbs apart on a medieval rack.

  Tee cleared her throat, absorbing this. “About the cat. I think you should do more than back off. I think if you were to look elsewhere, and ignore that particular cat,” she nodded toward the departing limo, “you might suddenly find the cat twirling around your ankles for attention. So much so that you trip over it.”

  Darius looked thoughtful.

  “I’m only telling you about cats and all because I like you. I think you’re a good guy. I think you would be good for Mei. Do you understand what I’m saying?”

  “You’re saying I can’t force the cat to accept me. She has to come to me on her own, and she’ll be more likely to do this if I’m petting another.”

  “Exactly.”

  “I appreciate your advice on cats.” Darius gave her a wide smile, pivoted and walked away with a military bearing to his steps.

  Tee shut the door and locked it, and then looked at her father, who’d stood silently through the exchange. Turning the blade toward herself, she handed him his knife.

  “You’ve become very wise, Tallulah.” The Chief took the blade and sheathed it in his belt harness. “I’m proud of you.”

  The lump in Tee’s throat grew and constricted her breathing so she had to swallow and swallow again. “Thank you,” she managed. “Would you like to sit down?”

  “For just a moment.” He stood aside as she led him into the living room. He took the chair she’d abandoned earlier, and she noted that it faced the front door.