Date with a Dragon (Date Monsters Shifter Agency)

by Lisa Daniels

  “What the fuck, Katie? What was that all about?”

  “I think I know,” Katie said in a low voice in the darkness, as they hadn’t yet figured out where the light was. He groped until he found a cord and tugged on it. A weak, cobwebbed lightbulb sputtered on, revealing the contents of a messily kept janitor’s closet.

  Lena’s crying face wove into Oskar’s mind, along with the deep, suffocating burn of humiliation. “Oh? Pray tell. Before I transform in here and end up busting the wall and squashing you in the process.”

  “I smelled that Chloe Galer’s stink all over her,” Katie said with a faint growl, teeth bared in scorn. “Fresh, not even on her for a few minutes.”

  “And?” Oskar struggled to think, to make any connections. He wanted to punch something, to scream, to transform and breathe fire into the night.

  “It means that I think Chloe cornered Lena at some point, and threatened her. Because we both know Lena had no intention of messing up this evening.”

  Oskar worked his jaw for a moment, allowing Katie’s words to sink into his otherwise fuddled brain. Some of the tightness in his lungs and chest dissipated, tightness he hadn’t even realized was there. “Oh,” he finally said.

  “I’ve been looking into her.” Katie whipped out her phone, swiping the lock screen off and bringing up files on her husband. “Seems the werewolf husband is a moderator on Date-Monsters. Which means she could have access to potentially private information, given that moderators have privileges that allow them to inspect conversations and make sure no rules are being broken.”

  Breathe, Oskar, breathe. He relaxed his other hand, though marks were left in the white skin. There was already enough of a spectacle regarding them. He didn’t want to make it any worse by being responsible for the collapse of a school. Might even mean his license to fly being revoked in some states. “Okay. So… so… but then why did Lena…?”

  Fighting through his muddled thoughts proved a challenge. He settled for breathing hard through his nose, waiting for Katie to reply.

  “Because she’s an idiot,” Katie replied simply, her yellow eyes narrowed, her dark hair a tumbled mess over her ears. “And probably felt she had to do whatever Galer told her to do.”

  “She is an idiot,” Oskar agreed with a shaky laugh. “I mean, we only had one night left anyway. She didn’t need to listen to anything that woman said.”

  “Yeah, well, people don’t think great under stress. And she seems like someone who copes badly with it. Hmm...” Katie’s tongue poked out between her lips as she focused on her phone. “The paps are gonna have a field day with you. Unless we can find them a better story. Now...” Her voice dipped into a satisfied purr, and her eyes twinkled with sudden excitement. “How interested are you, exactly, in getting back at Galer?”

  Oskar paused, considering the situation. Considering his feelings towards Lena, despite their relatively short time together. He’d honestly felt better those six days than he’d felt in years when associating with a woman. Actually dating her, getting to know about her, and explore that plucky mind beneath. Someone who didn’t chase after money, who had personal integrity, even if sometimes it expressed itself awkwardly.

  If he answered no, then it meant cutting ties with Lena.

  If yes…

  Then was it just to salvage his own reputation, or did it mean more? Did he care enough about Lena to want to approach her in a capacity outside their contract?

  Katie waited patiently, a faint smile on her lips, as if she knew what his answer would be. “Don’t implode yourself thinking too hard on it, boss.”

  “She shouldn’t matter,” Oskar automatically replied, before he had time to think through his words. “She’s just a contract. That’s all.”

  “You keep telling yourself that,” Katie said.

  “She embarrassed me.”

  “I think she embarrassed herself more. Unless you missed the inferno on her face.”

  More silence.

  “Fine!” Oskar burst out, throwing his hands in the air, angry and scared at the same time. “Fine. Yes, we’ll get back Galer. Then I’ll do something about Lena Tate. If I can find whatever hole she’s crawled under.” He thought about cornering her in the library, seeing her ashamed and downcast face. He thought about pushing her against the wall, and whispering into her ear that he intended to punish her for her little display. He imagined feeling her pulse jump under his lips as he pressed them against her throat, and hands digging into her dark hair, inhaling her delicious sweat and coconut shampoo scent and touching that soft, tender skin...

  And he was in trouble. “Fuck,” he said softly.

  “With any luck,” Katie agreed, now pointing at something else on her phone. “So… you remember the terms and conditions of Date-Monsters?”

  “I do, indeed,” Oskar said, a wild happiness flooding him as Katie’s reminder hit home.

  * * *

  Chloe Galer wanted to laugh herself sick. With Lena’s meltdown and storming out, and Wainwright’s subsequent disappearance, she was once more the center of attention. All the reporters flocked to her, asking about the party, if they thought it was ruined, what she did for a living, congratulating her for the effort put into everything.

  Lena Tate had sabotaged herself, and it tasted like sweet, sweet victory upon Chloe’s tongue.

  That’ll teach her to think above her station, Chloe thought with satisfaction, before tossing back her hair, smiling widely at a reedy reporter, and promising him an exclusive interview if he wished it.

  Her husband, as always, followed behind her in silence. It was a deal they’d struck long ago, since he disliked in general associating with humans, but knew that they both looked good together and it made for fantastic publicity. He simply walked around, trap shut, so he didn’t say anything accidentally racist or derogatory. Women cooed over his mysteriousness, and he got to fuck someone hot at night who one day would produce equally hot children.

  Status mattered. Those rising above their stations were threats. There had to be a pecking order. The Chloes of the world needed to be above the Lenas.

  By the time she staggered out of the party some hours later, more than a little tipsy, she felt on top of the world, and also wanted to make out with her husband. Pushing him against the front of the school building, not so far from their car, stumbling past a potted plant in the process, she attacked him with her lips, biting hard to hear that delicious growl, and his hands dug hard into her ass.

  Halfway through sticking her hands up his shirt, a thunderous growling noise yanked her out of the kiss, just in time for something to hit her from the side, pinning her flat on the ground. A snarling, growling, dark iron wolf with fierce yellow eyes planted paws on Chloe’s chest, fur bristled in anger.

  Before Chloe had time to scream, or for her husband to step in and save her, another sight turned her bowels to water.

  A huge, serpentine, scaly monster towered over them, clamping one clawed hand over her husband, who was unable to do anything more than snarl, then whimper. Bat-like wings the size of double-decker buses spread out like a fan, and scales glinted the color of blood in the streetlights and parking lot headlamps.

  The werewolf pressing down on Lena snapped jaws inches from her face, mouth slavering, before the dragon said, in a low, rumbling voice, “Little human… you have pissed me off greatly this night.” Flames built in the back of his throat, causing a fiery orange glow to appear between his teeth, and Chloe’s bladder released its contents, spilling down her leg in fright.

  The werewolf on top of her barked, before morphing into Oskar Wainwright’s PA. “I so hoped you’d piss yourself. Oh, girlie. You are in so much trouble.”

  The red-scaled dragon, Oskar Wainwright, belched a few meters of flame into the sky, before snapping his jaw shut like a beartrap.

  Sirens flashed. Police scrambled out of three cars, and Chloe took the opportunity to scream for help.

  Right until the moment where the PA
stepped off her, and Chloe was rolled onto her back, cuffs snapping onto her wrists.

  “What?” Chloe shrieked. “Why are you arresting me? Are you insane? I was attacked! I have rights!”

  The policeman ignored her, reading out her right to remain silent, before herding her to a vehicle. Oskar untrapped his quarry, and the police arrested him, too.

  This is ludicrous! Chloe fumed and fumed, cheeks burning with humiliation, livid with the police and their stupidity.

  How dare they. How dare they!

  * * *

  “Think we laid it on too thick?” Oskar inquired of Katie, after they’d finished giving their statements at the police station and Katie had submitted evidence for the police officers to gaze over. Oskar fully expected it to go to trial, but he had the money and resources to bury the pair.

  “Well, it is illegal to breach the terms and conditions, use someone else’s private data for personal gain and sabotage, to share accounts, and to invade… so… I think we’re just fine.”

  “The news is going to be wild for a while,” Oskar said with a sigh. “And Lena’s not answering her phone.”

  “She has no idea what’s happened,” Katie pointed out, now dusting off her sleek, black dress. “And she probably doesn’t want to break whatever Chloe forced her into.”

  “She’s an idiot,” Oskar fumed. “She could have just told me. One text. ‘I’m sorry, Chloe threatened me, I had no choice.’ Or she could have admitted that she lied.”

  “You really think so?”

  Oskar paused, knowing their entire week had hinged on the fact of living a lie. A fake relationship. “She can’t let people like that have a hold over her. So what if she lied? Thousands of people use Date-Monsters anyway, everyone’s always lying about something...”

  “She doesn’t think like that. As you know.”

  He did, but it disappointed him on a level that everything was a lie. He’d honestly enjoyed the whole week. Carrying her on his back, watching her experience the world.

  Unless…

  He made it not a lie.

  Sure, it had started off as one. But sometimes… didn’t people rise above their origins? Didn’t things sometimes transform?

  “What are you thinking, boss?”

  He turned to Katie, his hands clasped together, raised to his mouth. “I’m thinking… I’ll need to do something a little grander than a shop of flowers this time.”

  His personal assistant smiled in response.

  Chapter Eight – Lena

  She spent most of the night sobbing into her pillow. Ignoring messages and voicemail. And generally being terrified of being exposed to Oskar’s reaction, which she knew would range from bad to worse. He’d already stated he hated publicity, and what did she do? Show him up in front of her year and the paparazzi.

  Worse, she’d lied. Two black marks. He’d done nothing but respect her and stick to the deal, and even went beyond it. She’d started feeling things for him, charmed by his manner, only to throw it away because Chloe did the legwork, and called Lena out on it.

  Lena alternated between cursing Chloe and hating herself for ever having lied in the first place. She managed sleep at some point, blinking awake into the first rays of sunlight, feeling utterly exhausted and barely rested. She wallowed in bed for a while after waking, empty and lethargic, before deciding she was being stupid and hauling herself out to do basic human things.

  I’ll get over this. Just watch some movie, eat some ice cream, avoid the news for a while, and things’ll settle back to normal.

  Unless Chloe continued bugging her. If she left Chloe alone, it was highly likely the blonde might get bored eventually and then decide she’d want to torment Lena some more anyway. Chloe needed to be dealt with at some point. Lena needed to prepare for that, find some way to counter Chloe. Maybe what Chloe had done was against the terms and conditions on Date-Monsters. She remembered vaguely skimming it before accepting. She’d have to read that better. Find a way out of her own hole. Not rely on other people to dig her out.

  Now showered, fed, and revived somewhat with coffee, Lena stared at her charging phone lying on the bedside desk, preparing herself to go through the messages.

  I’m an adult. Nearing my thirties. I can look at a damn message. Even if her guts were writhing like snakes. Just… get it over with. Like ripping a band-aid off.

  A series of sharp knocks resonated from her front door.

  Instantly, she held her breath, mind going haywire. Someone was knocking. At her door. At stupid o’clock in the morning.

  Who?

  Only one person sprang to mind, and her insides squirmed further, anxiety increasing.

  Well. Time to walk to her own funeral. She wasn’t going to stay quiet and hide as if she weren’t home. She was better than that.

  Vaulting down the stairs, she made it to the front door, after glancing in the mirror to make sure she didn’t look like complete shit, and opened it to see Oskar standing right outside. Her heart gave an uneasy lurch, and she couldn’t bring herself to look him in the face.

  “Hey,” she mumbled, deciding to fixate on his shoes. “Our contract is over. And I shouldn’t speak to you.”

  “Oh, you absolutely should,” he purred, sounding the complete opposite of what she’d expected, and her eyes traveled from his black, pointed shoes to the stubble on his face, and the smile, but still not locking gazes. “Because we’ve sorted out the Chloe Galer problem.”

  Lena’s mouth hung open. For a moment, she couldn’t speak, couldn’t form sentences in her brain. “Wait. How? How do you even… know?”

  And she was already revealing too much. If they hadn’t solved the problem, then what were the chances of Chloe finding out about this…?

  “Katie smelled her on you, and it wasn’t hard to put two and two together. Chloe got arrested, along with her husband. They’ll likely go to trial, but our lawyer thinks we’ve got enough to bury them, so she’s not getting out of that one anytime soon.” He paused, and Chloe realized he was alone. No Katie. One hand behind his back, like he was holding something there. He wore a different outfit from last night, but it still appeared neat, like he’d prepared for a date. Gray pinstripe waistcoat, pants, and white shirt underneath.

  “You… you found out.” Finally, Lena looked into his eyes and almost broke into tears at that point. She calmed herself down enough not to want to wither into nothing on the spot, but… “God, I just screamed at you for some bullshit excuse and stormed out. They were taking pictures. She—she said she’d ruin me unless I made a spectacle breaking up with you. I swear—I didn’t want to—”

  “You didn’t have to,” Oskar said softly, and the lump returned in her throat. His words stabbed deep inside her, hurting, and she retreated into herself, expecting rejection.

  “I did. You don’t understand what people are like. Better to make a fool of myself breaking up than to admit I never had a relationship at all.”

  “Even though there’s a chance that Chloe might just say the truth anyway to mess with you more?”

  Lena didn’t answer that, knowing it to be true. Chloe would be that kind of person.

  “I still think you should have told me. Judging by the way you ignored my messages… you weren’t planning to, were you?”

  Tears leaked out of her eyes. “I’m sorry.”

  He watched them slide down her face for a moment before exhaling loudly. “Thing is, Lena… even with this, I still, for some reason, find myself liking you. Maybe you can make some better choices, but hell, I’m not exactly known for my stellar life choices, either.”

  The gnawing unease shifted in her stomach to instead be replaced by the faintest glimmer of hope. “You like me?”

  “How could I not?” He gave a hesitant, almost shy smile, and Lena saw past the confident mask, detecting something vulnerable within. “But what about you? Did you… ever like me at all? Or was it always just a contract?”

  Something in her knees trem
bled, and her heart sputtered at a faster rate. Oh shit, he was asking her if she…

  Her automatic impulse was to squeak no, but something in his expression suggested that he was asking her for another reason. That he’d come here, not to settle accounts, not “pity” liking her, but actually liking her. “Yes,” she said, barely above a whisper. She cleared her throat and said it again, stronger and louder.

  “That’s a relief,” he said, before removing the concealed hand behind him. Lena squinted in confusion when she saw he was cradling his phone, but he encouraged her to look at the display.

  Her eyes shifted over a Date-Monsters contract. A new one. One that stated a direct request from Oskar for a new milestone.

  New milestone: date/relationship.

  Timeframe: indefinite.

  Amount to be in Escrow: $5000

  Accept? Yes/No.

  Lena stared at him, more tears spilling out of her eyes, but no longer sad or afraid. Without thinking, with the phone gripped in one hand, she flung her arms around him as tightly as possible, her body pressed flush to his. He awkwardly rubbed her back at first, before relaxing into it.

  “I take it you accept?” he murmured into her ear. She nodded and laughed, burrowing her face into his chest, her hair tickling his chin.

  “Maybe.”

  “Not really used to this hugging thing,” he muttered then, back to the awkward rubbing. “Or things that are not one-night stands. So I have to warn you in advance that I have no idea how to progress things and I might upset you… but I do want to try. Is that okay?”

  “Of course it is. No one expects you to just magically know everything,” she said into his chest, heart stuttering fast, and listening to his own pounding heart.

  His heart was beating that fast for her? She felt awed from the implication. No way could someone actually want to be with her like this. Someone like Oskar freaking Wainwright. Who’d just accepted her request on a whim.

  Just a tiny, insignificant whim. Yet it meant everything to her. Breathing in his scent, feeling the strength in his arms, she wanted the embrace to never end. “Do… do you want to come in?”