Dragon's Baby

by Juniper Hart

  Jack laughed. “Well, maybe you just have a magic touch.”

  Mia blushed, though she tried to hide it by smiling in gratitude.

  “You know,” Jack continued, “I’ve been bringing Buster in here for a while, and I don’t think I’ve ever seen you. And trust me, I would remember you.”

  Was he flirting with her?

  No way! Mia thought. There’s no way…

  She tried to fight the increasing blush sweeping over her reddening face. Her cheeks felt hot, though, and she knew it was obvious. Oh, why?

  “Well, maybe you haven’t been looking hard enough,” Mia replied.

  Where the hell had that come from? She had never blatantly flirted like that with a guy before. Mia braced herself for humiliation.

  Jack smiled again. “Well, shame on me, then. I need to become more aware of my surroundings.”

  She let out a small sigh of relief.

  “So, what do you do when you aren’t saving animals?”

  “Well, Dr. Vogel does all of the saving,” said Mia. “I’m just a tech.”

  “Don’t do that,” Jack said, his face growing serious. “You have an important job and you do save animals. Don’t ever discredit yourself like that.”

  Mia smiled a little nervously; his seriousness had caught her by surprise. “Okay, I won’t. But to answer your question, I’m in school to become a veterinarian.”

  “I could’ve guessed. You have a way with animals. Little Buster here doesn’t shine up to just anybody.”

  As if on cue, Buster began to lick Mia’s face. She wasn’t even aware her face was that close to his, but there he was, standing up on the examination table on his hind legs, nuzzling up to her. She couldn’t help laughing as she gave the little dog a hug and kissed him on the forehead.

  “Well, tell him the feeling is mutual,” she said.

  “Wow, a kiss,” Jack said with a small laugh. “I’m jealous now.”

  Mia giggled almost uncontrollably for a moment before she caught herself and tried to regain control of her emotions.

  Jack picked up Buster and followed Mia back to the front counter, where she rang him up and took his payment. She was sad to see Jack and Buster go, but hopefully she would be seeing them again. Then her hopefulness was replaced by guilt: if they came back to the vet anytime soon, it would probably be for a very bad reason.

  “Well, thanks for the excellent care,” Jack said as he secured Buster on his leash.

  “Thanks for stopping in,” Mia said.

  She wished she could have come up with something wittier to say, something clever, or maybe even something flirty to match the way Jack had been talking to her. But she was simply not good at this, and so she had nothing else to add.

  “Wow! He is definitely our hottest client!” Marcy remarked after Jack and Buster had left.

  “You can say that again,” Mia replied. “I know it’s weird, but I swear he was flirting with me.” She turned to her coworker. “I’m crazy, right? No way a man like that was flirting with me, unless he’s just naturally that way with everyone.”

  “Why do you do that?” Marcy asked.

  Mia stared at her. “What?”

  “You are one of the smartest and most beautiful girls I know, but you always act like a guy is doing you a huge favor when he talks to you,” Marcy answered with a small frown. “I’ve seen other guys come in here and hit on you, but you seem oblivious to it. You need to realize that you have got it going on.”

  Mia laughed. “Thanks for the pep talk, but I think you’re delusional. Guys do not hit on me.”

  Marcy shook her head. “Believe me or don’t, that’s fine, but that guy is definitely interested.”

  “He said he’s come in here a lot before,” Mia said, remembering what Jack had told her. “Does he usually come earlier?”

  Marcy gave her a confused look and then let out a pensive hum. “I don’t think I've ever seen him before.”

  “That’s strange,” Mia said, glancing at the door. “Very strange.”

  2

  Mia locked the door behind her and stepped out into the cold, dark night. It had been a busy day, and her evening plans were not looking any different. She had a big exam coming up that she wasn’t ready for, and that same professor loved to throw out random pop quizzes that could really sink your grade. She was looking down the barrel of an all-nighter, for sure.

  She was usually the last to leave the office. After Dr. Vogel left and the others cleared out, Mia checked the inventory lists quickly, and then made sure all the other end-of-day duties were performed.

  They all had their own lists to check off before they left, but she’d learned a long time ago that it was best to just check everything herself if she wanted to make sure it was all done right. Dr. Vogel agreed, which was why she had given Mia the keys to lock up and set the security alarm. She had even increased Mia’s pay because she showed such dedication to the job.

  The night was still relatively warm, but Mia could feel the last remnants of winter in the air. Still, the smell of spring was quickly approaching, and that was something she looked forward to every single year. Not that the winters in Arizona were bad. They were pretty mild in the southern part of the state, but the blazing heat of summer always made Mia feel alive. All of the Arizona natives complained, but a mid-western girl like her thrived on it.

  She made it to her car and slung her book bag inside. The parking lot was dark and mostly empty. No businesses were on that side of the street, and the whole block looked dead to her at this time of night.

  It was a bit creepy, and every night, Mia nervously glanced around, wondering when she was going to remember to grab a can of pepper spray and start carrying it. This was a safe part of town, but in a place as large as Peoria, there really wasn’t any part of town that was completely safe at night.

  Mia closed the back door of the building and climbed into the front seat of her car, putting her keys in the ignition. A noise startled her, and she didn’t even have a chance to register the fact that a hand reached into her car and pulled the keys out of the ignition. Still frozen in shock, she found herself looking into the eyes of the last person she ever wanted to see.

  Aaron Bishop stood there, now leaning against the side of her car with a wide cocky grin on his face. He appeared to have cleaned himself up a bit since the last time Mia had seen him: his shaggy hair was slicked back with gel, and his face was shaven clean. His clothes were tight and ripped in only strategic places, so he looked stylish rather than disheveled. The scent of his cologne wafted away from him in just the right amount. He almost resembled the guy Mia had first met, the one she had fallen in love with. But all of that was ancient history. That man was dead to her now.

  “What the hell?” Mia snapped. “You scared me to death!”

  Aaron just laughed confidently. “Oh, I’m sorry, sweetie. I didn’t mean to do that.”

  “What are you doing here?” she demanded.

  “Well, I came to see you, of course. You know how I love to surprise my girl.”

  Mia glared at him. “I haven’t been your girl for a very long time. I don’t know how many times I have to tell you, but it’s over between us.”

  Aaron smiled. “You keep saying that, but I’m still here, baby doll.”

  “Stop calling me that!” she exclaimed. “I hated it when we were together and I hate it now.”

  “What’s wrong, baby doll? Did you have a bad day?” Aaron teased.

  “My day is none of your business. Hell, my life is none of your business! I swear if you don’t leave me alone, I’m going to call the cops,” Mia threatened.

  “Yeah, that worked out so well for you last time,” Aaron replied.

  Mia clenched her teeth. This jerk knew too much about her. She couldn’t even threaten him effectively. When she had ended things between them, she’d been so relieved; finally, the train wreck that Aaron had become would no longer pull her down with him.

  But it wasn
’t over. Aaron’s behavior started to get bizarre. He started stalking her, sending her weird messages, showing up at her work and to her classes, and just trying to annoy her enough so she would give in and get back together with him. She never understood his logic, but when his original tactics didn’t work, his actions became more sinister.

  One day, she had fallen asleep in the library at school. She had woken up to find him standing over her with a wicked grin on his face, stroking her hair. She had yelled at him and chased him away, and he had taken his sweet time before leaving her alone.

  That was when she’d called the cops, but he hadn’t broken any laws. Nothing he did was actually threatening. It was as if he knew exactly what he could and couldn’t do in order to stay out of any legal trouble. The whole situation was maddening.

  Mia felt as if Aaron was completely unravelling. He had always had a drinking problem, which had only gotten worse with time, and his behavior had escalated from annoying to creepy.

  Mia hadn’t heard a word from him for a few weeks, and she’d started to think that maybe he’d actually moved on. But here he was now, as if he hadn’t missed a day.

  “I’m leaving,” Mia said. “Give me my keys.”

  Aaron looked at the keys in his hand and smiled. “Only if you talk to me for a moment. Then you will get them back.”

  “I have nothing to say to you.”

  “Okay,” he said, “then just listen, baby. I miss you. I’ve turned over a new leaf. Things between us will be better this time. I promise.”

  The way he spoke almost sounded like he was mocking her. He talked with a faint lilt to his voice, and his words almost had a sing-song tone that literally spat on their meaning.

  “Give me my keys,” Mia repeated.

  “I don’t think you appreciate this,” said Aaron, gesturing to both of them with his hand. “What we have. You are seriously going to destroy this because of a few small mishaps?”

  “Raising a hand to me is not a mishap,” Mia said. “Lying to me is not a mishap.”

  Aaron ignored her and continued, almost as if he’d rehearsed everything he wanted to say beforehand.

  “All couples fight,” Aaron argued. “I would never hurt you. I know you love me, and you know I love you. Why are you even doing this? It’s silly.”

  Mia’s hands tightened on the steering wheel. “If you loved me, then you would leave me alone and get yourself some help.”

  “You’re being silly. I’m still the guy you fell in love with.”

  Mia clenched her teeth. “The guy I fell for was not an angry drunk.”

  Aaron growled at her. He grabbed her arm hard and effortlessly jerked her out of the car. Mia would have fallen to the ground if he wasn’t still clenching her arm. His nails dug into her flesh as he pinned her against her vehicle.

  “You’re hurting me!” she cried.

  “You have no idea what hurt is,” Aaron snarled, glaring at her. His voice was low and menacing.

  Mia had never seen him this way. Even at his worst, she’d never seen his face look so evil.

  “Please…” Mia pleaded.

  “Oh, you look so good when you’re scared… and begging,” Aaron chuckled, and he inhaled deeply. “You smell delicious.”.

  “Let her go!”

  A loud voice came from behind Aaron. Mia couldn’t believe what she saw: walking towards her—looking every bit like a knight in shining armor—was Jack. What was he doing here? She didn’t care; the only thing that mattered was that he was there. She wasn’t alone anymore.

  Tears of relief stung her eyes and rolled down her cheeks.

  Aaron’s head snapped around with a huff. He was instantly in a fight stance, his arms raised in front of him to take Jack on. But suddenly his body language changed. He straightened up, his arms dropping to his sides. He released his hold on Mia and took a few steps backwards.

  “Jack?” Aaron asked. “What are you doing here?”

  He took the words right out of Mia’s mouth. She held back a gasp, and her jaw dropped open. Did the two men in front of her know each other?

  “Never mind that,” Jack said.

  He was standing right in front of Aaron, and his gaze on him was intense. Mia noticed that his jaw was clenched, as if he were ready for an argument, or even a fight, to break out.

  Looking at them, Mia realized just how strongly built Jack was in comparison to Aaron. Not only was Jack a few inches taller, but he definitely had about twenty pounds of rock-solid muscle over him. Apparently, Aaron realized that this was a fight he would not win, and he backed down, stepping aside.

  “What the hell are you doing?” Jack asked.

  “Oh, we were… um… we were just talking,” Aaron said, shrugging his shoulders.

  “That’s not what it looked like,” Jack replied. “I believe she asked you to give her back her car keys and to leave her alone.”

  Suddenly, Aaron’s anger returned, and he snarled again. “Wait, what is this to you? What the hell are you even doing here? You’re spying on me?”

  “I’ve heard things about you,” Jack answered. “Things I don’t like.”

  “This is between me and her!” Aaron yelled.

  Jack stepped forward. His face was almost touching Aaron’s now, and his eyes bore into Aaron’s like daggers.

  “I told you to leave,” Jack demanded, though his voice remained calm and collected. “Now.”

  Aaron paused for a moment. Mia could hear his jaw clenching and his teeth grinding together. His hands were balled into fists, shaking with rage. She thought he was going to make a move any second.

  Oh, God, she didn’t want to see a fight, nor did she want to see how it would end.

  Just when she thought Aaron was going to lunge at Jack, he relaxed again and slowly stepped away. His gaze stayed on Jack a moment longer and then turned to her.

  “This isn’t over,” Aaron said.

  “Yes, it is,” Jack replied.

  Aaron didn’t bother to look back as he sauntered off into the night. Once he had disappeared from sight, Jack turned his attention to Mia.

  “Are you okay?” he asked.

  Mia, who had been holding her breath during the exchange, gasped for air as she tried to resume her normal breathing.

  “Oh, my God!” she exclaimed, her body shaking slightly. “I thought he was going to…” She shook her head. “Well, I didn’t know what he might do, but I didn’t want to find out.”

  “It’s okay,” Jack said, stepping closer to her. “He’s gone now.”

  “Thank you so much,” Mia said. “If you hadn’t been here…” Her sentence died in her throat. “Um, actually, why are you here?”

  Jack smiled softly, and he glanced down at the ground before looking back at her. “I guess it’s a bit embarrassing, but I wanted to talk to you again.”

  “About what?” Mia asked.

  “Well,” he said, “I wished I’d done this before, but I didn’t. I don’t know why. Anyway, I couldn’t rest thinking that I was blowing my shot, so I came back here to ask you out.”

  Mia’s thoughts were a mess. Her mind was still trying to process what had just happened to her and what Aaron might have done to her if Jack hadn’t arrived. The man was clearly deranged and spiraling far worse than he had been before. And now Jack, her hero, had just laid this on her. This gorgeous man had not only saved her, he had also come back to ask her out. Wow…

  “What did you say?” Mia had to hear it once more to make sure she wasn’t dreaming. Was she going to wake up slumped over her books at her kitchen table?

  “I wanted to know if you would like to have dinner with me,” Jack said. “What do you say?”

  Mia couldn’t stop smiling. “I’d love to,” she answered.

  3

  “That’s not going to help anything,” Jack said.

  He tried to keep himself calm, but now that he was face-to-face with Aaron, just the two of them, the anger started to boil over him. He wanted to rip
him limb from limb and show him who was boss. Sometimes people just needed to be reminded of their place. It was necessary for order and structure to continue, especially in Jack’s world.

  He had decided to walk the six blocks to Aaron’s house from his place rather than drive there. It was a nice night, and truthfully, he’d hoped the exercise would help to squash the rage he felt.

  He didn’t want to do something rash. It wasn’t the way of an alpha to lose control and let a beta rile him up. The wolf pack had to know they could depend on him to keep a cool and level head no matter the situation.

  He was their leader, and he was determined to stay that way. His position had been given to him at birth, but it could be taken from him by the right challenger. He had to make sure that didn’t happen.

  If the wrong person stepped into the role of the alpha, then the entire pack’s safety would be put at risk. The others all knew that, but as with any wolf pack, there was always a straggler or two who dreamed of becoming the leader.

  Aaron ignored him. Instead of making eye contact, he continued to hit the punching bag set up in his basement.

  Jack watched this man, this beast who was once a fine addition to his pack. The guy was coming apart. He drank himself to oblivion almost daily, and he may have graduated to harder stuff by now. Jack wasn’t sure what substances coursed through Aaron’s bloodstream. But his behavior was putting the whole group at risk. He had to be stopped.

  “I’m talking to you,” Jack said, walking closer.

  Aaron finally stopped hitting the punching bag, and he turned to glare at him.

  Jack laughed. “That’s cute. You think you can intimidate me with your intense stare? Please. I’ve faced bigger and badder than you several times in my life.”

  Aaron stepped towards him. “You had no right to intervene tonight!” he snarled, and his words were so slurred that Jack could barely make them out.

  “Oh, I had every right. You terrorized that poor girl. You lost control. What would have happened if you’d gone over the edge and shifted right in front of her? Would you have just walked away in embarrassment, or would you have killed her and left an unexplainable murder in our city?”