Ajax's Harpy Holiday: Dragofin Mated: Book 1 (A Dragon-Gyphon Shifter Curvy Paranormal-Fantasy-Scifi Romance Series) (Dragonfin Clan Mated)

by Mychal Daniels

  “Why do you ask? Where were you all day yesterday?”

  “I was at home with my family. And you?”

  “I was out meeting new people.”

  “Really, and where did you go to meet these new people?”

  That was it. He’d overstepped her boundaries. Nobody would keep tabs on her when she wasn’t on their clock.

  “Mr. Scott, I don’t see where that’s any of your business. It seems to me, that instead of enjoying the day with that family you love to throw up in my face all the time, you were preoccupied with where I was. How is that?”

  Another prolonged silence. Yes, this was fishier than bad sushi.

  “I was just wondering is all. Glad to hear you had such an adventurous day. I do hope you had success in your endeavors.”

  This tricky bastard thought she was truly daft. There was no way she was going to answer another question.

  “No, not particularly.”

  “Is that right? What area were you looking in? Maybe I can help you in the future. I know of some great places for people your age to gather and have fun. I might be able to introduce you to some young people I have acquaintance with.”

  “Um, that’s gonna be a no. All right, enough time spent chitchatting with you. I’ve got to go. Bye!” she said, ending the call.

  An involuntary shake shot through her as she pressed the disconnect button. None of that mattered though because last night Hildy had gotten the best sleep of her life, in the arms of one Ajax Drake. He’d woken before her and had her clothes, sans her destroyed sweater and bra, clean and ready for her to wear. With an apology that made her want to jump him with joy, Hildy managed to get dressed and ready to come back to her place. The best part was when they had a quick conversation and Jax informed her that he had every intention of dating her, starting then and there. After a hearty breakfast brought in by Jax’s brother Nolan from that amazing diner, Jax had brought her back here.

  Remnants of her conversation with Mr. Scott refused to leave the back of her mind. How had he known she wasn’t at home? And he’d never made nine calls to her. Yes, she’d been known to ignore some of his calls, but it was never more than two or three missed calls from him. Something was up. Hildy eyed her phone turning it over to access the battery. She flipped the back and checked the insides. Nothing was amiss. And yet, it still nagged her. He was more weird than usual.

  Powering the phone back on, she thought to check her apps. Not one to use a lot of them, Hildy made short work of looking at the ones she’d installed. When she moved onto the usual bloatware that came with the factory install, she noticed a funky app that looked like a calculator. It was running in the background and using up a good bit of memory. When she attempted to uninstall it, it gave her the warning that it couldn’t be removed without messing up the operating system. When she tried to open it, the app said she needed admin rights to access it.

  That was when it hit her. This was a tracking app on her phone. No, correction, this was a tracking app on a company-issued phone. Her handler had been tracking her all this time. When she went to Jax’s, he must have not been able to track her in there—thus all the calls.

  “You sneaky little troll.”

  That was it, as soon as Jax came to pick her up later, she was getting a new phone. That one would stay at home when she wasn’t working. The phone buzzed in her hand again. Hoping it was Jax, she checked the screen to see it was Mr. Scott calling yet again.

  “Why are you harassing me with calls? Didn’t I ask you to stop calling until after I returned from vacation?” Her voice had a little more pepper in it than she wanted, but he was asking for it.

  “Yes, but I must get the information as to where you were yesterday.”

  “Why, so you can continue to track me?”

  “As a matter of fact, yes. As one of our most valued assets, we need to be able to know where you are at all times. It’s this or get a bio-tracker implanted.”

  “Eww, so you’d tag me like an animal to keep up with me?”

  “Now, now, Hildy, there’s no need to get upset about this. You are an asset who is privy to a lot of classified information. This is for your safety and peace of mind as much as ours. What is so bad about accounting for your whereabouts from yesterday afternoon until this morning?”

  That was it. Warning bells, Sirens and alarms were going off and flashing in her mind. This way lay danger and she was nobody’s fool. This had been the sign she needed to do it.

  Without a second thought, Hildy said, “You know what, Mr. Scott? You’re absolutely right. Yesterday I was holed up on the corner of none of your damn business and get the fuck out of my personal life. And if that wasn’t clear enough for you, effective immediately, I quit. You can find this phone somewhere not in my apartment, since you already seem to know where I live, you lying jerk.”

  “Hildy! That’s going too far. I demand you apologize this instant. I will not stand for you speaking to me like that.”

  She was beyond over this situation, plus her heart rate was elevated. Hildy didn’t need the stress of this job or the antics of Mr. Scott. “You don’t get it. I’m done with this. Bye, Mr. Scott.”

  “But, Hildy, listen, you can’t quit. We’ve done so much for you. We’re the only family you’ve ever known.”

  And that’s where he was wrong. She disconnected the call once again and shot Jax a quick text to pick her up now, if he could. Once he responded that he was on his way, she removed the battery from the phone and wrapped the components in a piece of left over foil she had from her breakfast sandwich.

  Waiting for Jax to arrive, Hildy remembered how Jax had wished her a Merry Christmas last night before falling asleep. She smiled at how his brother and cousin got on him when they thought he’d made her cry and she thought about the fun she’d had at breakfast this morning, hanging out with them. It seemed like a twisted version of Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. She was no way near snowy or white, and the guys were the farthest things from being dwarfs. But, it could work until she found a new job and place to stay.

  It was time to see if she could take Lucien up on his offer. Hildy was over living here in this fishbowl. There was no telling what Mr. Scott would be up to now. A knock at her door and Hildy’s heart leapt. It had to be Jax. He wasn’t kidding when he’d said he was on his way.

  19

  Swinging the door open, Hildy said, “You weren’t kidding when you said you were on your way.”

  Instead of the six foot six plus sexy specimen named Jax she expected, Hildy was greeted with a dagger whizzing by her head. The figure that had launched the missile was a cross between a ghost, ninja, and Cirque du Soleil act gone over to the dark side. It was wrapped in billowing folds of dark blue, black and blood red. The eyes were the only things not covered and peeked out at her from behind what must have been black wax paint. If it wasn’t for the dagger now sticking out of the wall behind her, Hildy might have thought this was a prank or someone a little too committed to his Halloween costume.

  Once her mind caught up with her reflexes, Hildy was ready to mix it up. The figure bounded into her apartment, advancing on her with swiftness that suggested it was faster than a regular human as well. Moving too fast to stop the momentum of her body, Hildy crashed into the kitchenette’s little island. The impact almost knocked the wind out of her, but not enough to keep her from getting pissed off.

  “That’s it you little tick, flea bag. I’m going to whip your ass. You’re not going to come in my apartment throwing knives at me!”

  Hildy ducked in time to miss a ninja star. The assailant was shorter than Hildy and fast—too fast. Allowing her predator nature to rise, she concentrated on using sound waves and vibrational disturbances in the air to predict where the figure would land next. Dashing to the space between her lone reading chair and the entrance to her small bathroom, Hildy reached out to catch the pesky little whirling dervish.

  “Gotcha!”

  She managed to snag a
piece of the blue folds of material on one of its arms. She yanked, bringing the figure into her strike zone. Once she latched onto a thin arm that hid beneath all that fabric, she concentrated to unleash the talons on that hand. It was iffy with how much energy she’d expended the night before.

  “Who are you, who sent you and why are you trying to kill me?” she asked the frantic figure.

  It said nothing, instead attempting to sting her with some sort of electrical pulse. Hildy held fast, not letting on that in small doses, she could absorb energy and turn it into fuel for her body to process. That might have been why she’d been able to control the location of her shift to only one hand.

  Repeating herself was a drag, but she’d do it this once. “I said, who are you, who sent you and why are you trying to kill me?” This time the gnat had the nerve to squint its hollow eyes at her. “Are you trying to voodoo me or flirt? If it’s the former, that’s precious but it won’t work. If it’s the latter, you’re too late, that position was filled just this morning. Now get to talking or the next thing I do is pull your spine out.” By this time, Hildy had allowed the talons on her other hand to emerge. With the adrenaline rush, they’d burned just beneath her skin. Thankful to release them, she had no problem flashing them before her would-be assassin.

  The arm she held flexed as if he was going to try to make another move. She curled her fingers in enough to allow her talons to pierce the fabric. When she had the tip of one pressed into the flesh enough to draw blood, Hildy shook that little demon.

  “Unless you can make me believe that you are deaf and mute, I demand you answer me or die now.”

  The little bastard used his free hand and that damn long sleeve to wallop her against the head. Whatever he had in that sleeve was heavy enough to ring her bell, because Hildy saw double for a minute. But she didn’t let go. He attempted to drag her as he tried to escape and she held on, talons embedded in both his arms. When she didn’t feel blood oozing from him by now was a fact she’d ponder later.

  “Hildy! Hildy!” Jax called out to her, running into the apartment. “Where are you?”

  By this time Hildy and the Cirque du Soleil miscreant where caught in a bout of one-handed punching. She’d managed to pull him down to the ground. He was pinned under one of her legs. Right now, she was ready to sing every praise for her hefty size. She made almost two of him and in the weight match up, she was winning. The little bastard couldn’t dislodge himself from beneath her thigh. Served him right, coming into her home and acting like a fool.

  “I’m over here, whipping this little ninja-ghost’s ass,” she managed to get out.

  She could see Jax’s butt-ugly galoshes from the floor and hoped he wouldn’t come closer. Even thought his shoes were made of silicone rubber, Hildy wasn’t sure what would happen if he got shocked by the pulses of energy the bastard kept sending out to her. Although her floor was concrete, it could still allow some of this thing’s electrical current to make contact

  “But I need you to stay back. This little weasel can throw out electricity. I don’t want you getting shocked.”

  Jax paid no attention to her request and moved over to where they were. “Let me worry about that. I know what this thing is. Let go Hildy, I’ve got him.”

  “Uh, no! This is my battle, not yours. He came into my home and attacked me, not you. He refuses to talk, so I’m going to help him get back to his maker.”

  The little ninja-ghost tried to enact some other move before Hildy could finish pinning him down. Above her now and shaking the folds of his clothing with abandon, she heard the clang of metal against metal. Hildy also saw Jax trying to sneak up on the jerk from behind. She meant what she’d said. Jax needed to stay safe.

  “Jax, I swear to God, if you take another step, I’m not going anywhere with you after this is over. Let me handle it. He’s my situation, not yours.”

  “Got it, stepping back,” Jax said, taking a few steps back to stand by the kitchenette’s island. “But could you hurry it up? We need to make it to the store before it closes.”

  “Funny. You like to make jokes,” she said making her move. Hearing Jax’s voice and light conversation helped her remain committed to her goal. When she had it, Hildy released the bastard. In less than a split second, he was away from her and moving toward the door that Jax had closed. Thank you for small favors.

  She waited, giving the ninja-ghost time to make it to the door. Listening to the vibrations and honing in to the sonar of the waves he produced, she closed her eyes and threw the dagger as hard as she could. The shriek that followed confirmed her hit. Opening her eyes, Hildy saw that the dagger had lodged itself in his neck, possibly nicking the carotid artery. The figure collapsed, crumpling to the floor. Jax looked at the scene, zeroing in on her would-be assassin, and then over to her.

  “What? I told you I had it. I’m a trained assassin. I had this from the get go. Every tool he tried to use against me, I’ve trained with since I was ten years old.”

  “Then why were you on the floor tussling with him,” Jax asked, excitement raising his voice a little higher.

  “Because like I said, I wanted to find out who he was and who sent him.”

  “I don’t know those answers but from the looks of him, he’s a soul capturer.”

  “A what?”

  “Must we have this conversation with him lying there dead?” he asked.

  Hildy didn’t want to have to clean this up. Her first instinct was to text Mr. Scott for a cleanup crew, until she realized she’d just quit. And, now… it might have been him who sent this little parting gift in the first place. Instead, she walked over to the crumpled clothing to discover it was just a heap of clothes now. The ninja-ghost was no longer there.

  Turning to a staring Jax, she said, “Whoever he was, he’s gone.”

  “I don’t want to know. I’d have to ask my brothers about them, but from what I understand they’re ancient and live between the worlds of the living and the dead.”

  “Well, hopefully he’s dead now and evaporated like that witch Dorothy killed with the house.”

  “Yeah, let’s hope that’s the case,” Jax said, coming closer. “Why are you rummaging through those clothes?”

  “Found it!” she said, clutching the phone in her hands. “I just need to search for something and then I’ll be ready to get out of here, most likely, for good.”

  It wasn’t a mistake that this thing had the same make and model phone as hers. The screen was locked but Hildy knew the factory override code to bypass it. She pressed the code to get into the phone. Jax stood behind her watching as she scrolled over to calls. There it was, Mr. Scott’s number.

  “Check the text messages as well. Maybe there’s some hard evidence of his attempt on your life too.”

  “Very good, pretty boy. Pretty and smart to boot. I think you’re going to make a great boyfriend,” she said, still swimming in the sea of adrenaline that coursed through her body. Any other time and there’d be no way she’d joke with him so boldly.

  He smiled, making her want to melt. Sure enough there was a text message asking this thing to confirm when the hit was done. For some reason, Hildy didn’t get upset about Mr. Scott’s lame attempt on her life.

  Jax spoke and said, “We need to throw him off your scent. Are you thinking what I’m thinking?”

  “If it’s where I lie on the bed and pretend to be dead, while you take a picture to send to Mr. Scott, then yes.”

  “All right then, let’s do it,” Jax said, snatching the phone out of her hand. “Get yourself ready and I’ll snap the picture when you’re good to go.” Hildy ran over to her kitchen and rummaged through her condiments drawer. “What are you doing?”

  “Duh, I’m looking for ketchup and soy sauce to make a little fake blood.”

  Jax gave her a look that made her want to push him onto the bed and lick ketchup off him instead of making fake blood. She had to catch herself and drag her roaming mind away from that thought.
<
br />   “I don’t want to be the worry wart here, but we need to hurry. You don’t know if Mr. Scott will send backup.”

  He had a point but she didn’t want to make his head too big with all the brilliant ideas he was flinging about. She got back into “work” mode, mixing the fake blood, changing into a top she was going to trash soon anyway and having Jax take the picture. Once it was ready, they sat on the bed together as she composed a text. It was based on how this thing had replied to Mr. Scott in the past—simple and to the point.

  The picture was attached with a text that read:

  Target eliminated. Cleanup concluded. See attached picture for confirmation.

  Wasting no time, Jax said, “Pack everything you want to take with you. This is your last time in this apartment. I’ll help, but you have ten minutes to gather up what you need. The rest we’ll replace.”

  They packed her clothes, some books and a few mementoes. When she closed the door to that apartment, it had most of her belongings still in it. On the way out, she stopped by the mailbox and left the keys with a quick note to the housing manager about her move.

  Once they were in the car, and headed back to the gym, Hildy occupied herself with opening the new phone she’d just purchased as she said, “Jax, thank you for everything. I won’t be in your hair for too long.”

  “No need to worry about that. When we get back it might be a good time to have that conversation.”

  20

  Four days later: One of Lucien Drake’s private cabins in the North Georgia mountains.

  “I’m your what?” she asked, needing to hear what he said again.

  “You’re my mate,” he said, voice low.

  “I got that part. What I don’t understand is why you won’t entertain sleeping with me.”

  “Because, as I said before, my willpower is at the breaking point. If I sleep in that bed with you again, I’m going to want to do more than sleep.”