Dragon Warrior (Midnight Bay)

by Janet Chapman

  She flipped on the blow dryer. William certainly had learned more about her body in the past six hours than her ex-husband had learned in four years. Poor Sissy. She snorted; then again, maybe Billy was the one she should pity.

  The bathroom door opened. “Ye don’t have time to dry your hair,” he said, taking the dryer and shutting it off. He held out her blouse and skirt. “Get dressed.”

  Instead of taking the clothes, Maddy clasped his face and pulled him down. “Don’t worry; you won’t melt in the rain,” she whispered, just before she kissed him.

  He apparently wasn’t in such a hurry that he couldn’t kiss her back. He wrapped his arms around her and deepened the kiss, and Maddy felt every last one of her overworked hormones rally to attention with a groan. But he suddenly stepped away and headed back into the room—taking her towel with him!

  “One minute, Madeline, and you’re getting in the truck, dressed or not.”

  She didn’t even bother to close the bathroom door; she just snapped out her skirt and bent over to slide her feet into the waistband, facing the room and making sure her dangling anatomy was visible to him—pretending not to notice him watching her.

  It was as she was picking up her blouse that she noticed that the trash can in the bathroom was full. She slipped into her blouse and started buttoning it, frowning down at the can. “Why are all the unused boxes of condoms in the trash?”

  “Because I threw them in there,” he said, coming to stand in the doorway.

  “But why?”

  “Because the damn things are more bother than they’re worth. They’re such thin little pieces of nothing that over half of the ones we did use tore apart.”

  “They tore when you were taking them off, you mean?” she whispered, still staring down at the trash can.

  “Nay, while we were using them.”

  Maddy felt all the blood drain from her face, and had to grab the sink when her knees buckled.

  “I was willing to wear them because ye felt they would keep you from getting with child, but I see no reason to continue using them if they’re not going to work.”

  They’d torn during sex?

  “Come on,” he said, taking her hand, carrying her purse and sandals. “I want you to drive.” He led her outside barefoot, stopping only long enough to close the door behind them before dragging her down the steps and to his truck.

  She pulled away when he opened the driver’s door, having to grab her skirt when a powerful gust of wind suddenly lifted it. “I think you better drive,” she said, backing away. “I’m not . . . I can’t . . .”

  They’d torn during sex?

  “Madeline,” he said, pulling her into his embrace. “There’s nothing to be afraid of, lass,” he whispered, his arms tightening when she started to tremble. “We can still get to An Tèarmann before it hits.”

  She bunched his shirt in her fists with a sob. “They tore during sex!”

  “What in hell are ye talking about?” He set her away, but only so he could toss her in the driver’s seat. “Come on, you can talk about what’s bothering ye while you drive,” he said, closing her door and running to get in the passenger side.

  Maddy stared through the windshield at the black, churning ocean.

  “Madeline!” he snapped. “Drive.”

  She flinched, then started the truck, put it in reverse, and cut the wheel and shot backward. She just as quickly slammed on the brakes, but not quickly enough to avoid hitting a large tree, which made the truck bounce with the impact.

  “Maddy, darling,” he said, reaching out and taking hold of the back of her neck, his thumb covering her racing pulse. “I really need ye to focus on what you’re doing right now, lass,” he said gently. “I’ll fix whatever is bothering you tomorrow, I promise. Take a deep breath, put it in gear, and slowly drive up to the main highway.”

  She obediently took a deep breath, pulled the shift lever down to drive, and turned the wheel and drove up the narrow winding path.

  “Good girl,” he said calmly, his thumb giving her still-racing pulse a caress before he took his hand away.

  She pulled out onto the main highway, and then had to turn on the wipers when they drove into a deluge of rain that pelted the truck in wind-blown sheets. He wasn’t going to be able to fix anything tomorrow, because the damage was already done. Maddy tried to remember the date of her last period but instead found her mind trapped in her kitchen ten years ago, when she’d told her parents she was pregnant with Billy Kimble’s baby—and the look of utter disappointment that had crossed her father’s face before he’d gotten up from the table to go watch the news.

  “Could ye speed up a bit, lass?” William asked, his voice still gentle but edged with urgency. “It’s okay, Maddy. Whatever’s wrong can be fixed.”

  “The condoms broke, William.” She took a shuddering breath. “And I could be getting pregnant this very minute,” she whispered, briefly glancing over at him. “How are you going to fix that?”

  “If you are with child, then we’ll get married.”

  Maddy swiped at a tear running down her cheek. “Yes, let’s do that, seeing how it worked out so well for me the last time.”

  “I am not your ex-husband, Madeline.”

  “No, you’re worse.” She swiped at her eyes and shook her head. “I-I can’t go through that again,” she whispered, more to herself than to him.

  His hand returned to her neck, his fingers splaying through her hair. “There’s also a very good chance that we didn’t make a child tonight, lass. But if we did, we will deal with it together.”

  “Look out!” she suddenly cried, slamming on the brakes when an animal shot across the path of the truck, another one right behind it. “Omigod! It’s those wolves!” She stomped down on the accelerator. “William, they’re back!”

  He opened the console between them and pulled out a handgun that made hers look like a peashooter. “Just keep driving,” he told her, working the action to load it.

  “Y-you don’t happen to have silver bullets in there, do you?” she asked with a semihysterical laugh as she glanced in her rearview mirror.

  “What are ye talking about?”

  She was traveling way too fast for her headlights, especially considering that she couldn’t see more than a hundred yards because it was raining so hard, but she figured she’d just as soon run over one of those wolves, anyway. And since this conversation was a tad better than their previous one, though no less frightening, she decided to go with it. “The only way to kill a vampire is either to drive a stake through its heart or shoot it with a silver bullet; so I’m guessing they’d both work on werewolves.”

  “Werewolves?”

  Lightning was flashing almost continuously now; brightly enough that she could see the trees bending in the wind, but the deafening rain was too loud to hear any thunder. Gusts strong enough to rock the truck were starting to hit with increasing frequency, sometimes nearly pushing them off the pavement. “Werewolves are really men who turn into demon wolves at night, and come out searching for human prey.”

  “Works for me,” he muttered, glancing over his shoulder to look out the rear window. He turned back to face forward. “We’re nearing town. There’s no one on the road tonight, so don’t even slow down.”

  She gave another hysterical laugh, her knuckles starting to ache from clutching the wheel as she worked to avoid the branches littering the road. “Gee, I should be getting really good at this by now. Oh shit, look out!” she screamed, cutting the wheel and hitting the brakes when the headlights illuminated a huge oak tree lying across the road in the town square.

  “Go around! Drive right through the top branches.”

  Only as she stomped down on the accelerator to push through the tangle of branches, another large tree crashed down onto the hood of the truck, bringing them to such an abrupt stop that both airbags exploded.

  “Christ almighty, what in hell was that!” William shouted, slapping at the bag in front
of him. “Maddy, are you all right?” he asked loudly over the rain pelting the roof, his hand groping her shoulder. “Madeline!”

  “I-I’m okay,” she said in a daze, feeling her face. Finding her nose was bleeding but at least still where it belonged, she reached out to William and gave him a pat. “Are you okay?”

  “What just exploded in our faces?” he asked, tugging on the deflated material and eventually ripping it away.

  “Those are airbags; they pop out when you crash, so your face hits them instead of the dash or steering wheel.” She pushed her own airbag out of her way and felt around for the button to turn on the interior lights. But she hesitated; though the engine had died in the crash—likely because a massive branch had folded the hood nearly in half—one headlight was still shining, allowing her to see they were almost completely surrounded by the thick limbs of a large oak tree. The windshield was severely cracked on William’s side, but it hadn’t shattered all the way through.

  “Um . . . do you want me to turn on the interior lights?”

  “Nay, not yet. Are ye sure you’re okay? Are ye bleeding anywhere?”

  “My nose is bleeding, but not badly,” she said, using the airbag to wipe it and then shoving the material through the steering wheel out of her way. “Do you want me to turn on the cargo light, so we can see behind us? Maybe I can back us out . . . if I can get the truck started again.”

  But before he could answer her, a loud, keening howl sounded to their right—really, really close—and Maddy sucked in a whimpering breath.

  The one remaining headlight blinked out, plunging them into total darkness except for the red glow of the rear taillights reflecting off the rain-soaked leaves behind them.

  Maddy screamed when the truck suddenly rocked, and she could just make out four large canine paws standing on the hood right in front of them, a vicious snarl raising the hairs on her neck.

  “Don’t move,” William whispered, having leaned closer so she could hear him over the sound of the rain. He slowly groped for her hand and shoved her purse in it. “Get out your gun and put a shell in the chamber. Can ye do that, Madeline?”

  “Y-yes.”

  “But don’t shoot unless they actually make it inside. I don’t want the bullet to finish shattering the glass.”

  “T-they?”

  “There’s another one on my side and one more working its way through the branches in front of us. When I tell ye, turn on the cargo light in the back, and we’ll see what they think of that.”

  “We’ll see—but what if it pisses them off?” she asked, dropping her purse on the floor in order to work the action on her gun.

  He patted her knee. “You’re doing excellent, Madeline. Okay, turn on the light.”

  But just as she was reaching for the button, a snapping mouth and two huge paws leaped out of the leaves and slammed into her window. Maddy screamed and tried to bring her gun up, but William covered it with his hand. “Don’t shoot!”

  She started quietly sobbing, her entire body wracked with tremors. “Wh-what are they? Why are they after us?”

  “Steady, Madeline. You’re safe inside the truck.”

  The snarls were suddenly overridden by a bone-chilling roar, just as something heavy landed on the roof of the cab, rocking the truck again.

  “T-that wasn’t a wolf,” Maddy stammered—only to scream when whatever was on the roof landed on the wolf on the hood.

  And as the truck shook and shuddered, it looked to Maddy like the mother of all cat and dog fights was taking place not three feet in front of her.

  “Yes, take that, ye bastards!” William shouted. “Let’s see how ye like dealing with a soul warrior!” He squeezed Maddy’s arm when she screamed again, when the two fighting animals slammed into the windshield as the wolf tried scrambling up over the cab to get away. “You’re going to be okay now, lass. Help has arrived.”

  “H-help?” she hoarsely sobbed. “William, that . . . it’s . . . that’s a panther!”

  More yelps sounded over the pounding rain, and the leaves shook and the truck shuddered violently. Something slammed into the back fender, and what sounded like an angry feline hiss was followed by several more yelps moving away.

  It stopped raining so suddenly it was like someone had shut off a faucet, and the air outside the truck started to glow an eerie green. Maddy whimpered again when the truck rocked, and she turned in her seat to see . . . to see . . .

  “W-William, is t-that a tiger?” she whispered in the stark silence, staring at what looked like the mother of all Bengal tigers sitting in the back bed of the truck, staring at them through the rear window. Its head was nearly as wide as the whole back window, its sharp green eyes the size of tea saucers; and when it opened its mouth to run its tongue lazily over its snout, Maddy saw fangs longer than her fingers.

  “William,” she whimpered, slinking down in her seat.

  “Easy,” he said just as softly. “He’s not here to harm us.”

  “Y-you know him?”

  He studied her face. “He’s an old friend, Madeline, and he’s on our side.”

  She blinked at him. “We have a side?”

  William actually grinned at her and reached out and squeezed her hand—the one that still happened to be holding her gun. “Aye, lass—the good side.”

  The truck suddenly started rocking back and forth, and Maddy looked over her seat to see the tiger make a circle and then suddenly lie down with a yawn.

  And then she heard the passenger door open.

  “William!” she hissed, grabbing his arm. “What are you doing?”

  He got out, practically dragging Maddy with him because she refused to let go of his shirtsleeve, even as she stole a frantic glance at the bed of the truck. William turned as soon as his feet hit the ground, and very gently pried her hand off.

  “It’s okay, Madeline. He’ll protect you while I’m gone.”

  “Gone? But you can’t leave me here!”

  “I have to go after Ke—the panther. You’ll be perfectly safe, I promise. Just stay in the truck until I come back for you.”

  “William, no!” she cried, reversing their grip and trying to pull him back inside. She looked back and saw the tiger watching them intently, although it was still lying down. “Please don’t go out there. Those wolves could come back.”

  He shoved his pistol in his belt and took hold of her wrist, and gently pried himself loose. He then opened the back door, reached behind the seat, and pulled out his antique sword—only now it was in a leather sheath with long straps. He closed the rear door and stepped back to look in at her as he slid the straps over his shoulder, settling the sword diagonally across his back. He smiled. “I wouldn’t leave ye if I wasn’t certain you are safe here, Madeline. But I really need to go help the panther.”

  “Why can’t he go help the panther?” she asked, nodding toward the tiger.

  “Because he’s not allowed to, lass.” He started to close the door but hesitated. “You stay put until I get back, ye understand? Lock the doors and don’t open them for . . . anything. And Madeline?”

  “What,” she snapped, glaring at him.

  He smiled. “Whatever ye do, don’t shoot the tiger.”

  Chapter Twenty

  Maddy held her breath as she watched William force his way through the branches, stopping only to look the tiger in the eye and give it a nod—to which the tiger nodded back!—before he disappeared into the oak leaves glistening in the eerie green light. Maddy collapsed over the console and buried her face in her hands with a shuddering sob, unable to believe he had left her.

  Alone.

  With a tiger.

  This had to be some stupid, bizarre dream.

  Yeah, that’s what this was. It was really last night, not tonight, and she was in her bed at home, having fallen asleep while trying to decide if she wanted to have an affair with William. And she was so afraid she might fall in love with him that she’d dreamed up this bizarre scenario. First
he would try to kill her with amazing sex—because only in her dreams could a guy have that kind of stamina—and then he’d leave her alone in a truck with a man-eating tiger that was supposedly going to protect her from man-eating wolves.

  Oh, and why not throw in a large black panther—which William simply had to go help—just to make things really interesting.

  She cried harder, her loud sobs echoing in the stark silence of the truck.

  Until she heard what sounded like slurping. Maddy slowly sat up, turned in her seat, and saw the tiger’s large tongue licking the rear window.

  He stopped to stare at her.

  Only she couldn’t stifle an involuntary sob, and the tiger licked the window again.

  She sucked in her breath and held it, and he stopped.

  And then she screamed when music suddenly started blaring, and pulled her legs up with a whimper when something moved against her bare feet on the floor.

  Finally realizing it was her cell phone ringing and vibrating, Maddy snatched up her purse, dug around inside it, and found the phone. Glancing over to see the tiger’s intense eyes focused on her, she opened the phone, praying to God it was William.

  “Hello,” she whispered tightly. “Maureen?” she squeaked, keeping a wary eye on the tiger. “What? He thinks he’s starting to die now?”

  The tiger perked up, and Maddy lowered her voice. “He can’t, Maureen. You tell Hiram he has to wait until morning to start dying.”

  Maureen, the weekend night nurse at River Run, went silent, and Maddy realized just how absurd that had sounded. “Look,” she said, closing her eyes and hanging her head. “I really, really can’t get there for . . . until after sunrise,” she told her, assuming that when the sun came up, everything—including her affair with William and the torn condoms—would evaporate into the ether where they belonged.

  “Is he really dying, or could he have just had a bad dream?” she asked, figuring there might be an epidemic of nightmares going around. “Have you called Dr. Petty? No, I realize he has the DNR order, but we need an order for pain medication if . . . if he needs it. Petty needs to come in.”