“This is what I see every day,” Erin said. “Sure, when I’m doing hair in my neighborhood, I may see some rougher things, some desperate people. But often, whether I go here or somewhere else, I just see regular people trying to get along the best they can. The problem is good people blend in. Bad ones stand out.”
She shrugged, and they kept walking. It was a bright, sunny day with a gorgeous cool breeze that rustled the trees around them, making leaves twinkle in the light.
“Most people aren’t purely good or purely evil,” she said. “Some of them are just doing their best in a broken world.” She eyed him sideways. “I’m sure you saw some of that in your world.”
His gaze went darker. “In my world, I saw only violence. Both between dragons and between humans and between humans and dragons. But it didn’t take long for humans to persecute each other far more than we could. Over heedless reasons.” He shook his head. “Hard to watch.”
“I can imagine.” She nodded.
“Not that I had to watch long.” He admitted, sitting on a bench and pulling her to join him.
She liked sitting next to him, feeling his warm strength right there.
What she was saying about humans seemed to apply to him, too. Sometimes he could say awful things, and sometimes he could do things that were heroic. Overall, he seemed to be more good than bad, so just as she did with humans, she would keep giving him the benefit of the doubt.
A small dog walked by on a leash, wagging its tail and looking up at its owner.
“So can you tell me which animals have shifter counterparts?” she whispered, gesturing to the dog. “Like, could that be one?”
He shook his head. “Shifters are always in human form when in the human world. Their animals would never be able to blend. They are, shall we say, quite large.”
“Oh,” she said.
His dark eyes twinkled down at her as his elbows rested on the back of the bench behind them. “The only thing you need to know is dragons are the best and most powerful. And I’m the best dragon.”
“Right.” She rolled her eyes. “No bias there at all.”
“No,” he said. “Just pure fact.”
She laughed and allowed herself to relax. It was a sunny day with a light breeze, her favorite kind of weather. Her first day off in some time, and here she was spending it with some guy who thought he was a dragon. Who might very well be one. Yet it was all starting to feel right and normal.
How was that possible?
“Tell me more about you,” he said, sliding his arm around her with a half smile.
She cuddled into him like she had last night. The more contact she had with him, the more addicted she seemed to be.
“Okay,” she said, trying to calm her hormones and remind herself she was still getting to know him. “What do you want to know?”
“How did you end up in grooming?”
“My mother was a hairdresser,” she said wistfully, memories flooding through her. “I used to go to the salon with her when I was growing up.”
“Doesn’t sound like great parenting.”
“There you go judging again,” she said, rolling her eyes.
“There are many sharp and hot objects at your workplace,” he retorted. “That’s all I was saying.”
“Well, when I went, I was old enough to know not to touch anything. Anyway, I liked it there. Liked the atmosphere, talking to people. By the time I was old enough for hair school, I knew half of what I needed to know anyway. It was natural.”
“And what does your mom think about it?”
“She died of breast cancer when I was nineteen,” she said, averting her eyes as she always did when the subject came up. Sometimes the grief still rode over her like a wave, and it was an emotion she didn’t like sharing with anyone.
“Why do you do that?” he asked, reaching to put a finger gently under her chin and turn her toward him.
“Do what?” she asked.
“Hide your feelings like that. I see it far too much in humans. Hide when you’re angry. Hide when you’re sad. Why is that?”
She raised her gaze to him. His eyes really were black, so dark and glittery they reminded her of a night sky. “I guess most of us don’t feel safe enough to just put our feelings out there all the time.”
He traced her cheekbone with one rough fingertip. But his touch was incredibly gentle despite all the restrained strength behind it. “You can be safe with me.”
“You’re strong,” she said, pulling back and resting against the bench. “But it takes more than that to make someone feel safe sharing their emotions.”
“Like what?” he asked.
She eyed him. “Compassion. Kindness.”
“Not really strong traits in a dragon,” he admitted.
“So I’ve noticed.” She teased. But honestly, hadn’t he rescued her in the store? Twice? Despite his salty attitude, she’d never seen him be intentionally hurtful to someone.
Maybe this big, bad dragon was all heat and no flame.
But he could still have ulterior motives for being good. After all, he felt he needed her.
“Why me?” she asked, putting her hand back in his as she stood and got them walking again.
He stared up at the sky, which was blue dotted with white clouds. “I guess maybe it’s all that compassion you have that I don’t. Who knows? Nothing has made sense since I woke up. Everything has been new and screwed up and different, not always in a good way. At first, I just wanted to go back to sleep.”
“Why were you asleep?”
“It’s complicated,” he said. “But mainly, we were tired. We retreated more and more, avoiding detection from human eyes. And as we weren’t needed, we just sort of faded out. Slipped into a type of hibernation. And then someone with the ability to find us presumably put us on ice in some sort of storage facility, in case we were needed later for our abilities.”
“Are you really allowed to tell me all of this?” she asked, dropping his hand as they both turned to look at a couple birds that had just landed in a nearby tree.
He shoved both hands in his pockets. “If it turns out to be a bad idea, I can always have your memory erased.”
“Right,” she said.
He stared at the birds for a long moment, growing uncharacteristically quiet. “I miss my wings.”
She ached for him. What would it be like to fly and then be grounded?
“I had them at first, but the oracle bound them after my journey to the mainland.” He touched his necklace. “So much control. I hate it.” Anger burned in his eyes but faded quickly as he looked back at her.
For someone to so tightly restrain him, what exactly was lurking beneath his human disguise?
Briefly, she wondered what his wings looked like.
“You’ll have them back soon,” she said.
“That depends.” He stared at her.
A wave of heat went through her at his close perusal, and she kept them walking. They’d nearly circled the gardens, though she had to admit she’d been paying more attention to him than the walkway.
She put her arm through his, dragging him back toward the parking lot. “Come on. Let’s go to our next stop. The shelter.”
He scowled. “It’s going to be depressing, isn’t it?”
She nodded. “Probably. But I find amid even the most depressing things, there’s a little spark of hope. And since you’re here taking up my day off, you might as well come find it with me.”
“I was invited to ‘take up’ your day off.” He scoffed.
“So you were,” she said lightly. “Just like you’re invited to accompany me to the shelter.”
He groaned but followed her out to the car, opening the door for her so she could get in.
For a dragon, he was already acting quiet domesticated.
8
Zach looked at the animals looking back at him from the kennels with a feeling of growing aversion. Their cages were too small, their eyes too sad.
He turned away as Erin chatted with one of the workers who was walking with them, showing her paperwork and explaining the options.
“Why are these cages not bigger?” he demanded, interrupting.
The woman looked at him, wide-eyed, and Erin excused them, pulling Zach to the side with a defiant look on her face. “I can’t believe you. Did you know most of the workers here volunteer their time? They do what they can with the donations they receive.”
“Ah,” he said. “So the donations they receive aren’t enough to combat the shitty number of humans willing to abandon their animals.”
She looked at the cages, fighting back frustration. “Not all of these animals are abandoned. Some of them were bred on the street. And what you don’t see here is all the animals that have been taken home. Like we will take one as soon as we put in an application.”
She sighed as she stared up at him, blue eyes narrowed as if in concern for his cold-heartedness. “You can look at every wrong thing in the world, or you can decide to dive in and do what you can to change it for the better.” She turned back to the cages. “Now help me pick a pet.”
That struck him. How often had he or the other dragons scoffed at the humans, scoffed at the world while retreating into darkness? They could have been in human form, using their wealth and power for something positive.
But they hadn’t.
They’d just gone to sleep.
It had seemed too overwhelming, too pointless, to try and blend in.
Perhaps if he had met someone like Erin, it wouldn’t have felt that way. But he was here with her now, and she was asking for his help.
He made his way along the cages, a part of him wishing he could take all the animals here. It gave him just one idea of how to use some of his treasure when regained his access.
He heard a tiny mewl and stopped in front of a cage housing a tiny black kitten. His heart pounded at the sight of the cute little creature, a warm, fuzzy feeling in his chest.
He was going insane.
It should look like dinner, not a companion. But he couldn’t stop watching it as he approached the bars and it sniffed at his hand.
“This one,” he said to Erin.
She walked over. “A kitten?”
“A kitten,” he said. “This one picked me.”
She frowned. “I was thinking of picking up an adult—”
“This one,” he said insistently.
The shelter worker joined them. “That’s a good choice. His other siblings got adopted weeks ago, but he has been tough to place due to his injury.”
Zach’s eyes widened. “Injury?”
With gentle hands, the shelter worker reached in and pulled out the tiny creature, holding it out to Zach. It had only three legs.
It looked up at him helplessly as it was lifted into his arms. He tucked it in against him, and it started to rhythmically purr.
Dammit, he already loved it.
And love was a word that had never been in his vocabulary, unless he was referring to a particular piece of treasure. And what could this little creature offer him or Erin with its inability to even walk correctly?
But he couldn’t let it go. “We’ll take this one.”
Erin smiled at him, and the shelter worker gestured for them to follow her to a row of desks where they could fill out papers.
An hour or so later, the cat was theirs.
“What do you want to name him?” Erin asked, reaching over and taking him into her arms. Watching her hold the kitten was almost too much for Zach, so he turned away and stared at their parked car.
“Blackie?” he asked.
“More creative,” she said.
“Onyx?” he suggested.
“Too hard.”
“Leggy?” He laughed.
“Too mean.” She kicked at him.
He dodged and got the car door for her, taking the kitten so she could drive.
As it curled into his lap and immediately purred, he wondered how many points to assign to humanity for this little miracle of ridiculous cuteness.
After all, humans had rescued and protected it, despite its flaw.
He stroked over its head thoughtfully, enjoying the way it moved its little cheek against his finger. “You like that, don’t you?”
The kitten didn’t answer, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Erin smile at him.
Clearly, he was winning points with his future mate for bonding with the kitten, and humans were winning points, too. “Maybe we should call him Bonus Points,” he joked.
She glared at him, her soft brown hair catching the light as they drove. “Don’t you dare.”
“What about Bo, then?” he asked, holding the kitten up to look it in the eyes. He blinked slowly at it, and it blinked back, and then he tucked it into his arm again.
“I can see that,” she said, pursing dark-pink lips.
He could practically feel his own dragon purr in contentment, if only it were possible for dragons to purr. “Bo it is, then.” He stroked over the kitten’s ear gently. “You’re coming home with us, Bo.”
And he was surprised to find going home truly meant going back with Erin. And she didn’t even correct him when he said it.
“We need to go buy some supplies, but yes, then we’ll take him home and get him settled.”
“And then how should we finish the rest of our day?” he asked. “I still don’t feel like we’ve been on a proper date.”
“How about a movie and popcorn?” she asked.
He nodded. He loved the crunchy stuff. Wonderful invention. “Sounds good to me. And Bo can come, too.”
“Yes.” She glanced over in amusement at the way he was holding the kitten. “Bo can come, too.”
Erin didn’t think there was anything sexier than seeing a giant, modern warrior of a man baby talking to a tiny, three-legged kitten.
Currently, Zach was coaching it on walking, though the kitten did fairly well on its own, just a little unbalanced.
Zach seemed to be taking almost a fatherly role with the little creature, and she was glad to see yet another side to the strange man she’d brought into her home.
After all the posturing, protective, big-talking swagger she’d seen from him, she had no idea the thing that could most attract her to him was watching him interact with a tiny black creature that was even tinier compared to his mammoth build.
She finished microwaving their popcorn and poured it into a bowl to take out to Zach.
“Can kittens have popcorn?” he asked, holding out a kernel in his long, tanned, strong fingers to the little creature.
She blocked it. “I think we should stick to cat food for now. Don’t want to teach him to beg.”
“Right,” he said, but she could tell she’d probably have trouble with him wanting to feed it treats and would need to look up what cats could and couldn’t have.
“I think they’re carnivores,” she said, watching his fingertips play deftly in the soft, black fur.
Suddenly, she wished he was using his fingers in a different way. One that was extremely inappropriate for little kittens to witness. Then again, the kitten had its own little room on the ground floor. He wouldn’t have to know what Mommy and Daddy were doing upstairs.
Oh gosh, she was already thinking of them as parents. Pet parents anyway.
And she didn’t even know who this guy was. Would he ever be able to have a job? Would he actually turn into a dragon if he was freed from his collar? Would he want her to leave this world and go to another?
“I could read your thoughts,” he said. “But I’d rather you told me on your own.”
She eyed him, reaching over to pat the kitten as well. “I appreciate that. I guess I’m just thinking about all the unknowns. I still know so little about you.”
“There’s a lot to know,” he said. “Yet most of it isn’t relevant to our current situation. Most of it is in the past. And what is in the future is just as uncertain for me as it is for
you.”
“If you are freed as a dragon, what then?” she asked.
“I don’t know exactly. The oracle wants to know I won’t do harm and that I can help in some way, but I’m not sure how. I like to think that will be up to me.”
“Help as in what?” she asked. “Would it be dangerous?”
“Not for me,” he said. “See, my dragon power is basically being invincible. Though I would worry for those around me. I would definitely want to keep you sequestered somewhere secret. Somewhere people who were after me couldn’t find you.” He shook his head, and his dark hair fell forward, obscuring his handsome, hard features. “Ugh. This is why I didn’t want to get involved.”
“Then why did you?” she asked, stroking Bo as she looked over at him.
He stared at her, perfectly carved lips tightening into a line. “Because I couldn’t resist you.”
“Oh.”
“I don’t know where this is going. For once, I’m okay with that,” he said. “I just know I can’t leave you. Don’t ask me to.”
“Okay.” She agreed. “But at some point, we are going to have to address the future. What that means for us. I don’t want to leave my life. I like it.”
“Not even to live with me and Bo, surrounded by treasure?”
“My treasure is the people around me,” she said. “The people I love.”
He went quiet at that, tucking Bo in against his bicep. Bo ignored him and crawled up his shoulder, finding a comfortable place between his chest and neck to curl into. Then he let out a little cat breath that made both of them look at each other and smile.
She leaned in against Zach’s hard shoulder. “If only you weren’t a dragon. If only you were just a guy.”
He shook his head. “No, I’m definitely a dragon. Going to be a full one soon enough.”
“How do you get the collar off?” she asked.
“I don’t know. But it has something to do with understanding humans.” He looked at Bo. “They earned a few thousand points today, thanks to you and this little guy here.”
Onyx Dragon (Awakened Dragons Book 1) Page 6