Adored by A Dragon: A Shifters in Love Fun & Flirty Romance (Mystic Bay Book 4)

by Isadora Montrose

  Robin held up a hand. “What Gordon means, Walter, is that the council voted ‘no’ to an appropriation for a stakeout, or a night watch on the sinkhole.”

  “But they are willing to pay for remediation?” Walter was stunned. “That would cost really big bucks.”

  “Of course not,” Gordon said. “Garret threw that in as a disruptive tactic, not a real motion. He got some head nodding, but he made sure no money was discussed. No one even asked what sealing or removal would cost. And it didn’t go to an actual vote.”

  “So what you’re saying, Sully, is that the dumping will continue and my department is going to get no help to prevent it?” demanded Walter.

  “Pretty much, Wally,” Gordon answered. “Pretty much.”

  CHAPTER FORTY

  Daniel~

  West Haven was sweltering under a heat wave. He and Angie were hosting another barbecue for their friends. Even the wind off the Pacific was warm. But at least on the cliff, it was cooler than Mystic Bay.

  “Stop fluttering, Angie, and sit down and relax.”

  His wife kept rearranging the fridge. “Do you think we have enough ice?” she fretted.

  “No. That’s why I asked Anton to bring some with him. Six bags and two coolers.”

  “Will that be that enough?” Her voice was muffled by the fridge doors.

  “So he says. We’ll set the coolers out of sight at the bottom of the deck steps, and people won’t have to keep opening and closing the fridge.” Daniel got up and removed Angie bodily from the appliance. “You’re letting the heat in.” He sat down with her on his lap.

  Angie relaxed against him. “I want it to be nice. This is the first time I’ve thrown a party without Serena’s help.”

  Serena had recently stopped working and Anton had persuaded her to stay off her feet as much as possible, until the babies came.

  Daniel chuckled into her hair. “It will be fine. Our friends don’t expect perfection.”

  “I don’t want them to think we’re angry about the council not voting again.”

  “Why not? It’s the truth.”

  “I guess.” She drooped.

  Should he tell her? It might help her relax. “I’ve put out feelers for the island across from this house.”

  “Castle Rock?” she asked surprised. She squirmed upright to stare at him. “But the house is everything you hate: Old-fashioned, ornate, and faces the wrong direction.”

  “It’s the closest habitable island to West Haven,” Daniel said. “We could commute to Mystic Bay by boat.”

  “Not in the winter.”

  He drew a deep breath. “I’ve been wondering whether you would consider living in Oregon only in the summertime.”

  “Winters in Stockholm?” Her voice was thick with tears.

  He rocked her. “It was just a thought.”

  “I want you to resign,” she said. “This has been the first time since we got married that I haven’t worried every hour of every day that I was about to be widowed.”

  “But that’s ridiculous. Most of the time I’m not even in the field!”

  “Daniel Lindorm, you know when you are actually deployed on a mission, but I never do. And you could be sent at any time. It’s nerve-wracking.” Her body shook with the force of her feelings.

  Suddenly he understood. It was as if he had never listened properly before. He felt her anguish as if his own mind was infected with her fears. Before he could properly process his thoughts, let alone respond to Angelina, the sound of tires on the gravel driveway interrupted.

  Angie wriggled. “You better let me go. Our guests are here.”

  Anton had brought the ice and the coolers in his new van. He escorted Serena onto the lower deck and seated her in an armchair with a footstool and a bamboo fan. She was enormously pregnant. Daniel wondered how she could last until the end of August. He said so to his friend as he helped with the ice.

  “She’s having twins,” Anton confided. “Dr. Peterson insists it’s not triplets, and we’ve had a bunch of ultrasounds. But...” he shrugged. “All I can say is that I’ll be glad when the babies are born.”

  Daniel had to agree, but he had known too many anxious fathers to say so. “Serena is just blooming, she looks great. Dr. Peterson would tell you if there was anything to worry about.” He was glad to see his murmured platitudes ease his friend’s tension.

  Soon the deck was crowded with their friends and the fish was on the barbecue. Serena might be kept sitting with her feet up, but other people helped Angie bring out the salads and side dishes. These regular get-togethers were a lot of work, and a lot of fun. Why had they stopped throwing parties in Stockholm?

  They had more space here, but that wasn’t the entire answer. He and Angie felt freer here where he wasn’t at the beck and call of his multiple responsibilities. Was he evading his duty by pursuing pleasure in Oregon? Or was this how normal people lived?

  Lloyd interrupted his musing. “Can I help, Dan? Martha thinks it’s time you put the corn on to boil.”

  “Why don’t you take care of that for me, Lloyd,” he responded. He had grown used to sharing the chores associated with these parties, and accepting the willing help of their friends.

  Despite Angie’s worries, the meal was a huge success. Quinn stepped in to make sure the salmon didn’t fall apart on the grill. Lloyd piled the last corn cob on the platter just as they transferred the fish to its serving platter. Anton retrieved beer and wine to replenish glasses before they sat down at the two long tables they had acquired so their guests didn’t have to juggle plates.

  At the end of the meal, Walter stood up and toasted the cooks. He complimented Martha on the flowers which had turned from beautiful to lushly gorgeous as they had grown and cascaded over the deck railings. Several toasts were drunk and the crowd grew merrier.

  Sullivan rose to his feet. “And I want to say congratulations to Carlyle Merryman for his first-place finish at the Art Fair.” He raised his beer in a salute to Carlyle’s sister Serena. Everyone drank.

  Babcock’s phone rang before Sullivan sat back down. The sheriff left the table and wandered to the end of the deck to take the call.

  “He’s never really off duty,” Melissa excused him. “He has to take calls from the sheriff’s department.”

  Daniel’s sharp dragon hearing caught Babcock’s end of the conversation.

  “How many people are involved?” Pause. “What have you done?” A longer pause. “Tell them they are to stay well back. Like twenty yards. Or more. Thirty. Is that understood, Slim?” a short pause. “I’m on my way.” Walter strode back to the table.

  “We have a situation, folks. Sorry to bust up your party, Angie, but I need some assistance. We have two men trapped in that sinkhole where the illegal dumping is going on. At least one is alive. Noel Silcox called out on his cell. My deputy says that the hole collapsed with their truck and they are both at the bottom. How are we going to get them out? Anton?”

  The bear screwed up his face in thought. “If the ground is unstable, it will be tricky.” He looked around the table. “Lloyd, Al, Quinn, Dan, can you do an aerial survey?”

  Only Alister shook his head. “I can’t help you. Not unless there is a boat on standby. But I can read signals from the ground and interpret Lloyd’s whistles. We’ll take my van, Anton, and head to the property.” Alister’s van was equipped with special controls and had room for his wheelchair.

  “We should beat you there, Wally,” Lloyd said. “Dan, Quinn, you’re with me.”

  Babcock made another attempt at an apology which Angie brushed aside. Daniel joined Quinn and Lloyd at the edge of the cliff. Together they shifted. As one unit they soared into the evening sky. Out of the corner of his eye, he could see his wife standing on the deck in the rubble of the meal, hands clasped on her bosom, and fear on her face.

  CHAPTER FORTY-ONE

  Angie~

  “Don’t you just hate this?” said Serena, struggling to her feet. “They’ve stu
ck us with the dishes!”

  Angie swallowed hard, trying to respond to her friend’s attempt at humor. “You sit down. Anton will have my head if I allow you to carry things upstairs.”

  “Come sit with me, Serena” Martha said comfortably. “I want to hear about your last ultrasound.” She led the mermaid back to her armchair.

  “I’ll bring out dessert as soon as we’ve put the leftovers away. Does anyone want to take some food home?” Angie attempted to speak normally. It was hard. Daniel had had his I’m-on-a-mission face on. If there was any peril, he would be in the thick of it.

  Sully grabbed the bowl of potato salad. “This doesn’t have mayo in it?” he asked.

  “No. Yogurt.”

  “Then I’ll have some for tomorrow’s lunch.”

  She followed him up the stairs to the kitchen. “That sinkhole is really unstable, isn’t it?” she asked Sully.

  His normally cheerful face was serious. “It is. We’ve had a lot of rain. Which may be why it collapsed when those fellows parked on it.” He patted her shoulder. “Try not to worry. Babcock is a sensible man. He won’t let them take risks.”

  As if Daniel would ask permission!

  CHAPTER FORTY-TWO

  Daniel~

  They soon lost visual contact with the sheriff’s truck and Alister’s van. Of course they could hear them, but the tree canopy blocked the winding shortcut from the Spicer estate to the sinkhole. Lloyd led the way, Daniel and Quinn flew behind him in a truncated V. They didn’t have to lose altitude to see the sinkhole. Not anymore.

  Since their last fly-over, the huge pit had enlarged to twice its size. Now the wreckage of broken couches, tires, and construction debris was barely visible under the freshly crumbled mud and rock. The trees that had surrounded the hole were piled over and under a mud-covered truck. Its warped and twisted bed was piled high with stuff too coated in sludge and plant material to be identifiable.

  A man huddled beside the open door of the truck as if he scarcely dared to breathe. On the passenger side, the cab of the truck was crushed. The scent of death and gasoline wafted up to Daniel. He was pretty sure there was only one survivor. Lloyd whistled once. Paused. Repeated his call. So he agreed with Daniel’s assessment.

  Not too surprisingly, there was still no sign of the first responders who had to come overland. The three dragons circled, getting lower with each turn. Now Daniel could see the man’s terrified face. He assumed this was Noel Silcox. The man half-raised a hand and waved. Immediately the truck shifted and the ground wobbled like a bowl of jelly. They really had no time. At any moment the unstable geology could collapse and swallow truck, corpse and survivor.

  Daniel bugled once. An I’m-going-in call. He folded his wings and dove. Pulled up at the last moment and grabbed the huddled man in his rear talons. His wings brushed the sides of the sinkhole as he flapped to gain altitude while trying to lift the dead weight of a grown man.

  The ground yawned. With an enormous, sucking sound punctuated by the groaning of shifting rocks and the breaking to tree trunks, the bottom and sides of the sinkhole dropped. Daniel flapped harder. He now had further to ascend, and the man’s lower body was stuck or he had instantaneously gained weight. Daniel yanked. Noel yowled and struggled. The ground shrieked and plunged deeper. Noel went with it.

  Daniel followed willy-nilly. Should he let go of Noel? Time stood still. Daniel reflected that he had come halfway around the world to die. After decades of real missions he was about to be consumed by this pissant island. He was about to make Angie’s worst fears come true. The thought of her grief was enough to give him a burst of energy.

  Muscles burning, he levered the screaming, panicking Noel out of the slurry of muddy rock. He flapped and gained a little altitude. Flapped again and rose higher. It was slow going, whether because he was exhausted by his struggle or because Noel was heavier than he had anticipated. Even when he reached the edge of the pit, he was not out of danger. He needed to get higher.

  He powered upward, unable to make use of the thermals while hoisting Silcox. Slowly he got high enough to see the sheriff’s car, Alister’s van, and the ambulance. Both at a safe distance from the sinkhole. Alister spotted him first. His van immediately backed out creating a place for Daniel to deposit his burden.

  He dropped Noel into the waiting stretcher held by four people. Anton, a deputy, and a man and a woman in EMS uniforms. Daniel allowed the wind to lift him up and away. He needed to get home. Lloyd and Quinn bugled triumphantly, but he was too spent to return their victory blast. I’m an old man.

  The flight back to the house was a blur. They landed together on the driveway. Angie must have used magic to preserve their decency, because he had no sooner landed than he was clothed. He walked into Angie’s arms and they stood together in a tight embrace while Quinn and Lloyd gave the dreadful details.

  “It was Noel Silcox’s truck all right.” Lloyd announced. “That would be Garret Somerset’s cousin, Angie. Garrett is dead. Killed by the fall, or rocks crushing the truck. Dan here rescued Noel.”

  “And Garrett?” asked Robin.

  “He and the truck and all that garbage have vanished into the bowels of the earth,” Quinn’s voice was hard and flat. “Looks like you are going to have to hold a by-election.”

  CHAPTER FORTY-THREE

  Angie~

  It was a relief to have Daniel back safely. Except that he seemed oddly exhausted and detached. He sat beside her on the wicker loveseat, holding her hand. He made no attempt to join the conversation or to play host. The two other dragons were full of their adventure and holding forth at length, but Daniel was as silent as the grave.

  Quinn was even more ebullient than usual. Excited praise flowed from his lips. “You should have seen Dan swoop down on poor old Noel. I thought they were both going to be swallowed alive.”

  He stopped, glanced at Angie, and seemed to realize he had been indiscreet. Grinned. “He snatched Noel clean from the jaws of the sinkhole. Didn’t he, Lloyd?”

  Lloyd was standing with his arms around Martha and his chin on her head. He smiled at Quinn, but he spoke with his usual deliberate cadence. “He acted with great dispatch. If Dan hadn’t grabbed Noel he would have been sucked down like Garrett Somerset and Noel’s truck.”

  Angie translated this to mean that Daniel had nearly died rescuing a stranger. His hand was icy, even though he was clasping hers. She patted his thigh and bit her tongue.

  Quinn was continuing his tale. “I don’t know what possessed Noel. When the sinkhole collapsed, he grabbed the tire he was propped against and held on like grim death. I don’t know how you managed to pry him off that truck before he took you both down. What do you think Noel weighs anyway?”

  Moira pinched her husband hard. “I’m sure Daniel was never in the least danger of falling into the sinkhole,” she said calmly. “Is Noel going to be all right?”

  “Noel is rather heavyset. I’m surprised he didn’t have a heart attack,” Melissa whispered to Angie.

  Quinn continued. “Silcox was still squawking and carrying on and complaining about his truck when Dan laid him on that stretcher as gently as a falling leaf. He was demanding to know if the first responders were going after his truck, his cousin was a distinct afterthought.”

  There was a collective gasp.

  “Probably in shock,” Martha said placidly. “Noel will be ashamed when he recovers. If he remembers how he carried on. Melissa, you will have to come back with us. I know Wally will want to tell Linda Somerset she is a widow in person.”

  “Noel will have lots to think about when he calms down,” Lloyd said flatly. “As soon as he landed on the stretcher, Wally arrested him. He was reading Noel his Miranda rights as we flew off.”

  “What did he charge him with?” Sully demanded.

  “Reckless endangerment. Illegal dumping. Manslaughter,” Lloyd said solemnly.

  “I am ashamed and appalled that a town councilor was complicit in illegal dumping,” Robin s
aid, rising to her feet decisively.

  That broke up the party. Melissa got to her feet and thanked Angie and Dan. Martha recalled she and Lloyd had to open the Bean at the crack of dawn. While they were seeing their guests off, Alister drove up with Anton. They helped Serena up the stairs, packed the empty coolers into their van, and waved them down the driveway with Melissa in the backseat.

  Daniel was strangely silent during the minor bustle. He was still radiating cold. No one else seemed to find his alarming behavior abnormal, but she felt almost as worried as she had been when he flew away. He locked the front door and began methodically turning off the lights.

  “Hang on,” she said. “We still have to bring in the things on the deck.”

  “Can’t we leave them overnight?”

  Who was this man in her husband’s body? Daniel Lindorm did not retire without making sure his ship was battened down and ready for inspection. Never.

  “What’s wrong, Daniel?”

  “I nearly died tonight, Angie.” His arms pulled her hard against his chest and he spoke into her hair.

  “Did you?”

  “Came closer than I ever did before.” His arms tightened like bands of steel.

  “But you survived.”

  “Barely.”

  “This isn’t like you,” she protested. What had happened to her dragon?

  “I was afraid,” he admitted.

  “You must have been afraid many times before,” she pointed out. “You’ve spent your whole life doing the impossible.”

  He swallowed convulsively. “This was the first time I was ever afraid during an operation. I was sure I was going to be swallowed alive with that jerk.”

  “Why didn’t you let him go?”

  He didn’t answer. His big body was shaking. And he was still cold.

  Besides, she knew why. Daniel would never have let Noel Silcox fall to his death just to save his own life.

  “Come on, Daniel, you need a sauna.” The sauna was the Swedish cure for everything. And it would warm him up even if it didn’t alter his mood.