by Anna Lewis
***
Lara tried to rest, but she couldn’t. The lights of downtown Fort Worth came and went, then the larger, brighter lights of downtown Dallas were on the horizon, then beneath them, then fading away in the distance behind them. Once she got used to being so high in the air, the view was actually spectacular, and she was trying to focus on enjoying the ride. The past few hours had been terrifying, and she still shuddered now and then, her body trembling in fear for so long after the adrenaline crash that her muscles were still twitching in protest.
Trevor sat behind her, his body moving with ease along with the motions of the dragon beneath them. Lara felt like she was in a dream, flying through the air on the magical being as she had dreamed of doing when she was young. Except, the young and innocent Lara didn’t know that dragons really did exist.
I also didn’t believe that something as simple as jury duty would get my car blown up, but there’s that, she thought with a grimace. This entire night was insane, and Lara was still numb. When it all sunk in, she didn’t know what would happen, but part of her was hoping to wake up soon and discover that this had all been a bad dream.
Trevor pulled her closer, jostling her out of her musings and back into the moment.
“We’re going to land soon,” he said in her ear. “I don’t want to scare you, but it’s going to be a little,” he paused, looking for the right word. “Intense.”
She stiffened at the word, stomach tying itself in knots, heart in her throat. What could be more intense than flying above Dallas-Fort Worth on a dragon?
“I don’t understand,” she said, kicking herself as soon as the words were out of her mouth.
Whatever happened was going to happen, but knowing about it ahead of time was only going to feed her anxiety and nothing more.
“Our neighbors don’t know that we’re shifters. It’s not really common knowledge.”
“You don’t say,” she said sarcastically.
“And there it is. Most Americans have no idea that shifters are real. They see us as something out of a fairy tale and never consider that we could really exist. But we do, and we live among you in secret.”
“There are more of you?”
“Did you think we were some kind of genetic fluke?” he laughed.
“Or a dream. I was kind of hoping that this was a dream.”
“It’s not a dream. This is real life, you’re really in danger, and you’re really a few thousand feet above ground on the back of a dragon.”
“A dragon who is an identical twin and works for the government,” she said, her laugh sounding a little too close to hysterical. “What in the world about this situation could possibly make me wish I was dreaming?”
“I’m sorry this happened to you. I know this must be really hard, and I’m sure you’re scared. But, we’re the best at what we do, and if you’re going to live through this experience, your best bet is with us.”
“I realize that, but it doesn’t mean that I have to like it. How long do I have to stay with you two?”
“I don’t know, and we won’t know for a long while. If we can get evidence to prove that the mob is behind all the deaths and that they are related, that will make it easier, but there’s a chance...” he trailed off without finishing his thought.
“There’s a chance of what?”
“There’s a chance that you’ll never be safe.”
“I don’t understand.”
“The mob isn’t just one or two criminals. There are millions involved in the mob on every level; from the Don, all the way down to the very lowest of the low laundering money in exchange for something they want. Many of the people that are working for the mob don’t do it by choice, and they are afraid for their families and will do anything to ensure their safety. Some do it to get family members smuggled out of war-torn countries. Many of the lower workers are good people that are trapped in a life that they can’t escape.”
“What does that have to do with me?”
“The point being that we can never know who is a danger to you, and the mob can hold a grudge like no other. You could be fine for years and then they get their revenge, or they could do it by next week. Without an official pardon by the Don himself, there’s really no way to get the target off of your head.”
“How do you get pardoned?”
“It’s not going to happen. You have to have something the Don wants, and the only thing that you could possibly do would be to hang another jury and cause another mistrial. One, you won’t get called for jury duty for the same case, and two, it’s doubtful that you would end up on the jury of a mobster. So really, there’s nothing you can do.”
“Maybe he needs a doll,” she said, laughing at her sad attempt at a joke.
“I don’t think mobsters are into dolls, though I understand that you’re quite the artist and your hand-sewn dolls are highly sought after.”
“I keep busy.” Her smile faded. “Well, I did, but I had to leave my stuff behind. So, I guess that I’ll get behind again, and I don’t know how my shop is going to do since I can’t communicate with my clients.”
“You can’t use your phone to access the internet here. They might have-”
“Don’t worry about it. I didn’t have my phone on me when you broke into my house. I don’t even know where it is.”
“That’s good,” Trevor said.
“To you, it’s good. To me, it’s just one more way that my life has been turned upside down,” said Lara.
“I’m sorry,” said Trevor.
“It’s not your fault.”
“That doesn’t mean I can’t be sorry. And I’m sorry about this, too.”
One arm wrapped tightly around her and he leaned forward, squishing her between the dragon and himself while he reached forward to grab the base of one wing. She was about to ask him what he was sorry for when Spencer folded his wings back, put his head down and dropped straight toward the earth.
***
The Cleaver walked into his house, taking a moment just outside the door to prepare himself. Then he flung open the door, a big smile plastered on his face, arms open wide.
“Daddy!” two little voices shouted in unison, getting up from the dining room table, their half-eaten cookies forgotten.
They ran into his arms, showering him with kisses and hugs while his wife, Andrea, stood back with a soft smile on her face. The smile didn’t fool him, but he knew the song and dance, and the game wouldn’t begin until the children were out of earshot. Andrea was about to give him an earful for coming home after eleven, the kids waiting up to kiss him goodnight. But he would convince her to calm down, and in the end, Andrea couldn’t hold a grudge for long.
“I missed you, Eric,” she said, the first punch in her passive aggressive fight.
“I missed you more,” he said, standing up with the kids in his arms and carrying them down the hall.
He stopped by Andrea, leaning in to kiss her on the lips, but she offered her cheek instead. He smiled as he kissed her cheek, then held the children so they could kiss her, too.
“I’ll be back out after a story,” he said, stealing another kiss from her cheek.
“I won’t be waiting up,” she said, yawning to prove her point. “It’s really late.”
He chuckled, knowing full well that she was bluffing.
“I’ll be there soon.”
With that, he carried his children to their room, two sets or pudgy little toddler arms wrapped around his neck and holding on tight.
He laid them each in their beds, their matching pajamas and decorations just one more way that they were identical in almost every way. But one thing they enjoyed together was dressing the same and fooling their friends. At just under four, they had already picked up on the fun part of being an identical twin.
He read them two books, then tucked them in and kissed each blond head good night, leaving their bathroom light on with the door cracked so that they didn’t go to sleep in complete darkness.
He backed out of the room quietly and closed the door, then went to the end of the hall to their bedroom. He didn’t say a word to Andrea as he passed the bed and went straight to the shower. He knew what she would say, and he might as well skip that step and go straight to the shower.
Taking his time, he made sure to shave and used the body wash she loved, stepping out of the shower almost twenty minutes later and drying off.
He slipped into the bed naked, his skin still warm from the hot water as he wrapped his arms around his wife.
“I love you,” he said, kissing the back of her neck and pulling her so her naked body was cradled against his.
“I don’t want to do this anymore, Eric. I’m scared that you won’t come home. What am I going to do with two toddlers by myself if something happens to you?”
“I have a safety net set up and you know that I can’t just quit, Andrea. If I did, that would be worse, much worse.”
“What’s worse than this? Did you kill that woman?”
“You know I can’t talk about it.”
“Eric, I’m scared.”
“I know,” he said.
“No, you don’t. I’m pregnant. I don’t want to do this alone.”
“You won’t have to.”
“You’re wrong, Eric. I can feel it. Something bad is in the air and you’re going to get swept up in it. This time, I’m afraid you’re going to get swept up in it. You’ll either end up in prison or worse. I can’t take that.”
“What are you saying?”
“Get out of the job, or I’m out, Eric. Our kids deserve better.”
He turned her roughly, forcing her to face him in the darkness, then instantly regretted being so rough.
“I’m sorry,” he said, pulling her close and burying his face in her long, blond hair. “I can’t do that.”
“Don’t you love us, Eric?”
“Of course, I do. That’s not fair.”
“This life isn’t fair.”
He sighed.
“I know. But you know how this works, and you knew who I was when you married me.”
“I thought you would change when the babies came.”
“I’m sorry I disappointed you.”
He kissed her gently, then more passionately, his hand sliding between them and resting on her belly.
“For how long?” he asked when he finally pulled away.
“Eight weeks. I go to the doctor in the morning. I want you to be there.”
“I can do that,” he said.
“Promise?”
“I promise,” he said.
He put his arms around her and held her close until she fell to sleep, listening to her deep, slow breathing in the darkness. His head was spinning. Another baby? What were they going to do? Not that they couldn’t afford it; because he was well-off and only a few years from being a millionaire at the rate he was going. But Andrea was right, this was no way to raise a family, and he couldn’t put her in the position to be alone with three kids. What if something happened to him?
He drifted to sleep, his last thought of his sweet family, making a life without him. How could he do that to them? What kind of monster was he?
***
Lara’s face was plastered against the leathery back of the dragon, her scream stuck in her throat, eyes squeezed shut in fear. Trevor’s arm was around her tightly, but she still felt as if her life was flashing before her eyes. She couldn’t breathe and she could feel her stomach shoved down so far by the force of the descent that it felt as if it were in her toes.
When she felt Spencer pull up suddenly, then hover in place, she opened one eye, then the other. They were a few feet from the ground, behind a large house that could have fit her house inside it several times over.
Spencer landed so softly that Lara hardly felt his feet touch the ground. He lowered himself onto his belly and Trevor slid off. Trevor pulled Lara with him, setting her on her feet and turning to walk toward the house. She promptly fell to the ground, her legs weak from fear and from sitting astride a dragon for so long.
“Ooh,” she exclaimed as her legs buckled.
Trevor turned around, looking at her, eyes twinkling merrily.
“Sorry. I should have realized it was a little much to ask you to walk after all that. Shall I carry you?”
She glared at him.
“Not a chance in hell,” she said, brushing herself off and standing up.
She reached out and steadied herself with her hand, the leather hide beneath her hand cool to the touch. She pulled her hand away quickly, then apologized for jumping the way she did.
“He’s fine. Let’s go in the house. He’ll be in shortly.”
“What is he going to do?”
“Shift, then come inside,” said Trevor.
“Can’t we wait for him?” she asked, her southern manners shouting at her not to be rude, even when she was in a situation that wasn’t ideal.
“Do you want to see him naked? I mean, if you want to see him naked, I can-”
“No!” she said a little too loudly, then she lowered her voice and said, “No. I’m good. Let’s go inside.”Trevor chuckled, walking behind her with his hand on the small of her back, opening the door for her and waiting for her to pass through before going in behind her.
She watched him tap the security pad at the door, disarming the alarm, then sliding his hand up in one smooth motion, turning all the lights on in the rooms surrounding them.
“Wow,” she said, looking at the smooth, intricate marble tiles on the floor that sparkled with a filmy vein of gold. “This is beautiful.”
“This is the mudroom,” he said, laughing. “Wait until you see the rest of the house.”
“The ‘mud room’? I wouldn’t step foot into this room if I was muddy.”
“It happens. Sometimes, when we ride, we come back muddy. This is the room that we clean up in.”
“Ride four-wheelers?”
“Horses.” He smiled at her, motioning her to follow him. “I’ll show you where you’re staying. The alarm will be set at all times, so if you want to leave the house to go for a walk, you need to let one of us know and we’ll go with you.”
“I can’t leave that house? Isn’t this place safe?”
“It’s as safe as it can be, but outside, we can’t protect you. That’s just the way it is. Inside the house, we’ll still be close, but you can have a little privacy. Our home is a fortress.”
“Great,” she said sarcastically. “So, I’m trapped.”
“Think about it like being a princess in a castle.”
She laughed.
“I don’t think many girls think about growing up to be Rapunzel. Part of the allure of being royalty is the freedom,” she said.
“You are free. Free to roam around the house. You can even sit by the windows if you want. The glass is bullet proof, which we’ve tested. It’s also supposed to be rocket and tornado proof.”
“Have you tested that?”
“It’s made it through a few tornadoes without issue, but I don’t have a rocket to test, so we have to take the manufacturer's word for that.”
“Good to know.”
His expression darkened for a moment, turning his jovial expression grim.
“I’m sorry that this is happening to you. We’ll help you get through this, and hopefully you’ll be able to go back to your old life. If there’s anyone you need to call to let them know that you’re alright, just let us know and you can use the encrypted phone.”
She shook her head.
“There’s no one.”
Her tone stopped him from asking questions, which made her happy. She didn’t want to open up to a stranger that had basically kidnapped her, especially not right now. She was overwhelmed and her emotions were raw. She didn’t want to rip open and old wound on top of everything she had experienced tonight.
“I’m feeling really tired,” she said suddenly. “I really want to just go to bed. Maybe this
won’t seem so bad in the morning.”
“It will,” he said. “We’ll do whatever we can to make this as painless as possible. If you want, I can load some of your favorite books on a Kindle, or you can use the streaming service to watch anything you could imagine. Whatever hobby you have, we can probably keep you busy.”
“I sew dolls.”
“Yes, of course.”
“I love it. It started on a whim, and then it took off. It keeps me busy and I can let my mind wander while I do it. It’s incredibly relaxing.”
“I bet it is. I’m sorry, we don’t have anything like that.”
Lara sighed.
“I didn’t think you would, but I still held out hope.”
Trevor opened his mouth as if he was about to say something, but Spencer was walking into the room, dressed in a loose pair of trousers and a thin shirt.
“What?” he asked when they turned to look at him. “What were you two talking about?”
“The fact that there’s nothing for me to make dolls out of here.”
Spencer arched an eyebrow, but then shook his head, not even trying to understand what she was trying to say. She sighed heavily. It was going to be a long few days with these men.
“I’m tired. Can you just show me where I’m supposed to sleep?”
***
“Here’s my room,” Trevor said.
He led her through a door and into a massive room with a sitting area, a king bed in the center of the room, bookcases along one entire wall by the sitting area, and a recliner that sat in front of a flat screen television affixed to the wall.
“I’m not sleeping with you, right?” she said weakly, trying to fight the urge to run if that’s what he really meant to do.
“No,” he said, laughing. “You’re going to sleep between us.”
Her face flushed red as she stared at the bed, wondering how she was going to manage the entire night without accidentally bumping them, and how she could possibly sleep with them so close.
“I don’t think-”
