For the Heart of Dragons

by Julie Wetzel

  “I think this is her room,” Noah warned. He could feel the dragon’s curiosity pique as they moved into the room. “We should probably leave her be while she’s changing.”

  Byrd snorted, ignoring Noah, and slipped into the room. He poked around for a moment before going over and pressing his nose against the unlatched bathroom door. It started to inch open.

  “No, Byrd!” Noah argued, forcing his will out, trying to take control away from the dragon.

  Byrd stopped and shook his head as if he were trying to silence Noah.

  “Leave her be,” Noah coaxed. “She’s having a rough day already.” He didn’t need to know all of her story to see she was having a hard time. The fight with Daniel and the condition of her clothing were more than enough to prove that.

  “Make better,” Byrd argued and nosed the door again.

  Noah clench down as hard as he could on the muscles in his legs, and they stopped moving forwards. “No, Byrd.”

  Byrd shook himself again.

  “We can make her day better by letting her have some time to regroup,” Noah coaxed the dragon. He could feel the creature’s indecision. Byrd wanted to go in and comfort her, but he was starting to see Noah’s point. “Just let her be for a little while.”

  Shaking himself again, Byrd backed away from the open door. Explore. Turning, he made his way out of Kara’s room and back down the hall.

  Noah breathed a sigh of relief as they made their way down the hall. He wasn’t sure what Kara would have done had they barged in on her shower.

  “Why?” Byrd asked, picking up on Noah’s thoughts.

  “You know, for an old dragon, you sure are naive about things,” Noah complained, but the question hung between them. Letting out another sigh, he explained, “People like privacy when showering or changing. It makes them uncomfortable when others watch while they’re undressed.”

  Byrd thought on this for a moment. “But Raven not uncomfortable when you watched.”

  “That was different,” Noah said meekly.

  “How?”

  “You were there, you know.” The dragon’s curiosity ate at Noah, and he drew in a frustrated breath as he tried to think of a way to explain it to Byrd. “We were in a physical relationship. She expected me to watch her undress.”

  After a few moments of thought, Byrd paused on the stairs and asked a question that blew Noah’s mind. “Relationship with Kara?”

  “No!” Noah said, stopping the dragon from turning around and going back up the steps. “We are not in a relationship with Kara!”

  “Could be,” Byrd replied.

  For one quick moment, Noah shared the memories of Kara holding him down and rubbing her face against the bottom of his jaw. Desire raced through him, pulling a shiver in its wake. He gasped at the powerful response his body had to the memory. “No,” he panted as he tried to focus on the here and now. So many times, he had teased his dragon coworkers when their instincts had kicked in and they’d made a fool of themselves. Now he understood their claims that they couldn’t help themselves. He had never expected the call of instinct to be so powerful.

  “Sure?” Byrd asked, letting the memory of her touch torture Noah.

  “I’m sure.” Noah gasped as the feeling subsided. He drew in a few deep breaths before they continued down the stairs to explore the rest of Kara’s home. Relaxing, Noah thought as he let Byrd poke around in the woman’s boxes. He didn’t know how, but the dragon was shielding him from those feelings. If, for some reason, Byrd decided to give in to that call, Noah would be unable to do a thing about it.

  ***

  “Sorry about that,” Kara said, shaking her damp hair back and stepping into the room where she’d left Byrd. She had taken a little longer in the shower than she had intended, but she felt much better now that she was clean and dry again. Pausing, she glanced around. “Byrd?” The little dragon was nowhere to be seen.

  Shaking her head, Kara turned out of the room. Of course he isn’t here. He’s got a whole house to explore, she thought, scolding herself as she went to find the little dragon. “Byrd,” she called as she glanced in rooms as she passed. He wasn’t upstairs. “Where are you?”

  A strange thumping noise had her hurrying downstairs.

  “Byrd?” She paused at the bottom of the steps, but she didn’t see him in the living room.

  A distressed cry from the kitchen had Kara rushing around the end of the bar. What she found stopped her dead in her tracks, and she covered her mouth in shock. The kitchen was wrecked. Several boxes were knocked over and spilled. Cans and packages of food were scattered all over her new laminate floor, and Byrd stumbled around in the middle of the mess with a box stuck on his head, keening in distress.

  Trying to suppress her laughter, she rushed over to him. “Sweetheart,” she cooed as she dodged around his flailing wings and caught him by the shoulders.

  He chirped in alarm and froze.

  “It’s all right,” she reassured as she pushed the mess out of the way and sat on the floor next to him.

  Byrd shook his head, trying to get the box loose, but it was stuck.

  Kara ran her hands over his warm scales, calming him. “Easy there.” She slipped her hand inside the box and pushed back the flap of cardboard that had gotten stuck on the boned frill at the back of his head. Lifting it up, she pulled the box off.

  Byrd snorted and shook his head as he backed away, glaring at the box furiously.

  Kara tried to hide her smile, but the cross dragon was just too cute. A soft snicker slipped out, and he turned his angry look to her. “I’m sorry,” she apologized, but she couldn’t get the grin to go away.

  Byrd shot her a hurt look.

  Feeling bad about laughing, Kara apologized again. “I’m sorry, Byrd.” She set the box to the side and looked around at the mess. “What were you doing?”

  “Hungry,” Byrd whined. He lowered his head as if he had done something wrong.

  Kara’s heart broke, and she shifted up so she could catch the dragon around the head and pull him into her chest. “I’m sorry, sweetheart,” she said as she held him. “I forgot about food.” Letting out a sigh, she dropped back so she could look at her small houseguest. “How about we order a couple of pizzas?”

  Byrd considered her for a moment before nodding his head.

  Pushing up from the floor, Kara went to get her phone from her bag. “What would you like on it?” she asked.

  When Byrd didn’t answer, she turned to look at him. He had followed her out of the kitchen but had only gotten as far as the carpeted floor of the dining room before sitting down. Kara watched him, concerned by his posture. He was sitting back on his haunches with his head down and wings drooping loose as if he were depressed, but he was gurgling and chirping to himself. She caught snippets of words but couldn’t understand what he was saying.

  Her chest tightened as hope filled her. Could he be talking to Noah? Unwilling to interrupt his inner dialogue, Kara searched her phone for the closest pizza place and ordered a variety of pizzas. Hopefully, Byrd would like something she ordered.

  After a few more minutes of waiting for the dragon to finish whatever conversation he was having—hopefully with Noah—Kara called out to him. “Would you like to come help me put that room together while we wait for food?”

  Byrd’s head snapped up at the sound of her words. He blinked a few times before chirping his agreement.

  “Come on,” Kara said as she led the way to the steps. A positive feeling grew in her chest as he followed behind her, still rumbling to himself. If Byrd was talking with Noah already, then maybe there was hope for them yet.

  ***

  “I told you to stay out of that box,” Noah reprimanded Byrd as they followed Kara out of the kitchen

  The little dragon plopped down on the carpet just outside the door. “Hungry.”

  Noah drew in a mental sigh and calmed himself. “I know you’re hungry. I’m hungry, too, but digging in other people’s thin
gs isn’t nice.”

  “But I likes the squishy, fruity things,” Byrd whined.

  “I like gummy bears, too,” Noah soothed him, “but we should have asked before we got into them.”

  “Why?” Byrd whined again.

  “Because they were Kara’s.”

  “But they yummy and I hungry.”

  “But you can’t just take someone else’s stuff,” Noah tried to explain.

  “Why not?”

  The absolute innocence of that question floored Noah. “For an old dragon, you’re pretty ignorant,” he snapped.

  Anger washed over Byrd, and he flooded Noah’s mind with information. “Not dumb!”

  Noah reeled from the sheer amount of knowledge Byrd dumped on him. After a moment, he found his equilibrium and addressed the upset dragon. “I didn’t say you were dumb. I said you were ignorant, and there’s a difference. You’re not stupid; you’re naive in the way the world works.” This seemed to calm Byrd, so Noah went on. “How is it that you know so much yet understand so little?”

  Byrd sat quietly, brooding over the question.

  Noah pushed him a little. “Did you ever think that Kara would be upset if we got into her stuff?”

  “No,” Byrd grumbled.

  “Do you think we should ask next time?” Noah asked softly.

  “Raven not let me do anything, either!” Byrd snapped.

  The epiphany hit Noah like a frying pan to the face. It wasn’t that Byrd had lived a long time without learning social skills. He hadn’t needed them! Raven had been his moral compass. She, as a rational, thinking being, had been able to tell right from wrong and pick the actions that fit within social standards. Byrd, without that rational thinking, was driven by instinct and desire alone. If he wanted something, he didn’t see any reason not to just take it. Noah pondered this, rearranging his views on dragon kind. With everything he knew of dragons, this view made perfect sense. Two entities sharing a body. Both highly intelligent. One rational. One instinctual. It explained so much randomness that he’d seen and dealt with. It also gave him some idea of what he needed to do to regain some control over his life and body.

  “Byrd,” Noah soothed the irritated dragon, “this is new to us both, but please, let me help you through it.”

  Byrd grumbled at him.

  “Byrd,” Kara called out to him.

  Byrd’s head popped up to look at her.

  “Would you like to come help me put that room together while we wait for food?”

  A wave of emotion washed over Noah as Byrd stared at Kara. The mix was hard for Noah to name, but he did recognize something. Desire. It wasn’t so much the lustful feeling that had come with Byrd’s memories. It was more of a need to please Kara.

  Noah jumped on it when he felt Byrd’s reluctance to do work. “Why don’t we help her?” he pushed.

  Byrd paused before answering him.

  Noah could feel the argument rising in the dragon. Byrd was still hungry and didn’t like the idea of working on an empty stomach. But Noah knew the dragon was drawn to the woman. “It would make Kara happy,” he coaxed.

  Byrd gave in to Noah’s persuasion and chirped his agreement to Kara.

  Noah let out a sigh as Kara led them upstairs to get to work. Byrd still had control over what they did, but he was starting to understand what drove the dragon, and that would go a long way to getting his body back.

  “You no like me?”

  The question startled Noah. There was a note of hurt in those words that upset Noah. He knew Byrd shared his thoughts, but he hadn’t realized how closely the dragon could hear them. “It’s not that I don’t like you.” Noah searched for a way to explain so Byrd would understand. Remembering the way Byrd had shared his instincts and knowledge, Noah opened himself and dumped all of his feelings on Byrd—his frustration at being locked away from the world and his fear of the changes in his life.

  The little dragon stopped on the steps and shivered in response. “I sorry.” Shame and regret filled his words.

  Noah let out a sigh as he pushed his emotions away. “Don’t be sorry,” he soothed the dragon and urged him back into motion. “We’re both going through some shocking changes right now, but we’ll get through them together.”

  Byrd stopped again. “Together?”

  “Yes Byrd, together.” A wave of joy washed over Noah as Byrd’s mood lightened. “Now, let’s go help Kara with the bed.”

  “Kara nice,” Byrd chirped as he started up the steps after the woman. “We likes her.”

  Noah would have smiled if he could have. “Yes Byrd, she is, and we most certainly do.”

  Following Kara into the room, Byrd stopped in the doorway as Kara went over to the mattress and pulled it away from the wall. It teetered precariously on its edge, and Byrd was suddenly filled with a fear of Kara being hurt by the falling bedding.

  “No, Byrd!” Noah cried, trying to stop the small dragon. He could see the disaster they were heading into, but the instinct to protect Kara was stronger than rational thought.

  Rushing to her side to stabilize the bedding, his wing hit her in the leg, knocking her knee loose.

  She squealed as she lost her balance and tumbled to the floor.

  The little dragon squeaked in surprised and shoved his shoulders into the twin-sized mattress, trying to protect her, but it was too heavy. The large pad landed on them, squishing them both to the floor.

  Byrd gasped for breath as he shifted under the bedding, trying to turn to check on the fallen woman. “Kara!” he chirped, looking for her.

  Kara’s hands came up and caught the small dragon by the tail before his frantic search got out of control. “Byrd!” she gasped as she held on to him.

  He froze as the feel of her fingers on his scales sent shivers up his body.

  Noah’s mind reeled from the amount of endorphins Byrd’s frantic dash had released. It was unlike anything he had ever experienced as a human. He panted, trying to get a grip on things, but Byrd’s emotions ran rampant over him. The need to make sure Kara was okay was almost painful.

  Releasing his tail, Kara pushed the mattress off them. “I’m okay, Byrd,” she said as she raised herself up onto her elbows.

  Byrd twisted around and plowed his head into her chest, inspecting her.

  Kara laughed as she fell backwards. She caught his head and pushed it away. “I’m fine,” she said as she ran her hand down his neck. A concerned look crossed her face as she pulled her hand back. She rubbed her fingers together as she looked at them.

  Turning to see what she had found, Byrd sniffed at the smudges on her fingers. Dirt. Seeing nothing wrong with it, he turned his attention back to Kara and sniffed her, looking for injuries.

  “I’m fine,” Kara said pushing him back farther, “but you need a bath.”

  Byrd gave her a disgruntled look as she pushed the mattress back and got up from the floor.

  Feeling the dragon’s disgust at the idea of a bath, Noah shook himself free of the chemicals in his system and intervened before Byrd could make his feelings known. “Wait, Byrd.”

  Byrd froze at the interruption of his thoughts. “No bath.”

  “Why not?” Noah worked to lock his legs before the dragon could bolt from the room.

  “No bath!” Byrd fought against Noah for control. The fight made them dance around.

  The movement caught Kara’s attention. “Are you all right?”

  Byrd danced away from her as he fought with Noah for control. “No bath!” he chirped.

  Kara stopped and stared at him.

  Flashes of Raven taking baths bombarded Noah. She’d enjoyed taking long, luxurious baths with candles and bubbles. They’d relaxed her mind, but they’d bored Byrd to tears. “No, Byrd!” Noah cried, understanding the dragon’s resistance. He thought a bath meant a long soak in water. “Wash!”

  “Wash?” Byrd asked as he stopped struggling.

  “Yes,” Noah answered. “A bath, as in washing.” Recalling a time
he’d been forced into a bath by a broken showerhead, he showed Byrd a different type of bath than he knew.

  “Wash?” Byrd asked out loud.

  “Yes,” Kara said carefully. “To wash.”

  “Ask her for a shower,” Noah prompted.

  Byrd paused before voicing the request. “Shower?”

  Kara gave him a confused look. “If you would rather have a shower, we could do that.”

  Relief flooded Byrd as he relaxed. He nodded his head.

  “Then a shower it is,” Kara said as she turned and led the way out of the room.

  “Showers are good,” Noah said, soothing the ruffled dragon as he followed Kara out of the bedroom.

  ***

  Kara glanced back over her shoulder as Byrd followed her out of the bedroom. Why doesn’t he like baths? She pondered this as she headed down the hall and into her bedroom. She had always enjoyed a nice, hot bath. Her dragon shivered, driving a smile to her face. Okay, she enjoyed a long, hot bath—her dragon tolerated it. Most dragons preferred moving water to still. It would make sense that Byrd wouldn’t like a bath.

  Opening the door, she let Byrd into her bathroom. Using the hall bath would have been preferable, but she hadn’t had time to get it set up yet. Besides, her shower had a wand that would make washing Byrd a lot easier. “Come on, sweetheart.” She held the door to the bathroom for him.

  Byrd looked around the room before heading in. He took up most of the area between the tub and the counter.

  Kara let out a sigh. When she’d chosen this place, she had been excited by how much space was in the master bathroom. Okay, so it wasn’t one of those huge places with a Jacuzzi tub and a walk-in shower, but it had plenty of room with a mirror covering the entire wall and enough counter space for all of her things. Now that she had a dragon in that area, it seemed tiny. Letting go of that slightly depressing thought, she wiggled past Byrd to the tub. Pulling the shower wand lose from the wall, she dropped it into the tub and sat on the edge to adjust the water. “So, how hot do you like your showers?”

  Byrd shifted around in the small space to face her. “Hot?”