She walked past Harlan, trying to keep her mind off how much she wanted him to reach out and grab hold of her, and kiss her senseless to make her stay. Two children needed her help. Kisses could wait for later.
In her mind, her dragon disagreed, but she did not fight Fiona. They had both decided that Fiona’s job at social services was a just cause.
“But you will meet me for dinner?” Harlan asked.
“If I am back early enough. I have to find two traumatized girls a bed for the night.” Fiona assumed the two girls would be traumatized; she had enough knowledge of stepmothers to know that sometimes they truly were wicked and the girls might be better off away from her.
“Ah, in that case, I may let you take a rain check. Although I am happy to eat at any time of day or night, as long as I can share my meal with you.”
“You really do take the romantic charm of yours a little too far.”
“You admit I’m charming? That is good enough for me.” Harlan’s smile was hard to resist. The corners of Fiona’s mouth curled up in response. He truly was charming. If she wasn’t careful, Harlan was going to steal her heart. He already had her soul, after all; he was her true mate. But that part of the bond belonged to fate. However, her heart was hers and hers alone to give.
“I must go.”
Harlan sobered, his face serious. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have delayed you.” He nodded and placed his hand on the small of her back to guide her toward the offices belonging to Bear Creek News, as if she didn’t know the way. Yet she liked it, you didn’t see such old-fashioned manners in these modern times.
The door opened as they reached the building and Chrysi stood next to Nevis, her face searching her father’s. “Is everything OK?”
“Yes, but Fiona has to leave.”
“I hope we get to meet properly soon,” Chrysi said.
“I dare say we will,” Fiona said bluntly, her thoughts turning to the two girls. Chrysi’s face clouded. “I’m sorry, that didn’t come out quite right.”
“I expect you are in shock,” Chrysi continued. “I know I was when Nevis told me he was my mate.”
“Didn’t you know?” Fiona asked, confused.
“Oh, I’m not a shifter,” Chrysi said.
“Chrysi is my adopted daughter,” Harlan explained.
“Adopted?” Fiona faced Harlan, a new admiration for him blossoming in her heart.
“Yes, I had all but given up hope of finding…you. So I decided to open my house and my heart to a child who needed a home.” He reached out and took hold of Chrysi’s hand. “And every day I am thankful that I did.”
“Well, you old dragon, maybe there is something special about you.” Fiona walked on past Chrysi and Nevis, needing to find Caroline.
“Why not let me drive you?” Harlan offered again. “I have nothing else planned today. It will save you some time.”
“I…” Harlan was right, it would be quicker if he drove her. That way she could make some calls on the way and try to find the girls a bed for the night.
“That sounds like a reluctant yes.” His voice was hopeful.
“I suppose it could be.” Fiona’s dragon almost purred at the thought of being in a small, confined space with their mate.
“Hello,” Caroline said, coming to meet them, followed by Teagan and Fern, who both looked as if they had been crying.
“Can I leave my car at your house?” Fiona asked.
“Why, are you eloping?” Caroline asked speculatively.
“No. I have a case that needs my urgent attention, and Harlan has offered to drive me,” Fiona spoke calmly, ignoring the look the three women exchanged. “I would not make something like that up.”
“No, you wouldn’t,” Caroline agreed. “Leave the car there as long as you need to.”
“Thank you, Caroline.” Fiona sighed. “Caroline, Teagan, Fern. This is Harlan. Harlan…”
“I’ve met Teagan and Fern.”
“Yes, your mate has been hidden in plain sight, Fiona. Who would have guessed?”
“Who indeed?” Caroline said. “Good to meet you, Harlan. I hope you aren’t going to steal our Fiona away from Bear Creek. Dragon or not, we would have to fight you for her.”
Harlan smiled, and Fiona sighed. Damn, he was an attractive man. “I have no intentions of going anywhere. Everything I will ever need is here in Bear Creek.”
“That is so sweet,” Teagan said, her voice breaking and tears streaming down her face. “Hormones.” She blew her nose loudly on the tissue Theo handed her. “Thank you.”
He passed another tissue to Fern. “Here, sweetheart.”
“Thanks,” Fern said, taking it and dabbing her eyes. “I wish everyone could have a happy ending.”
“We must go.” Fiona looked at the time. “We have two girls who need their happy ending.” She hugged the three women, an unusual act for Fiona. They might blame their tears on their hormones, but she could only blame the softening of her personality on one thing.
Her mate. She only hoped it would prove to be a good thing.
Chapter Six – Harlan
He’d won her over, even if it was only in one small way. The rest could wait, now he had to put his own desires to one side and get Fiona to where she needed to be.
Not that he minded his own plans being derailed for a good cause, and two girls in need of help certainly was a good cause.
“This is your car?” Fiona asked as he unlocked it from across the parking lot.
“Yes.” He stepped in front of her and opened the passenger door. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Nothing. It’s just big and expensive.” Fiona sighed audibly. “I try not to torture myself about how rich I would be today if I still had my treasure.”
He closed the door behind her, and she fastened her seatbelt while he ran around to the driver’s side. “I made a new fortune this lifetime.”
“This lifetime?” Fiona asked.
“Yes. I reinvented myself and then challenged myself to build a fortune from scratch. And I did. And then I taught Chrysi how to do the same, build a business up with just a small investment from me. You know, the whole give a man a fish and feeding for a day, but…”
“I get it.” Fiona stared out of the window in front of her.
“What’s wrong?” Harlan asked.
“I suppose that is what I should have done. Instead, I gave away my remaining treasure and then worked my way through life.”
“That was noble of you,” Harlan said.
“I did it because it was the only way anyone could trace me. No treasure, no dragon.”
“Still, helping people is a noble cause too,” Harlan said. He cast her a sidelong look. “You helped people. You gave your time, when you could have been making money. There is no shame in that.”
“Tell that to my dragon,” Fiona said. “She misses the feel of gold beneath her belly when she sleeps.”
“Well, tell her she can come roll in my hoard of gold any time she wants.” He drove out onto the main street through town.
“She thanks you,” Fiona said, but still looked saddened.
“I’m sorry, if my coming into your life has dredged up memories you would rather forget,” Harlan said, sensing her sorrow rolling off her as she remembered the past.
“It’s not just you.” She opened her hand, revealing the jade ring. “This is the real reason it’s all come back to me. I have worn it for so many years, and I think it made me forget who I was. I know I am a dragon shifter, of course. But so much else seems to have been muted.”
“And now you get to relive it in full color.” He sympathized with Fiona. When you lived so long, you had a long past to dwell on. “It’s why I adopted Chrysi.”
“To forget the past?”
“To make a present I wanted to live in. I was so lonely. I’d made a second fortune to fill the time, to give myself something to occupy me. And when I had done it... Well, it left me empty. Money is not what this world is
for. It’s for friends and family. My family was gone; my friends were attracted to money. And so I decided to find a person who wanted me for me.”
“She was a new challenge,” Fiona said.
He frowned. “I suppose, although that was never what I set out for her to be. I wanted to see if I was capable of love. Unconditional love.”
“And you were.”
“I was.” He smiled. “From the first moment I held her in my arms I knew Chrysi was worth more than both my fortunes combined.”
“Were you ever worried you might not love her as much, because she wasn’t your own flesh and blood?”
“You mean because she wasn’t a dragon shifter?” Harlan asked.
“No. I don’t know if that matters. But she wasn’t born from your mate.” Fiona blushed. “I’m glad you have a child, Harlan.”
“I would have a child with you, Fiona.”
She scoffed. “I am too old for babies.”
“Are you?” Harlan looked at her, reading her, assessing her.
“Yes.” Her words were firm.
“You are not too old.”
“I am, thank you.”
He let the conversation drop. “OK, I need directions.”
Fiona reeled off the address and he entered it into his GPS and followed the automated voice. A silence settled over them, until Fiona pulled out her phone and began to scroll across the screen. “Am I boring you?”
“No, I am trying to figure out where I’m going to place these girls. I usually have more notice.” She frowned. “There are not too many choices. Placing one child is easy, but two… That is trickier.”
“I’m sure you can figure it out,” Harlan said, and turned his attention back to the road and getting them there quickly and safely, while Fiona made some calls. Over and over, she hung up, sighed loudly, and then called another number, only to hang up, with a deeper frown on her face. “Problem?”
“I can’t find a placement for them both together at such short notice,” Fiona stated. “Not with anyone who understands shifters.”
“Alternatives?”
“I’ll have to call Suzie and ask her to help. We’ll need to look for something temporary where they can stay. It shouldn’t be a problem. Then I’ll figure something out in the next couple of days.” She dialed another number. “Hi, Suzie. This is Fiona. I’m having trouble finding a placement for the two girls together. Do you know of anyone else who could take them for a couple of days?”
Fiona was silent for a few minutes. Harlan could hear Suzie talking, although he could not tell what she was saying. All he knew was that whatever was being said did not sit well with Fiona.
“OK, thank you.”
“Do you have a placement?” Harlan asked when Fiona ended the call.
“We have to split them up.”
“Why?”
“Suzie said it is imperative that the older girl, Ruby, goes to shifters.”
“She’s going through the change?” Harlan asked.
“Yes, she’s at puberty. Her dragon is wrestling for control.”
“We’re here,” Harlan said, pulling into the parking lot. “Why don’t you meet them first, and find out all the facts before you split them up? Maybe Ruby can hold it together for a while.”
“And what if she doesn’t? Do you remember what it’s like when you go through the change?”
“So long ago,” Harlan said. His dragon trawled his memories for the moment they first became one. Harlan had known for years that one day he would be able to shift into a dragon. Yet the first time it happened had still been a surprise. “I remember. My father and I were walking in the mountains. He had flown us up there, me sitting astride him like a dragon lord.” Harlan smiled at the memory. “And I so wanted to be like him. Then this sensation took over me, as if I could reach into another dimension.”
“And the next thing you knew, you were a dragon,” Fiona finished.
“The next thing I knew I was a dragon.” Harlan nodded, and they shared a smile. A smile that said they were the same, they were the beasts that used to fill the skies. They were magnificent and magical. “We should go in. Or do you want me to wait here?”
“No, you can come in. I’ll have to sign you in and get you a visitor’s pass,” Fiona explained, getting out of the car and slamming the door closed.
Harlan walked around to stand by her side. “What kind of person gives a child up and brings them to a place like this?” He looked up at the bland building. “No offense.”
“None taken,” Fiona said. “I think the same thing every time I come here, which luckily is not that often. But then I meet the children, and sometimes the parents, and you hear stories that would make your talons curl, and not in a good way.”
“And at least the kids are lucky enough to have people like you looking out for them.”
“Do you always put a positive spin on things?” Fiona asked.
“Oh, yeah. It’s how I survived.”
Fiona’s eyes misted up before she coughed and said, “We all do what we can to survive.”
“Let’s hope these two girls don’t have to learn that fact the hard way,” Harlan said.
“I will do everything in my power, which unfortunately is bound by red tape and bureaucracy.” Fiona took a step forward. “Come on, the job will not get done standing here talking about it.”
“OK, lead the way.”
Harlan followed his mate into the building. It didn’t matter where she went or what she did, he would always want to be by her side. His dragon puffed clouds of smoke in agreement.
Just like that day, centuries ago, when he had been alone one moment before his dragon had entered his life and changed it forever, today his mate had entered his life and turned it on its head.
Chapter Seven – Fiona
After signing Harlan in and getting him a visitor’s badge, they made their way to the elevator. Harlan pressed the button and they stood in silence, waiting. What Harlan was thinking, she could only guess, but the far-off look in his eyes told her he was either remembering his past or dreaming of the future. A future with Fiona.
She diverted her gaze, looking out of a window, but not really seeing the view. What if she was a disappointment to him? Harlan seemed to be so easygoing, and she was so not easygoing. She had zero tolerance for idiots. She suffered liars and cheats very badly. It went against her core beliefs.
The elevator arrived and the door pinged open and they stepped inside. Fiona pressed the button to take them to the third floor.
“What is the procedure?” Harlan asked.
“For the girls?” Fiona asked.
“Yes.”
“I’ll take them to an interview room and have a chat with them. I need to assess how they are mentally before they are placed. Not a complete psych evaluation. But just enough to gauge how distraught they are at leaving their home.”
“In case they are a threat to themselves?” Harlan asked.
“Not always.” She pressed her lips together, thinking of the best way to explain the particular issues that could potentially arise from a shifter child in foster care. “Sometimes the child can be a threat to the person who has abandoned them.”
“A threat? You mean the child might go back and hurt someone?” Harlan asked, incredulous.
“Not usually. But adolescents…” Fiona gave him a meaningful look.
“Can get out of hand. I can see that.” He put his arm around her shoulders, resting it lightly, as if testing her. “They are lucky to have you around to keep them safe.”
“I do what I can.” Fiona was too preoccupied with his touch to really concentrate on what words were coming out of her mouth, so she clamped it shut. Leaning into him was as natural as breathing. His body beckoned her to nestle against him, his breath caressed her skin, his words soothed her brain.
“You are a remarkable woman, Fiona,” Harlan whispered to her.
“There are plenty of people who would not agree.”
/>
“I don’t care about them.”
Fiona turned her face to his, her lips parting, her tongue moistening her bottom lip. She wanted him to kiss her, right here, right now. Harlan’s eyes searched her face and then lingered on her lips, his face moving closer, so close…
He consumed her senses.
So much that she did not register the ping as they reached their floor and the elevator door pinged open.
“So this is what you get up to on your day off, Fiona?” Suzie asked, her tone jovial.
Fiona jumped and pushed herself away from Harlan. “We were just…”
“It’s OK, no need to explain. It’s nice to know you are human like the rest of us.” Suzie gave her a bright smile. “The girls are this way.”
“There is a coffee machine in there.” Fiona pointed to a waiting room. “I can’t promise I won’t be long.”
“Take your time. I have nothing else to do for the day.” Harlan’s smile was warm and encouraging, and she wanted to bathe in it. But her job beckoned. She could not abandon her work for a man. Not even her mate.
“He’s nice,” Suzie confided in a hushed whisper once they were out of earshot.
“He might be.”
“Might be? How long have you two known each other?” Suzie asked, intrigued.
Fiona was not very good at navigating the fascination people always had in other people’s love lives. Wait? Was it love?
“We’ve only just met.”
“Wow, I wish I could find a man who looks at me like that when we have only just met.” Suzie sighed, casting a longing glance over her shoulder.
The encounter proved one thing to Fiona. Suzie was neither a shifter nor was she aware of the mating bond. This confused Fiona. “How do you know when to call me in?”
“For these special cases?” Suzie asked.
“Yes.”
“The files come with a note attached, telling me to pass them on to you. That’s how I know that they are…you know, shifters.” Suzie opened her eyes wide before she turned and picked a file up from her desk. She pulled a note off it and showed it to Fiona.
“Who writes the note?” Fiona asked.
“I presume it’s Mrs. Donaldson or her PA.” Suzie smiled. “Ours is not to reason why.”
Silverback Dragon (Return to Bear Creek Book 6) Page 4
