by Tasha Black
“Interesting,” Sarah noted.
“He’s not harming no one,” the man beside Zane said suddenly. “You let him be.”
“Too late,” Sarah said. “He’s harmed someone already. Let’s go, Zane.”
She slid off the stool, but before she could head for the door, Bowen let out a sad little cry.
“Oh no, baby, what’s wrong?” she asked.
Bowen banged his head on her shoulder.
“He’s hungry,” Zane told her. “We should get him some milk.”
“You look like you could all use a meal,” Rose said. “Why don’t you take that table. I’ll bring you a good dinner. Then you can decide what to do.” Rose pointed to a well-lit booth by the window.
Sarah looked torn.
“Please,” Zane said softly. “She’s right. We could all use a meal.”
Bowen bumped her shoulder with his head again and Sarah nodded to the barkeep.
“Thank you, Rose,” she said. “We would be much obliged.”
Relief flooded through Zane as they headed to the table.
A man at the table next to theirs gazed at Sarah with a thoughtful expression. He was different from the other men in the saloon - younger, sharper, and clean-shaven.
Zane disliked him immediately.
8
Sarah
Sarah sat back in the wooden booth with Bowen on her lap.
The baby slapped his small hands on the table and made growling sounds.
“He knows it’s dinner time,” she said, delighted.
Zane was looking at the next table, a stern expression on his handsome face.
She followed his gaze to see a man seated by himself.
The man stood out in the smoky saloon for being neat and clean. He had well-kept dark hair to his shoulders and wore a handsome gray uniform.
He nodded to her when he noticed her looking, his eyes bright with interest.
She nodded back, wondering what he might want. She doubted a decent man would know anything about Jericho Caldwell, but she wouldn’t close the door on any conversation that might lead to help.
“Madam,” the man said, then nodded to Zane. “And my lord. May I have a word?”
“By all means,” Zane said, indicating their table.
But Sarah noticed Zane was still scowling. She had no idea why. The man seemed nice enough to her.
The stranger rose from his own table, and took a seat across from Sarah.
Zane seated himself beside Sarah.
She could feel the heat of his muscular thigh through his breeches and her gown, and the sensation made her almost lightheaded. She pushed the thoughts aside and tried to focus on business.
“What can we do for you?” Zane asked.
The stranger clasped his hands together and placed them on the table, gazing directly into Sarah’s face.
She could see now that his eyes were slate gray, as if his uniform had been purposely dyed to match them.
“I’m a marshal,” he told her. “Name’s Booker Slade, but everyone just calls me Slade.”
“Sarah Flynn,” she replied. “My son, Reginald Bowen Flynn, and his guard, Zane of the Invicta.”
She felt Zane flinch beside her as if she had slapped him and wondered if he hadn’t wanted his name shared for some reason.
“Pleasure,” the man called Slade said, eyebrows slightly lifted as he observed Zane.
These men and their pissing contests.
So one was a dragon warrior, and one was a marshal, so what? Her father was still dead, and no one was hunting the killer. So they were both about as useless as a harvester droid at a canning factory.
“Will the marshals help us hunt down Caldwell and bring him to justice?” she asked plainly.
“No, ma’am,” Slade replied, a touch of sorrow in those kitten-gray eyes. “But I will.”
Rose appeared with two bowls of food, a basket of bread and a pitcher of milk as well as a stack of wooden glasses.
Bowen began fussing immediately, as if the sight of his milk and bread had caused him to panic instead of take comfort.
“Dip a bit of bread in the milk for him,” Zane suggested quietly. “If it’s nice and soft he’ll be happy with it.”
She did as he suggested, and soon Bowen was eating bits of bread as fast as she could wet them.
A few quiet minutes passed as they ate, and finally the baby slowed down and rested against her chest.
“So,” Sarah said, glancing up at Slade.
“So?” he echoed.
“Why would you help me?” she asked. “You don’t look like you’re hurting for money. And you say the marshals won’t help officially.”
“They won’t, because they think they have better things to do,” he said. “I will, because I’ve got my eye on a sweet piece of farmland and I’m looking for a side gig so I can get my hands on it. How big a reward are you talking about?”
“Not as big as all that,” Sarah said. “But it won’t be such a big job either. We already know he’s hiding out in the territories. It should be easy.”
Slade chuckled and took a sip of his drink.
“What?” Sarah asked.
“The territories are far from easy,” Slade said. “Full of dangerous animals and people who don’t want to be found. And there’s no shortage of places to hole up. Knowing that he’s there doesn’t narrow things down as much as you’d think.”
“I thought you were an intergalactic marshal,” Sarah said. Goading him a little couldn’t hurt.
“I am,” he said.
“But you’re afraid of some space crocodiles and a few petty criminals?” she asked.
Zane roared with laughter beside her.
“Your husband is an Invicta dragon warrior, and I don’t see him trotting over there,” Slade said, narrowing his eyes at Zane.
“He’s not my husband,” she said, feeling a little pang at the words and then hating herself for it. “And he doesn’t believe in justice.”
“I don’t believe in revenge,” Zane barked. “They’re two different things.”
“Not this time they’re not,” she spat back.
“Sweetheart, the Invicta are different from you and me,” Slade said in a honeyed tone.
“Don’t sweetheart me,” Sarah said, turning her fury on the stranger. “This job is worth two thousand credits to me, no more, no less. Either take it or don’t. I’ll have no more arguments in front of my boy.”
“Two thousand credits,” he sputtered.
“Take it or leave it.”
He narrowed his eyes at her.
She focused on breathing slow and even, without lowering her eyes from his, or even blinking.
Sarah had only two thousand one hundred seventy credits to her name. She had left the rest to provide for her mother.
Two thousand credits was more than fair pay for a few days’ work for the marshal. And she needed the one hundred seventy to tide them over until Bowen’s stipend arrived.
Slade sucked in a breath and appeared to make a decision.
“I’ll do it,” he said. “But only because I have a soft spot for pretty single mothers.”
Zane stiffened beside her.
“I don’t care why you do it,” Sarah said. “We’ll meet you at the road out of town at dawn, Mr. Slade.”
9
Sarah
Sarah found herself nodding off on the ride home.
It was dark, and Bowen was sleeping already, his warm weight curled against her chest. Her belly was full, and the carriage jostled lightly.
Between those comforts and the absence of pain in her leg, Sarah felt like she was floating.
Zane drove on in silence, his eyes on the path ahead and the Lachesian octopus, which was glowing a pale rainbow of color again.
“She’s hungry,” Sarah said dreamily, happy that there was something about this strange new moon that she recognized.
“We’ll release her again when we get home,” Zane said. “Sh
e’ll be able to catch more than enough to satisfy herself now that it’s full night.”
“Thank you,” Sarah said.
“For what?” he asked.
“I know you didn’t want to take me out,” she said. “But I’ll rest easy when I know Caldwell can’t hurt anyone else.”
He nodded, and looked out into the night.
There was something about his expression, something almost haunted. She wondered what could make such a fearsome warrior look so lost.
But before she came up with any hypotheses, he pulled the octopus up.
They were home again.
Home.
How did it sound so foreign and so completely right at the same time?
Zane swung down and released the octopus, as promised. It half floated, half tiptoed into the trees, looking delirious with happiness, internal lights flickering in a wild rainbow.
Zane came back and held out his arms for Bowen.
Sarah handed him down and was amazed to see Zane cuddle the little one into his chest quickly enough that he didn’t wake.
“Now you,” he said, offering Sarah his hand.
She took it, anticipating the shiver this time, but still not ready for it to travel down her spine and warm her cheeks.
When she touched down on the ground he didn’t back up. Instead he stood frozen pinning her between the carriage and his big, hard body.
“Sarah,” he breathed.
She lifted her chin, daring herself to look into those bright blue eyes. Something was happening between them. Something primal and true and good.
Before her eyes reached his, she sensed movement in the shadows.
Instantly, the hair at the back of her neck lifted up and her heart began to pound.
“What’s that?” she whispered to Zane, gazing out into the trees.
He turned, quick as a thought, putting his body between hers and the danger she had spotted.
She was just able to see an ominous shadow stretching toward them before he fully blocked her view of the house. Now that the two of them had gone silent she could hear voices coming from that direction as well.
“Are you sure they’re not home?” one voice whispered.
“Does it look like anyone’s home?” another hissed.
Sarah peeked out from behind Zane’s back to see the shadow stretch further, lifting a large object to break in the door.
“Hold him, please,” Zane whispered.
Sarah took Bowen and snuggled him close.
By the time she looked up from settling him in, Zane was gone.
In his place was a massive golden dragon, shimmering in the dim light of the stars through the haze of clouds.
He lit up like the sun, illuminating the clearing in front of the house and revealing every detail, every leaf on the trees above, each axe mark in the logs that made up the house.
Sarah’s mouth dropped open as she took in the ocean of exquisite golden scales and the sheer size of the beast before her. She should have been afraid. She should have been terrified.
But somehow, she had never felt safer in her life.
“Ha,” Bowen yelled sleepily to the dragon.
Someone gasped.
Sarah turned to see a very surprised looking couple standing in front of the door to her house.
The man was holding a note that he had been about to affix to her door.
The woman was holding a cake, but she seemed to have forgotten about it in her shock over the appearance of the dragon. As she stared in open wonder at Zane, the cake was very slowly sliding off the plate.
It landed with a splat on the doorstep.
“Hello,” the man called out.
“Oh dear,” the woman said, crouching to pick up the cake.
The air around the magnificent dragon seemed to waver for a moment and then it was gone, and Zane stood in its place once more.
“Sorry to scare you,” he called back to them.
“We’re sorry if we looked suspicious,” the man said, striding up. “We just wanted to welcome you. We live down the road a piece.”
Zane smiled and offered the man his arm.
Timidly, the man took it and they clasped.
“Pleasure is ours,” Zane said to him. “Again, sorry for the scare.”
Sarah couldn’t begin to understand why the neighbors would be sneaking around in the night. They were lucky Zane hadn’t taken them both out. But she kept her mouth shut. There was no point scolding them now. They looked scared enough that she doubted they’d try to welcome any more neighbors in the night.
“So sorry, dear,” the woman said from where she stood on the doorstep. “If you’ll just lend me a rag, I’ll clean this up and we’ll bring you another tomorrow.”
She looked terrified. Like Zane might change his mind at any moment and decide to eat them as a snack instead of the cake.
“Please, don’t trouble yourself,” Sarah said. “If you’d like to come in, I’ll take care of that.”
The couple exchanged nervous glances.
“No thank you,” the woman said quickly. “We have to be going. We’ll see you another time. Again, our apologies.”
They scurried back down the country lane before anyone had a chance to object.
Zane joined Sarah by the doorstep, and they looked down at the cake.
It was perfect except for the fact that it was sitting on the ground. The frosting glistened in the starlight.
“That actually looks really good,” Zane said.
“Are you thinking what I’m thinking?” Sarah asked.
10
Zane
Zane stood at the kitchen counter ten minutes later, a big plate of cake in front of him, watching Sarah try to eat hers neatly while Bowen snatched for it.
“I can’t believe you sliced the bottom right off without ruining the frosting on the top,” he said wonderingly. “You’re very good with a knife.”
“We’re just lucky she dropped it the way she did,” Sarah said, nodding sagely.
Her mouth was a little full and she had frosting on her chin, which Bowen was trying to scoop off with his little fingers.
Zane could hardly blame him. The cake was delicious - a slab of moist, buttery goodness, with fluffy frosting and a layer of some kind of cream on the inside.
“Did you want some frosting, baby?” Sarah asked him.
Bowen let out a string of excited syllables in response.
Zane watched as Sarah dipped his little hand into her slice of cake.
The expression of wonder on the whelp’s face was priceless when his hand went into his mouth.
“Good, right?” Sarah asked him. “Maybe having the neighbors stop by wasn’t such a bad thing.”
“That really scared you,” Zane remembered out loud.
“Didn’t it scare you?” she replied.
“Not really,” he admitted. “I didn’t like the idea of someone prowling around our house, but I get the feeling you were really frightened.”
“First of all, I can’t turn into a spaceship sized reptile when there’s a prowler,” Sarah said. “And yes, I was terrified, at first. We’re really exposed out here.”
“You were worried earlier about keeping the house safe,” Zane said. “Now that you’ve seen me as a dragon, do you feel better?”
“Fishing for compliments, eh?” she teased, licking frosting off her finger.
His heart almost stopped beating at the sight of that sweet pink tongue darting out to caress her hand. He gulped and shook his head to clear it.
“Not at all,” he told her. “I want you to feel safe. If seeing me shift didn’t do it, then tell me what will.”
“Seeing you shift was incredible,” she admitted. “You were… beautiful and terrifying.”
The dragon preened in his chest as he waited for her to tell him why it wasn’t enough.
“But you have to sleep sometime,” she said. “What happens to Bowen and me in the night when you’re asleep and s
omeone pries open a window?”
The thought chilled his blood, even as he knew that the dragon’s senses would wake him instantly if their family was in danger.
“What if I secure the doors and windows tonight?” he offered. “We can figure out something more permanent tomorrow. But for now, would you sleep better if I made sure no one could open a door or window without waking me?”
Her eyes went soft, and she nodded up at him.
Bowen was resting his round cheek against her chest again. It was probably time for the little one to get some rest.
Zane tried to convince himself he wasn’t just trying to get the baby out of her arms so he could find his own way into them.
“Let me get the window Bowen’s room first, so you can put him down when he’s ready,” he said, jogging off for the nursery.
The baby’s room was peaceful. Zane drank in the sight of the crib and rocker.
Though he was only supposed to guard the whelp, it was impossible not to love him. Seeing this cozy space where Bowen would spend his nights made Zane feel a contentment that he could not have explained before knowing the little one.
By the time he was finished securing the window, Sarah was heading down the hallway with a clean and sleepy Bowen.
Zane backed up to the wall to let her pass and tried not to notice her incredible scent as that low-cut gown slid against his thigh.
Why was she wearing it? She was one of the most practical people he had ever met. It seemed completely out of place.
But the small, fierce Terran was a mystery to him.
He watched her bend over the crib and lower Bowen in.
The little one began to fuss, but she reached in and stroked his belly, instinctively knowing what would comfort him.
Zane forced himself away from the doorway. There were plenty of windows and doors. If he wanted to be able to reassure her that all were firmly locked and secured, he had to get to work.
But when he reached her bedroom he had to stop again.
Behind him, back in Bowen’s room, Sarah had begun to sing. Her rich, contralto voice was soft and comforting in the still night of the darkened house.
