by Willa Hart
Danic stood on his hind feet, spread his wings and roared loud enough a small avalanche of snow fell from Archibald’s roof. He ended his display with a smoky snort of triumph, then he searched me out. Relief flickered in his glowing red eyes and his lips peeled back in what I presumed was a dragon smile.
As I watched in awe, he retracted and retreated into himself, shrinking and twisting until he stood before me in all of his human glory.
All of it.
His clothes had shredded when he’d shifted, which allowed me to realize every last bit of him was perfectly proportioned to the rest of him. I swallowed hard and tore my gaze away. We had more important things to think about, such as the blood dribbling down his muscled chest from his neck wound. So why wouldn’t the image leave my head?
“How is he?” Danic asked as he approached.
I kept my gaze focused on his eyes, never venturing farther south than his lips. The lips that had kissed me just minutes before. It seemed like a lifetime ago.
“About as well as can be expected. I think it looks worse than it really is. Are you okay?”
He snorted at the absurdity of my question, then opened the door and leaned inside. “Sir, my name is Danic Novak. I’m Max’s nephew. Let’s get you inside, okay?”
He helped the frail old man down from the SUV, but that was all Archibald would allow. His dragon pride insisted on him walking back into his house under his own power. The place was a disaster — overturned chairs, shards of broken glass, food splattered against a kitchen wall. We righted the table and chairs and helped Archibald sit.
Once he was comfortable, I grabbed a roll of paper towels and handed a wad to Danic to staunch his own flow of blood, then dampened some paper towels and started cleaning Archibald’s face in earnest. While Danic left to search the rest of the house to make sure no other baddies were lurking in the shadows, I managed to find a small first aid kit in a cupboard. Wanting to allow the man some time to recover, I worked silently until Danic returned. Then I burst out laughing.
He stood in the doorway giving me a wry look, but how could I not laugh? Somewhere in the house he’d found a pair of pink sweatpants two sizes too small. The word SASSY decorated the front of one leg. The other said BITCH. On top he wore a matching hoodie, also stretched to its limits. Even Archibald found the energy to chuckle.
“I see you found my great-granddaughter’s old clothes,” he said, ending with a moan as he clutched at his ribs.
That took the humor right out of the situation. Kneeling down in front of him, I lifted his torn and stained button-down shirt. His side was badly bruised, but he only winced a little when I touched the spot. Broken ribs, maybe. I was about to suggest he head to the emergency room, then I realized I had no idea how dragons healed from such injuries. I glanced up at Danic, who gave me a reassuring smile.
“What happened here, Mr. Thrush?” Danic asked, sitting across from him. I took the chair in between.
“Call me Archibald. It’s the least I can offer you for saving my life.”
“Who was that guy?” I asked, putting the cap back on a tube of antibiotic ointment.
“I have no idea. I don’t even know how he got in here. I have a top-of-the-line security system, but he barged right in like he owned the place. I’d just sat down to lunch when he attacked me.”
“Where’s your keeper, Mr. Thrush?” Danic asked, ignoring the man’s request for informality.
“My last one died over a hundred years ago. Haven’t bothered trying to find a replacement.”
I glanced at his head wound. “Did his fist do that?”
“Ah, no. I’m afraid my ruby inflicted that particular damage.”
Danic and I frowned at each other, no doubt both thinking the same thing. It was confirmed when Danic asked his next question.
“He hit you with a ruby?”
Then the light dawned in my head. “That’s what was stolen from you, wasn’t it? That’s what Max came to help you with.”
He nodded slowly, wincing again. “I wanted it back, but I never imagined it would come back quite so forcefully.”
I had to hand it to the guy. He’d taken a brutal beating and still managed to keep his sense of humor. But none of it made sense.
“Wait,” I said, frowning as my brain tried to puzzle it out. “Your ruby was stolen by one dragon, then that guy brought it back? And then hit you with it? Why?”
“How did you know that wasn’t the same dragon?” Archibald gave me another curious look, then shook his head as if it didn’t matter. “I have no idea why he brought her back. He kept going on about the ‘real’ one. He’s a fool and he’s going to figure it out sooner or later, because that ruby is as real as they come.”
“He didn’t have it with him when he stormed outside,” Danic said, looking around. “Where is it?”
Archibald shrugged, then groaned in pain as I wrapped gauze around his head. “I think I heard her hit the floor at some point.”
That was the second time he’d referred to the gem as “her.” The old dude really loved his ruby.
Danic searched as I finished up the bandaging. He crouched and felt around under an antique cabinet in the corner. When he stood, he held a dripping apple in his hand. Only it wasn’t an apple, and the stuff dripping off it was blood. My mouth fell open.
“A hundred and fifty carats,” Archibald said, a wistful smile flitting across his battered face. “She’s one of the most valuable gems on this planet and he tossed her aside like she was trash.”
Danic rinsed the blood from the ruby and set it in the middle of the table. I’d never seen a real ruby in my life, much less one the size of my fist, but it somehow seemed familiar. Maybe I’d seen a news story about it at some point, but that didn’t seem quite right either. It seemed similar to whatever memory I was trying to dredge up, but not identical. Archibald reached out and let his fingers skim its surface.
“Who was your friend, Mr. Thrush?” Danic asked quietly.
Archibald tore his gaze away from his prize. “No idea. Never saw him before. But that accent… It sounded Eastern European. Romanian, if I had to guess.”
“Yup, same guy Ryen and I had a run-in with last night,” I confirmed, giving Danic a pointed look.
“Mr. Thrush, where’s my uncle?” Danic asked.
“Maximus? Not a clue. I called him early Monday morning, when I realized she’d been stolen. He stopped by for a few minutes and asked a few questions, then left. Haven’t seen or heard from him since. Seems rather odd, doesn’t it?”
Odd, at the very least. Danic didn’t even have to nod for me to know he was thinking the same thing. Max’s note had said he wasn’t sure how long he’d be gone, and I’d assumed that meant days, not hours. A drive up to Big Bear and back — even with a short interview with Archibald — would have had him home by dinnertime. But he’d been gone for four days. Doing what? Obviously not searching for the ruby, that much was clear.
“Mr. Thrush,” Danic said as he stood, “will you be okay here alone?”
Archibald chuckled. “Son, if you think I’ll be staying here tonight, you’re not half as smart as your uncle claims you are. I may be an old dragon, but I’m not an old fool. That monster could have killed me. As soon as I can pack a few things, I’ll be heading for my great-granddaughter’s place at…” He trailed off and gave Danic a sheepish look. “I hope you don’t mind if I keep that part secret, under the circumstances.”
“Not at all, sir.”
We waited for Archibald to pack before following him out of the forest and onto the road for home. Not taking a chance on the Romanian returning to finish the job. As Norah Jones played softly in the background, Danic shot me a glance.
“What do you make of all this, Miss Private Investigator?”
I stared at the snow outside my window before answering. It was really coming down hard now, but I had faith in Danic’s SUV and his driving skills. After the way he’d protected me and Archibald, I had faith
in him.
“We’re back at square one,” I finally said, my breath fogging up the window before I turned to face him. “We’re no closer to finding Enoch’s hiding place.”
“But what did we learn?”
He was testing me. “Well, at the very least we confirmed the Romanian wasn’t the same dragon who stole the ruby.”
“Good. What else?”
I thought hard. “Whoever stole it — and I think it’s safe to assume it was Enoch — apparently took the wrong item and his client is pissed off about it.”
Danic nodded and pride flickered in his eyes. “If a ruby worth thirty million dollars isn’t what Enoch’s client wanted in the first place, what the hell is he looking for?”
I didn’t have a clue.
Chapter Thirteen
“Are you going to tell me what happened to your handsome face, or are you going to make me guess?”
Aunt Shirley beamed at Danic as she poured us big glasses of her famous lemonade. He grinned and swallowed three big gulps before setting his glass down with a satisfied, “Ahh!” He tipped me a wink before answering her question.
“Just dragon stuff, Aunt Shirl. But man, what did you change to your lemonade recipe?” He took another big swallow. “I didn’t think it was possible to improve on it, but damn…”
He chugged the rest to prove his point. It tasted the same to me. Delicious.
Shirley blushed. She actually, honest-to-goodness blushed at his praise. The mere presence of one of her nephews sitting in her kitchen obviously filled her with such tremendous joy, my heart glowed. She deserved only joy and love and happiness, as far as I was concerned.
The kitchen table was small, but instead of each of us sitting separately on different sides, Danic had pulled a chair around and crowded in next to me until our arms brushed against each other. I didn’t mind one teensy-tiny bit.
Shirley poured him more lemonade from the old cut-glass pitcher. “I started adding lavender to it. My neighbor turned me onto it. You like?”
Danic gave her a huge smile. “I love. You’re a miracle worker.”
“Oh stop!” She waved away the praise, but we both knew she reveled in it.
Aunt Shirley lived to entertain. She loved looking after others, making them happy, feeding them until they were ready to burst. She was a true nurturer and it didn’t take a P.I. to see she was thrilled to have one of “her boys” home to fawn over.
“I’ll never stop,” Danic replied softly, genuine affection pouring off him.
He was gentle and kind to her, and it opened my heart to him even more. It was hard to reconcile this sweet, caring version of Danic with the snarling, murderous beast who’d viciously taken down an equally vicious dragon on a snowy mountain a couple of hours earlier. But it was also somehow easy. Danic made it easy.
Before I could stop it, a vision of Danic, fresh and furious from the triumph of battle, his body hard and bare in the snow, came rushing back to me. I quickly hid my flushing face behind my glass of lemonade and took a long drink, urging my brain to just let it go already. I didn’t need anyone to inform me just how inappropriate it was for me to see Danic like that.
Still, I couldn’t deny my feelings. Not just how my body reacted to his — the sparkly electricity between us, the way I’d lunged up to kiss him. It was more than simply passion or lust. My heart beat for him.
In fact, my heart felt as if it had somehow splintered into five different directions. All five of Max’s nephews drew me like a moth to five flickering flames. Just being in their presence made my skin heat up and tingle with need.
I’d dated a little over the years, but none of those boys — and they’d all been boys, I was quickly realizing — had stuck. I’d mostly dated them out of loneliness, or maybe boredom. One or two had confessed their eternal love for me, which always prompted that awkward talk.
I’d often wondered if I was broken, incapable of falling in love and being in a functional romantic relationship. After failing at them time and again, I’d resigned myself to being alone. Then I’d moved in with Uncle Max and Aunt Shirley, who loved each other so wholly and beautifully I thought all I really needed to be happy was to belong to someone else.
But over the last few days, I came to the surprising realization I wasn’t the inherently sexless, loveless creature I’d assumed I was. Not anymore. Not since they entered my life.
Of course, I knew better than to fantasize that anything could come of it. If there was one thing I’d learned from the countless romance novels I’d devoured while bouncing from one foster home to the next, it was that love triangles never worked out. Much less a love hexagon.
Aunt Shirley sighed. “It’s wonderful to finally have one of my boys back in the house. If it were up to me, I’d gather up all my little chickadees and keep them close all the time. You may be adults now, but I’ll always think of you as my children. No matter how big and tough you get.”
Danic reached across the table and patted her hand. “And we’ll always think of you like a mother.”
Tears filled her eyes and she sniffled. “You’ve always had such a tender heart.”
“Anything good about me, I learned from you.”
Shirley dabbed her eyes with her napkin. “Look at that! You’re making an old woman cry. I’m not even wearing waterproof mascara!”
I smiled at the exchange. “It’s okay.”
“It’s so much more than okay, dear,” Shirley said, smiling at me through her tears. “I’ve missed my boys so much. I just wish they all were here.”
Almost as though she’d summoned them, the doorbell rang. Danic and I knew it was Kellum and Ryen, but Shirley nearly jumped out of her skin.
“Who could that be?” she muttered as she hurried down the hallway.
We didn’t want to spoil the surprise. Sure enough, she squealed like a little girl when she opened the door.
“She’s going to throw a clot any second,” Danic whispered.
I giggled. “At least she’ll die happy.”
“Look who’s here!” Shirley scurried back into the kitchen, all smiles, as Kellum and Ryen followed. “This calls for more than just lemonade. Give me a minute and I’ll bake cookies. No, a cake!”
Kellum draped an arm across her shoulders and dropped a kiss to the top of her head. “Don’t go to any trouble on our account, Aunt Shirl.”
“Nonsense,” she scoffed. “My boys are here — most of them, anyway. This is truly a momentous occasion.”
“I wouldn’t kick a few snickerdoodles out of bed,” Ryen said, plopping himself in the chair closest to me.
“You got it!” Shirley said as she turned and got busy pulling flour and sugar and a bunch of other stuff out of cupboards.
Kellum took her seat at the table, his gaze bouncing between Danic, Ryen and me. He knew. They knew. My heart did a triple axel followed by a cartwheel and a few jumping jacks. The last thing we needed was for the boys to get into a pissing match over me. Nothing spoiled a family reunion faster than jealousy.
But there wasn’t any. Not like before, when they’d fought over who got to escort me where. Not a whiff of tension, only curiosity. I was curious too. No, make that totally confused.
Something had shifted between all of us, but I couldn’t identify what. Or how. I only knew when the group dynamic had changed. Ever since Ash and Hale had walked into the office and I’d passed out, we’d all been peacefully co-existing without any drama whatsoever. Well, drama between us, anyway.
Kellum gave me a reassuring wink, as if he understood my confusion. “We cleared our schedules over at Drakonis for the next couple of days. As angry as Max may be at our boss for hiring us, Lazlo has deep respect for him. He’s the casique of our weir, after all.”
“That’s good,” Danic said as he poured lemonade for his brothers, “because this case is turning out to be a much bigger deal than we expected. That Romanian who kicked Ryen’s ass last night showed up again.”
“Hey!�
� Ryen objected. “At least my face doesn’t look like hamburger right now, bro.”
Danic gave him a mock glare, then filled them in on what had happened at Archibald’s house. “I have a feeling it won’t be the last time we see him before all is said and done.”
“How’s Archibald?” Kellum asked.
“I bandaged him up the best I could,” I said. “He took his ruby and headed for a relative’s place. Stubborn old goat. I told him he might have a concussion, but he didn’t pay any attention. Said all he needed was a good night’s sleep.”
“Dragons heal quickly, Favor,” Shirley said over her shoulder. “Of course, the worse the injury, the longer the healing time.”
I glanced at Danic’s poor, battered face, but even just a few hours after the brutal battle, his bruises were already turning green and a couple of the smaller cuts had knitted together.
A memory of Uncle Max with fading bruises and a limp came back to me. When I’d first moved to L.A., he’d hobbled around for a couple of weeks. He must have taken quite a beating not long before I arrived.
“Now that Archibald has his jewel back, Max will probably show up pretty soon,” Kellum said, sparking hope in Shirley’s eyes as she mixed the cookie dough.
Ryen leaned back and clasped his hands behind his head, his lithe triceps doing funny things to my insides. “Guess Enoch isn’t such a dummy after all. He’s smart for hiding from his dissatisfied client, judging by the tragic state of Danic’s face.”
Danic shot him another glare as the rest of us tried not to snicker. I held up a hand, hoping to bring peace to the brotherly feud.
“Regardless, Max said it was important we work together to find him. I say we keep moving forward.”
Ryen leaned forward. “Speaking of ‘us,’ where the hell have Ash and Hale run off to?”
